WhatsappTORAH PORTION OF THE WEEK – IN THE AIR!!!
This week’s Parshat Shelach confronts us with one of the deepest spiritual failures in our history: the sin of the spies.
Twelve leaders were sent to scout the Land of Israel. Ten came back with facts — but no faith.They said: “We were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in theirs.”
They demoralized an entire generation. They made us feel small, weak, incapable — not because we lacked military strength, but because we lacked emunah, faith in God.
And tragically, the people followed them.
But today, in this very generation, we are witnessing the reversal of that sin, in real time.
Because unlike then, the people of Israel today are choosing faith over fear.
But this week, this moment in our history, we are living through a miraculous reversal of that sin.
As missiles from the Islamic Republic of Iran fall on our cities, over 150,000 Israelis stranded outside the country — during wartime — are doing the unthinkable: they are coming home.
They’re not listening to fear. They’re not saying “it’s too dangerous there, let me wait.” They’re fighting to get on the soonest flights being organized to bring them all back home, coming in on boats from Cyprus, and even coming through flights to Jordan, not listening to the advice to not do go through Jordan.
150,000 deciding to fly into missile fire, because they know this is home!
And when they land? They sing. They dance. They celebrate.
TORAH PORTION OF THE WEEK – IN THE AIR!!!
— Avi Abelow (@aviabelow) June 20, 2025
This week’s Parshat Shelach confronts us with one of the deepest spiritual failures in our history: the sin of the spies.
Twelve leaders were sent to scout the Land of Israel. Ten came back with facts — but no faith.They said: “We were… pic.twitter.com/hVQ25YPxCj
That’s not normal behavior. That’s redemption.
And let’s be honest, just as in the times of the spies, we have voices among us today who try to demoralize the people.
They’re the ones on the evening news, in the daily newspapers. The ones on talk shows and editorial boards.
They say: “We can’t win.”
They say: “We’re isolated.”
They say: “We have to give up.”
They shrink our spirit and try to shrink our land.
But here’s the truth: they are the minority.
The real nation of Israel is rising like never before. The people of faith, courage, and moral clarity.
We’re seeing not just miracles of military strength — but miracles of faith.
How do we know? Just look at what’s happening:
Over 150,000 Israelis stranded outside the country during wartime are not running away, they’re racing to come home.
And when they land? Under missile fire? They sing. They dance.
It is found in the mothers and wives sending their sons and husbands to battle with strength and prayer.
And all Israelis, in safe rooms, underground parking lots, hiding from incoming Iranian missiles, singing the most popular song in Israel right now, a song blasting from speakers at weddings, on army bases, and even in hospitals:
“Hashem Eohev oti — God above loves me — yihiyeh tov, v’od yoter tov — things will be good, and even better.”
That’s not a protest song. That’s not despair.
That’s the sound of a nation rediscovering its emunah, its faith, and its eternal bond with the God of Israel.
It is found in the airports and on the roads, as Jews return home under the sound of sirens — not with fear, but with pride.
We are literally living through open miracles. So many missiles landing in empty areas instead of apartment buildings. Fighter pilots fly deep into Iran and return home alive.
And we are winning, against all odds.
And make no mistake, this war is bigger than us.
It’s not just for us. If we succeed in defeating the Iranian regime, the oppressed minorities of the region, the Kurds, the Ahwazi Arabs, the Baloch, the Azeris etc., will finally breathe free.
But they will only remain free if the Jewish state of Israel becomes the regional superpower that protects them — not just from Iran, but from the rising Sunni jihadist axis of Qatar, Turkey, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
There is no vacuum in the Middle East. But there is now a divine opportunity.
A thriving, free, un-persecuted region is within reach, if the Jewish people embrace our mission, and stop looking at Israel as just a shelter from antisemitism, and start seeing it as what it truly is: the center of God’s plan for blessing the world.
The opportunity is here, for a freer, more peaceful Middle East, but it rests on whether the Jewish people embrace our divine mission, based on a true, deep faith in Hashem, and stop seeing Israel as just a refuge, and start seeing it as the center of God’s light to the world.The sin of the spies was to lose faith.
But this generation is choosing faith.This is the generation of redemption.
Of courage.
Of emunah, of faith.
Of Jews who say: We are not grasshoppers — we are lions.
We are God’s people, living our divide purpose in our ancestral homeland.May we continue to witness miracles.
May we deepen our faith.
And may we fulfill our divine purpose, as the Nation of Israel, in our eternal homeland.
This Shabbat internalize the spirit of the two spies from the parsha, Calev Ben-Yefune and Yehoshua Ben-Nun, who are inspiring the nation of Israel today, with eyes and hearts of faith in Hashem.
Shabbat Shalom!
Am Yisrael Chai.
