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Spirituality

TORAH PORTION

Faith Overcomes
Timidity, Cynicism

Parshat Shelach Lechah: Numbers
13:1-15:41; Joshua 2:1-24.

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his week's Torah
while others were plagued
portion, Shelach
with anxiety and fear?
Lechah, contains
We all know people who
the story of the 12 scouts.
are fearful of change and
These scouts were desig-
who experience anxiety
nated men from each tribe,
when placed under any
assigned to do some recon-
pressure. Sometimes, we
naissance and check out
encounter people who
the Promised Land. This
have the temperament of
was in preparation for the
a small Chihuahua dog,
Ker en Alpert
end of our wanderings and
where the world looks
Spe cial to the
our eventual re-entry into
large and menacing.
Jew ish News
our ancestral home.
We also know people
The dozen scouts were
who are cynical, who
sent across the border, and what
are loathe to place their toes in the
occurred?
waters of a new experience, but who
Different scouts saw the same
need to see success before getting on
land, but came back with divergent
board a new enterprise.
reports. All of the scouts agreed that
We also have in our communities
the land was capable of being fertile.
those people who suffer from anxi-
The proof was in the
ety and depression.
display of grapes
For them, it is hard
they brought back
to undertake new
for show-and-tell. It
endeavors and hard
was so large that one
to focus on good out-
cluster needed to be
comes.
carried on a giant
We know that
frame.
leadership often
But for most of the
involves a measure of
scouts, the arability
optimism and faith,
of the land was sec-
particularly under
ondary. They were
pressure. And yet,
dismayed with the
we cannot condemn
apparent strength
those who see the
and numbers of the
world through wary,
inhabitants of the
frightened eyes.
land. The idea of
The message of
battles and encounters with strang-
the Torah is the supreme importance
ers filled them with dread, so much
of having leaders who possess the
so that they become frightened and
vision — and how important it is for
anxious and lost faith immediately,
those visionaries to bring those with
begging to be returned to Egypt.
reduced faith into the fold, as our
Yet, Caleb, from the tribe of Judah
endeavors succeed. ❑
(an elite tribe that will later sprout
forth royalty), and Joshua saw the
Keren Alpert is a rabbinic associate at
same land and had a totally different
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
report. The two of them told Moses
that indeed, the land could be recon-
quered. It was not impossible. Yes,
Conversations
the inhabitants possessed strength,
What kind of leadership qualities
and no, it would not be without risk.
do we need now in our nation?
But, indeed, with faith in God, it was
In Israel?
absolutely possible.
In our synagogues?
How could there be such divergent
In our community agencies?
points of view? How could the same
vision inspire faith in two scouts

It is of supreme
import ance to
have le aders who
are visionaries to
bring those with
reduced faith
into the fold.

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