Parashat Sh'lach

Twelve men, one from each tribe, are sent to scout the land. They return after forty days with a cluster of grapes so heavy it takes two men to carry, and a report that the land flows with milk and honey but its cities are fortified and its people giants. Only Caleb and Joshua argue that the people can go up. The community weeps all night and talks of returning to Egypt. God decrees that this generation will die in the wilderness over forty years, a year for each day of scouting. A group tries to enter anyway and is beaten back. The portion ends with laws of offerings, the challah tithe, the man gathering wood on Shabbat, and tzitzit.