Shelach L’cha Num 13:1 – 15:41
Shelach L’cha
Num 13:1 – 15:41
Rabbi Gary Pokras
Israelis are not known as the most patient people in the world. When I lived in Israel in the 90s there were no lines at the bus stop to get on the bus. As the driver opened the door, everyone dove in, and the winner was first up the steps. And there was no stopping to pay before taking our seats. Instead, after the bus was moving, we would pass our fare to the person in front of us all the way to the driver, who would then send our change back (while simultaneously weaving in and out of traffic at dangerously high speeds to get to the next stop as quickly as possible).
How ironic, then, that one of the first Hebrew words I learned in Israel is: “Savlanut (patience).” An Israeli taught it me on the street because I was being impatient about something, and they were impatient with my impatience.
Shelach L’cha is about patience and also about faith. Moses sente twelve scouts (one from each tribe) to the Promised Land. They returned with an accurate but frightening report – that the land was flowing “with milk and honey” and therefore abundant with agricultural resources. It was also settled by large and well-fortified populations. Two of the scouts, Caleb and Joshua, spoke words of optimism and faith – urging the Israelites to trust in God and continue forward. However, the other ten spoke words of despair. The Israelites fell into a panic and even called for a return to Egypt and slavery.
God responded quickly and decreed that, apart from Caleb and Joshua – who showed faith in God – none of the adult Israelites present would make it to the Promised Land. Instead, they would spend the next forty years (the rest of their lives) wandering in the Wilderness. Only their children would inherit the land.
Some contemporary rabbis see this as an act of impatience on behalf of God. If only God had been more patient and loving, there could have been a different outcome. On the surface, this is a compelling argument. In our own lives, we would all benefit from more love and patience – both in giving and in receiving. However, in this case, there is something else in play. The Israelites have spent hundreds of years in Egyptian captivity. They have no memory of what freedom is, or the sacrifices that liberty requires. They are used to others taking care of their needs and telling them what to do. Given this context, their reaction to the news makes sense. It is the only way they knew.
God understood this and determined that because of their “past programming” this generation of Israelites could never learn establish a community that was free. However, their children could. The purpose, then, of the forty years of wandering was not punishment, but rather education. It was an opportunity to raise a new generation in freedom, to help them to grow and to become strong, so that one day they would be able to build a free Jewish nation in the Promised Land.
In this interpretation it was not God who was impatient, but the people. They wanted freedom without doing what it takes to earn it. God’s response was one of savlanut, of patience, teaching us that some things are truly worth the wait.
BeHa’alotecha Num. 8:1 – 12:16
BeHa’alotecha
Num. 8:1 – 12:16
Rabbi Baht Yameem Weiss
In her book, “Leadership in the Wilderness,” Dr. Erica brown writes, “the role of preparation and organization in facing uncertainty cannot be underestimated.” We look to our leaders to guide us in moments of change. Leaders can also become the recipients of blame if anything goes wrong along the way.
But even strong leaders often doubt their abilities. Moses’ relationship with his parents is not mentioned—he grew up in the Egyptian palace, and then becomes a shepherd in the fields. It is his father-in-law, Yitro, who becomes his role model and trusted advisor. Yitro first gives Moses advice in Exodus where he suggests he delegate more of his work so that he doesn’t burn out.
Now in the book of Numbers, God has given Moses very clear instructions about how to begin this journey in the wilderness, following the clouds as an ancient compass to steer the Israelites in the right direction. God has entrusted Moses to be the leader. When God first appeared to Moses, we knew Moses doubted his own abilities, he said that he was slow of speech and was skeptical of his own qualifications for leadership—but God promised that God would be with him, and God did deliver on that promise, bringing ten plagues, freeing the Egyptians from slavery, splitting the sea, providing water in the desert and still, now in Numbers, Moses doubts his own leadership.
It has come to the point in Moses’ journey where he is to leave his father-in-law’s land and venture to the land that God has promised the Israelites. But Moses has become so dependent on Yitro’s guidance and fatherly support.
Our text tells us that
Moses said to Hobab son of Reul the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place which the Lord has said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will be generous with you, for the Lord has promised to be generous with Israel.” ‘I will not go,’ [Hobab] replied to him, ‘but I will return to my native land.’ [Moses] said, ‘Please do not leave us, inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness and can be our guide. So, if you come with us, we will extend the same bounty to you that the Lord extends to us.” (Numbers 10:29-32).
The preceding text tells us that God promised to be Moses’ “guide” by appearing in a form of a cloud to lead the Israelites through the wilderness. So why did Moses need a guide? Was Moses doubting God again or doubting his own abilities to lead on his own?
And who is Hobab? I had always been taught that Hobab was another name for Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law. Yet, Dr. Erica Brown interprets Hobab to be Yitro’s son-therefore Moses’ brother-in-law.
Dr. Erica Brown explains that Hobab is a word that indicates friendship. She says, “it may well have been an honorific or a title that signified closeness, indicating the nature of closeness that Moses enjoyed with his brother-in-law.” I would offer that the same closeness would work if this was, indeed, Yitro, himself, as Brown further explains, “The fact that Moses invited Hobab to join him is no surprise given the relationship that Moses had with his father-in-law, whose counsel he had relied on upon setting up the governance of the camp.
It feels arrogant to disagree with Dr. Brown, as I greatly admire her scholarship, but wouldn’t the fact that Hobab is a nickname of friendship support the fact that this was an affectionate nickname that Moses had for his father-in-law. Either way, whether Hobab was truly Moses’ father-in-law or brother-in-law, the message is the same:
It is only when Hobab indicated that he is not part of Moses’ people but must return to his own that we get a glimpse of the leader’s panic. “Please do not leave us….” Moses pleas. Dr. Brown says that “for all of Moses’ prodigious leadership talents, navigating uncertain territory was not on the list. This was not a polite request for companionship but rather a desperate plea for guidance.”
It is interesting to note that in the verse, יֹּ֕אמֶר אַל־נָ֖א תַּעֲזֹ֣ב אֹתָ֑נוּ כִּ֣י ׀ עַל־כֵּ֣ן יָדַ֗עְתָּ חֲנֹתֵ֙נוּ֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר וְהָיִ֥יתָ לָּ֖נוּ לְעֵינָֽיִם׃
He said, “Please do not leave us, inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness and can be our guide. (Numbers 10:31) the word that is translated as guide לְעֵינָֽיִם eynaim could also be translated as “eyes.” Moses wanted another set of eyes that could see in a place that he could not navigate.
This struck me because this week Rabbi Pokras and I were both asked to look at a document and check its accuracy. Rabbi Pokras mentioned that he would give it to me to look at after he checked it and my response was, “I am happy to look at it, but I trust your opinion.” His answer was interesting– “It never hurts to have another set of eyes to look something over.”
So now I am having an ah-ha moment! Maybe it wasn’t self-doubt that motivated Moses to ask Hobab to remain on the journey with him, perhaps it was for another set of eyes. I can relate to this. I have always worked in partnership with other clergy. It would feel lonely to me to not have someone to roll ideas off of, collaborate with, and to see things I am missing. I’m not sure if that’s my own self-doubt or rather, a lack of arrogance. Moses had the humility to know that partnership is beneficial. As Yitro had told him early on, he didn’t have to do the work alone—he could delegate to other people.
The dialogue ends there so we don’t really know if Horab or Yitro joined him on the journey.
I see this as a metaphor—that ideally, we should have people whose opinions we value to guide us, but there are times when we must trust ourselves to make decisions. Like Moses, sometimes we must walk alone and lead alone. We will encounter trusted advisers along that way, and if we have faith, we know that God is walking with us. It never hurts to ask for help, but we should know that we are capable of taking leadership all by ourselves.
Naso Num. 4:21 – 7:89
Naso
Num. 4:21 – 7:89
Rabbi Gary Pokras
I’m not sure when, exactly, we turned a cultural corner in contemporary secular culture, but at some point “doubling-down” on questionable behavior or decisions became seen as a sign of strength while honestly questioning ourselves on what we have done or said became a sign of weakness. From the standpoint of Jewish tradition and Torah, nothing could be farther from the truth.
This week’s parasha provides a powerful example of the importance of self-reflection and personal accountability for our actions, and how the words we speak matter. In Leviticus we encounter a law about how to handle dishonesty. If someone steals from another and then lies about it under oath, he is required to pay a monetary restitution equal to what he took plus and additional 20% for damages. Then he must bring a guilt offering, which the priest offers up on his behalf. Once this has been done, “… it shall be forgiven him for whatever he may have done to incur guilt thereby.” [Lev. 5:20-26]
In Naso, this law is repeated, with a small but meaningful addition: “Should a man or a woman commit any of the human offenses, to betray the trust of the Lord, that person shall bear guilt. And they shall confess their offenses which they committed, and he shall render back for his guilt the sum of its principal, and a fifth part of it he shall add to it, and give it to him who he wronged …” [Num. 5:6-7]
The first example, from the book of Leviticus, reflects a common practice in the ancient world: that the act of repayment and ritual sacrifice on their own completely repairs a wrong. In this week’s reading that assumption is challenged. It is not enough for us to simply repay our debt. The Hebrew for “shall bear guilt” is v’ashmah hanefesh hahi – literally “he shall feel guilt in his soul.” This is a painful internal process, and a necessary one if we want to change our behavior. However, as Rabbi Shai Held teaches, just feeling guilt is not enough. We must express our remorse through confession.1 The Hebrew verb used for “confess” in the parasha is vihitvadu – which is a reflexive construct. Whereas the priest makes restitution on our behalf in Leviticus, here we must confess ourselves, speaking to those we have harmed. Only then are we able to make restitution and finally ask the priest to make an offering on our behalf. In Naso, the feeling of guilt and the confession take precedence over everything else – without them there can be no ritual forgiveness. The confession becomes essential because it moves us from an internal process to a relational process. In other words, what we say matters. Speaking these words makes us vulnerable, and we might be rejected. It also gives weight to our accountability and opens the possibility to heal some the damage we have caused.
This is not an act of weakness, but of spiritual strength. It requires confidence and faith and heart.
Doubling down is for the weak and the insecure. Torah teaches us that we are stronger and empowers us to act in ways so that we can hold our heads high.