Numbers · Weekly Torah portion
Parashat Sh'lachשְׁלַח־לְךָ
Torah reading
Numbers 13:1-15:41
Haftarah
Joshua 2:1-24
What happens in Sh'lach
Twelve scouts tour the promised land for forty days. All agree it flows with milk and honey — the cluster of grapes takes two men to carry — but ten spread fear: 'We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we looked to them.' Only Caleb and Joshua dissent. The people weep and beg to return to Egypt, and the generation is sentenced to forty years in the wilderness. The parsha ends with the mitzvah of tzitzit — fringes that remind the wearer of all the commandments.
Big themes
- Self-image and courage
- Majorities can be wrong
- Reminders we wear
If this is your bar or bat mitzvah portion
'We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves' — the scouts were defeated by their own self-image before any battle. How you see yourself shapes what you believe is possible. Caleb saw the same land and said: we can do this. Which report do you give yourself?
Learning to chant Sh'lach?
Ready 13 builds a verse-by-verse practice plan for this exact portion — chanted reference audio, karaoke highlighting, trope games, and a countdown that keeps the big day on track.
Start Free Trial