I'm heading back to the U.S. after ten days in South Africa, where I launched the biography of Rhoda Kadalie. Everything went well and I had a great time. I also learned a lot about the current political debates there -- including the odd attempt to rewrite history, casting Thabo Mbeki's presidency as a Golden Age.
You can understand why that story might be persuasive to South Africans. In the Mbeki era, the economy was growing; construction was booming; there was only a little bit of "load shedding." The Zuma era, with its wholesale looting and "state capture," seems so much worse; there is almost a kind of Mbeki nostalgia.
The truth is that the seeds of South Africa's present crisis were planted in the Mbeki era. What Rhoda, Tony Leon, Helen Zille, and a few others understood was Mbeki's intolerance to opposition and his racial thinking -- both of which were demonstrated in the HIV/Aids and Zimbabwe crises -- were destructive.
Mbeki also presided over the era of BEE, when South Africa diverted scarce capital away from productive investment and toward racial redistribution to members of the ruling party. The model for corruption was set: when Zuma led a group of disgruntled outsiders to power, they simply exploited the pattern.
I think the revisionism is partly being engineered by Mbeki and his loyalists, but is also embraced by those who are desperate to see a way out of the country's present troubles. The opposition does not look likely to take over in 2024, even though the ruling party's fortunes are falling. Hence the wishful thinking.
But Mbeki's presidency remains the moment when the rot set in. Rhoda knew that, and wrote about it. She was often a lone voice of opposition, but she was right. That's another reason the book is relevant, and timely: South Africans need to have an honest conversation about how they got to where they are.
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
