Parashat Shlach famously tells the story of the “scouts” who go ahead of the Israelite throng to scout out the land before them. More than the land, they are also scouting potential futures for the community. One from each of the tribes that made up the coalition of Israel went forth to explore and come back with a report. With an eye to the people who were there and the potential for agriculture there, ten of the scouts returned with a negative report, doubtful the Israelites could survive there. Yet two returned with a different take. Their words ring out in the first section of the parasha: כִּֽי־יָכ֥וֹל נוּכַ֖ל לָֽהּ – “for we shall surely overcome ‘it’” (Num 13:30).
Now the call to believe in themselves to be able to overcome obstacles and challenges can of course be empowering. It has been used in movements for decades, if not centuries, to foster the belief that “we shall overcome.”
But as we move toward the end of the ninth month – three quarters of a year – of brutal ongoing genocidal violence being done in the name of Jewish safety, we must continue to evaluate what the “it” is that we are trying to overcome.
As the story of the scouts shows, sometimes the need to overcome can be directed in the wrong places – the need for Jewish safety, for example, has for too long been a quest of overcoming an “other” on the heels of trauma experienced elsewhere instead of overcoming that which divides us. The first part of the same verse perhaps offers us a step in the journey toward rightly discerning what indeed needs to be overcome: “Caleb silenced the people…” Here, I read the silencing of “the people” as the various parts of my mind – the ones calling for revenge, the ones calling for isolation, the ones calling for protecting the few over the all, etc. and finding calm for the sake of thoughtful and fully discerned action.
As we move into Shabbat, may we find time and space to connect inside, silence our many internally opposing parts, and find intention in our own movement toward liberation.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
Now the call to believe in themselves to be able to overcome obstacles and challenges can of course be empowering. It has been used in movements for decades, if not centuries, to foster the belief that “we shall overcome.”
But as we move toward the end of the ninth month – three quarters of a year – of brutal ongoing genocidal violence being done in the name of Jewish safety, we must continue to evaluate what the “it” is that we are trying to overcome.
As the story of the scouts shows, sometimes the need to overcome can be directed in the wrong places – the need for Jewish safety, for example, has for too long been a quest of overcoming an “other” on the heels of trauma experienced elsewhere instead of overcoming that which divides us. The first part of the same verse perhaps offers us a step in the journey toward rightly discerning what indeed needs to be overcome: “Caleb silenced the people…” Here, I read the silencing of “the people” as the various parts of my mind – the ones calling for revenge, the ones calling for isolation, the ones calling for protecting the few over the all, etc. and finding calm for the sake of thoughtful and fully discerned action.
As we move into Shabbat, may we find time and space to connect inside, silence our many internally opposing parts, and find intention in our own movement toward liberation.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
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