MATTOT-MASEI 5779
YESTERDAY'S MISTAKES FOREVER WITH US?
August 1, 2019
29 Tammuz 5779
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it… George Santayana (1863 – 1952)
Reuben and Gad, two of the strongest tribes, possessing large herds of cattle, were enamored of the fertile grazing land east of the Jordan. They approached Moses, even as he was preparing the Israelites to cross the Jordan to begin in the battle for Canaan, requesting that they be granted this area, in place of their inheritance in the Promised Land. He denied their request for good historical reasons. Should these two powerful tribes shy away from the future battle, it would shake the confidence of the entire people. He recounted for them the tragedy 40 years earlier when 10 of the 12 scouts returned from Canaan and spoke of its strongly fortified cities and its mighty warriors. The dismayed Israelites lost faith in God's assurance that they would succeed. Then followed the divine edict: the generation of the Exodus would perish during a forty-year trek in the desert.
It was your fathers' generation, Moses pointed out to the two tribes, that was expected to have faith in God's deliverance, and your intended dereliction could well create another panic to be followed by another 40 years in the desert.
Moses was determined to learn from yesterday's mistakes, lest they be repeated in that particular moment in history. While a valid caveat, it runs the risk of freezing the status quo in place; no two situations are totally alike. External circumstances are rarely, if ever, exactly replicated, and people also change, albeit imperceptibly.
Would the departure of the two tribes have unleashed community-wide despair? Would the Israelites, who had successfully marched through the desert, defeated powerful kingdoms in their wake and firmly believed God was on their side, have been dissuaded from crossing the Jordan? Obviously, we will never know.
Moses resolved the issue by assuring the two tribes that, if they joined their brethren in the final battles for Canaan, the desired land would be theirs. The tribes did join in the battle and, following victory, Joshua, then the leader of the people, fulfilled Moses' promise.
The past, however, seldom disappears from memory, and often poses a significant challenge. Do we look at a past failure as an inevitable future outcome? I recall staff meetings when an idea would be introduced only to be summarily dismissed by more senior member with the refrain, "We tried it years ago and it just didn't work. Why opt for another failure today?" Often, following a spirited and open debate, it became apparent that there had been significant changes in synagogue population, shifts in attitudes or just an increase in enthusiasm. The old/new program would be adopted. At times, as predicted, it failed, but surprisingly, it often succeeded.
Historical analogies are valid and helpful. The caveat, however, is that too much focus on past failures blurs our vision from inevitably altered landscapes. Ecclesiastes reminds us, "The wise man's eyes are in his head" (Ecc. 2: 14). Hopefully, we are blessed with eyes to alert us, not only to the ever-present possibility of the recurrence of past dangers, but also to the possibility and realities of new forces, of new challenges and, obviously, of new times.
—
From the holy city of Jerusalem, my best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach, a Shabbat of peace and blessing.
Rabbi Arnold M Goodman
BALAK 5779
PROPHET OR CRITIC – FLEE?
July 18, 2019
15 Tamuz 5779
Balak the king of Moab was frightened by the successful Israelite march through the desert that was nearing his kingdom. Convinced that this posed a threat to Moab, he turned to Balaam, a famed prophet, to curse the Israelites. In return he promised to reward him with great honor, to which Balaam responded that even assured a house filled with gold and silver, he could only speak the words God placed in his mouth. Balak, nonetheless, succeeded in bringing the prophet to the hills overlooking the Israelite camp, from where he could utter his curses. What came forth from his mouth, however, were God's praises and blessings.
A furious and frustrated Balak dismissed Balaam, "flee to your place" and reminded him, "you have forsaken the honor I was prepared to bestow upon you." Balaam reminded Balak that even if given a house filed with gold and silver, he could only utter what God had placed in his mouth.
Unlike the great biblical prophets, known for their total commitment to social justice, Balaam was a prophet for hire who failed to deliver for his royal patron.
The prophet, Amos, emigrated from the southern Kingdom of Judea to the northern Kingdom of Samaria, where he emerged as a vocal and unyielding critic of the corruption and malfeasance of both the royal house and the religious establishment. His prediction of the inevitable destruction of the kingdom and the exile of its people jarred the royal court and the corrupt religious leadership.
A furious Amaziah, Samaria's High Priest, thus lashed out at Amos, "O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there"(Amos 7:12). Amaziah demeaned Amos as but a prophet for hire who would easily earn his bread in Judea by speaking ill of its rival, Samaria.
Amos, however, was it not on anyone's payroll. He was an articulate critic challenging immoral and corrupt leadership. He warned his contemporaries that continuing their policies would inevitably lead to destruction and exile. Amos was not silenced; he continued speaking out against the self-righteousness not only of the leadership but of a large segment of the population.
There are no prophets in our day, but there are articulate critics who challenge leadership and condemn what they perceive to be corrupt and immoral behavior. Totalitarian societies silence such men and women by imprisonment, exile and, at times, by execution. Democracies, in contrast, are committed to free speech and the open marketplace of ideas.
There is an echo of Amaziah in the President's taunting response to the four Congresswoman (three of whom are natural born citizens and the fourth naturalized), that their open challenges to his policies are proof that don't like America and should return to the benighted and corrupt countries from where they came. The public will ultimately pass judgment on both the President and his critics, but one hopes that their rights as citizens will never be compromised.
Whether or not we agree with them, whether or not we embrace their policies, each of us as Americans has a stake in the outcome of this confrontation. Each of us has a responsibility to preserve and protect the freedoms that truly make, and keep, America great.
—
From the holy city of Jerusalem my best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach, a Shabbat of peace and blessing.
Rabbi Arnold M Goodman
