Making Sense of the Sedra: Shelach

The Jewish psychologist Abraham Maslow is most famous for his Hierarchy of Needs pyramid as a theory explaining human motivation. What is less known tis that he developed an additional theory explaining human demotivation which he called the Jonah Complex. He suggested that at times we evade our destiny and fulfilment of our potential due to fear of success and that responsibility that would come with it.

When Moshe provides the instructions to the spies for their mission to scout out the Land of Israel, he asks them to check if “there are any trees in it or not?” (Bamidbar 13:20). Rashi explains that Moshe was asking them to ascertain whether there would be a worthy individual who would provide the inhabitants with protection.

According to Chazal (Bava Batra 15a), Iyov protected his generation like a tree. Chazal also says (Sotah 35a) that Iyov died on that day and the residents were busy eulogising him. What connection does Iyov have to the spies?

In their negative report the spies said that the inhabitants of the land were mimenu (stronger). Rashi says that they were saying, so to speak, that the inhabitants were stronger than Him (Hashem).

How could the spies say such a thing when they undoubtedly knew that Hashem was all-powerful? They had personally witnessed the exodus from Egypt, splitting of the sea, giving of the Torah and miraculous protection provided to them throughout their sojourn in the desert!

The root of their downfall was internal fear – a ‘Jonah complex’. Once they became small in their own eyes, their perspective of what they saw was mirrored. “We were in our own eyes as grasshoppers,” the spies proclaimed, and only then “so were we in their eyes” (Bamidbar 13:33). Once their self-belief began to waver, it was only a matter of time that this self-doubt extended to a lack of belief in Hashem and His capabilities.

The fear of succeeding in standing up for your beliefs with the courage of your convictions led to the spies’ monumental error. This is the connection to Iyov. Iyov wasn’t scared to face up to his friends who mocked him and he wasn’t scared to be alone in his faith, despite his surroundings.

When Chazal says that Iyov died on that day, they weren’t merely describing a historical occurrence, but rather a deeper symptom. The notion of Iyov – the protection provided by being steadfast in your beliefs – died within the spies.

Whilst the spies failed and fell into the trap of the Jonah complex, Calev and Yehoshua provided the antidote as the paradigms of self-belief and not giving in to the pressure of your surroundings.

May we merit to do likewise.