Chabad Rebbes

The spies brought back an honest report. G-d was unhappy with its contents. Is it fair to punish someone for expressing an honest opinion?

Introduction This week’s Torah reading contains a passage that – at least on the surface – appears out of context. After relating the story of the spies Moshe sent to survey Eretz Yisrael and discussing the offerings that the Jewish people would be requir...

Introduction In Judaism, there is a dynamic interplay between making a commitment to G‑d and His commandments that transcends reason and serving Him with our minds and using them to guide our conduct. At times, the emphasis is on faith and following His l...

Introduction There is a classic Jewish adage: It took one moment to take the Jews out of Egypt but 40 years to take Egypt out of the Jews. Developing a free man’s mentality takes time. The story of the spies sent by Moshe to survey the Land of Israel show...

The fourth section of the Book of Numbers recounts how G‑d told Moses to send (Shelach, in Hebrew) scouts to spy out the Land of Israel in preparation for the Jewish people’s conquest of it.

This Torah reading focuses on the spies sent out to gather information about Eretz Yisrael. They came back, telling the people how terrifying the nations dwelling there were and how difficult, virtually impossible, it would be for the Jews to conquer the ...

This Torah reading is often read in the days around 28 Sivan, the anniversary of the arrival of the Rebbe and his wife in the U.S., in 5701 (1941) after a perilous journey from their temporary home in Paris. Here is not the place to recount the horror, tu...

“There are some,” the Rebbe once told a university professor, “who have two sets of bookshelves: one for seforim, sacred texts, and another for secular books. That is a wrong approach. If a person conceives of secular wisdom as being unrelated to the Tora...

I. This week’s Torah reading refers to the spies as a “congregation.”Bamidbar 14:27. They were ten [in number], (for Yehoshua and Caleb were not included among them). From this, our SagesMegillah 23b (quoted in Rashi’s commentary to the verse). According ...

The Sidra of Shelach contains the episode of the spies whom Moses sent to gather intelligence about the land of Canaan. Ten of the twelve spies returned with disparaging reports, that although the land was fertile, its inhabitants were too strong and thei...