Shabbat Shelah

"It is a land that devours its inhabitants" (13:32)
Wherever the spies went, they saw funerals. This clearly demonstrated that this land was a dangerous place to live. Otherwise, why was there so much death? Had they used their heads to look for the positive instead of searching for the negative, they would have realized That Hashem caused this in order to distract the population from the unwelcome Jews.
What is truly the meaning of "OCHELET YOSHEVEHA" devour its inhabitants?
Harav Yaakov Neeman, ZL explains this with an analogy. A simple minded individual once went into a house in which all of the windows were shut. It was impossible to breath in there. Immediately, the fool began to rant and rave, "How can I live in here? I cannot breathe. How will I survive? His friend who was a bit more erudite,said, "If you look around, you will see that the house is large and roomy. The view is excellent, and the location is perfect. The only problem that you have found is the home stuffiness and lack of air. If that is the case, just open up the windows and let in some air. This house is fine. YOU are the problem!.
A similar response may be applied to the case of the spies. Let us first focus on a pressing question: The spies returned from their ill fated mission and disparaged the land that Hashem had promised to Bne Yisrael. This was no ordinary land- This was Erets Yisrael. This was the land about which Hashem himself had attested to its superiority over all other lands. Yet, this did not deter the slander espoused by the spies and the ensuing ridicule which the people expressed in support of the spies. How did the generation that had such profound knowledge of God, who had expirienced Revelation with its accompanying miracles, react so? How could they fall for this maligning of Erets Yisrael? Rav Neiman explains that, indeed, Erets Yisrael was a land that devoured its inhabitants. It was a land that had a low tolerance level for evil. EN TOV ELA TORAH, "There is no good other than Torah". When Hashem said that Erets Yisrael is an Erets Tovah, good land, this means that through Torah observance Erets Yisrael becomes good to its inhabitants. It protects and preserves them. Just as a home whose windows remain sealed shut will suffocate its inhabitants, so too, does Erets Yisrael not show mercy towards those who have no place for the Torah. When Bne Yisrael enter the land with the Torah as an inexorable part of their lives, its windows will open up and the fresh air will enter. Torah is the air of Erets Yisrael, without which we cannot endure.

Today we have Erets Yisrael for the zechut, merit, of all those soldiers who are ready to give up their lives in the front line to defend the land of Israel and the Jewish people all over the world and the Torah that is studied at all times. We should demand from the leadership of Israel that no soldier should ever be abandoned in the hands of our enemies and not demand their safe return when the state is freeing hundred of murderers in exchange for a cease fire that later they will regret.
Shabbat Shalom