Shelach
R. Moshe Cordovero on Parashat Shelach, read on Shabbat Shelach — with one of this week's three questions for the two of you.
This week's parsha tells of the spies — a moment of communal failure that drew the sharpest divine anger in the Torah. And yet, even there, the anger did not endure forever. Cordovero, in the third chapter of Tomer Devorah, develops the third attribute of God's mercy: 'v'lo hechezik la'ad apo' — He does not hold onto His anger forever. Even when there is righteous cause for anger, the Holy One does not let it become a permanent part of the relationship. He returns to mercy. He waits. He keeps the door open for return. Cordovero says: this, too, is a middah we are called to imitate. The hardest one, perhaps, in marriage.
When was the last time one of us was actually angry — not just irritated — and let it pass without it leaving a mark? What helped it pass?
The full week — the passage itself with its source, the other two questions, and the closing verse of hope — lives in the app. Together Tomorrow on the App Store.