Parshat Sh'lachlcha 5772

Dusty from the road, the tribes of Israel arrive at the Promised Land.  They’ve crossed the sea, walked long and hard, known hunger, built the mishkan, and heard God’s own voice.  Having reached the border, their destination is in sight and they suppose their exodus is over.  They are mistaken.

The Promised Land is the Land of Promise—that is, the future:  limitless and bountiful.  It is that ideal tomorrow in which we each live up to our fullest potentials.  Flowing with milk and honey, laden with fruit, the Promised Land is a metaphor for abundance.  There, dreams are nourished and prayers are answered.  There, our best and highest selves find inspiration.

In Parashat Sh’lachlcha, the twelve scouts reconnoiter the Holy Land to ascertain “what kind of country it is” (Numbers 13:18).  In this way, the scouts are like all people.  Each one of us stands on the border of the future, perpetually on the brink of what’s-to-come.  We crane our necks to know what the future holds.  “What will happen?”  “Who will I meet?” “What should I do?” “Will I have enough?” each of us wonders.  “What kind of country is it?” Moses asks.  “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?”  (Numbers 13:18-20).  It is very human to want to peer beyond the curtain of time, to know what tomorrow will bring.

When faced with the unknown, human beings react in different ways.  Some, like the ten, fear the enormity of the task.  Others, like the two, thrill to the possibility.

The ten fearful spies are like many of us.  Notice their report: “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers.  All the people that we saw in it are of great size … we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them” (13:32-33).  They are overwhelmed by what might befall them and so shrink back, threatened.  They do not prepare themselves.  They turn away.  The future happens to them—or worse, devours them.

Others, like Joshua and Caleb, see opportunity ahead.  They are excited to discover what the future holds, to take charge of their own lives.  “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it” (13:30).

The duo of spies in this week’s haftarah, Joshua 2:1-24, approach their task differently still.  They proceed with care, but still connect to the unknown.  They make the future an ally:  “we will deal kindly and truly with you,” they tell Rahab (2 Joshua 1:14).  They are cautious, but not afraid.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, each of us is hurtling into the future.  How will we face it?  It’s important that we know ourselves, understand how we behave when faced with the unknown.  Some people like to research to know what lies ahead.  Some make a plan to know what they are to do.  Some craft a model or a tool to help them visualize, to act.  Some improvise, believing in their ability to create to see them through.  No one system is better than others; each of us has our own style.  What’s important is to know how we anticipate best—what we need in order to be relaxed and enthused about moving forward.  If you know what you need to succeed, you are better equipped to do so.  And if you know what you lack, you are better able to find a partner who can help you process in a different way, to see what you are missing.

The future is only a breath away, and we are—each one of us—always arriving.  The Land of Promise beckons.  What would you like to accomplish?  Who would you like to become?  Those possibilities exist just across the river, if you would but cross and inhabit them.