Celebrating Israel at 70 has been marked by the annual Walk With Israel Day here in Toronto, and the annual Israel March in New York. Our children decided not to participate as they were anxiously preparing for final exams. Our seventeen year old claimed that she will be showing plenty of support for Israel as she will be spending the year studying there. As her mother began to protest, I gently reminded her that not only will have we already had one daughter spend a year in Israel studying, and now this daughter will spend the upcoming school year in Israel studying; I reminded her that God willing, our two younger children will also choose to take a gap year between high school and university studying in Israel. Before my wife could respond, I also quickly added that our each of our children’s gap year result in thousands of my dollars contributing to the Israeli economy, especially in the form of food products, and whatever else 18-year-olds spend money on while enjoying a gap year in Israel. I feel that Israel has both my emotional, spiritual and economic support. As a result, I have no problem criticizing Israel even if I don’t live there. I am American, I pay my taxes. I don’t live there, but I have every right to criticize the United States. However, in order to offer constructive and thoughtful criticism, one must be educated and informed. Yossi Klein HaLevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He wrote an incredibly insightful article in the May 30th Jewish Week entitled: “Welcome to the Dysfunctional Relationship Between Israelis, American Jews.” Liberal Jews in America and Canada, because they live in the world’s safest diaspora environment have a very distinct perspective. Israelis live in one of the most unsafe neighborhoods in the world, have a very distinct perspective.
This week’s Torah portion is Parsha Shelach Lecha. The Torah portion begins with the narrative of Moshe gathering up twelve spies, one corresponding to each of the twelve tribes, and giving them the mission. The spies are told to investigate the quality of the land – fertile or barren, its inhabitants - warlike or peaceful, the nature of cities –fortified or open? The spies go and investigate and return. Ten spies offer a negative report and two, Caleb and Joshua, offer a positive report. B’nai Yisroel listens to the ten spies with the negative report and fell utterly overwhelmed at the prospect of entering into the land that Hashem promised them. Hysterical, the people beg to return to Egypt. Hashem wants to wipe them all out immediately but Moshe defends the people just like he did after the Golden Calf. So rather than wiping out an entire people Hashem punishes B’nai Yisroel by prohibiting this generation from entering into the land. Eventually, when the slave generation has died out, the generations born in freedom will enter Eretz Canaan. The people hear the punishment and decide they are ready to enter the land. Moshe explains that it is too late since entry into Canaan is ultimately premised upon faith. Then Moshe begins teaching B’nai Yisroel laws specific to and premised upon settlement in the Canaan. First Moshe teaches the Libation Offering as well as Challah. Next, Moshe teaches the laws of public atonement of unintentional idolatry, individual unintentional idolatry, intentional idolatry, a reminder about violating Shabbat and finally the laws of Tzitzit.
The ten spies whom B’nai Yisroel chose to believe did not really bring such a negative report. They explained that the land was fruitful and fertile, there were trees and that it was really quite beautiful. The problem with the report was that it revealed more about the spies and B’nai Yisroel than the land itself. When seeing some of the inhabitants and the physical size of some of those inhabitants. The Ten spies said Vanhi V’Eineinu Ka’CHaGaVim V’Chain Hayinu B’Eineihem – we were like grasshoppers in our eyes and so we were in their eyes. (Num. 13:33) How do the ten spies know how the Nephilim (the Giants) perceive them? Did they ask the Nephilim? The answer to both questions is “No”. No they don’t know how the Nephilim perceive the Ten Spies and “No”, the Ten Spies did not ask the Nephilim. The spies feel small because from their own perspective and self- image, they are small. When they look in a mirror, they see slaves. They don’t see people who stood at Sinai and received the Torah. They don’t see a people who carry a Mishkan with Hashem protecting them and scattering their enemies. They don’t see a people worthy of Hashem’s daily miracles of Manna, and water. Instead they carry with them the burden of two centuries of slavery and being slightly less than human rather than being slightly less than angels. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (The Kotzker Rebbe) explained that this was the root of the spies as well as Bnai Yisroel’s sin. They had no right to consider how others viewed them, nor should they have been at all concerned. How could they consider how others viewed them? The Spies had no perspective or they had a rather limited perspective. They should have all been spiritually strong enough to realize and accept that they were “priests to the nations” and “chosen by God”. After a couple of centuries of slavery they lacked an accurate sense of self perspective. The fact that such spiritual awareness was still lacking even after all the miracles and promises that God made; meant that problem lay with B’nai Yisroel. These former slaves were not ready for the responsibility of land and peoplehood; they lacked a healthy sense of national self-perspective.
Perspective affects not only how we see ourselves but how we deal with the rest of the world. Perspective affects how we deal with our own people. Perspective affects how liberal Jews deal with Right-wing Jews. Perspective affects Orthodox Jews deals with the non-Orthodox Jewish community. Perspective affects how Jews who are 1st and 2nd generation in Canada and the U.S. with their 3rd and 4th generation fellow Jewish Canadian or Jewish American. The Talmudic Sages taught us is that both perspectives are important in order to render a judgment because both majority and the minority perspectives were presented in the Talmud. Klein HaLevi reminds us that throughout history, Jewish identity has managed to thrive by finding a balance between competing perspectives, realizing that the most accurate national perspective was a balanced mix, with each perspective offering a check and a balance to the other. Jewish Identity is only threatened when one perspective begins to dominate and alienate the other.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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