Published in the J Weekly of June 11, 2015
This week’s Torah portion, which contains the episode of the 12 spies and its aftermath, presents two distinct and problematic responses to moments of crisis. In the first instance — Israel’s initial response to the report of the spies — the failure lies in the human desire to flee to the past. In the second — Israel’s failed attempt to hasten the entrance into the Promised Land — the failure stems from a misguided insistence to leap into the future. Let me explain.
As you might recall, the Torah portion begins with Moses inviting Israel’s tribes to appoint spies who will go and scout out the land of Israel. Upon their return, 10 of the spies paint a complex picture. While they famously describe the land as “flowing with milk and honey” (Numbers 13:27), the spies also warn the children of Israel of the dangers that lie ahead, asserting that it will not be possible for Israel to conquer the land. Speaking with certainty, they spread fear among the people: “We are unable to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we … The land we passed through to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants … There we saw the giants … In our eyes, we seemed like grassho pers, and so we were in their eyes” (Numbers 13:31-33).
Seized by panic, the Israelites’ response is swift. When they face an uncertain future, their fears cause them to find refuge in the past. What begins with shouts and cries quickly turns into accusations against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites complain: “Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword; our wives and children will be as spoils. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3)
Good old Egypt! This response is astounding. How could the Israelites so quickly forget the travails of Egypt, the cruelty of their oppressors, the deaths of their own male infants in the Nile? And yet, this response is also astoundingly human. It is human, albeit not necessarily wise, to choose the faux comforts and certainties of the past over the uncertainties of the future. It takes courage to face the unknown and wisdom to withstand the temptations of an imperfect and irretrievable past.
Recognizing the Israelites’ human failing, the Holy One is left with little choice but to delay entry into the Promised Land for 40 years. Only a generation that has not been to Egypt, and not misled by an illusory past, will be allowed into the land of promise.
God’s decree is met with another human response the next day. After initially reacting with grief and mourning, the Israelites rose early in the morning with a spontaneous plan. Climbing the top of the mountain, they proclaim: “We are ready to go up to the place of which the Lord spoke, for we have sinned” (Numbers 14:40). With defiance and great enthusiasm, they attempt to begin the conquest of the land, only to encounter a crushing blow from the Amalekites and the Canaanites. The desire to force their way into the land is met with the constraints of reality.
Here, too, the Israelites’ response is astounding. How could they so quickly let go of their fears of the future and leap forward so blindly into uncharted grounds? Yet here, too, the response is once again astoundingly human. It is human, albeit not necessarily wise, to get caught up in grand dreams about the future, forgetting at critical junctures that grand dreams require extraordinary efforts and meticulous planning in advance. It takes courage to face the unknown and wisdom to chart a realistic path from the present to the future.
The Israelites’ two distinct responses serve as an everlasting reminder to each of us. Like them, each of us is tempted at different times in our lives to either flee to our notion of the past or leap forward to our conception of the future. Like the Israelites, we may not remember the past as it truly was. Like the Israelites, our dreams may not match up with the realities of the future. Moments of crisis, however, call each of us to seriously consider the lessons of the past, to take stock of the present and then, and only then, to truly determine a path toward the future.
To see the article in the J Weekly of June 11, 2015, please click here.