Shelach: loyalty

Shelach: loyalty

In the other lecha parsha, Lech Lecha, Avram is told to go forth for  his own sake, for the sake of the ultimate reward ( which includes the acquisition of the Promised Land by his offspring).  In Shelach lecha, Moshe is also told to send the scouts ( to that Promised Land)  for his own sake. But this time it means something different.  Initially , I understood that to mean that Moshe wanted to assure the conquest of the land without relying on miracles.  He ( and the tribal elders) wanted to plan the campaign of conquest.  For this they needed information,.  But there is no mention of such planning.  I think that Moshe sent the scouts for different reasons. 

The 12  men sent by Moshe contrast with the 2 men sent by Joshua in the haftora.   Joshua's agents are anonymous. Moshe's are all "heads of the Children of Israel" At least part of Moshe's motivation was political.  The spirit of strife, challenge to the (aging) leadership was already manifest.  The techniques of broadening involvement ( the 70 elders) had already been used successfully.  The spies were another opportunity for bonding the people together.  But it did not work.  The tribes that spawn kings and kingdoms believed in the vision presented: miraculous conquest of the land.  The other 10 tribes saw only asymmetric battle and loss. 

Victory requires faith in the cause. In every big endeavor there is always terrifying doubt: a combination of the automatic neuro-psychological loss aversion mechanisms and the rational recognition that there are only a limited number of obstacle strewn paths to success, but a far larger number of  hidden paths to defeat. Success requires conquering this mountain of doubt. 

But that faith, in turn, asks me to accept a package of belief, asks me to join the Party, the collective Good. Communism, Zionism, Liberalism, Judaism,Stalin, Hitler  And there are elements of the system that are distasteful  They test my loyalty.

We answer to history