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Finding Our Way in an Uncertain World

Parshat Sh'lach Lecha 5771 By Rabbi Mark B Greenspan
Quick, tell me what you think: are you for or against the marriage equality? Should America be allies with Pakistan in its war against al Qaida or not? Should we be fighting overseas or remain at home to defend our borders? Are our taxes too high or should government raise taxes to care for the neediest people in our country? Are you pro-life or pro-choice? Should Israel hold on to the land it took in the six day war or should it give back some land in the interest of peace? If you're having a hard time with these questions, maybe we should try another realm of life: religion. Do you believe in God or are you an atheist? Are the teachings of Judaism 'True' with a capital T? Do you believe in the coming of the Messiah or that our destiny is in our hands? Did God write the Torah as the Bible claims or is it the work of inspired human beings? Yes or no: does God hear and answer our prayers? Still having a hard time? Dont worry, you're not along. The truth is, we live in an uncertain world and the answers to these and other question are not always as clear or certain as we would like. Sometimes the answers are both yes and no and sometimes the answer is, "It depends." We often have a hard time navigating our way through the uncertainties of the world because the world in which we live is more often grey than it is black and white. We often get into trouble when we insist on "yes" and "no," answers to complex social and moral questions. We find a great example of this in our Torah portion this Shabbat. As Landon told us, Moses sends representatives from the twelve tribes to scout out the land of Canaan. He tells them to bring back evidence and report on conditions. "Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns open or fortified? Is the soil rich or poor?" The spies return after forty days with fruit of the land of Israel. Ten of them tell Moses and the people: the land is indeed flowing with milk and honey but we cannot attack them for they are stronger than us.It is a land that devours its inhabitantsthe people are giantswe looked like grasshoppers to ourselves and so we must have looked to them The people of Israel burst into tears and cry out in anguish. "If only we had died in Egypt or here in the wilderness," they say. Despite the encouragement of Caleb and Joshua, the people refuse to listen. They had lost faith not only in God but in themselves. So what went wrong? How is it possible that a group of people who had just witnessed the power of God in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and heard Gods voice at Mount Sinai to turn so easily from hope to despair? And how is it that the spies, who had just witnessed the fertility of the land, could offer such a negative assessment of God's promise? In his commentary, Rabbi Gunther Plaut explains that the spies set out on their journey by traversing the central mountain range that can be found along the water shed in land of Canaan. By looking toward the sea, they saw fields of wheat, orchards and woods. When they turned in the opposite direction, they saw grey and barren hills, a dry and desolate landscape, and an inhospitable countryside; in short, they saw 'a land that devours its inhabitants.' The spies' assessment of Canaan

was not an objective statement of facts but a choice. It wasnt about facts but perception. They felt compelled to answer the question either/or when, in fact, their description should have been both/and. Their judgment grew out of a superficial sense that they had to say 'yes' or 'no.' In fact, Joshua and Caleb do not contradict the other spies. Rather they say, "Let us go up for we shall surely overcome it! Moses makes a fatal error in this tragic story when he asks the spies to portray the land in dualistic terms: Is the land A or B; is it this or that? Like any land, Canaan is far too complex for a simple either/or answer. Having opened the door for the twelve spies to choose either a negative or a positive description of the land, he allows them to introduce their own editorial appraisal into their description. We all fall into this trap from time to time. Faced with a choice, we often fail to take into account the whole reality. We judge people and issues based on a simplistic either/or approach to reality rather than objectively looking at the whole picture. Is this right or wrong? Is so and so my friend or my enemy? Is it good for the Jewish people or not? That is not to say we shouldnt make choices. We all must choose and then we have to live with the choices we make. For me, that is the meaning of faith. Faith is not absolute - if we could prove faith conclusively it would no longer be true faith. Faith means believing something even if we can't be certain about. We stake our lives on a premise that is un-provable. So we make choices about what we believe. But we ought to be humble enough to recognize that there is another point of view that may be just as reasonable as ours and based on perceptions that are different from our own. The Talmud has a term for uncertainty. It is teiku, literally, "let it stand." Whenever the Talmud has a controversy which can't be resolved, the rabbis say, teiku, "Let it stand." That is, we'll figure it out later. Teiku is said to be an acrostic for Tishbi yitaretz kushiyot u'bayot. "The prophet Elijah of Tishbi will come to answer all our unanswered questions and problems." Teiku teaches us to live with uncertainty while doing what is we believe is right. After condemning dualistic thinking, I'm going to contradict myself and suggest two things. First, it seems to me that there are really two types of people in this world: those who choose to see things in black and white and those who see the world in shades of grey. Actually, we all fall into these two categories at one time or another. What I would like to suggest is that when we start thinking in absolute terms, we ought to step back and ask ourselves: is there another way of seeing things? Is there another point of view here? One doesnt have to agree with it, but one should learn to honor it. In the words of the sages: Eilu v'eilu divrei elohim chaim, "Both these and these are the words of the living God." My second self-contradiction is this: there are times when we must be absolutists. It is one thing to disagree about a philosophical or legal point of view. It is altogether different matter to condone a point of view or a practice that is destructive of human life and demeaning of other human beings. Genocide is wrong. Racism should be condemned no matter what. Hate is never the right path. Of course, we must be reflective enough to look more carefully at what others think, but at the end of the day we have a responsibility to protect the innate dignity of all human beings. There are broad areas of grey in life but I do believe that some things are absolute. As a Conservative Jew, I honor the grey. I live in between diverse points of view and I am not afraid to honor them. Unfortunately, we are living in a world that demands facile and absolute judgments, and sometimes that is not possible. When the sages were uncertain about what to do they sent their students out into the market place and said, Puk, hazai- go see what the people are doing. Then we will make a judgment. If that sounds wishy-washy, then so be it. I'd rather be part of a movement which has a nuanced view of the world than one which sees things in black and white.

So if you are looking for absolute certainty, dont come to me. If you are prepared to engage in a thoughtful and nuanced discussion of the issues, then this is your congregation. So are you for or against the marriage equality? I've been thinking a lot about this issue over the past few weeks, but my thinking process came to a head the other day when I received a phone call from the Coalition for Marriage Equality. They asked, would I be willing to speak to someone in Senator Skelo's office as an advocate for this issue? I thought for a moment and then I said I would. They put my call through to the Senator's office - and I said: Please tell the senator that I'm aware of how difficult this issue is for him, personally. But I think we owe it to all members of our society to be treated with dignity and fairness - and I hoped he would vote in favor of marriage equality. In the end we all make choices - but let us learn to do so respectfully of others. Shabbat Shalom