Dear Friends,
When one is insecure, does one buttress oneself against a threat?
When one feels secure, does one let down one’s guard?
It would seem to make sense. And, Torah confirms it.
Our portion this week, Shlach L’cha, recounts Moses sending twelve scouts to reconnoiter the land of Canaan before the Israelites were poised to enter it. As it was, the scouts returned with mixed reports, resulting in the Israelites wandering forty years in the desert. But, note the instruction which Moses gave to the scouts. He charged them to see, “Is the country good or bad? Are the towns open or fortified?” (Numbers 13:19)
A commentary in the Midrash explained that Moses gave the spies a sign suggesting that fortified cities were an indication that its inhabitants felt insecure, whereas open cities testified to the people’s confidence in their ability to repel any potential intruder.
Again, it seems to make sense. Which raises questions regarding how we live as Americans, today.
For years now, there has been a lively discussion regarding treatment of the immigrant. For the first few hundred years of America’s existence, the immigrant was welcome, and millions poured onto our shores, through mostly wide-open doors, and a statue was erected in New York Harbor declaring, “Give us your tired, your poor… yearning to breathe free.” Then, in 1924, Congress passed a restrictive immigration statute, the Johnson Act, which made us an isolationist, almost fortified nation. It had especially disastrous effects upon vulnerable European Jews facing Nazi oppression and death, who might have come to America.
And recently, border restrictions, and, in part, a wall, were erected on our border with Mexico.
Do border restrictions amount to an indication that its inhabitants feel insecure, according to the midrash? If so, what does that suggest about America of 1924, or 2018?
I was raised with the belief that America was a unique nation – home of the brave and land of the free – and that nearly all of us were descendants of immigrants – the proverbial melting pot. I was raised with the lesson that World War II proved that America must not be isolationist, as the world depended on American largess and America depended on immigrants’ drive and creativity.
Hence, the commentary to our verse – Is our land fortified? Do we feel secure? Clearly, there is a debate on these issues. Let’s hope that it doesn’t cost forty years of suffering, or undue vulnerability for others who are oppressed.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
When one is insecure, does one buttress oneself against a threat?
When one feels secure, does one let down one’s guard?
It would seem to make sense. And, Torah confirms it.
Our portion this week, Shlach L’cha, recounts Moses sending twelve scouts to reconnoiter the land of Canaan before the Israelites were poised to enter it. As it was, the scouts returned with mixed reports, resulting in the Israelites wandering forty years in the desert. But, note the instruction which Moses gave to the scouts. He charged them to see, “Is the country good or bad? Are the towns open or fortified?” (Numbers 13:19)
A commentary in the Midrash explained that Moses gave the spies a sign suggesting that fortified cities were an indication that its inhabitants felt insecure, whereas open cities testified to the people’s confidence in their ability to repel any potential intruder.
Again, it seems to make sense. Which raises questions regarding how we live as Americans, today.
For years now, there has been a lively discussion regarding treatment of the immigrant. For the first few hundred years of America’s existence, the immigrant was welcome, and millions poured onto our shores, through mostly wide-open doors, and a statue was erected in New York Harbor declaring, “Give us your tired, your poor… yearning to breathe free.” Then, in 1924, Congress passed a restrictive immigration statute, the Johnson Act, which made us an isolationist, almost fortified nation. It had especially disastrous effects upon vulnerable European Jews facing Nazi oppression and death, who might have come to America.
And recently, border restrictions, and, in part, a wall, were erected on our border with Mexico.
Do border restrictions amount to an indication that its inhabitants feel insecure, according to the midrash? If so, what does that suggest about America of 1924, or 2018?
I was raised with the belief that America was a unique nation – home of the brave and land of the free – and that nearly all of us were descendants of immigrants – the proverbial melting pot. I was raised with the lesson that World War II proved that America must not be isolationist, as the world depended on American largess and America depended on immigrants’ drive and creativity.
Hence, the commentary to our verse – Is our land fortified? Do we feel secure? Clearly, there is a debate on these issues. Let’s hope that it doesn’t cost forty years of suffering, or undue vulnerability for others who are oppressed.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
