The earth is full of 'Position'

Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald – The Parasha in our everyday life – Shlach Lecha - 5781

Do you occasionally listen to or watch the speakers in the media, and after they have given their name and the topic at hand, you already know how to recite almost verbatim what they will say?! All in accordance with the speaker's so familiar 'position'! Do you change channels at this point? Listen to music? Or are you curious to hear how the esteemed speaker was forced to squirm and arrange his reaction to what was happening according to what suited his 'position'?! Or you seek to spare yourself the sometimes heartbreaking situation of hearing or watching an intelligent person who is forced to verbally prove that 'day' is actually 'night', that 'achievement' is actually 'failure', that 'in favor' is actually 'against' and that 'the best interest' is nothing more than a 'self-interest'? Or to hear him 'recite' a page of messages dictated to him by his superiors, without always having a connection between the question and the answer, and sometimes it is also clear that this is not what he 'really' thinks?! These are sad moments.

It is not always possible to reach a clear conclusion as to whether the speaker really believes what he is saying, because from the day the 'position' gained public legitimacy the trust was lost. Doubt nestles in the heart. Does the speaker really think the 'public is stupid'? Or does the speaker talk to his 'base' in the first place, only to 'convince the convinced', and for them, a statement that matches their agenda is enough, whether it matches reality or not.

Every person and group of people should have an ideology in which they believe, and an agenda derived from it which they strive to realize in their personal and public lives. It gives a meaning to life. Someone with an agenda is also allowed to act to convince others of its righteousness and try to get them to its realization. But there is a clear, red line to be drawn between an 'agenda' that is legitimate and a 'position' that is not.

The power of ideology and agenda lies in the 'truth' it represents. If it is lost, it loses its moral validity. And it can coexist with those of a different opinion. When reality contradicts the agenda the right thing to do is to admit it! Otherwise, it seems the 'position' owner turns his agenda into an interest, and therefore, loses the ability to admit that the reality became contradictory. And he will try to gather his intelligent and rhetorical abilities to prove that reality actually fits the agenda.

See what a miracle! The whole country is full of 'position' and the land is not tumultuous and noisy, and society closes its eyes! However, society may pay a heavy price for this, because mutual trust, which is the condition for its existence, is being lost, and there is no unity!

In the previous Parasha we read about the sin of the complainants and pointed out to a serious problem that started from the root: a reluctance to take responsibility for entering the land and for the war over its succession. It was not resolved. In our Parasha, it seriously widened with the sin of the spies - a classic example of 'position'. The spies did not really go to scout the land and see what kind of country it is. From the beginning, even before they set out on their mission, they had a clear agenda. The request for the mission of espionage was also a kind of excuse - to slander out the land, to seek an alibi to persuade the people not to go in:

לפי שג' דעות היו באותה עצה כי הקב"ה אמר ויתורו, שיש במשמעתו גם לשון יתרון כי רצה הקב"ה להראות להם יתרון הארץ על כל הארצות… אבל ישראל רוח אחרת היתה עמהם כי תמיד היו מבקשים תואנה לשוב מצרימה וע"כ אמרו ויחפרו, שיש במשמעתו לשון חרפה כי ערות הארץ רצו לראות כדי שיהיה להם מקום ללון ולומר נתנה ראש ונשובה מצרימה. אבל מ"מ לא בקשו שיוציאו מלבם דבה שקרית. והמרגלים השחיתו התעיבו יותר ממה שבקשו מהם והוציאו מלבם מלין שקרים כדרך כל הולך רכיל המפליג כל דבר להגיד יותר ממה שראה לכך נאמר וירגלו אותה. כי רגל לשון רכיל…

"Three sayings were in the same instruction: G-d wanted to show them the 'advantage of the land' over all the lands. And to bring them from that land to a good and wide land (וְיָתֻ֙רוּ֙- יתרון). But Israel had a different spirit with them because they always wanted an excuse to return to Egypt and so they said וְיַחְפְּרוּ 'reconnoiter', which could come from the word חרפה 'disgrace'. This way they could curse the place and return to Egypt'. But in any case, they did not ask them to remove all false slander from their hearts. And the spies despised and deceived more than they needed, מלין שקרים “false tongue” ‘lies' like all gossip-mongers exaggerating whatever it was they saw on the way; therefore, it is said וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּ אֹתָֽהּ - and spied it out (being on the way-רגל-gossip". (Kli Yakar Bamidbar 13:2).

Even when they bring from the wonderful fruits of the land, they are loyal to the ‘position’ and use them to create demonization and intimidation from entering the land.

The price was extremely heavy. Forty years in the desert and the death of the entire generation.

And we, have the task to correct the sin of the spies,

And not to put up with the phenomenon of 'position'.