The Torah portion we just heard read in Hebrew along with
the English translation tells of the reports given by two groups of spies who
went into the Land of Canaan to scout it out!
The larger group of 10 came back with a very negative view of the
Israelite’s ability to successfully settle in the land. Their words sewed fear
and doubt in the hearts of those who heard them. The smaller group of 2 came back with a very
positive view of their ability to enter Canaan. They spoke words that built the
morale of the listeners.
Some
might look at the report given by the 10 spies and claim that it was fake
news. It was designed to promote a point
of view that would merely align with the thoughts of the individuals back in
the camp who still wished that they had never left Egypt. Some might say that the 10 men selected for
the job of scouting out the land were not qualified to do so in the first place. They were only chosen because of their high status
within the group. They were chosen
because they were the princes of the tribes, not because they were skilled at
the task that they were sent to accomplish.
In the Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 35 a, a different interpretation was
given. It was felt that if the ten “ came back with evil counsel,
they must have gone with evil counsel too.”
“ In other words, the ten wicked scouts must have left on their mission
predisposed to the notion that the Land was inhospitable — and everything they
saw there only confirmed that bias.” (Rabbi Joseph A Skloot)
A key to understanding the pessimism of
the 10 spies is that they viewed themselves as weak. “We saw the Nefilim there – the Anakim – we looked
grasshoppers to ourselves and so we must have looked to them.” It is not
that they didn’t see a land flowing with milk and honey just as Caleb and
Joshua did, it is that they saw themselves as being weak. Joshua and Caleb did not negate the report of
seeing the challenges in the land, yet their response was, “Aloh na’aleh – let us go
up and gain possession of it…” In other words, they were basically saying: “We
can face any challenge.” Because they saw the Israelites as strong – they
believed they could succeed. (Rabbi Mark Greenspan) Joshua and Caleb exhibited the courage to
try.
What a difference there was between
the two attitudes of each of these groups, seeing the same sights, experiencing
the same land, yet coming up with totally different interpretations of what
should and could happen next.
Sometimes I wonder why one set of individuals
approached life as pessimists and the other approached life as optimists. One explanation I read this week stated that the
spies “had just escaped from Egypt and a life of slavery. Experiences
like that were not easily forgotten. Indeed, after some 200 years of
oppression and back-breaking labor, they had no experience with what “normal”
or what “freedom” should feel like.” In their eyes as a result of the
experience of slavery, they saw themselves as small, like grasshoppers (Rabbi
Foster Kawaler) Joshua and Caleb on the other hand, focused instead on their recent
experience at Sinai which left them feeling that the promises of HaShem would
continue to lift them out of the drudgery of slavery that they had experienced.
I wonder if a psychologist were to
look at the ten spies today, if they would not say that they were suffering
from PTSD, post traumatic stress syndrome.
Their approach to the future was colored by their experience of the past
which was without hope until G-d redeemed the Israelites from their bondage in
Egypt. But even with the redemption
there was not smooth sailing. They were
chased by chariots filled with Pharoah’s men, spent time in a wilderness where
their only sustenance was provided by G-d.
They had not learned to trust, to have bitachon, active faith in G-d. The trauma of the past was crippling their
move forward into the future. On the same hand, the psychologists might look at
the two spies and label them as individuals who experienced post traumatic
growth. In other words, they too
experienced the demeaning stress of slavery, the chariots chasing them towards
the Sea of Reeds, and the only sustenance in the wilderness being provided by
G-d. Perhaps it is possible that what
they learned from their experiences was that as awful as these circumstances
were, they were able to persevere. They seem to have figured out that they were
up to the challenges they would meet and they could place their trust in G-d .
In modern terminology Joshua
and Caleb exhibited resiliency. Joshua was
able to go on to become a true leader of the Israelites because he had what it
takes to focus on the positive under trying conditions. He had the self-confidence to take on a challenging task. He also
had optimistic expectations about succeeding in the future, and hope, namely
the ability to persevere towards his goals.
How does Judaism
help us adapt well in the face of adversity,
trauma, tragedy, threats and even significant sources of stress?” Think about the crises and renewal scenarios
with which we have been faced.
What about humor? How does that help the Jewish psyche?
What adaptations has Judaism made over the
centuries that you think have added to our resiliency?
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