JUNE 18 • 2020 | 27
and has made a meaningful
effort toward progress. We must
do better.
That same year, you were the
youngest campaign worker
for the Detroit field office of
the Clinton/Gore campaign
— even taking off election day
from school to hold a giant
campaign sign at 9 Mile and
Greenfield. What was it about
your upbringing that guided
your early perspectives about
politics?
Oh goodness, that was a long
time ago. I was 16 years old that
year, and I had been stuffing
envelopes for campaigns since
I was 8. I grew up with parents
who did such an important
thing — contrary to what many
kids are taught, they raised us
to actively talk about religion
and politics at the dinner table.
Kids need to be able to engage,
form opinions, be able to defend
them and be open to evolve their
views.
Your business resides entirely
in the city of Detroit. What do
you think is most misunder-
stood about being an entrepre-
neur in Detroit?
Although it’
s not as frequent
as it used to be, I’
m often asked
“is it safe” to visit my shop. I’
ve
always felt safe and, more impor-
tantly, like part of the communi-
ty here. I actually felt less safe in
the suburbs.
Another common miscon-
ception about doing business in
Detroit: Folks think the streets
are paved with gold. I wish I
could report that’
s true! But just
like anywhere else, you have to
work hard and know your mar-
ket.
You have also been a student
in Detroit and a resident of the
city. What perspective would
you share with a younger mem-
ber of the community inter-
ested in living and being more
involved in Detroit?
If you’
re new here, be inten-
tional about forming relation-
ships with longtime residents.
Listen to them. Respect the
context you’
re moving into. And
despite the tired narratives, you’
ll
then realize this is one of the
richest cities in America that you
can have the privilege of living
in.
If you were to make a best
guess, how long do you envi-
sion the COVID-19 situation
will have the state government
restrict some aspect of business
activity?
We need to really move
beyond the orthodoxies of how
we see our businesses and how
we ran them before. If there are
restrictions in the name of giving
us communities to come back
to, we should try to figure out
how to evolve our businesses
alongside them. COVID-19 has
really redefined how we will have
to live in the coming months and
years (with masks, distanced,
avoiding large gatherings, etc.).
The more we do now to stop
the spread and stay safe, the less
time we will have to worry about
restrictions.
What do you most look for-
ward to doing as more busi-
nesses open their doors for
customers?
Sorry, I couldn’
t hear your
question over my overwhelm-
ing need to get a pedicure from
Rouge in Ferndale.
S
ometimes fear is our
friend. Without fear, we’
d
walk blindly into danger-
ous situations oblivious to the
consequences. But misdirected
fear is dangerous. Fear’
s emo-
tional pull does not lend itself
to cool, thoughtful reflection.
In this week’
s portion, mis-
directed fear leads to disaster.
God tells Moses to appoint a
blue-ribbon team to scout the
land. The party returns after 40
days unharmed.
Yet, on their return, they
terrify the Israelites with
bone-chilling reports of fierce
giants who would crush them
like grasshoppers. Once fear is
triggered, even by “fake news,”
all common sense disappears.
So, when Caleb and Joshua
try to give a more accurate
account, admonishing the
people not to fear, the Israelites
threaten to pelt the truth tellers
with stones.
Finally, God intervenes,
sending a plague to eradicate
the fearmongering scouts, then
proclaiming that the conse-
quence of the people’
s lack of
faith in everything except their
own terror is to wander
aimlessly through the
desert for 40 years. An
entire generation would
need to die out before
their children could
finally enter the land.
Now, one thing as
bad as fearing when
there’
s nothing to fear is
foolhardy recklessness
when the danger is real.
So, when people learned
their fate, they attempt-
ed to demonstrate their
courage by marching
on a rogue skirmish
into hill country, only to be
massacred by Amalekites and
Canaanites.
This story is relevant today.
The brutal murder of George
Floyd was one of countless
attacks on innocent African
Americans, attacks prompt-
ed by prejudice, ignorance
and fear. Sometimes even the
well-intentioned resort to lethal
force out of fear.
Fear can be like light-
ning, seeking to diffuse
its charge at the nearest
target: the Chinese stu-
dent on the street blamed
for COVID-19; the black
physician pulled off the
highway for no reason;
the synagogue whose sup-
port of HIAS feeds into a
nativist conspiracy theory
that Jews are master-
minding the demographic
shift toward a non-white
majority.
Foolhardy reckless-
ness is fear’
s twin sibling, an
equal and opposite reaction as
demonstrated by the desperate
Israelite attack on the hill coun-
try. Ignoring sensible health
precautions during a pandemic
is also a prime example.
How do we know whether
to believe the scouts’
account
of potential dangers or the
optimistic report of Joshua and
Caleb? In our media-overload-
ed world, we need to cultivate
the skill to scrutinize our infor-
mation channels and evaluate
their reliability. We also need to
calm our emotional reactions
so we can hear the still, small
voice of our inner wisdom. On
today’
s major issues of racism,
climate change and virulent
new strains of disease, we have
already wandered in the wil-
derness for more than 40 years.
Now is the time to act wisely
and compassionately so that
both we and our children can
enjoy the promise of caring and
healthy society.
Rabbi Michael Zimmerman recently
retired after 17 years as rabbi of
Reconstructionist Congregation
Kehillat Israel in Lansing.
Parshat
Shelach
Lecha:
Numbers
13:1-15:41;
Joshua
2:1-24.
Rabbi Michael
Zimmerman
Fear Causes Misdirection
Spirit
torah portion
continued from page 26