“The land that we traversed is an
exceedingly good land. If pleased
with us, the Eternal will bring us into that land, a land that flows with milk
and honey….The Eternal is with us. Have no fear of the people there!”
One land, one
scouting trip – two different reports.
The
first, from this week's Torah reading Sh'lach L'cha, is from the majority, ten scouts who returned from their journey seeing
no possibility of success. To
assure that their mission would be a total failure, the text says that “they
spread calumnies - false accounts - among the people.” The Hebrew word for calumnies,
DIBAH, means “whispering, defamation, or an evil report.” Whether the majority of the scouts
whispered or spread their perspective through the Israelite camp like
demagogues, we don’t know.
We know that what they offered was the view of a glass mostly empty,
supporting those people who would have preferred slavery back in Egypt to their
newly found freedom.
Then there was Caleb
and Joshua. The second report I
recited came from Joshua in Chapter 14. In Chapter 13, Caleb simply said, “Let
us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely
overcome it.” Caleb and Joshua amassed the same set of economic and military
data as their companions.
However, they saw something more.
The Talmud claimed that Caleb went to visit the Tombs of the Patriarchs
in Hebron like one of us would visit the graves of our ancestors. There was a familiar and
emotional tie that guided him to view the research results in a different
way. The Etz Hayim commentary
explains, “Caleb alone was able to see the Land not only as it was at the moment
but as what it had meant and would mean in terms of God’s promise to the
patriarchs. They went up to scout
the land – they ascended, not only geographically but to a higher spiritual
level.”
That higher spiritual
level enabled Caleb and his fellow optimist, Joshua, to look at the data with
hope and vision, with a sense that would enable the people to enter the
land. The Etz Hayim
Commentary noted that “what the scouts reported was factually correct but was
not the truth. Truth is more than
a summary of empirical facts. It
must include the response of the soul to those facts, and this is where the
majority of the scouts failed in their duty.”
Rising to a higher level –
going up – means looking at a situation not out of fear but with a lens that
allows us to see potential.
Something that is possible has an equal chance of becoming real or
remaining merely a dream.
The difference is us – our approach, our faith, our creativity, our
energy, and our open-mindedness. Sticking to the literal empirical data led the
Israelites to wander for many more years in the wilderness. The willingness of Caleb and
Joshua to think out of the box and imagine their people meeting the challenges
of a difficult land eventually gave them both positions of respect and
leadership.
So when we as a
congregation conceive of an idea for a new program and make it real, we are
like Caleb and Joshua. The Jewish
Food and Folk Festival is a prime example of how we at Temple Beth-El can do
just that.
When a family decides
to move to a new home or a new community, there is always risk and
uncertainty. There is also the
promise of new opportunities and a refreshed approach to life. Often, the safe course of action
is to stay put. Reasons for
moving may sometimes be economic, but people often move because they are
looking for something more or different in their lives that a new setting can
provide. And there is that Jewish
saying, “M’SHANEH MAKOM, M’SHANEH MAZAL,” change your place, change your stars, or your destiny (mazal means planet)…
or “luck"....translate it any way you want!
And what type of
vision do we have for our nation and the world? A “higher spiritual level,” in Judaism, carries with it
bearing responsibility not just for ourselves but for everyone on the
planet. In a well-known Midrash,
God told Adam and Eve, “The world is here for you. BAL TASHCHIT – do not destroy it.” We attempt to strike a balance between preserving the
environment and finding existing and new sources of energy. We utilize the world’s resources
as many people seek ways to assure that they won’t run out. We see inequality between people who are at various levels of
socio-economic status and are reminded by Maimonides that the highest degree of
tzedakah is to assure that all people are self-supporting, where, ideally, no
one gets left behind. We see
inequality in the ways people treat each other and realize that while dignity
comes from within, it also can be a gift from one person to another. The Torah teaches us to respect
our enemies even if we don’t like or love them. It directs us to love our neighbor and the stranger as
ourselves. Those
aspects of the vision embodied in Judaism can take us to a higher level from
which we can look at data from any source and realize that facts do not have to
tie our hands. Facts can
lead us to truths that we will make real with open hands, open minds, open
hearts and with a generosity of spirit.
So this Torah reading
challenges us to think broadly, to be open to the potential that is in front of
our eyes, and to understand that we will reach whatever promised land we seek,
even against insurmountable odds, when we turn our fear and despair into faith
and hope. So may we do – and let
us say Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment