Parshas Shelach: White Teeth in a Dog Carcass

What if the secret to a fulfilled life isn't about changing your circumstances, but shifting your perspective? This profound exploration of ancient wisdom reveals how our outlook determines our happiness more than any external reality.

Through the biblical story of the twelve spies, we witness how identical circumstances produced radically different responses. Ten spies saw only giants and danger in the Promised Land, while Joshua and Caleb recognized divine opportunity. The spies witnessed funerals throughout their journey—events God orchestrated as protection to distract locals—yet interpreted this blessing as a curse. Even discovering extraordinarily abundant fruit became, in their eyes, evidence of danger rather than prosperity.

The wisdom of the "good eye" tradition illuminates our power to choose what we focus on. Like the pious teacher who noticed "beautifully white teeth" in a roadkill carcass while his students saw only decay, we can train ourselves to find goodness amid challenges. This isn't naive positivity but a disciplined practice of perspective-taking that acknowledges difficulties while refusing to be defined by them.

Modern psychology confirms this ancient teaching through concepts like the "blue dot effect"—our tendency to fixate on the single problem in an otherwise perfect picture. The consequences of our perspective extend beyond personal happiness to impact our relationships, communities, and even the spiritual trajectory of generations. As one sage observed regarding American Jewish immigrants: children abandoned faith not because their parents sacrificed for religious observance, but because parents approached these sacrifices with a negative attitude.

Your happiness truly is your choice. Not because hardships don't exist, but because you decide how to interpret them. Will you see obstacles as curses or opportunities? Will you focus on what's missing or what remains? Start today by finding the "white teeth" in your circumstances—that unexpected blessing hidden within every challenge. The practice gets easier with repetition, gradually transforming not just your experience but your entire character.

Chapters

• 0:00 Happiness Is A Choice
• 1:35 The Spies' Negative Report
• 3:54 Land That Consumes Its Inhabitants
• 9:50 Giant Fruits and Predetermined Mindsets
• 14:31 The Parable of the Dog Carcass
• 21:36 Cultivating a Good Eye
• 28:01 Finding Good in Modern Challenges
• 31:21 Choosing Positivity as Life's Decision

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

If you want to live a good life, it's up to you. It's a choice. If you want to live happily, it depends upon your perspective, how you choose to look at things that come your way. Parshash Lach preaches this lesson over and over that your happiness is a choice. Mood swings can become a thing of the past when you internalize the lesson that was so badly missed by the ten spies Singling out here, the good ones, kalev and Yehoshua. They only had good things to say and they prayed hard for things to work out. Even Moshe prayed for Yehoshua, but because of a poor perspective, as we will soon see, everything came crashing down and 40 years of wandering aimlessly, literally to the opposite end of the earth or the opposite end of the wilderness was now declared and we would no longer just immediately be escorted right into the land of Canaan. Escorted Right into the land of Canaan. Our podcast and our story begins.

Speaker 1: 1:35

The spies report returns. We cannot attack the people. They are stronger than we are and they spread. They spread bad speakings about the land that they traversed, about the land they scouted, saying, saying it is a Eretz, ocheles, yosheveh, a land that devours its settlers, all the people that we saw there. They're huge, they're massive. We can't beat them. Return, let us go back to Egypt, let us remain in the wilderness, anything but we can't attack these people. They're giants. And there we saw Nephilim, the Anakites that are part of the Nephilim, the sons of giants, and we looked like grasshoppers and we looked like grasshoppers compared to them, and we looked like grasshoppers compared to them, and so we must have looked like grasshoppers to them.

Speaker 1: 3:17

After this total hysteria, madness, everything is quickly turning to an Israelite dystopian future in the present, because now everything seems to be fuzzy, unclear. Is this it? Can we really do this? To begin our talk, we pick up on the words that the spies said when they begin to rip down the Jewish or the Eretz, canaan, rip down the land, their findings. It all started with the definition of it's a land Eretz, ocheles, yoshvehahi. It is a land that eats, that consumes its inhabitants, it devours its settlers. What does that mean? Land cannot eat, land cannot devour. I mean, I guess it did in Parshas Korach, but generally speaking, the Eretz cannot be Ochelas.

Speaker 1: 4:23

Further, what led them to this conclusion? What did they see? What really gave them the tip that tipped them off to this point? Rashi tells us. What does it mean that it's a land that consumes its inhabitants?

Speaker 1: 4:40

Eretz, ochelas, yoishve'ah, bechol, makoyim, she'ovarnu every place that the spies traversed in the land, they found people burying dead people Sounds like eulogies and levias funerals. God made all this happen for the good of them, so that the enemy would not notice the spies creeping around in their nation, in their state. They would be too preoccupied with burying the dead and they wouldn't notice the spies. God intended it to be for good, to give us cover, to give the spies protection, to distract them, but what they saw was everybody dying. That's what it means that the land consumes its inhabitants. To them it seemed like literally this air, this ground, the water, all infected, infested, that everyone was dying there and they took this to heart to be the ultimate damning part of the land.

Speaker 1: 6:04

But Rashi tells us something so powerful and he's really referencing the Gemara and Sota here that everyone was dying, but supposed to be intended for the good. This is a Gemara and Sota Dorash Rava. This is what Rava expounded Amar HaKadosh, baruch Hu, ani Chashav, tia L'toiva. I intended it to be good that everyone was dying there, but you intended it, you had a perspective that it was bad. The Gemara expounds. He continues I'll tell you how it is that I intended it to be good. I have this intended so that people, the Khrushchev people, the big and head politicians of these Anakim, the people in Canaan they should all die. Everyone should be involved in the funerals. Therefore they will not notice you and then they won't ask you about your whereabouts, won't ask you about what you're doing in their land. I had it all as a distraction plan To preoccupy them, so that you should have a successful reconnaissance and spy mission, but instead you saw it to be with the horrible perspective that everyone's just dying. I intended it for good, but you intended it for evil. Was the spy's mistake?

Speaker 1: 7:43

This reconnaissance mission was supposed to be that the Jewish people should see how easy, how fruitful, how pleasant the land was, or even if they did see things that would tip them off in a different direction. Still, their confidence in God should have given them the confidence and the intestinal fortitude to march on the land and take it over. But instead, with their perspective, they were khashiva. They considered it, they saw it the wrong way and they internalized the wrong message. The aside that we will develop and try to nail in to our hearts today is that your happiness is a choice and your perspective is what matters. The spies should have seen death all in a country to be the kindness of God, but they missed it. A positive outlook would have sealed the deal, because Hashem intended it for good.

Speaker 1: 8:48

This lesson isn't just for children, that you should be a positive player and have a good attitude. Levi would only be for children, but it's for adults even more so that an adult gets to go about his day and whether he sees dead people everywhere or he's just buying himself a Slurpee, taking a trip to the farm store, no matter what happens, he can see it for good and he can see it with a positive attitude, and he can be a positive person. He can be an upbeat and jolly person because God intends things, no matter how weird they seem at times. For the good, giant politicians, giant in stature and giant in their command, all of them dying left and right. But that was all intended to hide the spies, to protect them.

Speaker 1: 10:12

The spies' mistake of their poor and negative sober Sally in 1326, they went and they came. They went Is how it begins. There seems to be some going and some returning. That is interconnected, that the Torah puts them next to each other. Rashi picks up on it and tells us La'hakish halichosom le'biosom. This is to connect their traveling and their returning Ma'biosom be'etzaroo, avhalichosom be'etzaroo. They left and went and traversed with a bad attitude to give bad Eitza. Now, mind you, this is before they've even seen anything. But they went. Just imagine what that means. Everything was with this negative perspective, kind of with a predetermined mindset. But look how badly they missed the boat.

Speaker 1: 11:30

They reached Wadi Eshkol, the river of Eshkol, and there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes. It was a heavy branch. They carried it with a long staff, a long pole, bashnayim, with two people carrying the pole, umena rimayim, umena te'enim. And they also carried some pomegranates and some figs. Rashi picks up on what do you mean? They're carrying it on this long pole, but it was two people carrying it. Rashi says mimashma shenemar, vayasou bamot, they carried it with a long pole E, but it was two people carrying it. Rashi says Of course it takes two to tango. It takes two people to hold up the pole if it's a long, large pole. So why does it say there was two poles? And each pole had two people, so there's four total people. Keisat had this. Look. Shmona Nutlu Eshgol. It was eight people, Eight spies bore the cluster of grapes.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Besides for the one spy who took the fig and another spy who took the pomegranate, just imagine the size, the gargantuan nature of this fruit, how fantastic and delicious it was. Just imagine biting into this delicious fig. I don't like figs, but for those that like figs, check for bugs first and then dig in. And if it's big and large and luscious, imagine being able to see these delicious figs and these delicious pomegranates, the grapes. Imagine squashing them and turning them into a delicious white wine, a rosé, building a fruit sangria. But the spies, what do they see in this large fruit? Kishame shepiria mishuna Kach ama mishuna Rashi says their perspective was to show people just how weird, how gargantuan, how monstrous, how colossal, immense, cosmic and vast these fruits are and just how weird and gargantuan and colossally vast, immense and cosmic, gigantic, monstrous, monsters, towering and mammoth its people are.

Speaker 1: 13:57

They had a bad attitude and they wanted to prove just how large the giants were. They missed one of the coolest experiences Large Israeli grapes, because of a bad attitude. Because of a bad attitude, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, because of a, that you can pick up. Well, not the unanimous top three, but three that are super popular Treatise number six of the Chovos HaLevavos, authored by Rabbeinu Bachia Ibn Pekuda, which tells us all about the unity of God and how to be devoted to God and how to repent to God.

Speaker 1: 14:50

It has 10 separate sections and, in section three, correction in section six, called Shar Hachnia, submission in front of God. Treatise number six tells a famous Mashal, a parable, a story. It sheds light on this concept. Let's take the story as an adult, even though we've probably heard it as a kid the Ne'er Mar'al Echol Menachasidim. I quote it's said about one pious folk, one pious rabbi, she'avar al nevelas kelev.

Speaker 1: 15:27

They walk past a roadkill. The pious man is walking past a roadkill. The pious man is walking past a carcass of a dog. It's rotting, it's foul-smelling. Could you imagine the blood and guts, the tail, the fur? Oy, horrible. It probably smells wretched, extremely foul-smelling carcass of a dog. Smells wretched, mesrachas ma'od, extremely foul-smelling carcass of a dog. V'omru loit al mida. Of the students not walking next to the pious Rebbe said Kama mesrachas nevei lozos Ech, how disgusting is this carcass, zois omer lohem. And in response the Rebbe said the pious man said how white are the dog's teeth? The students were embarrassed and regretted how they had spoken so ill about the dead dog.

Speaker 1: 16:33

Karkis, the Kevan Shehu, genai L'saper, b'genos Kelev Mase, concludes the Khovos Alevavos, since it's a Genai, it's bad, it's disgusting, it's pathetic to talk negatively, to talk negatively, foully, disdainfully, upon a dead dog Carcass. Kol sheken ba'odam chai. How could he ever talk bad about a living person? Not only is it not a dog, but it's a person. Not only is it not dead, but it's alive. V'kevan shehu tov l'shabeach, niv laskelev b'loy ven shenia she neha.

Speaker 1: 17:11

And since you see the pious man, it's good. He finds the good, he has the good perspective to see the beautifully sparkling white teeth of this great Dane, this poodle, this terrier, this poodle, this terrier, certainly all the more so. You should praise, you're obligated, it's obligatory to praise, to extol and to laud a person who thinks and understands. We should take the lesson, as the pious man was teaching, that you should teach your tongue never to speak ill, never to speak poorly. Teach your tongue to speak goodly, positively, and by doing this you can actually install a new motherboard in your mouth and in your head and start seeing the world good, positively.

Speaker 1: 18:23

And he continues to cite three different proofs to his concept. Each one can be unpacked, but the message without the proofs from the psukkim are clear as day. You can even find shockingly shiny, white, beautifully straight teeth, even in the side, the mouth of roadkill, of a dead animal, dog carcass. Because you can choose what to look for and what you find. You can find the good in everything and conversely, you can also choose to have a bad attitude, to find the bad in everything. You want to be a student of Abraham. This is how you live your life.

Speaker 1: 19:15

Avos hey yod tes kol mishiesh biyad shloi shedvaram alol u mital midav shel avromo vinu u shloi shedvaram achir mital midav shel bilam arasha, which stands as the very nafke Mina. The two different camps of a good perspective or a bad perspective is the decision whether or not you will be drafted into Avram Avinu's army or you will suffer the consequences and have to go to Slytherin play for the Red Sox or hang out with Bilaam's camp. What will decide this draft? Out with Bilaam's camp? What will decide this draft? A good eye, a good perspective, a humble person, a very calm and modest person. That's Abrahamic-like. And the opposite is of Bilaam In Ayin Tova. See the Rambam there. It means to have a stopkus, it means to be content, it means to be joyful in your heart. It means to find the shockingly white, sparkling teeth even inside of the dead animal carcass.

Speaker 1: 20:25

L'hanchil oyavayesh v'atzreisayim amaleh is the proof that the Mishnah uses that God endows goodness to those that love him and see the good. God fills their treasure houses. You inherit this world and the next from a mere good perspective, from a positive outlook. How is the question? How does one gain this attribute? The answer is to train yourself, the same way that there is to learn any skill. It's to do it constantly, no matter how hard it is, but it quickly gets easier. How do you start lifting weights? You just pick them up, you start. How do you start to talk? Nicely, you do it once.

Speaker 1: 21:28

Your next situation that you're stuck on the side of the road without any gas. That's your first opportunity to say, wow, at least my car has good air conditioning. You've made the choice to think that way. A good eye. You're enveloping yourself in positivity. You're consciously changing your thought patterns and behaviors.

Speaker 1: 21:59

By this positive outlook, you're taking the high road and making the choice to be a happy and positive person and seeing the world the way. Wait for it. Wait for it. It's intended to be seen. Unlike those that want to tell you the world is a very scary and dark place. Ani chishav, tia l'toiva.

Speaker 1: 22:21

God intended it for good, even people dying left and right of these large giants. It's the mistake of the spies and the spies within us to constantly look for the evil and say, yeah, but what if? Or it could have been. Yeshua and Kalev would find joy in the large fruits, find joy in the air conditioning and music inside of the car with no gas and similarly, like the pious individual, find incredibly, spankingly, shockingly, strikingly white-centered, straight teeth in the mouth of the dog carcass. It doesn't mean you have to ignore the bad in your life. It just means that you're making a conscious decision to focus on the good, and that is your choice. On the good and that is your choice.

Speaker 1: 23:16

Baseball they call it, and maybe this will help us remember the concept and push it down into our hearts. They'll say if the pitcher is about to wind up and throw the ball and it just lands outside the strike zone and the batter chose not to swing, because he had a good eye, because he saw what was coming, he chose to not swing at the pitch, rewarded with a ball call by the umpire, the fans chirping from the crowd good eye, champ. Good eye. Good eye is what we need, no matter what is thrown our way, no matter whether it lands in the strike zone or outside the strike zone. A good eye is required and a bad eye is what destroys and sends children off the derrach faster than you can imagine.

Speaker 1: 24:06

The details of the story from Rav Moshe Feinstein telling the great Magid Rav Yaakov Galinsky, when he got to the Lower East Side, about the state of American Jewry and him lamenting the fact that so many of the children are not religious because their parents, while they were laid off every single Shabbos when they refused to come into work, and that was an incredible undertaking, an act of Mesir HaSnefesh. But some of them had this mindset of it's schwer to be a Jew, it's hard to be Jewish, says the old Yiddish proverb. And these children, they grew up in the lap not of luxury, but in the lap of. In the lap not of luxury, but in the lap of zu schwer zu sein. And the bad perspective, the negative outlook, the depressed and held back and chained in mindset is what pushed so many innocent young Jewish sucklings and adolescents off of the derrach. A bad attitude by the parents, a poor choice Ani chishavtia, ani chashveha, ani choshev l'tova, va'atem choshevu l'rea. It destroys Jewish children and saps energy. You end up like, not the pious man but his students. It ultimately erred pretty significantly in front of their Rebbe when they saw that dog carcass.

Speaker 1: 25:54

Psychologically they call it the blue dot effect. I found that the brain sees one blue dot upon a canvas that's entirely white. That, with the perspective of the natural course of the mind, while many things are going well and problems arise, like a tiny blue dot. You noticed the artwork by this painter and you fixate upon the blue dot and missing all of the incredible blessings that are being portrayed in the perfectly white rest of the canvas.

Speaker 1: 26:38

There is no such thing in failures in our life. There are no such thing as failures in our life, because when you have this proper perspective, which is a positive one, a can-do attitude, a good eye. Every failure is simply a lesson. Every misstep is a new teacher delivering a perfect lecture in your life, tailor-made to you, as to how not to repeat the mistake and to now hone your craft. Beat on your craft to improve. It's your choice. See things as just a disastrous mistake and I can't believe I messed up or choose to see it positively. Choose to find the beautifully white teeth in the dog carcass. Choose to learn from everything and anyone In our generation.

Speaker 1: 27:50

People lament the fact that there are so many challenges the children running off the derrick because of their addiction to their phones. People hyper-obsessed with their technology, Men and women. Men and women not remaining united in harmonious marriages. People looking around for some inspiration during the dark times, wars breaking out Death daily. But it does not mean that we're chained to a bad perspective. In fact, it only should be seen a taiva.

Speaker 1: 28:44

What I mean with this precise point is that it's an opportunity to respond the way that you'll be happy tomorrow and the way that you respond today. You're always going to be able to look back and say during times of crisis what did I do? How did I see it? Did I see it as opportunity to say more, to heal him, to wake up earlier, to push myself more, to have more guests? Did I see it as an as setbacks and urrs, or do I see them as I live in a generation that no one has ever been successful in? I have more Nisionos than Rebbe Akiva Eger and the great Rebbe Chaim Brisker and the Nitziv. I have to sit down and learn Torah and focus on what I need to focus on, even when there's endless entertainment in my pocket. But that opportunity to choose the good against all of the overwhelming evil and narashkite in the world is an incredible opportunity that very few have or had.

Speaker 1: 30:21

It's not so severe to be a Yid. It's gishmak to be a Yid With a positivity and with a singing and a rejoicing and a noticing of the white teeth and a noticing of that, even people falling dead, dead giants left and right, seeing that God intended it for the good. That will be your life's decision, whether you live positively or negatively, or whether you'll be a part of Yehoshua and Kalev's group or a part of the other spies that we probably can't reference their names off the top of our head because they are more infamous and those names don't stick in the head like Yehoshua and Kalev's do. They just saw gargantuan, massive man-eating fruit as opposed to delicious grapes that can be used for a fantastic sangria.

Speaker 1: 31:21

Choose to see the world positively. Choose to find the good. Don't ignore the evil, but just love the ac and the music inside of your car that has no gas. It's a choice to be happy. It's a choice to have a proper perspective. It's a choice to see life this way. And if we start to do something good and to see the world in a positive light, find the good in others and in ourselves, it'll make the world that much better, it'll make us that much better and maybe even that'll put us over the top to put an end to all of these wars and end to this bitterly long gullus, and maybe even we'll merit to see the coming of Moshiach when he's coming around that mountain on that donkey to bring the ultimate redemption.