Dear TBZ community:
I am grateful to Rav Tiferet for writing last week’s Shabbat N’kabla when I tested positive for Covid. I am also grateful to Noah, Aviva, Josh, Rabbi Sam and Rabbi Mona, for stepping up and taking on so many roles during the past week during shabbat. Thank you to everyone who cheered and supported my family with warm wishes, notes, food, childcare, and who simply had me in their thoughts during the past ten days. Honestly, I was surprised that it took me two and a half years to get Covid! I am grateful for vaccines and for masks and for communities and for all that has been made available to us to keep us safe. I am doing ok now, a bit tired (and yes, I am taking it slowly!), but gratefully healthy and I look forward to being at shul this weekend.
This week’s parasha, Shlach Lecha, recounts the famous story of the 12 scouts that go into the land of Israel and then bring a report back to the people as they prepare to enter the land. Ten of the scouts come back with one report while two others, Yehoshua bin Nun and Caleb ben Yefuneh, have what seems like a very different account.
But truly it is not the accounts that are different but the perspectives.
Yehoshua and Caleb say that the people who inhabit the land are powerful and that the cities are well fortified. They also say that it is a land of honey and milk. Yehoshua and Caleb encourage the people to go forward and to conquer the land. They recognize the challenges and they step up with courage and hope.
The ten scouts see the same challenges but their perspective is very different. They see themselves as small and the challenges much too great. They can not imagine being able to move forward.
וַנְּהִ֤י בְעֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙ כַּֽחֲגָבִ֔ים וְכֵ֥ן הָיִ֖ינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃
...we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.
I have often read this story as a question of perspective, a question of how we face, differently, sometimes the same realites in front of us. And the difference on how we face the story depends on our own story and on our own background.
But this shabbat, I noticed something new, something that I had not noticed before.
Moshe, when he sent the 12 scouts asks them very specific questions:
וּרְאִיתֶם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ מַה־הִוא וְאֶת־הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב עָלֶיהָ הֶחָזָק הוּא הֲרָפֶה הַמְעַט הוּא אִם־רָב
and see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many?
וּמָה הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יֹשֵׁב בָּהּ הֲטוֹבָה הִוא אִם־רָעָה וּמָה הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יוֹשֵׁב בָּהֵנָּה הַבְּמַחֲנִים אִם בְּמִבְצָרִים
Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified?
וּמָה הָאָרֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָה הִוא אִם־רָזָה הֲיֵשׁ־בָּהּ עֵץ אִם־אַיִן
Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not?
Moshe’s questions seem to offer only two options. Moshe asks simply “are things good or bad there?” That there are only two options: either the people are weak or the people are strong; either there are a lot or just a few; either it is good or it is bad. As I noticed the way Moshe frames the questions, I realized that perhaps it is this framing that creates the different narratives that we hear from the ten spies and then from Caleb and Yehoshua. It is as if the possibility of “there is good AND there is bad” is not a possible answer.
I wonder what would have been the response if they had been sent without specific questions. What if Moshe had said, “Go, scout the land, see what you see, experience what you experience and tell me what that is.” Would the answers have been different? Would there have been more than just two options? Would some of them have seen the complexities of the land and the complexities within themselves? Would some of them be able to approach this mission with different eyes?
I know that, like many people, I tend to think in very binary ways regarding the realities that surround me. “The world is falling apart. Everything is bad: gun violence and racism contnue to take lives, reproductive justice is at risk, antisemitism is on the rise, the war in Ukraine rages, the pandemic never ends. You name it - it is bad.” And then I think, “There is good. There is goodness in people. There are people working for good, there is hope and possibility, there are wins, and improvements, there is so much good and blessing in the world.”
Clay Drinko, educator and the author of “Play Your Way Sane” writes in this article: “Binary thinking helps us feel a sense of certainty. In a complex world, binary thinking can feel comforting. The uncertainty of complexity can be scary and anxiety-provoking, so it’s no wonder people fall into binary thinking, especially during uncertain times like we’re currently experiencing.”
I know I fall constantly into binary thinking, in my personal life, in my work life and in my view of the world around me, and that I need to remind myself that only good or only bad doesn’t work. As my coach reminds me often, the most important word in the world is AND. The land, the future, the possibilities ahead of us can be beautiful AND complicated AND so much more.
As I was about to send this message, I heard the news of the Supreme Court overturning Roe & Wade. I am feeling devastated and angry. And yes, seeing all the bad around us, and having a hard time to see the good, the blessing, the hope. But I am reminded that it is a blessing to be part of a community that is committed to this work and to reproductive justice. We knew the decision to overturn Roe was coming, but its arrival is wrenching and upsetting. At TBZ we will continue our fight for a just world, a just country, and for reproductive justice. If you are looking for ways to grieve and be in community with other fellow Jews, join a Jewish communal vigil organized by the National Council of Jewish Women, today at 4:00pm. For more information go here.
Joining many other Jewish communities around the country, Rav Tiferet will host a Zoom Havdalah Ritual for Losing Abortion Access, tomorrow at 9:15pm This will be a havdalah service to mark this moment as a community and to recommit ourselves for the long fight– this work will demand from us not to give up. Join us on zoom here.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful, sweet, and peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom,
