It’s your choice: D’var Torah for Shelach Lecha

It’s your choice
D’var Torah for Shelach Lecha (Numbers 13:1—15:41)
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
June 4, 2010 22 Sivan 5750

This week’s parasha, Shelach Lecha (Numbers 13:1—15:41), is the mirror image—the reverse, if you will—of another portion in the Torah, this one from the first book, Genesis, chapters 12-17. It’s the part of the story where Abraham is called upon by God to go forth, to leave his home town and move to a place only God knows where, and which God will tell Abraham more about only after he actually gets there. That portion, of course, is “Lech Lecha.”

Now, before you let the gutturals get to you, shelach means “send forth.” Lech, on the other hand, means “go.” In this week’s portion, Shelach Lecha, it isn’t Moses who is told to go to the Promised Land. Instead, Moses is told to send 12 other men out there—all members of an elite leadership group among their Israelite tribes—to scout out the land and come back with a verifiable report.

Of the 12, 10 spies come back bearing unusually large clusters and collections of fruit unheard of in the desert: grapes, figs and pomegranates. In short, they say it is an uncommonly fertile and rich land. On the other hand, the spies also report that the land is densely populated, has highly fortified walled cities, and that it is defended mostly by an army of giants. In fact, they conclude, we felt like grasshoppers next to them. And quite frankly, that’s exactly what they saw us as too. Grasshoppers.

The People of Israel, barely a year after the parting of the Red Sea, become terribly dispirited by the spies’ report. They whine and complain bitterly and are about to stone Moses and Aaron. They plan to choose a new leader who will lead them back to Egypt, a place they call “A land flowing with milk and honey.”

Only 2 of the original 12 spies give the minority opinion. They—Joshua and Caleb—claim that with God’s help, the Israelites can indeed conquer the land.

Like Moses and Aaron, however, they too are booed down and set upon by a violent mob.

At which point God intervenes. Stop motion, everybody stop where you are. Here’s what’s going to happen because of your loss of faith: You are going to wander in the desert for 40 years. One year for each day the spies were out gathering lies about the land and your potential of conquering it. Only a new generation—your children, not you—will inherit the Promised Land. Period, end of discussion. 40 years, set, go.

“But why?” ask the Israelites.

Or rather, the Torah has us ask. What was our failure?

One answer has it that the people still were of slavish mentality. They were as yet unprepared to take the reins of responsibility, to free themselves, to be themselves.

Having lost vision and direction, the Israelites had become unable to act on their own behalf, incapable of defending themselves. They gave in to fear.

What the people needed forty years for was to regain their confidence. To learn how to be free.

But not only that. They also needed to learn how to ignite their faith. Their survival depended on physical strength as well as confident spirituality.

Abraham, back in Genesis chapter 12, has all the faith in the world. In response to God’s calling, he just picks up and goes, heading in the general direction that God tells him. Into the future, if you will. Does he use scouts? No, he goes himself, taking with him his family and as many others as he can. Remember Noah, who only saves himself, his wife, his 3 sons and their wives, and yet lets everything and everybody else drown in the Flood? Abraham does the opposite. He saves as many as he can and together, with him at the head, they all head into the sunset.

In this week’s portion, the spies sent forth by Moses don’t just lack confidence. They are young, they are strong. It isn’t confidence they are lacking in. What they lack is faith. Vision. They imagine seeing fearsome giants. Dragons! Evil sorcerers and witches! They fail to see in the grape cluster so big that it takes two of them to carry, symbolic evidence of their own promise and potential.

Faith is all about seeing the world through a different lens. It’s about seeing potential, not merely what is. It’s about what you are able to do and how you navigate through this moment and the next. Step by step, day by day.

As you head off into the sunset, what do you take with you? What should you take with you?

How do you survive 40 years in the desert?

Easy. The much harder question is how have we Jews made it through nearly 3700 years, not only 40; lost and wandering not only in one desert, but through every region and climate.

It’s through the power of faith. It isn’t enough to be as strong and physically prepared as one can be. It’s not even only about believing in yourself. It’s about being part of a mission. A mission of scouts, if you will, sent out to stake the future, to test out life, thanking God for the good parts but also asking for God’s help in making the other parts better.

Young men of 20 can lose belief and faith in themselves. On the other hand, an old man of 75 can just pick up and go, exactly as—and even more than—God had suggested that he do.

Lech Lecha: “Go forth, if you will.”

Shelach lecha: “send forth, if you will.”

The choice is up to you. With faith, you can go forth and see God’s help. Without it, all you can do is fall further and further behind. It’s your choice.

©2010 Boaz D. Heilman