Miryam's Space

This Torah in the memory of HaRav Henry Tzvi Weiner, z’l’ from who started me on my adult Jewish path, and from whom I learned some of this Torah a long time ago, and the Hebrew word for grasshopper: chagivim.

Sh’lach L’chah means “send out for yourselves”, and the Israelite leaders were sent to spy the land. The other emissaries that they sent were words from their mouths. And these words carried a message about the land, that it was scary. These words of fear resulted in an entire generation wandering in the wilderness, unable to enter a land Divinely promised – appropriate- karma for sure.

But what was so bad about their words? Certainly some of the things the spies said were not so bad: Isn’t it just humility when they say “we’re not good enough” And fear is only natural, only human, as is the desire to protect self and family. That land is so harsh it devours its settlers, and the people who live there are Giants, and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we were in their eyes.” You can follow in this source sheet in Sefaria.

Besides the fear, do you hear the lie in the words? They could not know how they looked in someone else’s eyes!

What these folks did witness with their own eyes: redemption at the sea and revelation at Sinai. What a gift! Think back on a moment in your own life of a great spiritual encounter: perhaps the birth of a child, or standing on the rim of the grand canyon.  What do you do with that inspiration?  You want to hold it, to let it guide your life. In Sh’lach instead, words inspire fear, and fear leads to violence.  Soon the whole community threatened to pelt Joshua and  Caleb with stones (Numbers 14:10)

In Rabbi Jill Hammer’s class and book on sefer Yetzirah, we’ve learned that G!d used elemental letters to create the parts of the natural world, and Aleph is a mother letter forming Air, and G!d carves (chakak) creation from the air.  I asked “how can one carve air?” Rav Jill replied that with the process of speech both we and G!d carve the air. A stunning answer: speech creates worlds! And not just what you say, but in how you say it: are the words said with love?  As a teacher, I carry with me the great Maya Angelou quote: ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, … but people will never forget how you made them feel.’

We live in challenging times, the truth is for sale – Lies are peddled today for profit or power. And fear and is the emotion that sells. And fear becomes hate.

Conspiracy theories abound about vaccines, and stolen elections. Troubling times.

Perhaps worst of all are the lies we tell about ourselves, like those of the Israelites. They become stumbling blocks: “I’m not good enough, I am worthless” Perhaps they internalize harsh words others told you. According to Sforno, the Israelites thought G!d hated them for their sins, and so were bringing them to die. Perhaps these former slaves have internalized the hateful words of their brutal slave masters.

So how can we counter these feelings? How remember we are children of the Divine, and how hold on to the moments of clarity and inspiration?

Immediately following the Israelite threat to stone Joshua and Caleb Torah tells: then the Presence of the LORD appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. A covenant of G!d’s forgiveness, and a technique to help us remember our inspiration, instead of fear: the Tzitzit. Firstly, says Rashi, it helps us to see. And perhaps see ourselves more clearly: Rashi likens the tzitzit to the curls of our hair! Nachmanides explains that they help us remember, help us to resist skepticism and idolatry. How? It’s the blue; which reminds us of creation of land, sea and sky. Creation/the natural world is our anchor to sanity! The Ramban explains:and the profit of ‘eretz’ (earth) is ‘bakol’ (in all): “And what is the eretz? It is that from which the heavens were hewn, and it is the Throne of the Holy One, blessed be He, and it is ‘the precious stone,’ and ‘the sea of wisdom,’ and corresponding to it is the blue thread in a garment of Fringes.  The land will tell its own truth, even the grasshoppers will participate in songs of praise.  Rabbi Arthur Waskow explains the fringes as reminders of many web-like  connections: to one another, to the natural world and to the Divine.  Look at the fringes, and feel the connections! Then live guided by creation’s inspirations, rather than fears.