Moshe sent 12 spies to scout the land of Israel, and because of their report, the Jews spent 40 years in the desert. What was so bad about their report?
The Rebbe explains that there are two realms of activity in our daily lives. We have express mitzvos, which we must keep because Hashem commanded us, but then there is a gray area, limited only by what we may not do, the prohibitions of the Torah.
The meraglim had free will in their reporting. They had an opportunity to instill bitachon and inspiration in Bnei Yisrael. They could have said the land is strong, but we know that with Hashem’s help, we will conquer it.
This gray area is where we live most of our lives. We often face many challenges when it comes to keeping Torah and mitzvos, and if we see them as challenges as the miraglim did, then they will be! Our attitude is important.
To me that’s the most important lesson we can learn from the spies.
I cannot change who I am, but I can determine what I will become.
We have to look at life in a positive light and when we are presented with a choice of facing an obstacle or an opportunity, let’s choose the latter and put our faith in Hashem that we will prevail!
