5779 — Devarim: Navigating Conflicting Narratives–What Really Happened in the Story of the Spies?

Introduction

In this week’s parsha of Devarim, Moshe begins his parting words and speeches to the Jewish people, as they are poised to enter the Land of Israel. Interestingly, the first narrative he tells is the story of the spies, which resulted in the previous generation dying out in the desert and the new generation wandering for almost 39 years. When we examine this story in our Parsha, we see that it deviates, in a number of significant ways, from the way the account is given, in “real time,” in the book of Numbers. As we read the text very carefully and closely, we will examine the differences between the two narratives, try to understand what really happened, and attempt to provide an approach that might explain the discrepancies.

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Credits
Rabbi Meir Schweiger – Faculty Host
Larry Kluger – Creative Consultant
Arlene Harel – Production Coordinator
Adam Titcher – Executive Producer

Meir Schweiger

Rabbi Meir Schweiger taught at Pardes for more than four decades before retiring in 2020. Originally from the Bronx, New York, he made aliyah in 1972. He studied at Yeshiva University, Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh and Yeshivat Har Etzion, received rabbinic ordination in Jerusalem, and later earned an M.Ed. in Teaching Bible from Herzog College.

At Pardes, Meir taught a wide range of subjects including Chumash, Talmud, Halakha and Siddur. He served as Mashgiach Ruhani, guiding the school’s spiritual life through coordinating and supervising tefillot, tiyulim, shabbatonim, and pre-holiday yemei iyun. For more than 10 years, Meir was also the Director of the Pardes Fellows’ Program for returning 2nd year students and the Educational Director of the Pardes Learning Seminar.