Parshas Shelach: When to be a Tourist

Before arriving in Adelaide, we travelled a lot.  In fact, we still do, when we can manage it.  (Even Akiva, at 1 year old, has already taken 13 flights and had several long term car trips across Australia.)  But when we travel, we don’t travel in style.  We don’t fly first class, we don’t stay in luxury resorts, and we don’t spend a lot.  We travel on a budget and, as a result, we end up getting to know the nitty gritty of the cultures we visit.  We live like the locals.

We are rather proud of the fact that we are not traditional tourists.  We are expats at best, backpackers at worst – but never traditional tourists.  We don’t go on organized tours, we only set foot on a bus if it looks like it might fall apart any minute, and we rarely even visit the traditional tourist sites.  When we travel, we toss out our Lonely Planets and forge our own path.  We don’t do what everyone else says – we think for ourselves.  In some ways, we feel like this makes us cooler…. We are not tourists!

What is interesting is that in this week’s parsha, Moses sends 12 Jewish men to the land of Canaan to see what’s going on there.  But he doesn’t send out spies, he sends out tourists!  Tourists, with their ever-flashing cameras, loud chatter, and bright Hawaiian t-shirts.  Tourists, who go to places like Paris and Madrid to stay in Hilton Hotels and eat at McDonalds.  Tourists, who ride in giant buses in huge packs and stare out of cushy windows on the lowly locals below.  Tourists are what Moses sent to Canaan.

The men who went decided on their own to become spies.  Being tourists, floating along and simply taking in the scenery, was not enough for them.  They wanted a more active role. They decided on their own to be vigilant and on guard.  They made the decision to come to conclusions about the strength of the Canaanites and the Jews’ chances against them.  Moses never wanted that. Moses merely wanted to know the kinds of things tourists discover – How big are the cities? How fertile is the soil? – but instead he got a report given by spies, conclusions and all.

As we go through life, we often think we are better or wiser because we’re choosing to think for ourselves.  We’re acting independently and taking the path less followed.  But, while this is often commendable, it isn’t always.  With some things – Shabbat, kosher, etc. – it is better to step onto G-d’s “tour bus” and go along for the ride than to try to forge our own path.  If we do not, we run the risk of wandering in a spiritual desert for the next 40 years… or even for the rest of our lives.

Shabbat shalom!

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