40 | JUNE 23 • 2022 

SPIRIT

Controlling Anger
A

nd God said, “I 
pardon, as you have 
asked.” 
Though we are months 
from the High Holidays, 
these words bring to mind 
our prayers during the 
months of Elul and 
Tishrei. We confess 
our sin; we share our 
sorrow; we ask for 
forgiveness, and God 
grants us pardon. In 
this week’s portion, 
we find God offering 
pardon to the people 
who have cried out in 
fear and anger after 
hearing the reports of 
the spies.
Ten spies return and 
declare that the land is 
not fit for the people, 
that the land is full of giants. 
Only Caleb and Joshua 
believe that God will protect 
the people — that God 
will provide. In anger, God 
appears to the people in the 
Mishkan, in the Tabernacle, 
and threatens to destroy 
them all. Moses pleads with 
God and God changes God’s 
mind.
Because the spies are so 
overwrought, people often 
miss the lesson here: the 
importance of communication, 
the importance of hearing 
distress and knowing how 
to help another reduce their 
anger in the moment.
Recently, I found myself 
in a group of people 
complaining about a number 
of things; and I found myself 
getting angry. Instead of 
speaking up and expressing 
anger, I stayed quiet and 
contemplated what I could 
do to change myself in the 

moment. A wise person 
commented afterwards 
that perhaps it was an 
opportunity for growth. The 
group needed direction; 
they needed to learn how 
a group conversation 
can be shaped and 
moved forward in a 
compassionate way. 
Getting angry 
would have been 
counterproductive, 
but the group leader 
knowing how to 
refocus and redirect the 
conversation at hand 
would have allowed for 
the group to move past 
the conflict and arrive 
at consensus. 
Too often in our 
lives, we feel anger, 
and rather than addressing 
its root cause we lash out. 
God plans to lash out at the 
people until Moses steps in 
and says, “Wait a minute 
— this is not who You are.” 
In this moment, Moses is 
the mediator between God’s 
anger and the people. 
While we know that 
Moses will ultimately lose 
his opportunity to enter 
the Promised Land because 
of his own anger, showing 
that our ancestors were only 
human, in this moment he is 
the calm one. The one who 
knows that God is better 
than God is acting in this 
moment — that God is “slow 
to anger and abounding in 
kindness; forgiving iniquity 
and transgression …” 
May we all be too slow to 
anger. 

Rabbi Simone Schicker is rabbi at 

Temple B’nai Israel in Kalamazoo.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi 
Simone 
Schicker

Parshat 

Shelach 

Lecha: 

Numbers 

13:1-15:41; 

Joshua 

2:1-24.

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