When we face a serious challenge, how do we see it? Perhaps more importantly, when facing that challenge, how do we see ourselves? Are we up to it, or do we wilt in the face of it? The news these days are filled with deep and complicated problems: a loss of faith in our democracy and the seemingly irreconcilable divide between right and left, climate change, the war between Israel and Hamas (and Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran), the rising tide of extremism and prejudice (including, but not exclusively, antisemitism). It might be easy, or tempting to look at these serious, perhaps existential problems, and decide to stick our heads in the sand or to throw up our hands in despair. It may be tempting, but that guarantees a bad outcome and there is an alternative.
This is the situation the Israelites find themselves in this week in our Torah portion. God commands Moses to send 12 spies to scout the Land of Israel and bring a report back to the Israelites. Their report is encouraging, “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.” (Numbers 13:27) But then they add this warning, “we saw the Nephilim [a race of giants, DK] there—the Anakites [another race of giants, DK] are part of the Nephilim—and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” (Numbers 13:33) In other words, the land is very good but we have no chance of conquering it. Not because of the giants who live there, but because they lack the self-confidence, or perhaps the faith, to believe they will prevail, particularly when God has promised the Israelites they will prevail.
It is at this moment, when the Israelites give in to their fear and lack of faith, that God decides that they all must wander in the wilderness until the generation of slavery dies off. Only their offspring will be allowed to enter the Land of Israel. In other words, they imagine a catastrophic outcome and create a self-fulfilling prophecy, dooming themselves to a life of wandering.
Fear is a powerful emotion, it holds great sway over us. But no one accomplished anything great through fear. If we want to address the problems of our times we must not act like ten of the spies, who saw themselves as grasshoppers and gave away their agency. We must be like Joshua and Calev, who despite seeing the same thing the other spies saw, said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.” (Numbers 13:30) The opposite of fear is not courage, but faith: faith in God and faith in our own capacity to overcome the problems of our world and create a better one. Let us have the faith of Joshua and Caleb.
Sh’lach L’cha, Numbers 13:1-15:41; Parashat HaShavua for Shabbat, June 29, 2024
June 28, 2024 by tbhrich • Drashot
When we face a serious challenge, how do we see it? Perhaps more importantly, when facing that challenge, how do we see ourselves? Are we up to it, or do we wilt in the face of it? The news these days are filled with deep and complicated problems: a loss of faith in our democracy and the seemingly irreconcilable divide between right and left, climate change, the war between Israel and Hamas (and Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran), the rising tide of extremism and prejudice (including, but not exclusively, antisemitism). It might be easy, or tempting to look at these serious, perhaps existential problems, and decide to stick our heads in the sand or to throw up our hands in despair. It may be tempting, but that guarantees a bad outcome and there is an alternative.
This is the situation the Israelites find themselves in this week in our Torah portion. God commands Moses to send 12 spies to scout the Land of Israel and bring a report back to the Israelites. Their report is encouraging, “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.” (Numbers 13:27) But then they add this warning, “we saw the Nephilim [a race of giants, DK] there—the Anakites [another race of giants, DK] are part of the Nephilim—and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” (Numbers 13:33) In other words, the land is very good but we have no chance of conquering it. Not because of the giants who live there, but because they lack the self-confidence, or perhaps the faith, to believe they will prevail, particularly when God has promised the Israelites they will prevail.
It is at this moment, when the Israelites give in to their fear and lack of faith, that God decides that they all must wander in the wilderness until the generation of slavery dies off. Only their offspring will be allowed to enter the Land of Israel. In other words, they imagine a catastrophic outcome and create a self-fulfilling prophecy, dooming themselves to a life of wandering.
Fear is a powerful emotion, it holds great sway over us. But no one accomplished anything great through fear. If we want to address the problems of our times we must not act like ten of the spies, who saw themselves as grasshoppers and gave away their agency. We must be like Joshua and Calev, who despite seeing the same thing the other spies saw, said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.” (Numbers 13:30) The opposite of fear is not courage, but faith: faith in God and faith in our own capacity to overcome the problems of our world and create a better one. Let us have the faith of Joshua and Caleb.