Parshat Shelach. What a Difference One Month Makes: Reflections on Covid-19, Racism and the Dream of Juneteenth

This week's parashah/portion is Shelach (Bamidbar/Numbers 13:1-15:41). It contains within it the story of the 12 spies who Moses sends to scout out the land of Canaan before crossing the Jordan. Upon their return they all agreed that the land was “flowing with milk and honey.” However, ten of the spies reported that the land was occupied by "giants" which made them feel “like grasshoppers.” Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, disagreed with that negative assessment. 

The ten spies were able to join together in order to convince the people that they could never conquer the land. That is why the text refers to them as an "evil community." 

Joshua and Caleb were the only true leaders. Yet, even they may have been just as afraid as the other ten. We don't know. However, they had faith that God would help them face the unknown and guide them to victory as a true community.

I first wrote these words in early May as part of a commentary that was to be published in the local Jewish newspaper on June 1, 2020. 

At that time I continued by comparing the text to the Covid-19 crises. I observed that all of us are afraid of the unknown. We look around us and it is easy to see our current situation as insurmountable. We could easily view ourselves as insignificant like grasshoppers in the face of such an enormous challenge. And yet, the role of our leaders is to help us see that this is not the case. 

Our leaders' role is to be realistic about the uncertainty we feel as we face Covid-19, while also being realistically optimistic that in the future we will eventually “cross the Jordan.” 

We must not follow "leaders" who are trying to instill fear among us, nor those who try to convince us that there is nothing to worry about. Instead, let us listen to the voices of those who are leading us to work together for the good of our community even when uncertain about the nature of the future. 

We must look for the Joshuas and Calebs in our communities, our country, and our world. Let us allow them to guide us as we continue on our journeys. For they are acting for the greater good of our communities, our country, and our world.

Our ancestors were unable - or unwilling - to do this. Hopefully we can. 

That was the end of my original commentary. Only one month ago.

Since then things have changed. Since then we have witnessed the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Rayshard Brooks not long after the murder of Breonna Taylor and so many other people of color. We have been faced with the epidemic of racism and violence in our country.

Yet, that epidemic has been present and growing unabated for over 400 years. It is one about which I have written and spoken numerous times. And yet, part of my privilege is the ability to forget about this epidemic until faced again with the news of the killing of another black person. After all, I don't have to fear that I will be a victim of this particular epidemic on a daily basis.

Then, when another killing or act of violence would occur, I would again write or speak. It was all very well-intentioned and hopefully meaningful. Yet, eventually life would continue and the injustices of our country against people of color would no longer be at the top of my list. Until the next time. Then the cycle would continue.

But that cycle cannot be the status quo for me or for any person who cares about the taking of black lives in our country. It never should have been status quo in the first place. 

If black lives truly matter, if people of color's lives truly matter, if the life of all oppressed people truly matters, if our country and human life tuly matter, then this fight must be a constant one. It cannot be cyclical.

As someone who is the beneficiary of white privilege, even if I don't see myself as white (click here for more on this), and as a person in a public position, I must speak out and take action whenever possible.

I see some similarities between this and what I wrote one month ago. For when addressing the issues of systemic racism and white privilege in our country, it is also easy see myself as a grasshopper. After all, we are just tiny individuals.  We don't have the power to either maintain or destroy a 400 year old racist system. 

And yet, in the parashah we see how ten individuals can have an enormous impact when they work together. Ten people can persuade an entire people to follow them without any questions. 

We too have the ability as individuals to join together as a community and use our power. But instead of acting as did the ten spies, we need to act wisely and justly. We need to find the Joshua and Caleb within each of us. 

As I wrote before, perhaps Joshua and Caleb were afraid. Perhaps they even saw themselves as grasshoppers. Perhaps they believed that as individuals they couldn't do anything. But they had faith in the power of God. I also believe they had faith in the power of community, which is really the same thing.

They also knew from the ten plague that even a small insignificant creature such as the locust, which is a species of grasshopper, can have immense power when they join together in a swarm! And so, those of us who are seen as white must work together as a community built on justice. We must do our part to dismantle systemic racism. Only then can all people work together to build a truly just society based on the principle that all human beings are created equal!

If we truly work together in community, then we all have power. Working together we are no longer grasshoppers. We are significant. We can make a difference. We can defeat an epidemic, whether biological or societal. For we are all created in the Divine image! 

Communities of color have known for a long time that there is incredible strength in numbers. So have other historically-oppressed communities, including the Jewish community. 

Now those benefit from privilege must finally acknowledge the power that we have to either maintain or destroy the systems of oppression from which we benefit, whether intentionally or not. Without dismantling the system it will be that much harder for communities of color to achieve the dream of freedom and equality which all human beings deserve and which many believed was a dream fulfilled on Juneteeth, June 19, 1865, when the last state finally ended legalized slavery of black people. 

But our country has not allowed that dream to be truly fulfilled. Now is the time to finally do the difficult and painful work necessary for it to happen. This begins by people seen as white acknowledging our responsibility for the system that has evolved and then using our privilege responsibly to bring it to an end. 

That is the only way the dream of Juneteenth will ever be truly be fulfilled. That is the only way the dream of America can ever be truly great.