"In the Dog house"

How long can you hold a grudge? A lifetime? A day? A month? A year? Longer than some dotcoms survived?

If there is nothing we have learned over time, it is that what goes around comes around. Holding a grudge really serves no purpose aside from assuaging one's personal feelings. Having problems with employees and putting them "in the dog house" should have limits too.

This week's parsha, we learn this from Hashem directly in 14:32-35 where the following occurs right after the 12 heads of the tribes had spent 40 days spying on the land of Israel and reporting back that it was a great place, but filled with giants:

32. But as for you, your corpses shall fall in this desert.		לב. וּפִגְרֵיכֶם אַתֶּם יִפְּלוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר הַזֶּה:
33. Your children shall wander in the desert for forty years and bear your defection until the last of your corpses has fallen in the desert.		לג. וּבְנֵיכֶם יִהְיוּ רֹעִים בַּמִּדְבָּר אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה וְנָשְׂאוּ אֶת זְנוּתֵיכֶם עַד תֹּם פִּגְרֵיכֶם בַּמִּדְבָּר:
34. According to the number of days which you toured the Land forty days, a day for each year, you will [thus] bear your iniquities for forty years; thus you will come to know My alienation.		לד. בְּמִסְפַּר הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר תַּרְתֶּם אֶת הָאָרֶץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה תִּשְׂאוּ אֶת עֲו‍ֹנֹתֵיכֶם אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה וִידַעְתֶּם אֶת תְּנוּאָתִי:
35. I, the Lord, have spoken if I will not do this to the entire evil congregation who have assembled against me; in this desert they will end, and there they will die.		לה. אֲנִי יְהֹוָה דִּבַּרְתִּי אִם לֹא | זֹאת אֶעֱשֶׂה לְכָל הָעֵדָה הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת הַנּוֹעָדִים עָלָי בַּמִּדְבָּר הַזֶּה יִתַּמּוּ וְשָׁם יָמֻתוּ:

Yes it is good to be The King but also god to be clear when providing your discourse and punishment. Explain the situation, provide a logical punishment and leave it alone.

Hashem did not walk away from the people, quite the opposite, Hashem made sure the younger generation would learn from the experience and hopefully not repeat the same mistake.

And so should you when you are faced with similar problems in your company. Make an example out of the individual if you must, but make sure everyone knows the reason.
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Parsha Shelach in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 13:1-15:41
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom