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God wants partners
Torah study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Shlach/Numbers 13:1 - 15:41
As this week's Torah portion opens, we read how God commands the Israelites to "send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people" (Num. 13:2).
The report that emerges from 10 out of 12 scouts is a discouraging one that serves to divert the Israelites from their God-given mission of the conquest of the land of Israel. This tragic transgression - the lack of faith of a people in their God and his promised land - has been responsible for all future Jewish suffering in the various exiles and persecutions which were to befall us, teach our sages. Hence the agonizing question this portion evokes is: Why did God command the sending of scouts in the first place? Why risk a rebellion in the ranks by requesting committee involvement?
Rabbenu Zadok Hakohen of Lublin (1823-1900), a great hassidic master, in his commentary, suggests an analogy between the incident of the scouts and the gift of the second set of tablets bearing the Ten Commandments: in both cases the Almighty was determined to enter into a partnership with the people of his nation.
The first set of tablets, which Moses smashed after the sin of the golden calf, had been "inscribed with the finger of God" (Ex. 31:18), whereas the second tablets were carved by Moses and were created as a result of human involvement
Likewise, the oral law not only accepts, but requires, the direct involvement of the people. Of course, we believe that the major principles and salient laws of the oral Torah were given by God. However, the sages of each generation must actively interpret the Torah and often plumb from its depths great innovative concepts necessary for the needs of that generation.
All of this suggests a Torah which is not divinely perfect, but is rather the result of a living partnership between God and his people. Apparently, the Almighty believed - after the tragic trauma of the golden calf - that only a Torah that involves the active participation of the Israelites could survive the seductive pitfalls of idolatry and immorality.
Similarly, God apparently felt that a mission as important as the conquest of Israel could not take place without the enthusiastic, active participation of the people.
Of course, opening up the process - be it Torah interpretation, or the appointment of a reconnaissance committee - is fraught with danger, but it is a chance that God must take if he wants his nation to be more than marching robots. God didn't want us to receive a Torah on a silver platter, or to be brought into the promised land on silver wings, because God realized that despite the inherent risk that comes from involving the people, excluding them would be a more likely prescription for disaster.
So profoundly subtle is this divine message that independent people must be active partners, rather than acquiescent recipients, that the scouts themselves did not sufficiently understand it. Why did they prefer to stay in the desert? Life in the desert was completely and paternalistically directed by God, who provided manna for food, booths for shelter, a fire by night and cloud by day for decision making as to when and where to move. The conquest and settlement of the land of Israel would cause the Israelites to face danger, make decisions, become inured in the mud of swamp-lands and in the mire of political realities - and they were reluctant, indeed frightened, to enter such a new stage.
But this is what the Almighty really wants for us. When the scouts were commanded "bring back some of the fruit of the land" (Numbers 13:20), this is an allusion, says the Rabbenu Zadok, to the initial fruit which brought disaster upon humanity, the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. The problem with the Garden of Eden was that everything was provided by the Almighty; had we remained in it, there would have been no risks, no challenges, and no real involvement.
We can only return to the Garden of Eden if we remake the world into it, by our own blood, sweat and tears, by humanity assuming the risks and overcoming the obstacles.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Efrat, Israel.
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