blogs/rabbi-noah-farkas

Shelach Lecha 5771
Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas

A good friend once told me that the best way of being a tourist in a new place is by getting lost.  He's right.  The first day I moved to New York City, I put on my headphones, filled my water bottle and headed south on Broadway.  As I walked, I was overwhelmed by the sheer mass of cars, people, and buildings.  With music moving in my head, I cast my eyes upward at the canyon formed by the walls of so many tall buildings.  Soon enough, I got lost.  

Almost by definition, being lost means you are a tourist.  The difference between being a native and a visitor is that natives are of a place, they know where to go, when to go, and who to talk to.  The place where they live shapes them.  This lesson is one that I find relevant in this week's Torah portion, Shelach Lecha.  Moses sends twelve spies to the Land latur et ha-aretz (Numbers 13:16), to literally tour the land, to scout it out.   The questions the Israelites ask sound a bit touristy:  “What kind of country is it? Are the people nice? Are the towns big? How's the food?”  And my favorite: “Don't forget to bring me back something.” (Numbers 13:18-20.)  These questions are not the kind of questions a native of the Land would ask. They are the questions of outsiders �" tourists.  

When I finally got home after my hours long walk around New York, I felt transformed.  I didn't feel lost anymore because I learned which streets go in which direction, what the average price of a bagel and coffee is, and other invaluable things that oriented me to becoming a “New Yorker” (As if I could ever really be one.)  I started a process of moving beyond being a tourist to being a native, being of a place.  

So twelve tourists went to the Land, but only ten tourists returned.  For the ten who came home and reported back to Moses, they explained that the Land has great food, but is filled with ferocious people; a great place to visit, perhaps, but not live.   For the two who came back different, Joshua and Caleb, something about the Land transformed them.  They felt an immediate connection.  After forty days of getting lost, they found their home in the Land promised by the Holy One.  Caleb explains to the people, “we will elevate ourselves and take the inheritance of it, for chol-yachol nuchal lah, literally for our entire capacity is for it [meaning this place.]  (Numbers 13:30)  Our capacity for life is tied to this place, this land.  We are not outsiders, tourists, but insiders, inheritors.  The key to understanding the difference between being a tourist and a native is the sense of immediate elevation a place brings to you.  If the Land shapes you, makes you deeper, raises your personal expectations, it's yours, you are home. 

This week our VBS community sends its own fifty scouts to Israel with Rabbi Hoffman.  We wish them only the safest and most meaningful journey.  But this is no journey of tourists.  While they move about the country, taste its foods and see its sites, I know that something deeper is at play.   If you let the Land elevate you, you become elevated.  If you let the history of our people shape you, you become shaped. If you take note of every moment, you will remember them forever.  Because whenever you go to Israel, our Land, you can elevate yourself from being a tourist to being a native.  You are home.  

Rabbi Hoffman will be sharing the stories of our community's travels while he is in Israel.  Stay tuned to this blog to hear of the amazing transformations our members feel when the report back to us how wonderful a place Israel truly is.   

To those who are traveling this Sunday, we say B'tzetchem L'shalom.  Go in peace.  Oh, and bring us back something nice. 

Shabbat Shalom.