by George Gazarek
George gave this d’var Friday, July 1.
Nine years ago, on the night of June 8, 2007, I chanted a few lines from the Torah portion for the very first time. I was one of a class of twelve who were celebrating our B’nai Mitzvot at Temple B’rith Kodesh in Rochester, N.Y. The Torah portion was Shelach-Lekha, our Torah portion for this week.
This is the famous story about the twelve spies or scouts that God tells Moses to send into the Promised Land. They are to see what kind of country it is — what the people are like, their towns, the terrain — and they are to bring back some of the fruit of the land. They return after forty days with grape clusters so big that it takes two men to carry them.
Ten of the spies are overcome by fear of the giants they saw in Canaan and advise against going into the land. They have lost faith in God to protect them. Only Joshua and Caleb are willing to advance into the Promised Land. God is disappointed. The ten spies die of the plague, by the will of the Lord, and the Israelites are destined to wander in the desert for forty years until all those who have left Egypt have died, except for Joshua and Caleb.
Most people who know me are aware of my fondness for a nice glass of red wine. And so it came as no surprise that my few lines of Torah that night included the line “Now it happened to be the season of the first ripe grapes.” And yes, the grape harvest in Israel does begin in early June. I have to believe that Joshua and Caleb may have enjoyed a glass of wine or two, that they were so eager to return to the Promised Land.
To go, or not to go, that was the question. On the one hand, God was offering to give us the Promised Land. He demonstrated in recent battles that we would always win with Him at our side. In addition to the milk and honey, God sweetened the deal, with those luscious, freshly harvested grapes. Wow, what a deal. And yet, only Joshua and Caleb wanted to go.
On the other hand, there were those Canaan warriors that appeared to be as giants. They were so large, ten of the scouts said, that we felt like grasshoppers compared to them. And they lived in fortified cities and towns. Even with God’s help, we would certainly perish. The image painted by those ten scouts was so terrifying that the people railed against Moses and Aaron. Can you believe it? Instead of following God’s plan, the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt and slavery under Pharaoh.
Fear is one of our most powerful emotions. Even with God at our side, fear can overcome our best intentions. It can cripple us where we stand and prevent us from doing what we know is right. The battle of good versus evil is lost most often not because of greed, lust, or ignorance, but because of fear. Throughout history, there have always been those who used fear to advance their agenda. The Gestapo in Germany and the KGB in Russia used fear tactics to keep the people in line.
With survival as our strongest drive, how are we to overcome fear and do what is right? I believe that can happen only when we rise above ourselves in defense of a greater good. That greater good can be our family, our community, our country, our religion, our morality, or some philosophical concept that we would be willing to die for. Our martyrs, in fact, are those who have put the greater good ahead of their personal existence.
Unfortunately, both sides in this battle of good versus evil have their martyrs. They both believe that they have sacrificed for the greater good. And so, it is no coincidence that this Torah portion ends with God telling Moses to instruct the Israelite people to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments. Look at it, says God, and recall the commandments of the Lord and observe them, so you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. You will be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God.
May we all have the strength, the patience and the wisdom to overcome our fears and to rise up for the greater good.
Shabbat Shalom