There is one question I had never considered when looking at our Torah portion. Moshe sends twelve spies to scout out the land. I wondered to myself recently, "Why didn't he join the expedition?" This could have been his chance to see the promised land. He obviously did not know that this punishment was coming.
There are issues here between: Lost opportunities, making sacrifices to make everyone else happy, delegating responsibility, and maybe regret. At the end of his life, I wonder if Moshe will say, "If only I could have made it to the promised land when I had the chance" or when the spies came back with bad news, he may have thought, "I should have done it myself."
Many of us think that it would be so much easier if we just do the job ourselves. It will take less time and the quality will be of greater quality, yet the Torah gives us another option which requires us to think about underlying values.
In Moshe's case, he valued unification of the tribes, information gathering and sharing, and empowering the next generation. It may not have been perfect, but it was a move in preparation of handing off power and even seeing who is up to the Job. Joshua and Caleb passed the test.
So many of us do the best we can with the information at hand. We cannot foresee all circumstances and the attempt to do so will paralyze us with analysis. In the absence of a world that can be perfect, we can decipher our main values and how to move progress forward.
Shabbat shalom Rabbi Bernstein
CELEBRATIONS & GRATITUDE Mazal Tov to Sharon, Ross and Mitchell Kapitansky on Samantha becoming a Bat Mitzvah.
Mazal Tov to the Hey Class of 2021 and a special thank you to Mrs. O., her staff and all the presenters for making the 2021 graduating ceremony a success.
A special thank you to Mrs. O and her teachers for a beautiful job in leading Shabbat services during the month of May. The children in all the classes were exceptional.
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