This week we read about the tragic episode of the spies which were sent to scope out the Land of Israel. Ten of the twelve spies returned with a negative report about the Land of Israel. In response, the hearts of the Jewish People were weakened and they fell into a state of despair and wept. Because of their lack of faith that Hashem would help them conquer the Land, that became a day of national mourning, Tisha Ba'av.

The spies were great men and the commentators offer various explanations of what went wrong and why they sinned. One of the explanations of the Chidushei HaRim is that the Jewish People were provided with all of their physical needs while they were in the desert. They were provided with food, water and clothing without any effort. They had the opportunity to focus their entire lives on spiritual pursuits and didn't need to engage intensely with physicality. The ten spies that sinned thought that this situation was ideal as once they would enter the Land of Israel they would need to start working the land and would have limited time for spiritual pursuits. Although their reasoning made sense G-d Commanded them to go into the Land of Israel and that was the situation He wanted the Jewish People to be in.

Many times in life we may feel dissatisfied with our situation, we may even be dissatisfied for saintly reasons. We may feel like if we had more money we could give more charity, if we had more patience we wouldn't be so quick to anger but we need to realize that for whatever reason Hashem wants us to serve Him in our current situation.

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath