Rabbi Dr Walter Rothschild
Beit Warszawa, 12 June 2020 – It has been said that the Past is not dangerous, because one has, after all, survived it; the Present is not really dangerous, because otherwise one would hardly be here; but the Future bears unknown risks and the future is where danger, potentially, lies. Hence so many of us are afraid of the Future and what it may bring. This is legitimate; we are biologically influenced to look ahead, to look round corners, to look for risks, to be careful where we put our steps. The Israelites were just as human, and just as afraid – to God’s intense annoyance.
The outlines of the story are hopefully well known. In Numbers chapters 13 and 14 God tells Moses to send twelve representatives, one from each tribe, to go ahead and scout out the land of Canaan prior to invading it. They have no maps, no drones, no satellite imagery, just a vague promise about ‘milk and honey’. Of the twelve, who spend over a month on their mission, two come back with an optimistic message: ”We can do it if God is on our side”; but the other ten come back with a more pragmatic, realistic but non-fundamentalist message – ”The land is well fortified, the population is strong and well armed, we haven’t got a chance.” There are many nuances in the text – for example, how the ten speak to the public before speaking to Moses, and how the people react, and how angry God gets, and how Moses has to calm God down – but the end result is that God actually accepts the decision of the Ten! God says ”This People is NOT yet in a condition to undertake such a conquest; I shall have to wait until another generation grows up, immune to such fears”.
It is a catastrophic incident; God (who has clearly been taken by surprise at the negative views expressed) declares that they will have to wait where they are until all the negative spies have died, that only Joshua and Caleb will eventually get a chance to move onward. The people in their confusion and despair dream of going backwards to Egypt or going forwards without permission, and at the end of the sidra we even get a judicial execution of a man who has broken the Sabbath in what would seem to us to be a rather harmless manner.
At the time of writing this, there is much discussion of the word ‘Annexation’ and whether the Prime Minister of the State of Israel will give an order for the formal annexation of certain areas of the biblical Land; The country is divided about this and, predictably, all the countries of Europe are against it (including of course countries which formally annexed German Schlesien after 1945 or annexed parts of Ukraine in 2014.) There is confusion as to what the term means but essentially it is the acquisition of a territory and the imposition of a country’s laws upon it. Of course the country concerned needs to have conquered the territory concerned first, which is what makes it a very unpopular act in many circles. In 1950 Jordan formally annexed East Jerusalem, as well as what is called ‘the West Bank’ by right of conquest – against the plans and stated wishes of the United Nations; Interestingly only Great Britain and Iraq ever recognised this occupation. In June 1967 Israel formally reunited Jerusalem – which amounted to an annexation of the Eastern part and again most countries refused to accept it, but in 1980 the Jerusalem Law was passed declaring this move, in effect, non-reversible. But there is nothing new about any of this. In 1845 the USA annexed Texas and declared it the 28th. State!
What is the area under discussion? Nobody really knows. There are so many versions! In December 1920 Britain and France drew up a list of boundaries between Palestine, Syria and Transjordan that sounds remarkably like the biblical language – ”….thence a line leaving in the territory of the French mandate the entire basin of the western Kabur and passing in a straight line towards the Euphrates, which it crosses at Abu Kemal, thence a straight line to Imtar to the south of Jebel Druse, then a line to the south of Nasib on the Hedjaz Railway, then a line to Semakh on the Lake of Tiberias…” and so on. They were drawing lines on a map to decide which country’s laws would apply where and in February 1922, just over a year later, a Boundary Commission proposed some amendments. In February 1922 This commission submitted its final report which included a number of amendments – the North East boundary moved westward (reducing the area of Palestine) ”to avoid splitting the lands of Emir Mahmud El-Fa’ur of Quneitra”, the Northern boundary moved northward (increasing the area of Palestine) to include the entire Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk valley. These were accepted by the British and French in March 1923. This is all easy to find on the Internet these days, there is no excuse for not knowing a bit of history. Up until 1925 there was debate as to whether Ma’an and Aqaba should belong to the Emirate of Transjordan or to the Kingdom of the Hijaz (which had been conquered by Ibn Faisal from the Hashimite Husseini family who had been promised it by the British in 1915…. and which had been taken unilaterally by Faisal, who had to be persuaded tactfully to return it.)
I realise that this seems to be becoming a bit of a history lesson, but our Torah portion is also a history lesson. It teaches what can happen when a people is not yet ready to decide for itself which lands it may settle and where it may live. Losers end up dying in the wilderness….. The Torah is also a reminder for us that claims to lands are nothing new and that those who forget the history will wallow in a cloud of wilful ignorance – and we know that out of this cloud come normally attacks on Israel and attacks on Jews. So it is important for us as Jews to be informed. Just as it is important for us as Europeans to be aware of our history, when countries were conquered, eliminated, restored, divided, returned to independence, joined international European associations…. Poland is an especially good example of this but there are others too. There are people who deny this ever happened or deny it is still relevant and they need to be taught the error of their views.
And a second thought; We are – all of us – confronted at present with an unknown, barely-explored country, indeed a whole world, filled with minute things we cannot see with our eyes, but filled also with dreadful dangers. We have sent explorers into this world, armed with their gloves and their masks and their microscopes, to show us the fruits of the land and to show us how we can conquer it, if we keep our nerve, if we keep our faith, if we follow the instructions given.
It is not an easy Sidra but there is a lot in it to give us food for thought. What land belongs to whom, and what right does anyone have to anywhere? What is the difference between just being somewhere and having a legal system applied (or imposed) there too? Should we always believe a majority report or can majorities also be wrong sometimes? (And just look at which politicians have gained majorities in recent years!) Can we gain knowledge and stability from the past to help us when facing the risks of the future? Read it and read it…..
Shalom,
Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild
Leave a Reply