"And how is the land ... are there trees or not?"

"And how is the land ... are there trees or not?" Rashi comments that Moshe instructed the spies to see if there were any righteous people there whose merit would protect the dwellers of the land. Why, then, didn't he instruct the spies to search the synagogues, rather than the fields? Moshe was incidentally conveying the message to the Jewish people that a truly righteous person doesn't go into seclusion and lock himself into a synagogue or house of study. A truly righteous person is compared to a tree; he is out among the people producing fruit (good deeds). (Vedibarta Bam)