D’VAR TORAH
One of the most fascinating questions in the Torah appears in Parashat Shelach.
Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest prophet who ever lived, sends twelve spies to scout the Land of Israel. What should have been a mission of preparation turns into a national tragedy. Ten of the spies return with a negative report, the nation loses confidence, and as a result, an entire generation is sentenced to wander in the desert for forty years.
Forty years later, history seems to repeat itself.
Yehoshua bin Nun, who was one of the two faithful spies, becomes the leader of the Jewish people. He witnessed firsthand the disaster caused by the spies. He saw the tears, the fear, and the consequences.
So the obvious question is: Why would Yehoshua ever send spies again?
Yet that is exactly what he does.
Before entering the Land of Israel, Yehoshua sends two spies to Yericho (Hebrew for Jericho). This time the mission succeeds. Soon afterward, Yericho falls, and the Jewish people begin their conquest of the land.
This raises two powerful questions: First, how was Yehoshua not afraid of repeating the same mistake? Second, what was the secret of his success when Moshe’s mission had failed?
The answer may be that Yehoshua did not repeat the same mission at all.
Moshe sent twelve leaders to survey the entire land. The task was enormous. They saw giant cities, powerful armies, fortified walls, and nations stronger than anything they had encountered before.
They looked at the whole picture at once. And they became overwhelmed. The challenge seemed impossible.
Yehoshua learned from that mistake. He understood that people often fail when they try to conquer everything at once. Instead of focusing on the entire land, he focused on one city —Yericho — not the whole country, not every battle, just the first gate.
Yericho was the key to entering the land. It stood at the entrance and served as a strategic gateway. Yehoshua understood that if the Jewish people could conquer Yericho, they could begin conquering everything else.
He did not start with the entire mountain. He started with the first step.
Perhaps this reveals a deeper difference between Moshe and Yehoshua.
Moshe Rabbeinu lived on a level that very few people can even imagine. He spoke to Hashem face to face. He received the Torah on Har Sinai. His spiritual vision was limitless.
But most people are not Moshe Rabbeinu. Most people cannot transform their entire lives in a single moment.
Yehoshua understood human nature. He knew that real growth usually happens one step at a time: One battle. One victory. One day. Then another. And another. Until eventually, the impossible becomes possible.
THE GEMARA TEACHES, “I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE OF GREAT SPIRITUAL STATURE, AND THEY ARE FEW.”
Very few people can change everything overnight. Many people make this mistake.
A person decides that tomorrow he will become a completely different person. He will learn more Torah, improve every character trait, stop every bad habit, pray with perfect concentration, and become the person he always wanted to be.
A week later, he feels defeated. Not because he lacked desire, not because he lacked sincerity—but because he tried to conquer the entire land at once.
Yehoshua teaches a different approach: Don’t conquer the whole land. Conquer Yericho.
The Chassidic masters explain that the “land” can represent the inner world of a person. Every individual has an entire kingdom within himself—thoughts, emotions, desires, habits, strengths, and weaknesses.
Trying to fix everything at once is often overwhelming. But finding your “Yericho” changes everything.
What is Yericho in our personal lives?
It is the gateway. The main entrance. The place where everything begins.
For many people, that gateway is their thoughts. For others, it is their speech. For others, it is their actions.
If a person learns to guard what he thinks, what he says, and what he does, he has already captured the entrance to the city.
Imagine someone who owns a beautiful house filled with valuable possessions. Where does he invest the most protection? The front door. The locks. The security system.
Why? Because if a thief never gets through the entrance, the rest of the house remains safe. But if the thief enters through the front door, everything inside becomes vulnerable.
The same is true spiritually. Our eyes are doors. Our ears are doors. Our mouth is a door. Our thoughts are doors.
If we protect the entrances, we protect the entire house. That is why Yehoshua started with Yericho. He started with the gate, the entrance, the key. Only afterward did he continue conquering the rest of the land.
There is a famous story about a man who wanted to lose a significant amount of weight. He was discouraged because the goal seemed impossible.
His doctor told him, “Don’t think about losing fifty pounds. Think about losing one pound. Then another. Then another.”
A year later, he had achieved his goal.
What changed? He stopped fighting the entire mountain. He focused on the next step.
This is one of the greatest lessons of Parashat Shelach. The Yetzer Hara loves to show us the entire mountain. He wants us to believe that change is impossible.
Hashem asks for something much smaller: One good thought, one kind word, one honest action, one chapter of Tehillim, one extra minute of Torah learning.
One victory at a time.
The difference between the spies and Yehoshua is not merely a historical story. It is the story of our daily lives. When we try to conquer everything, we often become discouraged. When we identify our Yericho, the key area that opens the door to everything else, success becomes possible.
Moshe Rabbeinu teaches us to dream big. Yehoshua teaches us how to get there one step at a time, one gate at a time, one victory at a time.
And eventually, with Hashem’s help, we conquer our entire land. Not through one dramatic moment, but through hundreds of small victories that transform a life.
That is the secret of Yehoshua’s success. And perhaps it can become the secret of ours as well.
By Rabbi Asher Vaknin