Welcome to the short, practical Lelamed Weekly Dvar and Daily Aliyah. As always, you can Order The Daily Aliyah <https://mosaicapress.com/product/the-daily-aliyah/> and receive your hard copy of these daily practical and relevant Torah thoughts (all proceeds go to Daily Giving), or join this Whatsapp group <https://chat.whatsapp.com/G35Ne4mpYsm3RLPDPnPSKC> to receive one per day. I hope you find this meaningful... _______________________________________________ The story of the spies speaking negatively about the land of Israel (13:1–14:25) is relayed directly after Miriam is punished for speaking negatively about her brother Moshe (12:1–16). The Midrash tells us that the story of the spies is relayed right after Miriam’s because the spies should have learned from Miriam’s mistake. However, why did they need to learn from her mistake if lashon hara is already objectively wrong? Rav Shimon Schwab explains that due to Moshe’s humility, Miriam’s lashon hara wouldn’t affect Moshe as much as it would reflect on G-d because that’s who Moshe represents. The spies spoke badly about the land of Israel, which technically also has no feelings, but they should have understood that the land is a reflection of G-d, and speaking badly about His gift to us was very wrong. The placement of the story of the spies underscores the awareness and sensitivity we need to have when making any negative statement and what we represent by association. Shlomo Ressler _____________________________________________ Quotation of the week: "Actions prove who someone is; words prove who they want to be."