The name of the Parshah, "Shelach," means "Send.” Moses sends twelve spies to the land of Israel. Forty days later they return, carrying huge fruit, to report on a lush and bountiful land. But ten of the spies warn that the inhabitants of the land are giants and warriors. Only Caleb and Joshua insist that the land can be conquered.

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The people weep that they’d rather return to Egypt. G‑d decrees that Israel’s entry into the land shall be delayed forty years, during which time that entire generation will die out in the desert. 

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The laws of certain offerings are given, as well as the mitzvah to consecrate a portion of the dough to G‑d when making bread. G‑d instructs to place fringes (tzitzit) on the four corners of our garments, so that we should remember to fulfill the mitzvot.

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Chabad.org

Thursday and Friday begin the month of Tammuz. 

Tammuz means heating or furnace, which is an appropriate name being that it falls out during the height of summertime. This month has some very sad days (such as the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem and the beginning of three weeks of mourning.)  At the same time contains other joyous moments (such as the miracle of the war with Joshua and the release from prison of the 6th Chabad Rabbi)

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After escaping Nazi-occupied Paris, and many perilous months in France, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson and his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka boarded the SS Serpa Pinto in Lisbon, Portugal. On Monday, June 23 / Sivan 28 at 10:30 A.M.,  they arrived in New York.

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Shortly after his arrival, the Rebbe's father-in-law, the then Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, appointed him to head the social and educational outreach programs of Chabad-Lubavitch. Thus the Rebbe began his decades-long revolutionary work to revitalize Jewish life in the Western Hemisphere, which spread, by means of the emissaries he dispatched from his New York headquarters, to every part of the world.

Chabad.org 

The holy Baal Shem Tov taught that “Where a person’s thoughts are, that's where he is.” This helps us understand why it's so important to learn about the Redemption! When we are thinking about Moshiach, then in a certain way, we are already there! This also gives us the strength to speed up bringing the Geulah for the entire Jewish nation. 

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Geulah on Earth

Remaining observant while attending a Communist school demanded much creativity on my part. When I would go to school on Monday, after my two-day absence, I was afraid that the other kids would openly laugh at me when they would see me again. I tried to arrive earlier and to walk around near the school so my classmates would see me around and become accustomed to my presence.

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Apart from being noticed for my irregular attendance, there was also the issue of my dress, specifically my head covering and the tzitzis that I wore underneath my shirt. I did not remove the Uzbeki-style cap that I wore when I entered the classroom. However, sometimes the teacher would tell me to remove it. I did not try to defy her and to cause any trouble, but I would place my hand on my head to appear as though I was scratching my head, so as not to remain bareheaded. I would keep my hand in this position until I was seated on my chair.

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Occasionally we would receive medical exams or vaccinations at school, organized by the government. Once, our teacher announced that a nurse would soon enter our classroom to inject us with a vaccine in our backs. Generally, the shots were given to the arm or shoulder, and I became terrified, wondering how I would hide the tzitzis. If I took them off, the entire class would see it, and who knows what would happen.

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At the last minute, instead of waiting for the nurse, I decided to lift my own shirt for the injection, and tried to hide the tzitzis underneath. It didn’t quite work. The nurse, who was a Bucharian Jewess, noticed the strings of the tzitzit protruding from under my shirt and whispered to me in Russian, “You are a good boy, a chachamtchik (little rabbi).”

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Hillel Zaltzman