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Sacred Spies?
A Torah scroll. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – How far away is theory from practice? “In theory,” a new system should work. But it doesn’t always, does it? How many job applicants ticked all the boxes “theoretically,” but when it came to the bottom line they didn’t get the job done?
And how many famous people were better theorists than practitioners?
The great Greek philosopher Aristotle taught not only philosophy but virtue and ethics. The story is told that he was once discovered in a rather compromised moral position by his students. When they asked him how he, the great Aristotle, could engage in such an immoral practice, he had a clever answer: “Now I am not Aristotle.”
A similar tale is told of one of the great philosophers of the 20th century, Bertrand Russell. He, too, expounded on ethics and morality. And like Aristotle, he was also discovered in a similarly morally embarrassing situation.
When challenged, his rather brilliant answer was: “So what if I teach ethics? People teach mathematics, and they’re not triangles!”
This idea is relevant to this week’s Torah portion, Shelach, which contains the famous story of Moses sending a dozen spies on a reconnaissance mission to the Land of Israel. The mission goes sour. It was meant to be an intelligence-gathering exercise to see the best way of conquering Canaan. But it resulted in 10 of the 12 spies returning with an utterly negative report of a land teeming with giants and frightening warriors who, they claimed, would eat us alive. “We cannot ascend,” was their hopeless conclusion.
The people wept and had second thoughts about the Promised Land, and God said, indeed, you will not enter the land. In fact, for every day of the spies’ disastrous journey, the Israelites would languish a year in the wilderness. Hence, the 40-year delay in entering Israel. The day of their weeping was Tisha B’Av, which became a day of “weeping for generations” when both our Holy Temples were destroyed on that same day and many other calamities befell our people throughout history.
And the question resounds: How was it possible that these spies, all righteous noblemen, handpicked personally by Moses for the job, should so lose the plot? How did they go so wrong, so off-course from the Divine vision?
Naturally, there are many commentaries with a variety of explanations. To me personally, the most satisfying one I’ve found comes from a more mystical source.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in his work Likkutei Torah, explains it thus: The error of the spies was less blatant than it seems. Their rationale was, in fact, a “holy” one. They actually meant well. The Israelites had been beneficiaries of the mighty miracles of God during their sojourn in the wilderness thus far. God had been providing for them supernaturally with manna from heaven every day, water that flowed from the “Well of Miriam,” Clouds of Glory that smoothed the roads and even dry cleaned their clothes. In the wilderness, the people were enjoying a taste of heaven itself. All their material needs were taken care of miraculously. With no material distractions, they were able to live a life of spiritual bliss, of refined existence and could devote themselves fully to Torah, prayer and spiritual experiences.
But the spies knew that as soon as the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the manna would cease to fall and they would have to till the land, plow, plant, knead, bake and make a living by the sweat of their brow. No more bread from heaven, but bread from the earth. Furthermore, they would have to battle the Canaanite nations for the land. What chance would they then have to devote themselves to idyllic, spiritual pursuits?
So, the spies preferred to remain in the wilderness rather than enter the land. Why be compelled to resort to natural and material means of surviving and living a wholly physical way of life when they could enjoy spiritual ecstasy and paradise undisturbed? Why get involved in the “rat race”?
But, of course, as “holy” and spiritual as their motivation may have been, the spies were dead wrong.
The journey in the wilderness was meant to be but a stepping stone to the ultimate purpose of the Exodus from Egypt: entering the Promised Land and making it a Holy Land. God has plenty of angels in heaven who exist in a pure, spiritual state. The whole purpose of creation was to have mortal human beings, with all their faults and frailties, to make the physical world a more spiritual place. To bring heaven down to earth.
While their argument was rooted in piety, for the spies to opt out of the very purpose of creation was to miss the whole point. What are we here for? To sit in the lotus position and meditate, or to get out there and change the world? Yes, the spies were “holy,” but theirs was an escapist holiness.
The Torah is not only a book of wisdom; it is also a book of action. Torah means instruction. It teaches us how to live our lives, meaningfully and productively in the pursuit of God’s intended desire to make our world a better, more Godly place. This we do not only by study and prayer, the “theoretical” part of Torah but by acts of goodness and kindness, by mitzvot performed physically in the reality of the material world. Theory alone leaves us looking like Aristotle with his pants down.
Yes, it is a cliché but a well-worn truth: Torah is a “way of life.”
The post Sacred Spies? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Father of Israeli Wounded in New Orleans: ‘Part of his Skull is Missing’
A member of the National Guard Military Police stands, in the area where people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, Jan. 2, 2025. PHoto: REUTERS/Octavio Jones
JNS.org – In an interview, Israeli Hagai Levin described the impact of the injuries sustained by his son Adi, a member of the IDF Armored Corps, during the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans by an ISIS-inspired terrorist who murdered 14 people and wounded dozens of others. The terrorist also died.
“His state fluctuates, but I’m optimistic. I’ll bring my son home. His life will change—he’ll have metal rods in his arms and legs, an open head wound and part of his skull is missing,” Hagai said.
“There are still injuries we’ll fully understand only in a month when we begin the head rehabilitation process. But he’ll return to us, and for that, we’re moving our home from the Golan Heights to Tel Aviv to be closer to Tel HaShomer Hospital [Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan].”
Adi remains bedridden, as does his friend and fellow IDF soldier Y. (who chooses to remain anonymous out of safety concerns). “I miss everyone terribly and am deeply grateful to the Jewish community here for their support,” Y. said.
The pair’s visit to New Orleans was part of a planned three-month road trip that took them from Nebraska to Los Angeles and then on to Texas and Louisiana. They did not make it to their planned destination of Florida.
Having seen the security camera video of the attack, Hagai said that the vehicle driven by Shamsud-Din Jabbar “hit Adi head-on, crushing his legs and head, dragging him along the road, and pushing his friend to the side.”
While praising the hospital as operating at an “incredible standard” and saying that “we are receiving exceptional care,” Hagai said that “despite their travel insurance, a single day of hospitalization here costs roughly the equivalent of the entire annual budget of Israel’s healthcare system combined. The expenses will exceed a million dollars.
“We are facing a long recovery ahead. He’s spent two weeks in the emergency room and will need several months in rehabilitation with complex surgeries. We won’t return to Israel before April.” Hagai said.
The post Father of Israeli Wounded in New Orleans: ‘Part of his Skull is Missing’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Hosts Trump Envoy on Gaza Hostage Talks
Steve Witkoff, founder of the Witkoff Group, gestures during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, US, Oct. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
JNS.org – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Saturday afternoon with President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, in what was described as a “surprise visit” to discuss the multilateral negotiations with Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.
Witkoff arrived in Israel after talks in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Channel 12 cited a “senior Israeli” saying that Trump has been personally involved in the matter over the last couple of days, expressing his desire to urgently cement a deal before he enters office on Jan. 20.
Netanyahu is expected to hold a security assessment after which he will decide whether to send an Israeli delegation to Doha headed by Mossad and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chiefs David Barnea and Ronen Bar, respectively.
According to Ynet, “additional progress” has been made in the negotiations but disagreements remain.
The report mentioned the transition from stage one of the proposed truce—a “humanitarian” phase of releasing hostages—to stage two as the main hurdle. The sides are arguing about legal wordings and each is insisting on keeping a degree of “freedom of action,” Ynet reported.
Qatari-owned, London-based newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quoted a senior Hamas official as saying, “The final vision of the agreement is finished. There are arrangements between the mediators regarding the announcement of the agreement. We are all waiting for the envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to arrive in Doha and render his approval for the latest amendments.”
However, various Arab- and Hebrew-language reports gave conflicting reports on whether Hamas agreed to hand over a list of live hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
During a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, Witkoff, a Jewish businessman and longtime friend of the president-elect, expressed optimism about the ongoing discussions.
“I believe they’re doing an excellent job in Doha,” Witkoff said. “I’m hopeful that by the [Jan. 20] inauguration, we’ll have positive news to share on behalf of the president. It’s really the president’s vision, his reputation, and his words that are driving these negotiations. So, hopefully, everything will come together, and lives will be saved.”
When asked whether a deal could be reached before his inauguration, Trump said, “There better be.” He reiterated his stark warning about the fallout for Hamas if the hostages are not released.
The post Netanyahu Hosts Trump Envoy on Gaza Hostage Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Los Angeles Issues New Evacuation Orders as Thickening Smoke Causes Health Emergency
Flames rise from a structure as the Palisades fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California, US, Jan. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ringo Chiu
i24 News – The Palisades fire raging in the Los Angeles region shifted east on Friday night, triggering new evacuation orders and further aggravating the titanic health and safety emergency in America’s second largest city.
Palisades is the largest of six simultaneous wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles County neighborhoods stretching across an area larger than San Francisco since Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and damaging or destroying around 12,000 structures. The numbers are expected to rise once it is safe enough for firefighters to conduct house-to-house searches.
The LA Department of Public Health said it had declared a local health emergency and issued a public health officer order in response “to the widespread impacts of the ongoing multiple critical fire events and windstorm conditions.”
The statement further said that “the fires, coupled with strong winds, have severely degraded air quality by releasing hazardous smoke and particulate matter, posing immediate and long-term risks to public health.”
Allegations of leadership failures and incompetence were flying, with Governor of California Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass singled out for opprobrium.
Newsom ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants ran dry, calling it “deeply troubling.”
Los Angeles fire chief, Kristin Crowley, said city leadership failed her department by not providing sufficient funds for firefighting. She also pointed out the lack of water. “When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.
The post Los Angeles Issues New Evacuation Orders as Thickening Smoke Causes Health Emergency first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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