This is a fitting description of Dame Vera because she was a symbol of how one person can impact the lives of so many. Who can hear "We'll Meet Again" and not think about its deep resonance in the collective memory of anyone who either lived through the Second World War or learned about it in history? The song, like its singer is also a symbol of 'hope over adversity'.
A few weeks ago, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dame Vera said "simple acts of bravery and sacrifice still define our nation." and the song for which she will always be remembered was even quoted by Her Majesty the Queen who told this nation in April: "We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again."
Dame Vera, the person and the symbol, spoke to and for, all of us.
Its tag-line on posters could read something along the lines of: "12 Spies. 1 Country. 40 Days. Mission Possible?"
This would sit directly below a horizontal row of individual photos of twelve famous actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Henry Cavill, Jake Gylenhaal, Orlando Bloom and others. An actor's name would be emblazoned over each photograph but some reason which I still don't understand, the names and photos underneath wouldn't match each other. Below the title, you would have colourful graphics depicting the spies in different precarious locations, with giants standing astride them impervious to their presence. Your eyes would be immediately drawn to the footer which would display an image depicting two long poles with an oversized bunch of grapes, with most of the actors holding the poles from either ends.
(23) They reached the wadi Eshcol, and there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them—and some pomegranates and figs.
זמורה (lit., AND THEY CUT DOWN FROM THENCE) A BRANCH [AND ONE CLUSTER OF GRAPES] — i.e. a vine branch with a cluster of grapes hanging from it (not as the text might suggest, that they cut a branch and they cut also a cluster of grapes),
וישאהו במוט בשנים AND THEY BARE IT UPON A POLE BETWEEN TWO — From what is implied in the statement “And they bare it upon a pole”, do I not know that it was carried by two men”? why then does it add the word בשנים? It means, not as you assume, “by two men” but “upon two poles”. How was that done? Eight of the spies bore the cluster of grapes. Besides these, one spy took the fig and one the pomegranate, but Joshua and Caleb did not take anything (although all of them were bidden to do so; cf. v. 20), because the very essence of their (the other spies’) intention was only to bring an evil report: “Just as its fruit is extraordinary in size, so is its people extraordinary in size”.
Their report starts off like this:
(26) They went straight to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran, and they made their report to them and to the whole community, as they showed them the fruit of the land. (27) This is what they told him: “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
The symbol speaks for itself. The logical next step would be for the spies and the people to petition Moses to lead them to the land. They weren't far off and could have been there within a very short time.
(כח) אֶ֚פֶס כִּֽי־עַ֣ז הָעָ֔ם הַיֹּשֵׁ֖ב בָּאָ֑רֶץ וְהֶֽעָרִ֗ים בְּצֻר֤וֹת גְּדֹלֹת֙ מְאֹ֔ד וְגַם־יְלִדֵ֥י הָֽעֲנָ֖ק רָאִ֥ינוּ שָֽׁם׃ (כט) עֲמָלֵ֥ק יוֹשֵׁ֖ב בְּאֶ֣רֶץ הַנֶּ֑גֶב וְ֠הַֽחִתִּי וְהַיְבוּסִ֤י וְהָֽאֱמֹרִי֙ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּהָ֔ר וְהַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב עַל־הַיָּ֔ם וְעַ֖ל יַ֥ד הַיַּרְדֵּֽן׃
(28) However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the Anakites there. (29) Amalekites dwell in the Negeb region; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites inhabit the hill country; and Canaanites dwell by the Sea and along the Jordan.”
However, the people who inhabit the country: it is impossible to conquer the land since we cannot defeat its people. Not only are the people tough, but the cities are fortified. The inhabitants of the land, the Amelakites hate us fiercely. They will engage in a pre-emptive war against us so that we should not even get near their borders.
Within the last hour, the spies have re-entered the camp literally bearing the fruits of their labour. They have augmented their description with living, tangible proof of how bountiful the produce is.
What would the spies achieve by spoiling the moment and particularly by referencing the sadistic Amalekites, whose recent attacks had wounded the nation so severely, both physically and psychologically? It's as though they were determined to strip the varnish off the prizes they had garnered during their walking trip.
THE AMALEKITES ABIDE [IN THE LAND OF THE SOUTH] — Because they had already been “burnt” by Amalek, the spies mentioned him first in order to terrify them.
(32) But your carcasses shall drop in this wilderness, (33) while your children roam the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your faithlessness, until the last of your carcasses is down in the wilderness. (34) You shall bear your punishment for forty years, corresponding to the number of days—forty days—that you scouted the land: a year for each day and you shall know my displeasure.
In 'The Merchant of Venice', (Act 2, Scene 7) Portia hands the key to Morocco and he opens the golden casket.
Looking inside he says:" Damn it! What’s this? It’s a skull with a scroll in its empty eye socket. I’ll read it aloud.
(he reads)
“All that glitters (originally written as 'glisters') is not gold..."
The spies could have learned a great deal from the late and great, Dame Vera Lynn, may she rest in peace.
Shabbat Shalom.