According to Hasidic teachings, Tuesday night is the latest that one can make havdalah, the ritual separation between Shabbat and the rest of the week. I will take this opportunity, then, to shift from thinking about the Torah portion from last Shabbat – B’Ha-alotcha – and look towards what we will hear and study this Shabbat–Shlach L’cha.
This is the Shabbat of the spies, of the twelve men who are sent to scout the Promised Land. It is a narrative of faith and fear, and the event that sets the stage for Joshua’s eventual succession of leadership. He and Caleb, alone amongst the twelve, come back with hope for the future, with the belief that God’s promise will come true.
Along with the story of the Golden Calf, this is one of the origin stories for our relationship with Divine punishment and forgiveness.
After the sin of the Golden Calf, the first communal sin of the children of Israel, Moses acts as intermediary, pleading for forgiveness on behalf of the people. In so doing, he recites before God a litany of attributes, reminding God of God’s forgiving nature. Presumably, he is trying to butter God up a little bit –and it seems to work. God hands over a new set of commandments and recommits to the covenant. The text also seems to suggest that going forward, this recitation will be part of the “forgiveness formula.”
And sure enough, almost the exact same scene plays out in this week’s Torah portion. Ten of the spies come back with a report of doom and gloom and impossibility, and the people– well, they freak out:
וַתִּשָּׂא֙ כָּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּ אֶת־קוֹלָ֑ם וַיִּבְכּ֥וּ הָעָ֖ם בַּלַּ֥יְלָה הַהֽוּא׃ (ב) וַיִּלֹּ֙נו עַל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֔ן כֹּ֖ל בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַֽיֹּאמְר֨וּ אֲלֵהֶ֜ם כָּל־הָעֵדָ֗ה לוּ־מַ֙תְנוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם א֛וֹ בַּמִּדְבָּ֥ר הַזֶּ֖ה לוּ־מָֽתְנוּ׃
(1) The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. (2) All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” the whole community shouted at them, “or if only we might die in this wilderness!”
After this, there is a bunch of back and forth–but once again, we find Moses as intermediary, asking forgiveness on behalf of the entire Israelite people. And, once again, Moses recites the formula –a section we know in our own liturgy as The 13 Attributes–reminding God that God is compassionate and merciful and forgiving. This time, God gives a clear response–one that becomes foundational in our understanding of and prayer during Yom Kippur:
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֔ה סָלַ֖חְתִּי כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ׃
And יהוה said, “I pardon, as you have asked.”
Now, let me be clear. The statement, much like an “asterisk player” in a Hall of Fame, is not entirely without caveats. God may be forgiving, but God is not willing to write off punishment in this case. The commentaries on this verse seem to be in agreement that God is willing to defer punishment, or to drag it out over 40 years–rather than cause a mass extinction event. That seems to be the pardon we look at here.
And yet, this verse is still a model–for God and for us. We recite this verse on Yom Kippur, a climactic moment in the Vidui (confessional) part of the service. And, according to the rabbis of the Talmud, God also prays– and not only on Yom Kippur. And what does God pray, they ask? Rav Zutra bar Tovia said that Rav said: “God says: May it be My will that… I conduct myself toward My children, Israel, with the attribute of mercy.”
-Rabbi Sari Laufer