At the beginning of parshas Shelach, Moshe instructs the spies “to look” at the Land that they will explore. At the end of the parsha, Hashem instructs us “to look” at the techeles string of tzitzis.
There is a connection. Do you know why? Because the word that is used in both these instances is וּרְ אִיתֶם (“you should look”). And what’s really fascinating is that outside of these two places it does not appear (in this meaning) anywhere else in the Chumash!
So what is the connection?
Regarding the story of the spies, the ten of the twelve spies looked at the Land and saw negative things. Yet regarding tzitzis Chazal tell us we learn that the blue techeles should remind a person of the blue sea, and the blue sea should remind a person of the blue sky, and the blue sky should remind a person of Hashem’s Thrown of Glory (see Menachos 43b).
This is clearly teaching us a powerful life lesson. You have the free choice to let your eye interpret what it sees. And Hashem does not just want us to look at something great and see the greatness in it – the way Yehoshua and Kalev looked at the Land, Hashem wants us to look even at simple things – like a string hanging from the corner of your four-corner garment – and see in it wonderous things that bring you joy and inspiration.
