I have been hiking twice already this week, taking advantage of the sunshine to explore the hills and mountains above Los Angeles in the aftermath of three weeks of rain. I have discovered breathtaking waterfalls and rivers flowing with water that are normally bone-dry. It is a spectacular experience.
But all of that water, or most of it, is rushing out to the sea and not being captured for use. And Californians are wondering where the billions of dollars taxpayers approved for water bonds, including reservoirs, are being spent.
To give you a sense of the numbers: Three weeks of rain dumped 32 trillion gallons of water on the state, according to Fox News (https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/california-atmospheric-rivers-32-trillion-gallons-rain-water). California's water use is about 42 billion acre-feet per year, or 1.4 trillion gallons per year, according to the Desert Sun (citing USGS - https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2014/08/21/usgs-estimates-vast-amounts-water-used-california/14400333/). So that's a LOT of water.
Typically, 50% of water in California is devoted to "environmental" use -- i.e. the forests, the rivers, the estuaries, the ecosystem as a whole. So if we presume that half of those 32 trillion gallons could be allowed to remain in the environment, while the other half -- theoretically -- could be devoted to human uses (agricultural, industrial, residential), if the storage capacity existed.
That means that enough rain fell on California to supply the water needs of the population for the next DECADE. Only a very small part of that will be captured.
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
