Shelach Lekha (שלח לך – send for you), Numbers 13:1–15:41.
God grants the request of the people to send explorers who, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, consider the conquest of Canaan impossible1. Forty years later, Joshua commissions two explorers (haftara Joshua 2:1–24):
א וַיִּשְׁלַח יְהוֹשֻׁעַ-בִּן-נוּן מִן-הַשִּׁטִּים שְׁנַיִם-אֲנָשִׁים מְרַגְּלִים, חֶרֶשׁ לֵאמֹר, לְכוּ רְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-יְרִיחוֹ
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent secretly from Shittim two explorers, saying to them,
“Go, examine the land, especially Jericho”. […]
Tel Jericho is the site of the ancient city conquered by Joshua. Located near Tel Jericho, the Synagogue2 Shalom Al Yisrael (Peace on Israel) dates from the end of the 6th century century. The mosaic inscription at the entrance to the synagogue is a blessing for all members of the community. This blessing is crowned with 32 (gematria of לב – heart) circles (symbol of the unit) and 32 squares (symbol of rigor). Red (emotion) and green (logical) hearts dot the rest of the mosaic. In the middle of the mosaic, a circle. In the center of this circle, a menorah (holiness) flanked by a shofar (prayer) and a lulav (unit). Below the menorah is the inscription שלום על ישראל (Shalom Al Israel – Peace on Israel) and above, a parallelogram of colored squares surmounted by a semicircle, strangely resembles the plan of a synagogue with the ark.
1 This denigration and lamentations of the Children of Israel will cause the people to wander, for 40 years old, in the desert.
2 Discovered in 1936 by archaeologist Dimitri Constantine Baramki (1909-1984). One tradition holds that this is the place where Joshua met the leader of D.’s militia before setting out to conquer Jericho (Joshua 5:13).