In 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt spoke at his first inauguration, the country was in the grip of the Great Depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed, millions faced homelessness and hunger. In a nation without Social Security, close to one half of all seniors lived in poverty. Across the ocean, despair had smoothed the way for the rise of Fascism and Stalin turned the exploitation of fear into an art form as he ruled the Soviet empire with an iron fist.
In his opening paragraph, President Roosevelt, facing the worst challenge to democracy, said the following bold words:
“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
On one level, Roosevelt was referring to the way that economic uncertainty and fear themselves become objective causes for further economic distress in a vicious cycle as consumers refrain from making purchases and business refrain from making investments and hires out of fear for the futures, which leads to further economic constriction.
But fear can be a crippling emotion well beyond the realm of economics and when fear is stoked by politicians to cement their leadership, the fires of hatred are fanned, and horrific events can follow.
The Torah scholar with the most intimate knowledge of politics and statecraft was undoubtably the Abarbanel, Don Yitzchak ben Yehudah Abravanel was born in Portugal and in addition to Torah studies mastered the world of 15th century finance which brought him into the service of the King of Portugal, King Alfonso V. In 1483 King Alfonso died and the Abarbanel fled to Castille after being accused of King John II of Portugal of colluding with the Duke of Braganza. Settling in Toledo, the Abarbanel published his first works of Biblical scholarship before he entered the service of Queen Isabella. Abarbanel served Isabella and her husband King Ferdinand with great distinction, financing their successful war against the Moors, only to fall victim to the Alhambra Decree expelling all Jews from Portugal. Abarbanel moved to Naples where he entered the court of the King Alfonso of Naples. When France conquered Naples in 1495, Abarbanel followed his king to Messina and then Corfu. He settled in Monopoli in 1496 and in Venice in 1503 where he helped negotiate a trade deal between Venice and Portugal.
This sad experience with kings and princes, wars and explosion was all grist for his mill as a Torah scholar. His commentary is filled with hard-earned wisdom of his unique perspective. And this can be seen in his analysis of the profound leadership failure that occurs in Parashat Shelach.
The Torah presents the story of the spies and their disastrous report in two locations, here in Sefer Bamidbar, and later in Sefer Devarim as Moshe retells the episode to the next generation. Significantly, Moshe changed some very pertinent details when he retells the story. In Sefer Devarim, Moshe claims that the idea to scout the land was an idea that originated with the people themselves. In Parashat Shelach, as we just heard, the command to send spies was a command by God to which Moshe complies.
Abarbanel is sensitive to the specific agenda that Moshe presents to the men as he sends them to Eretz Yisrael. God had commanded the mission with a very simple command:
שְלַח־לְָ֣ אֲנָשִ֗ים וְיָתֻ֙רו֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רץ כְנַ֔עַן אֲשֶר־אֲנִ֥י נֹתֵ֖ן לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְראֵ֑ל
Send men to scout the land. There is no elaboration given. No questions asked. No purpose for the mission is provided.
At the end of 40 years in the desert, when Moshe recounts the episode, he is similarly terse, although some significant details are added:
וַתִקרב֣ון אֵלַי֮ כֻלְכֶם֒ וַתֹאמְר֗ו נִשְלְחָ֤ה אֲנָשִים֙ לְפָנֵ֔ינו וְיַחְפְרו־לָ֖נו אֶת־הָאָ֑רץ וְיָשִ֤בו אֹתָ֙נו֙ דָבָ֔ר אֶת־הַדֶ֙רְ֙ אֲשֶ֣ר נַעֲלֶה־בָ֔ה וְאֵת֙ הֶֽעָר֔ים אֲשֶ֥ר נָבֹ֖א אֲלֵיהֶֽן׃
Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to.”
Here, the purpose of the mission is very clear. The spies are meant to determine the best route by which Eretz Yisrael can be conquered.
What is added by Moshe in Parashat Shelach when he commands the spies that was not in God’s original command, several verses earlier, and was not in the people’s request as recorded in Devarim?
וראִיתֶ֥ם אֶת־הָאָ֖רץ מַה־הִ֑וא וְאֶת־הָעָם֙ הַיֹשֵ֣ב עָלֶ֔יהָ הֶחָזָ֥ק הוא֙ הֲרפֶ֔ה הַמְעַ֥ט ה֖וא אִם־רֽב׃ יט ומָ֣ה הָאָ֗רץ אֲשֶר־הוא֙ יֹשֵ֣ב בָ֔ה הֲטובָ֥ה הִ֖וא אִם־רעָ֑ה ומָ֣ה הֶֽעָר֗ים אֲשֶר־הוא֙ יושֵ֣ב בָהֵ֔נָה הַבְמַֽחֲנִ֖ים אִ֥ם בְמִבְצָרֽים׃
כ ומָ֣ה הָ֠אָרץ הַשְמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא אִם־רזָ֗ה הֲיֵֽש־בָ֥ה עֵץ֙ אִם־אַ֔יִן וְהִ֨תְחַזַקתֶ֔ם ולְקחְתֶ֖ם מִפְר֣י הָאָ֑רץ וְהַ֨יָמִ֔ים יְמֵ֖י בִכור֥י עֲנָבִֽים׃
“…see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified?
Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not? And take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”
The full set of questions that Moshe told the spies to investigate are hard to reconcile with God’s very broad command to scout the land and some of the questions seem to have little relation to the framing of the questions in Sefer Devarim about strategy.
Abarbanel intuits that Moshe himself formulated the questions about the physical bounty of Eretz Yisrael as an appeal to the base instincts of the people he was leading. He knew they cared about meat and food and wealth and so he made sure to highlight those elements in his report. How do you excite people for the journey to Eretz Yisrael who rebelled and complained about food? You excite them with food.
And then Moshe added additional questions. Moshe asked about the strength and ferocity of the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael. Why did he ask those questions? What was he trying to accomplish? Abarbanel suggests that Moshe was hoping to arouse the people’s fear.
According to Abarbanel, Moshe’s greatest concern was that prosperity and a mundane life of farming and eating, would separate the people from their dependence on God. Moshe tried to elicit fears among the people prior to their entry to Eretz Yisrael. Why did Moshe want the population to be frightened? As the expression goes, there are no atheists in fox-holes. Moshe thought that by emphasizing the dangers inherent in the conquest of Eretz Yisrael the people would recognize that they had no choice other than relying on God for protection and guidance. Moshe’s concern was that the people would adopt an attitude of ועוצם ידי כוחי “my own power and the strength of my own hand” accomplished all my success. In order to encourage an appropriate religious perspective, Moshe tries to inculcate fear. He hoped fear would lead the people to God.
Moshe’s plan backfires in a disastrous way. The spies make their report in front of the entire population, rather than in private, and they editorialize. The land will, indeed, be challenging to conquer, but they add, it is impossible for us to enter. They don’t turn towards God, they turn towards Egypt.
Fear is a powerful emotion. It can paralyze us and prevent needed action that could be decisive. It can lead to panic. Fear can push us to take any action, even counter-productive action.
Even when there are things to fear, fear itself is never a helpful tool of leadership. Once it is unleashed, it cannot be controlled and it is not subject to rational thinking. Franklin Roosevelt turned to the Bible to express this idea. In that same first inaugural address he references the Book of Proverbs “when there is no vision the people perish.”
In Hebrew the verse is, “בְאֵ֣ןי חָ֭זון יִפָ֣רֽע עָ֑ם” without vision, the people perish. But the verse in Sefer Mishlei, in Proverbs concludes, “וְשֹמֵ֖ר ת֣ורה אַשְרהו:” meaning, “happy is the one who guards the Torah.” The Torah itself is meant to provide a vision around which a community can organize itself and within which a people can find the courage and fortitude to take on daunting challenges.
There are real obstacles in our path and real risks that we confront. Fear is a natural human response to danger and to challenge. But fear is not a legitimate tool of leadership. If we can contemplate our own fears, within our families, within our communities, and confronting the Jewish people around the world, we can think deliberatively about the “Torah,” about the values and ideals around which we formulate a vision. We can respond to our fears with a positive vision if we are honest about the scope and extent of our fears. And the more we are aware of the things that frighten us, the better able to identify those who are exploiting our fear for the sake of their own leadership.
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 