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?
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