Boulder Aish Kodesh

The Torah chooses an interesting word to describe the spies’ mission in Israel – latur, which means approximately the way it sounds – to tour. The same word occurred in last week’s Parsha in terms of the Ark, which traveled ahead of the camp to seek (latur) a place to camp.

There are certainly two ways to look ahead toward our future – to see for ourselves, and to trust that G-d is laying out the best possible path for us at all times. The future cannot be seen with the eyes of the present – we cannot ‘spy’ on our own future. To tell a 10-year-old that he will one day be a father makes no sense. He will say ‘yuck’ and forget about it. But if you told him that he would be a father and that he would love it, it might be a bit more interesting.

G-d, Who is beyond time, is in our future, making pathways from here to there in the most fantastic ways. Our job is not to worry about the future- it is to live in the present and to trust about the future.

In the end of the parsha, we find the same root-word as the task of the spies. Whereas they went out to tour, the Torah says ‘and do not tour – taturu – after your heart and after your eyes. Though parts of us may want to know what will happen, and to be prepared, we must always remember the mistake of the spies.