This week is the Sabbath known as "Shabbat Shuva," the Sabbath of Return (NOT "shiva," which means "mourning" ). It is a special day between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).
The portion, one of the last of the Torah, deals with Moses's final valediction to the Children of Israel. He lays out the moral choice between good and evil, and -- this is crucial -- he tells them that they will fail, and they will be punished.
This is, at first, confusing: why set people up to fail? But Moses is doing the opposite: he is setting them up to succeed by telling them that even though they will stumble, they should not give up, because they will win eventually.
When you listen to recovering addicts describe their story, most of them admit that they have failed -- "fallen off the wagon" -- at least once or twice. It is important to see that as part of the recovery, rather than the end of recovery.
The point is not to excuse lapses, but to place them in an appropriate context -- one in which the overall trajectory is positive, and in which mistakes become less frequent and less damaging. The key is commitment over the long term.
Success requires courage, above all. As Moses says, repeating an earlier blessing he gave to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous!" (Deut. 31:6). And sometimes emotional courage is just as tough as any physical courage you can muster.
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
