Open a sample Torah reading with full Hebrew text, trope marks, and audio to see how TropeTrainer works.
Practice Parashat Sh'lach with TropeTrainer
Follow along with Hebrew text, trope cantillation marks, and audio at your own pace.
Parashat Sh'lach - פָּרָשַׁת שְׁלַח־לְךָ
Shelach (“Send”) tells the story of Israelite spies journeying into Canaan, the negative report they bring back, and the resulting punishment decreed upon the Israelites: to wander and die in the desert over forty years. It ends with laws about sacrifices, the story of a man who desecrates Shabbat, and the commandment to wear ritual fringes.
Torah Portion: Numbers 13:1-15:41
Parashat Sh'lach is the 37th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Next read on July 3rd, 2027 / 28 Sivan 5787
- Annual Reading
Read Annually
1:
13:1 - 13:20· 20 p’sukim
2:
13:21 - 14:7· 20 p’sukim
3:
14:8 - 14:25· 18 p’sukim
4:
14:26 - 15:7· 27 p’sukim
5:
15:8 - 15:16· 9 p’sukim
6:
15:17 - 15:26· 10 p’sukim
7:
15:27 - 15:41· 15 p’sukim
Maftir:
15:37 - 15:41· 5 p’sukim
Haftarah:
Joshua 2:1 - 2:24· 24 p’sukim
- Triennial Year 1
June 13th, 2026
1:
13:1 - 13:3· 3 p’sukim
2:
13:4 - 13:16· 13 p’sukim
3:
13:17 - 13:20· 4 p’sukim
4:
13:21 - 13:24· 4 p’sukim
5:
13:25 - 13:30· 6 p’sukim
6:
13:31 - 13:33· 3 p’sukim
7:
14:1 - 14:7· 7 p’sukim
Maftir:
14:5 - 14:7· 3 p’sukim
Alternate Haftarah:
Joshua 2:1 - 2:11· 11 p’sukim
- Triennial Year 2
July 3rd, 2027
1:
14:8 - 14:10· 3 p’sukim
2:
14:11 - 14:20· 10 p’sukim
3:
14:21 - 14:25· 5 p’sukim
4:
14:26 - 14:38· 13 p’sukim
5:
14:39 - 14:42· 4 p’sukim
6:
14:43 - 15:3· 6 p’sukim
7:
15:4 - 15:7· 4 p’sukim
Maftir:
15:4 - 15:7· 4 p’sukim
Alternate Haftarah:
Joshua 14:6 - 14:15· 10 p’sukim
- Triennial Year 3
June 17th, 2028
1:
15:8 - 15:10· 3 p’sukim
2:
15:11 - 15:16· 6 p’sukim
3:
15:17 - 15:21· 5 p’sukim
4:
15:22 - 15:26· 5 p’sukim
5:
15:27 - 15:31· 5 p’sukim
6:
15:32 - 15:36· 5 p’sukim
7:
15:37 - 15:41· 5 p’sukim
Maftir:
15:37 - 15:41· 5 p’sukim
Alternate Haftarah:
I Kings 17:1 - 17:16· 16 p’sukim
About Parashat Parashat Sh'lach
At its heart, Shlach is a study in faith versus fear and in how perception shapes reality. The ten spies are not wrong about what they see — fortified cities and powerful inhabitants — but they fail in how they interpret it, concluding the land is unconquerable and even reporting "we were in our own eyes like grasshoppers." Their demoralizing report spreads to the people, illustrating the spiritual danger of fearful groupthink, while Caleb and Joshua model trust that God can deliver on His promise. The decree of forty years' wandering, one year for each day the spies scouted, ties the punishment directly to the failure of vision. Strikingly, the portion closes with the commandment of tzitzit, whose stated purpose is to keep one from "following after your own heart and your own eyes" — which many commentators read as a deliberate corrective to the spies' sin of being led astray by sight.
The Haftarah
The Haftarah is Joshua 2:1-24, the same selection read in most Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities (local custom can occasionally vary, but Joshua 2 is the standard reading). The connection is a pointed contrast of two spy missions: where Moses sends twelve spies who return faithless and doom their generation, Joshua a generation later sends just two spies into Jericho who lodge with Rahab and return with a confident report that "the Lord has delivered the whole land into our hands." The Haftarah thus reads as a redemption (tikkun) of the earlier failure — reconnaissance that leads into the Promised Land rather than away from it.
Notable passages and verses
Shlach contains the third paragraph of the Shema (Numbers 15:37-41), the tzitzit passage recited daily in the morning and evening Shema, making it one of the most familiar texts in the entire Torah. It also includes Numbers 14:18 — "The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression" — a verse woven into the Selichot and High Holiday penitential liturgy. Memorable lines include the spies' self-image "we were in our own eyes like grasshoppers" (Numbers 13:33) and Caleb's defiant faith, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it" (Numbers 13:30). The portion also recounts a man executed for gathering wood on Shabbat (Numbers 15:32-36), and in the Haftarah the figure of Rahab and her scarlet thread tied in the window. Shlach is read on an ordinary Shabbat with no special designation.
Frequently asked questions
What is Parashat Shlach about?
Shlach (Numbers 13:1-15:41) tells how Moses sends twelve spies to scout Canaan; ten return with a fearful report that the land cannot be conquered, while only Caleb and Joshua urge faith. The people's loss of nerve leads God to decree forty years of wandering so that the generation that left Egypt dies in the wilderness. The portion then turns to laws of offerings and separating challah, the story of a man put to death for desecrating Shabbat, and the commandment of tzitzit (ritual fringes). With TropeTrainer you can hear and practice this reading with its trope (cantillation).
What is the haftarah for Shlach?
The Haftarah is Joshua 2:1-24, read in most Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities (a few communities may follow a slightly different custom). It recounts how Joshua sends two spies into Jericho who are sheltered by Rahab and return with a confident, faith-filled report — a deliberate contrast to the faithless twelve spies of the Torah portion. TropeTrainer lets you hear and practice this Haftarah with its trope so you can prepare to chant it.
What are the themes of Shlach?
The central theme is faith versus fear: the spies see the same land but interpret it through dread rather than trust, and their demoralizing report spreads to the whole people. Related themes include perception versus reality, the danger of fearful groupthink, and accountability, with the forty-year decree mirroring the forty days of scouting. The closing commandment of tzitzit — a reminder not to follow after one's own eyes — is widely read as a corrective to the spies' failure of vision. You can hear and practice the full reading with trope on TropeTrainer.
Why does Shlach end with the commandment of tzitzit?
Shlach concludes with the tzitzit passage (Numbers 15:37-41), the third paragraph of the Shema, whose purpose is to be a visual reminder not to follow after one's heart and eyes. Many commentators connect this directly to the spies' sin: where the spies were led astray by what their eyes saw, the fringes redirect sight toward God's commandments, making them a fitting remedy for the portion's central failure. TropeTrainer lets you hear and practice this well-known passage with its trope.
Where to go next
See the complete list of weekly parashot with links to every reading and detail page.
Work through guided lessons on Torah trope cantillation, from basic symbols to advanced phrase patterns.