Devarim: knowledge

Devarim: knowledge

The parsha introduces Devarim, musings.  We begin to hear the story that was told in Shemoth and Bamidbar , now through the eyes of Moshe.  We are told a version  of events as perceived  ( and edited)  by a participant.   The human, tainted by the fruit of knowledge, reports. 

 There was an expectation: an 11 day journey from Sinai to the border of the Promised land. It  took 40 years. The delay is attributed to the gathering of intelligence about the Promised Land. 

That process of gathering information and reporting on the land has similarities to the first  act of gathering intelligence- from the tree of knowledge. Both stories take place in wondrously magnificent lands.  In both stories, fruit is taken from the land.  In both stories the acquired knowledge leads to long exile.  Perhaps it is the informatoin and the response to it, replacing faith  with calculation, that  spoils the grand plan.

Often, I deal with people who have a poor prognosis,  Any calculation produces a low probability of survival,  If the  patient adopts the reality of his hopeless situation, she can make a better informed decision about the direction of his care,  But the cost is hopelessness. Sometimes,  an edited simplification of  this calculation  is used to guide the patient to  a (less costly)  therapeutic approach.  I try to be careful about this,  I  try to state the probabilities as clearly and accurately as I can.  I ask the patient about pain and suffering and try to sort out who ( patient, family, society, payer) is doing the suffering. I try to respect the patient's perspective,  But decisions based on limited knowledge are often misguided.

During these 9 days that start Av, I remember how my parents beat the odds, did not look at the odds, to survive the holocaust and its aftermath. Faith triumphed over reason.

Reason is only a tool. It needs to used with wisdom. It is at the service of faith.