This week, while at a game reserve, my family and I were treated to some of the classic South African tunes from the 1990s -- a time of hope and miracles, when popular culture reflected the great enthusiasm for the country's changes.
One song, by Vicky Sampson, "My African Dream," remains beautiful and haunting. Curiously, the man who wrote it, Alan Lazar, now lives in L.A., like me. I don't know much about him, but that seemed rather ironic to me.
The present wave of blackouts, DA political legend Helen Zille recently noted, has shown South Africa that the ANC is a failure. She added that South Africa could now, perhaps, move toward true multiparty democracy and rescue itself.
I do wonder if that wonderfully romantic political time, and all of its art, were something of a burden. They enabled the ruling party to behave corruptly and to dismiss criticism. A more "normal" country would not have tolerated it.
I think it is good that South Africa feels more "normal." With the benefit of distance, I am no longer judging it through an apartheid lens, where race and remedies for the past seem to be the most important priorities for the place.
Romance is a luxury you can enjoy when you have the basics covered, and when you are prosperous. South Africans neglected the basis for their prosperity. It has lost a tremendous amount of capital, both financial and human.
But perhaps it still has the social capital to recover. It needs a common identity -- something that can substitute for the volk that united Afrikaners behind a common nation-building purpose. Perhaps the nostalgia can be put to good use.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
