Parashat Shelach Lecha - Fifth Aliyah

The fifth aliyah opens a new chapter: laws of offerings tied to the entry into the land. After the harsh decree of the forty years, the Torah is already speaking to the next generation, about “when you come into the land of your dwellings”:

“Vekhi ta’aseh ven bakar olah o zavach… rei’ach nicho’ach lAdonai” (And when you offer a bullock as a burnt-offering or as a sacrifice… a pleasing aroma to Adonai) (Bamidbar 15:8-10)

The verses spell out the order of the offerings: fine flour, oil, wine. Precise rules for the meal-offering and the libation, for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lamb.

Toward the end of the aliyah a resonant verse appears: “Torah achat umishpat echad yihyeh lakhem velager hagar itkhem” (One Torah and one statute shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you) (ibid., 16) One law for the citizen and the stranger. The same offerings, the same rules, the same path to the holy.

Timing of the parsha: comfort after the breaking The Ramban, on the verse that opens the chapter, “Ki tavo’u el eretz moshvoteichem” (When you come into the land of your dwellings) (15:2), explains that the placement of this parsha here, immediately after the decree of the spies, is not by chance. He answers the question: why command now about the laws of the land, if this generation will not enter? “Ve’ulai hayah zeh attah lenachamam ulehavtiacham, ki hayu no’ashim” (And perhaps this was done now to comfort them and assure them, since they were despairing). The commandments dependent on the land are themselves the promise: it is revealed before the Holy One that the children will enter and inherit.

How one continues after a breaking The Holy One does not remain in anger. He continues to teach Torah and give commandments, even to the generation that will perish in the wilderness. It is a quiet statement: there is continuation even after the sin. This generation will not merit it, but it is part of the story that leads to the entry into the land.