Shelach / שלך

Parshat Shelach is "schelached-full" of important stories and halachot, but the famous story of the spies calls out for our attention. Especially at this time, when anyone who follows the news at all is inundated with dire predictions and absolutist pronunciations the story of the מרגלים seems extra relevant.

שְׁלַח לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל...

"Send out for yourself men who will scout the Land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel…"(Numbers 13:2)

The key word is this phrase is the second - שלך לך , send to you, or to yourself. This second word gives us the clue that this is not a simply journey. Moses needs to undergo a spiritual test here, like Abraham when God commanded him to לך לך, go "to yourself" way back in the book of Bereshit.

Rashi points out to that God commands the spies as a reaction to Moses telling him about how the people approached him (Deut 1:22)

וַתִּקְרְבוּן אֵלַי כֻּלְּכֶם וַתֹּאמְרוּ נִשְׁלְחָה אֲנָשִׁים לְפָנֵינוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ לָנוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ

"And all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men ahead of us so that they will search out the land for us.' "

Another way to interpret שלך לך, also found in the Rashi, is to say that this whole mission is basically Moses' prerogative. God would not have commanded this on his own accord. Basically - 'ok, do this, but do it in the way that you think is best, if you really need to do it at all.'

This is an unusual commandment - usually there is not much room for flexibility in what God commands. It also helps us to understand why Moses seems to think the mission is doomed from the start.

Before the spies leave, Moses pulls aside the hero Hoshea son of Nun, for a quick conference. He gives him a new name - יהושע - meaning God will save You. Rashi takes this to mean 'may God save you from the council of the spies.'

A truly interesting moment. Moses in effect chooses to send his best men out on a mission that God seems to be ambivalent about, and also warns/blesses his favorite of the spies not to heed the council of the others. If the other guys council will be so bad, why send them at all?

To me, this seems like a propaganda mission. Moses is all to aware of the bickering and negativeness of B'nai Israel, and he is worried that all may not be totally smooth sailing on the way to / once they enter the land. His "mixed multitude" tends to find the negative in everything, and is quick to find fault, especially with Moses and Aaron, but also God, so he is hoping that hearing tales of the bountiful harvests and weak inhabitants will give the people hope and maybe a vision of the future.

Moses does have a good handle on the fears / hopes of the people, so he must have been trusting his own judgement as a leader, a commendably trait, even if the results do not turn out as planned. And, as we know, the reports of most of the spies are very negative.

This reminds me of a story.

My first experience living in Israel was a six-month volunteering trip where we lived in Nes Ziona and taught English to youngsters. One of the first activities of the trip was a lecture from one of the leaders of the provider company. He talked about Jewish history, why we are here, etc., but finished with an antidote that made a big impression and has stayed with me ever since.

He said something like 'You can have two kinds of trips here in Israel, it's totally up to you. Despite our best efforts, there WILL BE enough problems, delays, uncomfortable conditions, etc., for you to be totally preoccupied with them. You could easily sit and home, complain, and get very little out of your six months. Or, you can focus on the positives and have the time of your life - it's your call.'

What really struck me about this mini-speech was his certainty that problems would arise. It wasn't that they might - they definitely will! This is such a powerful idea, because it sucks the wind out of the problems. If you're 100% sure that there will be hiccups along the way, you are not surprised when they arise and can deal with them appopriately. They become just small obstacles in the way of getting what we want, not impassable roadblocks.

Sure enough, most of my colleagues sat at home, complained about food/weather/Israeli culture/the program/lack of quality TV/whatever, and were miserable. I, on the other hand, got out in to the country, met tons of people, learned some Hebrew, and had a life changing experience that led me to make Aliyah. I truly believe that Amnon's speech set the tone, and I was able to take everything in stride.

Unfortunately, the spies didn't hear this lecture - and were totally overwhelmed by the negatives. They said

בָּאנוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר שְׁלַחְתָּנוּ, וְגַם זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ הִוא וְזֶה פִּרְיָהּ:

"We came to the land to which you sent us, and it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

אֶפֶס כִּי עַז הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּאָרֶץ וְהֶעָרִים בְּצֻרוֹת גְּדֹלֹת מְאֹד וְגַם יְלִדֵי הָעֲנָק רָאִינוּ שָׁם:

However, the people who inhabit the land are mighty, and the cities are extremely huge and fortified, and there we saw even the offspring of the giant.

(Numbers 27:28)

The English translation doesn't do the stinging quality of the report justice. They describe the land as flowing with milk and honey, and then say אפס,, zero, meaning that all this is for naught, because of the mighty inhabitants, fortifications, etc.

Zero!! This is truly the sin of the spies. It's not a problem to use your senses and understand a challenge, but to totally lose hope and say all is for nothing, especially when you know God is literally leading your way, is truly unforgivable. By using that word, אפס, they are basically saying that all the people's hardships along the way, not to mention God's salvation in Egypt, is for naught.

Our choice of words can have such a powerful effect. Especially if we need to give a less than favorable report, they way that we present it makes all the difference in the world.

To my great sorrow, we live in an increasingly polarized age. The advent of the 24 hour news cycle and social media have an effect of encouraging radical, controversial views, and making idealogical divides harder to bridge. Add to this the fact that our world wide economy is troubled, the international community is paralyzed, and violent conflicts are popping up left and right, and you have a recipe for despair and uninhibited negative speech.

At times like these, we all need to remember the power of a well placed positive word and balanced language. Our perceptions and speech truly turn into reality, so let's remember to take the bad with the good, always accentuate the positives. There are almost always more positives in any given situaion than we realize.

I want to bless everyone here today to be inspired by the words of our ancestor Caleb, son of Ye'fu'neh, - "We can surely go up and take possession of it, for we can indeed overcome it."

Bahaalotecha / בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ

Today I want to focus on one of my favorite Biblical characters, Jethro, who has a small but significant part in this week's portion, Beha'a'lo'techa.

A bit of history: We first meet Jethro, a priest of the Midian people, after Moses escapes from Egypt because he murdered an Egyptian guard who was hitting a Jew. During his wonderings, Moses helps Jethro's daughters out of a sticky situation and waters their flock. When Jethro hears their report of an Egyptian man who helped them out, Jethro basically says "how could you let such a mensch go! Get him over here and let's have a meal together." He may well have had marriage plans from the get-go!

Moses ends up marrying one of his daughters, Zipporah, and Yitro's descendants even warrant a portion of land in Eretz Yisrael - the city of Jericho (Judges 1:16).

Yitro is also said to have made a key contribution to the Jewish lexicon. When Yitro met Moses in the desert after the Exodus, and Moses told him that transpired, both for the good and the bad, Jethro basically responded "Baruch HaShem!" In fact, he was the first to use the word "baruch," meaning blessed or praised, in this most traditional sense.
(Exodus 18:10)

Yitro's most famous Biblical escapade, and the one that earned him his own parsha in the Torah, is when he serves as a kind of judicial consultant and teacher to Moses. Moses is exhausted and stressed out from sitting in judgement of the people all day, so Jethro advises Moses to delegate responsibility in the legal system, allowing local chieftains to rule on routine cases, with more challenging cases getting appealed up the line. Only the most challenging cases find their way to Moses.

We find echoes of this legal system all the way from the Sanhedrin to the United States Judiciary today. Not bad for a former priest of a foreign people who may or may not have ever converted to Judaism! The Talmud debates this question at length, without a definitive answer.

All this brings us to this week's portion: B'nai Israel has been arranged in their traveling formations, inaugurated the Mishkan and are journeying/laying camp in accordance with the coming and goings of the divine cloud that rests above the Mishkan. When the cloud is there, the people stay in camp, and when the cloud "goes up," they break camp and follow Moses. All in all, the movements are coordinated, orderly, and divinely inspired.

One day, Yitro tells Moses:

לֹא אֵלֵךְ כִּי אִם אֶל אַרְצִי וְאֶל מוֹלַדְתִּי אֵלֵךְ:

He said to him, I won't go [to the Promised Land], for I will go to my land and my birthplace. (Numbers 10:30)

As a side note, the argument I referred to earlier over Jethro's conversion is based on his verse - whether or not Jethro is going back to convert his countrymen, or simply to return home.

Anyhow, Moses is extremely distressed by Jethro's request, and counters with a beautiful, though somewhat puzzling reply:

וַיֹּאמֶר, אַל נָא תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָנוּ, כִּי עַל כֵּן יָדַעְתָּ חֲנֹתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְהָיִיתָ לָּנוּ לְעֵינָיִם:

He said, Please don't leave us, for because you are familiar with our encampments in the desert and you will be our guide. (Numbers 10:31)

There are three parts to this statement - don't leave us, you are familiar with our encampments, and you are/will be our guide.

נא תעזוב, don't leave us, is pretty clear. The rest of the verse is trickier.

According to Rashi, 'you are familiar with our encampments' has two possible meanings. The first one is literal, that Jethro is very helpful with finding suitable camping places, because he is more at home in the desert than the Israelites. This explanation is a bit weak to me, because it is none other than God who is deciding when and where B'nai Israel makes camp, so why would Moses need a mortal guide?

That being said, there is a certain parallel to early Zionist history here. When the Halutzim, pioneers, returned to the land, they needed guides that would help them learn the ways the land - it's wadis and oasises, as well as it's food sources. There are numerous stories of these desert Jews who learned Arabic and interacted closely with the Arab population. Besides, someone had to teach these boys from the shtetl how to make real coffee!

Seriously though, Rashi's other explanation, inspired by the Targum, provides serious food for thought. This is that Yitro had seen the miracles in the desert first hand, so now he was one of God's people as well.

If the vision in the "Aleinu" prayer is to come to pass, when all people will know the one true God, Yitro can serve as a model for us to reach out to other faith communities in the world. Have they also not been a witness/partner in God's miracles? Not only do we witness God's miracles every day, but we share an obsession with reading about these very same miracles in our shared history.

Can Yitro serve as religious figure that actually unites people of different religions, as opposed to dividing them?

In fact, Jethro is seen as a prophet is both Islam and the Druze religion.

To Muslims, he is known as Shu'ayb, and is one of only five Arabian prophets mentioned in the Koran. He was known as an "eloquent preacher amongst the prophets" for his rhetorical abilities. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_%28Bible%29) This is strikingly similar to the Jewish story about the man who offered the first formal blessing.

Very little is known of the Druze faith to outsiders, but they apparently believe that Saladin was promised victory over the Crusaders only if he would visit Jethro's tomb, known as Nebi Shu'eib. Overlooking the Kineret, Druze gather there until this day to discuss communal affairs (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/druze.html)

Anyhow, back to our verse, which finishes והיית לנו לעינים. Rashi interprets this to be in the future tense, meaning something like "If anything should be hidden from our eyes, you shall enlighten us."

This reading expands on the idea of inter-religious harmony detailed above, but goes a step further. True, Moses says, we follow a particular way of life which you may not follow, however you are still a great teacher and a religious man that we can learn from.

The belief that revelation is a zero-sum game, that my group has it all and yours has none, leads to a dangerous kind of fundamentalism, self-imposed segregation and violence that we see more and more of everyday, in all corners of the world. The interaction between Moses and Yitro show that there is another way - mutual respect and admiration can win the day.

This does not neccesarily mean that we are all one big happy family - Yitro returns home in the end. His true place is among his own people, in his homeland, and not living as a Jew.

If we can only look at it the right way, perhaps the very same religious understandings that so often drive us apart can provide exactly the kind of elevated consciousness that will one day bring peace to this troubled land.