Complex Conclusions
Gavriel Brown
As spring turns to summer, and the once lush green mountains of Ma’ale Gilboa turn dry and golden, we chutznikim (i.e. foreign students) are officially closing an important chapter in our lives. This was a chapter filled with Talmudic Dialectics, Halachik disagreements, Emmanual Levinas essays and Franz Kafka stories. For the 12 of us who began this year in the sweltering heat of August, this unique phase can’t simply be summarized without running the risk of superficiality.
When we go back home, we will inevitably be asked, “How was your year?” expecting a succinct answer tied up in a bow. Can we simply boil down a year of ideas, confusions, growth, tribulations and learning into a terse, “My year was great”?
We will read the story of the spies this week in Parashat Shelach. Moses charges twelve leaders of Israel to: "Go up there into the Negeb and on 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?"
The sin of the spies, according to the Bible, is two fold. They didn’t trust in the benevolent power of God to guide them to the Promised Land, and they spread libel against the land.
But perhaps this whole calamity could have been avoided had Moses commanded them differently. His instructions gave no room to convey the complexity that such a mission would entail. The form of his questions, a series of yes/no dialectics was inappropriate. Upon returning from their journey, the spies would surely need to convey more than simply “the people are strong, the land is bad, the cities are fortified and the soil is rich.” And they did.
The people of Israel expected a concise report and were devastated to hear complexity. They wanted answers that would affirm their beliefs and were shocked to hear something different.
The story of the spies shows the need for questions that are open to multiple nuanced answers. It illustrates the need for questions that give room for unexpected complexity.
Yeshiva has left us with a powerful and enduring message. Torah is complex. Israel is complicated. There is more to the Talmud than meets the eye. Life is a series of exciting challenges that requires sensibility and awareness, flexibility and openness.
When we go back home, we will inevitably be asked, “How was your year?” expecting a succinct answer tied up in a bow. Can we simply boil down a year of ideas, confusions, growth, tribulations and learning into a terse, “My year was great”?
We will read the story of the spies this week in Parashat Shelach. Moses charges twelve leaders of Israel to: "Go up there into the Negeb and on 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?"
The sin of the spies, according to the Bible, is two fold. They didn’t trust in the benevolent power of God to guide them to the Promised Land, and they spread libel against the land.
But perhaps this whole calamity could have been avoided had Moses commanded them differently. His instructions gave no room to convey the complexity that such a mission would entail. The form of his questions, a series of yes/no dialectics was inappropriate. Upon returning from their journey, the spies would surely need to convey more than simply “the people are strong, the land is bad, the cities are fortified and the soil is rich.” And they did.
The people of Israel expected a concise report and were devastated to hear complexity. They wanted answers that would affirm their beliefs and were shocked to hear something different.
The story of the spies shows the need for questions that are open to multiple nuanced answers. It illustrates the need for questions that give room for unexpected complexity.
Yeshiva has left us with a powerful and enduring message. Torah is complex. Israel is complicated. There is more to the Talmud than meets the eye. Life is a series of exciting challenges that requires sensibility and awareness, flexibility and openness.
-- Gavi Brown
