Voices of WRJ: Parashat Sh'lach L'cha

by Denise Levine Parashat Sh’lach L’cha tells the story of the twelve scouts that Moses sends into Canaan to report on what they see. In Numbers 13:1, God instructs Moses to send one representative from each tribe into the land and report back. Moses asks the scouts to go into the hill country “and see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not?” Upon their return, we learn that they view the same situation very differently, just like our sisterhood members could view what we do through different lenses. We learn that ten of the scouts come back from this expedition fearful to go into this new land. The scouts talk about how wonderful the land is but that powerful people inhabit it and the cities are large and fortified. The people are afraid to go forth and would rather go back to Egypt than die in this new land. Two of the scouts, Caleb and Joshua, see the situation very differently. Caleb feels that despite appearances, they can take possession of the land. He and Joshua both feel that the land is good and that God will give them the land because the people living there are not under God’s protection. Caleb and Joshua have faith that God will give them the land if He is pleased with them. One could say that the answers to Moses’ questions are subjective and that no two people would react or answer in the same fashion. Joshua and Caleb see the same things as the other scouts but react in a different fashion. They are not fearful; they have faith that God will protect them in this new land. Right now, many of our sisterhoods are moving forward with changes in leadership. This can be a time of great change in our sisterhoods, a time of continuing with the status quo or a time of wanting to go back to the way things were. Some might have a wish to go “back to Egypt” where they know what is comfortable and are afraid of making changes. We all know about the sisterhood members who are afraid of change; who want to keep things the way they were. These are the ones who say, “We’ve never done it that way.” The ones that don’t want to embrace new ideas from new members or new leaders. These people have a tendency to see the negative rather than the positive similarly to the ten scouts. We know from experience that in order for sisterhoods to grow, new ways of doing things must be woven into the fabric while keeping some of our great traditions. We need to embrace change; we need to see things through different eyes. Our new leaders might see things differently; they may want to approach a program or an event in some brand new fashion. Perhaps there is an obstacle to having your event and they have figured out how to overcome the obstacle. We need to be open to these changes and take a leap of faith. Joshua and Caleb had the faith that God would protect them in the Promised Land. I think that we need to have faith that all our leaders want the same thing, the opportunity for our sisterhoods to continue to grow and to thrive. WRJ is just starting its second century. There are traditions that we have held onto from the beginning and new enterprises to look forward to. We continue to have faith in our leadership but most importantly we have faith in ourselves. We know that as long as we continue to see the positive rather than the negative, there is nothing that we can’t accomplish. Denise Levine is WRJ Northeast District 1st Vice President, a member of the WRJ Board of Directors, Eisner/Crane Lake Camp Vice Chair, and a member of North Shore Synagogue in Syosset, NY.