Should I Join the Rebellion?©
Rabbi David Baum, Shelech Lecha 2021/5781
I was exercising in my neighborhood a number of months ago, listening to music, pretty much oblivious to the world. A guy stopped me - do you live here? Yes, I answered, why do you ask? He said, “I have two little girls, and it has been a really difficult year, I’m sure for you as well. But do you know what would make it easier? For my daughters and your kids to swim in our community pool. The whole world is opening up, vaccines are here, but our pools are still closed. Do you know our HOA hasn’t had one meeting in a year? It’s time to open up the pools, and for that, we need new leadership, which is why I’m asking people to sign this petition to recall the board.”
(True story! Click here for the full article)
I listened intently, and I too was very upset that our kids could not swim in our pool, with no really good reason given, or any reason at all!
I felt my blood boil, yes I’ll sign! But I paused - let me get back to you.
Anyone ever been in a similar circumstance, where you are asked to be a part of a rebellion?
I paused because, what if this guy is worse than what we have? What if he’s just using the pool to get power?!?
I also paused because of the parshiot that we’ve been reading, Beha’lotecha, Shelach Lecha, and Korach, are all about rebellions and power.
If we didn’t believe in rebellions, well, we wouldn’t be here in the United States of America. But not all rebellions end well, in fact, few do. Think about what happened in France around the same time as our rebellion against England. If the first thing you think about is the guillotine and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, then I think I just proved my point.
Moses looms large in these rebellions, but there’s another figure we don’t talk about enough: Joshua. In last week’s parasha, Behalotecha, there’s a scene where Moses has once again had it with his people. He tells God, “14 I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much for me. 15 If You would deal thus with me, kill me rather, I beg You, and let me see no more of my wretchedness!””
So God has Moshe gather 70 elders who will help him lead, but there are two men amongst these leaders that cause some problems:
26 Two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in camp; yet the spirit rested upon them—they were among those recorded, but they had not gone out to the Tent—and they spoke in ecstasy in the camp. 27 A youth ran out and told Moses, saying, “Eldad and Medad are acting the prophet in the camp!”28 And Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant from his youth, spoke up and said, “My lord Moses, restrain them!” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you wrought up on my account? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord put His spirit upon them!”
(כט) וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ מֹשֶׁה הַמְקַנֵּא אַתָּה לִי וּמִי יִתֵּן כָּל־עַם יְקֹוָק נְבִיאִים כִּי־יִתֵּן יְקֹוָק אֶת־רוּחוֹ עֲלֵיהֶם
Ramban translates Joshua's words in a very interesting way.
וַיֹּאמַר אֲדֹנִי מֹשֶׁה כְּלָאֵם - in the Etz Chaim Chumash, it is translated as 'restrain them', but Ramban, Nachmonides, uses the Talmud's translation - “keep the Holy Spirit away from them!”
I think this is a vital moment for Joshua’s development. Moses tells him, there are others who will speak to God and for God, maybe even some who are alive; I can’t be the only one - I want to share leadership with the right people.
This week’s parasha, Shelach Lecha, tells a different story of rebellion. In our parashah, God and Moses send twelve heads of the tribes to scout out the land and report back with what they encountered. All twelve see the same thing, but ten come back with a negative report, Joshua and Caleb come back with a positive report. When the ten report back, the Torah tells us they went straight to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community, and they tell them what they saw. Riches beyond their dreams, but protecting those riches were giants in hugely fortified cities.
It's important to note that the twelve chosen were heads of their tribes, in other words, leaders, and the parasha begins by introducing them by their tribes first before their names. The Torah gives us a message - they are representing their people.
But Joshua is introduced in a different way (Numbers 13:17)
אֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַח מֹשֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן־נוּן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ׃
Those were the names of the men whom Moses sent to scout the land; but Moses changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Joshua.
The Talmud explains this name change in the following way:
"[Moses changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Joshua, saying,] 'May God save you from the [wicked] counsel of the [bad] spies [Yah yoshiakha me-atzat meraglim]'") (Sotah 34b).
Moses knew that a rebellion could happen, and he sent them anyway, but perhaps it was for a greater purpose: to test Joshua. Would he be able to tell the difference between a ‘good’ rebellion and a ‘bad’ rebellion?
There are many reasons, but, in my eyes, this rebellion wasn’t about the people, it was about the tribal heads. At the beginning of the parasha, Moses and God say, Shelach Lecha - Send for yourself. It seems to imply that God did not deem it necessary for the people to reconnoiter in the land. In a sense God says to Moses and the people, “If you insist, go ahead and send spies…” And this ‘you’ carries over to their report.
The tribal heads chose to couch their descriptions in the most negative terms. I think this was about preserving their power. Right now, they are the leaders who everyone looks up to, but what about when they enter the land, and people begin to settle and spread out? Will they still seek them out? Better to stay in the wilderness where everything will stay the same, and where we will be able to call the shots. These leaders had power, and they used it for the wrong reasons. Their sin dooms their entire generation.
Joshua is timid at first, but he joins Caleb in speaking against these ten tribal leaders. Truthfully, the rabbis were pretty big Moses fans.
In the Talmud (Bava Batra 75a), we read, “The elders of that generation said, 'Moses' face is like the sun and Joshua's like the moon. Alas, for such shame! Alas for such reproach!”
But maybe being the moon isn’t so bad. The sun may produce light, but it’s also hot. Moses was untouchable; he could speak to God face to face, but the people couldn’t talk to Moses in the same way. Joshua, on the other hand, like the moon, reflects the light of leadership back to his people.
To Joshua, it’s not about him, it’s about us. This lesson of selfish leadership comes to a head next week with the Korach rebellion who uses the people to try and assert himself as the leader.
Let me say, I don’t know what is in Bibi’s head; I don’t know his intentions, why he really feels he must remain Prime Minister, but I can say that it seems a coalition of centrist, right-wing, left-wing, and even an Arab party for the first time, have created a government to oust PM Netanyahu. But the next PM, if it all goes through, Naftali Bennet, isn’t the one who made it happen, it was, an unlikely leader, Yair Lapid whose party received the most votes in the coalition.
Who is the kingmaker who doesn’t want to be king? He is referred to as the Jewish George Clooney, and began his career in television, I know what you may be thinking, another TV show personality in government?!? But Lapid is different.
“He is the Israeli political leader who more than anyone else sublimated his ego to put together this coalition — in which he will rotate being prime minister with his right-wing rival and now partner, Naftali Bennett, a pro-settlements religious-nationalist. Lapid is even letting Bennett assume the top leadership post first to cement his support, even though Bennett’s party is much smaller. Lapid has been all about downplaying ideology, pragmatically doing what works, and restoring the health of Israel’s democratic institutions, so badly stressed in the Bibi era.”
I don’t know what is going to happen, but if Lapid came to me and said, “I want you to sign on to this rebellion,” my first question would be, is this about you, or Israel? Again, I don’t know for sure, but it looks like it’s for the right reasons.
Rather than be the sun, he chooses to be the moon.
Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger, the author of Sefat Emet, chose to look at the sun and moon comparison between Moses and Joshua differently. He wrote, “Unlike the sun, which dominates the sky, the moon allows others, that is, stars, to shine.”
When I think about leadership and rebellions, I think about the big stories, but I also think about the smaller ones which are part of all our lives, here at CSK, or in your kids schools, or your HOA. Joshua offers a contrast to the other leaders; rather than shining, he wants others to shine. As Moses said to him, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord put His spirit upon them!” The story of the spies is more than just a story of leaders who want to hold on to power no matter what the cost - it’s also about leaders who are scared to see what the future holds. Rather than move forward, they want to stay still as if that will bring back the good old days. But the only constant is the world is progress and change, and that is scary. That is why this parasha is here, to teach us to have faith in God, and faith in each other. Change is inevitable, maybe so are rebellions, but good leadership is a choice.
May all of you become leaders, but also, may you raise up many followers.
May you share the light of Torah with them, and may they shine and light you up like the moon. And may your children and grandchildren swim in community pools, and wade in waters of Torah.
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