The Red Line

A high school teacher decided to demonstrate to his class the dangers of alcohol abuse. So he conducted an experiment. He took one glass of water and one glass of whiskey. He then took a little worm and dropped it in the glass of water. The worm had a nice swim and then the teacher removed the worm unharmed.
He then dropped the worm into the glass of whisky. In no time at all, the worm was dead. He then turned to the class and asked them what the experiment proved.
Whereupon one wise guy at the back piped up and said, “Sir, it proves conclusively that if you drink enough whiskey you will never suffer from worms!”

No, I wasn’t eavesdropping on a typical conversation between you and your mother…
In this week’s Torah portion, we read how Moses appointed twelve of the greatest sages of Israel to go check out the land of C’naan (Israel) that they were to conquer and to develop a plan of action.
40 days later they returned with their findings, “The people of the land are big and dangerous, and we see no way of conquering the land.” Upon hearing the report, the Jews broke out in bitter tears, asking, ‘Is this what we left Egypt for?’
When G-d saw the Jews crying, He flew into a rage, and at that moment He decided to destroy the two future Holy Temples, making that day, the nintort, the Jews broke out in bitter tears, asking, ‘Is this what we left Egypt for?’
When G-d saw the Jews crying, He flew into a ragh of Av, a day of tears and sorrow for generations to come. In addition, He punished 10 of the 12 spies personally,killing them by fire!
What was their big mistake? After all, they were sent on a mission to ‘check it out’, and they came back with an honest report and assessment of their findings?
Granted, it was not the answer G-d was hoping for. But G-d does give us the freedom of choice, and all they did was voice their honest opinions!
The answer my friends, is quite simple. The mission of the spies was to figure out How to conquer the land, and not to judge whether it was doable or not! – If. That was G-d’s task; theirs was to find a way.
By overstepping their boundaries,
they questioned G-d’s ability to pull through with His promise! That same G-d who took then out of Egypt,
split the see and gave them the Torah. Yes their facts were right ‘the people are strong and mighty’, but their conclusions were wrong ‘we can’t do it’. They crossed the red line.
It’s a lesson not only in Judaism but in life in general: Don’t say ‘If’, say ‘How’.