Scrollers Preview - Shlach-L'cha 2013

 Spoiler alert! This week’s Parasha is a huge turning point in the Torah. God instructs Moses to send 12 scouts over the border into the Promised Land to check it out and bring back a report.

Their report strays from the facts and turns into what commentator Nechama Leibowitz calls propaganda. All because of a tiny little word… “but.”  “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. BUT the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the Anakites (giants) there. . . .” (Numbers 13:27-28)

This report raises the anxiety of the Israelites to such a level that Caleb and Joshua, two of the scouts, has to quiet them down, reassuring them that they can “surely overcome it.” But it is too late. The remaining scouts feed on the negativity and fear and begin to blow things out of proportion to the point that the Israelites are ready to turn around and head back to Egypt.

God’s initial response is similar to that following the Golden Calf incident. God wants to destroy the people and start all over with Moses. Moses intervenes and persuades God to pardon the sin of the people. But God does this only on condition that all Israelite adults will be barred from entering the Land. They will be forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the entire generation that knew Egyptian slavery dies off.

What struck me this year was the sense of futility. We began the Book of Numbers with a census of all adults from the age of twenty years and older, as the Israelites prepare to enter and conquer the Land. And now, God instructs Moses to go back through that census and take note that none of those recorded, except for Caleb and Joshua, will enter the land. Only their children will be allowed to enter.

So many questions – There have been failures of faith before, but why now is the punishment so thorough and devastating? Why is there no forgiveness for this generation? Do we see in our own lives the potency of negative messages and information over and above optimism? Can there be times when a positive message overrides negativity and doubt?

Scrollers Preview - Parashat B'ha-alotecha 2013

Pull up a chair! This week’s Parasha is full of good stories.

First, we have a number of sections with instructions for various tasks related to the Tabernacle and the Israelites’ march through the desert. We have instructions for the installation of the Levites for their tasks in the Tabernacle.  Then we learn about Pesach sheini – the second Pesach designated for folks who happened to be in a state of ritual impurity for the Pesach at its regularly scheduled time. Lastly,  we have God’s instructions to Moses to make two silver trumpets to direct the Israelites to assemble or to break camp and march.

And then we get a series of episodes. The first tells of the riffraff who crave meat, which leads all of the Israelites to whine and complain about how they miss the delicious food in Egypt. God and Moses are fed up with the people at this point. God sends enough meat to make a person nauseous, and then kills many people with a plague.

Then we have a story about the delegation and spreading around of Moses’ power. Similar to an episode in the book of Exodus, here, God draws from the spirit that is upon Moses and puts it upon 70 elders.

Lastly, we have the story of Aaron and Miriam questioning Moses’ marriage to a Cushite woman and questioning the primacy of his leadership. Miriam is punished with tzara-at (white scaly skin…)

At least regarding the last three episodes, this parasha focuses a lot on Moses and his style of leadership. In the last episode, the narrator of the Torah comments that Moses Moses was “a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth.” Perhaps we can spend some time thinking about what humility means to us and what role humility plays in good leadership.