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

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