Shelach: miracles and expectations 2.0

Shelach: miracles and expectations

Moshe sends scouts to bring back an assessment of the promised land. Is it as good as Gd said? What obstacles would block their entry?  The mission  come from the highest source. Bravely, they do as instructed. ( This is a distinctly American reading, trying to sympathize/understand the positions of the villains as well as the heros) 


The omniscient ( GD? Moshe?) narrator confirms that giants lived in Hevron, a place that the spies visited (we are not told that they saw the giants, only that it was possible to see them, they existed. Rashi quotes that it was only Caleb who saw them.  Did he tell them a tall tale that they embellished?)   They brought back the giant fruit.  They reported on what they saw.  Ten of the twelve said that the Israelites could not possibly rout these dug-in supermen who  lived in the high ground. Based upon their observations, there was a very low probability the puny Israelites  could conquer the land(like grasshoppers; but grasshoppers can conquer , eg plague of llocusts).  Victory would require a miracle.

 The intelligence assessment greatly  distressed the people.   They were demoralized (chosen word, loss of moral and consequent loss of morals). Gd deemed the  people's reaction so inappropriate that a 40 year desert wandering  banishment from the Promised Land was decreed. ( headed back in the direction of Egypt, irony)

The people  were supposed to rely upon miracles.  But  even after seeing so many wonders (most recently the slav), they did not know when, or if, the miracles would appear ( Moshe expressed doubts with the slav). Miracles have an intrinsic unpredictable nature (definition) .  It is generally not a sound policy to rely on  the improbable. In addition, miracles usually come only after exhausting effort.

In my hematology/oncology practice I ask people to try for  unlikely outcomes(remission/cure) all the time, all the while trying to guide them through whatever actually happens ( usually not a miracle).  It is always a big ask. ( not modern like hospice)When it happens there is no greater joy. It happens more often than commonly expected.

The decision to chase the miracle looks different from the inside.  The safe bet, from the outside is against the rarity.  On the inside, one must look at the alternatives. For my parents when they were hunted by the Nazis and their allies, it was beat the odds or die. That is also the situation for many of my patients. You can fight the odds, especially if you have no choice.

But the spies felt that they had a choice: Return to their previous  life: Egypt, with its leeks and garlic.(hence they were planning a revolution. Miriam had tried a coup just prior to this parsha; Korach's uprising is the next.  This is a theme for this section of the Torah).Better a live slave than a dead soldier.  That was a wrong choice. Although proceeding forward, into the hostile Promised Land would require the help of the  extraordinary, the  continued survival in the desert( that would be required for a return to Egypt) necessitated manna from heaven and sources of water.  It seems easier to rely on the miracles that are already present  than to expect novelties.

The parsha ends with the mitzvah of tzitzith, the strings that hang down around the lower part of the body.  The asher yatzar blessing, the blessing said after private body functions, attests to the miraculous nature of the body and its orifices.  Our control over bodily functions (including, and perhaps especially sex, possibly a reason for the male designation)  is an everyday miracle, a miracle we rely upon .

We should appreciate the miracle that is our control over nature  - and use it wisely. 

Shelach: miracles and expectations

Moshe sends scouts to bring back an assessment of the promised land. Is it as good as Gd said? What obstacles would block their entry?  The mission  come from the highest source. Bravely, they do as instructed. 

The omniscient narrator confirms that giants lived in Hevron, a place that the spies visited.  They brought back the giant fruit.  They reported on what they saw.  Ten of the twelve said that the Israelites could not possibly rout these dug-in supermen who  lived in the high ground. Based upon their observations, there was a very low probability the puny Israelites  could conquer the land.  Victory would require a miracle.

 The intelligence assessment greatly  distressed the people.   They were demoralized. Gd deemed the  people's reaction so inappropriate that a 40 year desert wandering  banishment from the Promised Land was decreed.

The people  were supposed to rely upon miracles.  But  even after seeing so many wonders, they did not know when, or if, the miracles would appear. Miracles have an intrinsic unpredictable nature .  It is generally not a sound policy to rely on  the improbable. In addition, miracles usually come only after exhausting effort.

In my hematology/oncology practice I ask people to try for  unlikely outcomes all the time, all the while trying to guide them through whatever actually happens ( usually not a miracle).  It is always a big ask. When it happens there is no greater joy. It happens more often than commonly expected.

The decision to chase the miracle looks different from the inside.  The safe bet, from the outside is against the rarity.  On the inside, one must look at the alternatives. For my parents when they were hunted by the Nazis and their allies, it was beat the odds or die. That is also the situation for many of my patients. You can fight the odds, especially if you have no choice.

But the spies felt that they had a choice: Return to their previous  life: Egypt, with its leeks and garlic.
Better a live slave than a dead soldier.  That was a wrong choice. Although proceeding forward, into the hostile Promised Land would require the help of the  extraordinary, the  continued survival in the desert, that would be required for a return to Egypt, necessitated manna from heaven and sources of water.  It seems easier to rely on the miracles that are already present  than to expect novelties.

The parsha ends with the mitzvah of tzitzith, the strings that hang down around the lower part of the body.  The asher yatzar blessing, the blessing said after private body functions, attests to the miraculous nature of the body and its orifices.  Our control over bodily functions is an everyday miracle, a miracle we rely upon .

We should appreciate the miracle that is our control over nature  - and use it wisely. 

Behalothescha: seeing the path forward. 

We are all  in a wilderness without reliable guideposts, advancing toward goals, retreating from threats, never sure of the best path.  The roads are studded with impediments and  dangers.  The signs are misleading, so many mirages. How do you know which path to follow? 

This week's parsha offers too many guides.  It would seem that the cloud that hovered over the Tabernacle should have been enough.  The parsha says that the people moved according to the signal of the cloud.  If it moved, the people moved according to their divisions.  The cloud was the presentation of  Divine direction.  Where the cloud stopped, there they would camp.  It is hard to beat Divine guidance for directions (comparisons to phone apps deferred)

The trumpets, blown by the Kohanim, was an auditory signal ( in case one did not see the cloud).   This is a very different, more diffuse neurologic pathway. Loud noises wake you up. 

When Moshe asks his father in law, Hobab, to join Israel in its journey through the wilderness, he offers him the role of guide.    כִּ֣י ׀ עַל־כֵּ֣ן יָדַ֗עְתָּ חֲנֹתֵ֙נוּ֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר וְהָיִ֥יתָ לָּ֖נוּ לְעֵינָֽיִם׃  inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness and can be our guide

Why do Israelites need a guide? Rashi recognizes the problem and offers 

והיית לנו לעינים — The verb is in the past tense and we have to understand it just as the Targum renders it: and all the mighty deeds that have been wrought for us thou hast seen with thine own eyes. Another explanation is that it is the future tense: whatever things will be hidden from our eyes, you will enlighten our eyes about it.

Hobab, the son of Reuel ( seer of the Power) recognizes the Divine interventions involved in this journey better than the (jaded) Israelites.  We remember that  Moshe discovered Gd when he was living in the house of his father -in-law.  We remember that Jethro ( Moshe's  [other?]father-in-law) greeted him with a statement recognizing the enormity of the Divine intervention. 

The Ramban seems to allow the conflict: Please do not forsake us, for, because you know of our encampment in the desert and you will be our eyes — that is, since you are familiar with the Wilderness you will be our eyes in conquering the lands, and you will show us the way to go

Hobab would (also) be a guide.

From our interaction with phone apps, we know that a mortal human being is helpful in interpreting and carrying out the  extra-human guidance.  The interaction between the rational and the prophetic is a very important theme in this parsha.  It is brought to an unusual level of clarity in the last story: when Miriam asserts her prophetic status vis a vis  Moshe.  We are told that Moshe had clarity of vision, whereas other prophets saw dreamlike ( unreliable) visions and riddles.

Hobab  could see Gd's involvement in miracles.  He could see miracles when they existed. If this is not a step toward prophecy, it is certainly a prerequisite.


Seeing reality is not easy.  It is not natural.  What we think we see is a highly processed product, suggested by our interaction with stimuli  We are looking for something  before we see anything.  The dream invades the vision, the riddle penetrates the thought. The prophet glimpses both "realities": the objective and the consensus.

The Torah gave us a direction for all time.  All we need is clarity

Naso: Nazir Sota

Why should Gd and the Temple system get involved in these matters? The Nazir is choosing  a set of restrictions that alienate her from normal life. He does not look normal because he cannot comb his hair.  She does cannot drink wine, or even grape juice.  No kiddush. They cannot attend a funeral and remember the life and deeds of their beloved and kin.  The associated sacrificial rituals are either the culmination of the experience or part of the penalty for deviation. 

The nazir  seems more of an isolation than a spiritual  ascension.  I imagine that  climbing to metaphysical heights might be aided but such solitude, but the two are not necessarily connected.  The ritual is an aid for a process and the goal of that action is not stated.  The motivation for this available practice is private and, in the opinion of Shimon  HaTzadik ( Shimon the righteous), usually misguided ( see Nazir 4B for the famous story). But the ritual system supported this process. 

The Sota, the woman suspected of adultery, to our modern American eyes, would seem to be a private matter between the husband and wife.  The Torah offers a ritual for exoneration of the suspected wife. ( I doubt that the slurry of ink and dirt  that the indicted woman drank was toxic enough to hurt her, except through Divine intervention.) The asymmetry of the situation, the victimization of the woman with no obligation on the husband, is not modern, but the net effect probably spared many women from beatings and murder. 

The Christians were critical of the practice (depicted by  Rembrandt).  The Mishna  (Sota 9:9) quoted in the  Gemarrah credits Yochanan ben Zakai  ( d.90 CE)  with the elimination of the ritual, because adultery had become too common and an innocent husband was a prerequisite for the waters to be effective.  Husbands and wives were left to work it out on their own. 

The Mishkan and the Temple(s) avoided the ecological fallacy ( the formal fallacy in the interpretation of statistical data that occurs when inferences about the nature of individuals are deduced from inferences about the group to which those individuals belong.) 

The chiefs of the 12 tribes all brought the same  gifts, the ritual was always performed in the same way,  but the motivations and purposes were highly individual. 

Bamidbar: Numbers

Accounting is a course that I did not take in college. I wish I had.  The interpretation of  numbers and the valuation of goods and services remains an arcane art to me.  This week we have a parsha that is mostly numbers. 

The accounting begins with a census, documenting the number of military age men in each of the twelve (non-Levite)  tribes.  The size of the tribe presumably correlates with  political power and it will, eventually, determine the size of  its portion in the promised land.  The tribes are also presented in groupings that roughly reflect their maternal lineages - perhaps another  parameter of status.  This census, like all national censuses, has political implications

We are also informed of the strength of the army: 603,550.  This is a terrifyingly large force.  The size of this force should deter any enemy attack.  The arrangement of the armies is also given relative to the central  zone of the tabernacle and the direction of travel.  Thus, a well informed enemy ( perhaps Amalek) would know the front from the rear and the relative number of soldiers on the flanks, and could plan an attack from the rear. 

I grew up with several numbers that can be expressed as 6 X 10^n.  The number in the parsha, 600,000, 6 X 10^5, is the number of military aged men that left Egypt, the tally assembled at Sinai.  This is the seed of Israel. This is also the number of Jews in Palestine in 1947, just before the declaration of the state.  Then there is 6 X 10^6, 6,000,000, the rounded best estimate of the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.  (I know that I did not need to mention that one.)

The number of firstborn males is also given: 22,273. That can give us estimate of the number of children per family . By straight division  (603,550/ 22,273)  we see that  approximately 1 in 27 males was firstborn.  Since half the firstborn children were female, and they were not in the count, we half that number and the average family would have 13.5 children (a credible number in parts of Brooklyn).  This number needs to further corrected for the exponential curve of population growth, which makes the younger portion of the population  a higher percentage.  But that gets into accounting.  

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