Parshat Devarim: Preparing for the Promised Land Together in 2020

This week's parashah/portion is called Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22). It is the first portion in the final book of the Torah, Devarim/Deuteronomy, a book which consists primarily of three addresses that Moses makes to the people of Israel in preparation for his death and the people's entrance to the Promised Land. 

During this initial address, Moses recounts the story from the book of Bamidbar/Numbers of the 12 spies. In the original telling God commanded Moses to appoint one scout from each of the 12 tribes to reconnoiter the land and bring back a report. When they returned, they all agreed that the land was flowing with milk and honey. However, ten of the spies also reported that the people were like giants and that they would not be able to conquer them. Only Joshua and Caleb reminded the people that God was with them, so they will indeed be able to conquer and inhabit the land. Because the people followed the negative report of the ten spies, rather than that of Joshua and Caleb, God decreed that none of the adults, except for Joshua and Caleb, were to enter the land. And so they were doomed to wander for 40 years until that entire generation died out.

This week the Israelites find themselves near the end of the 40 years of wandering. The older generation is gone. Now Moses recounts the events to this new generation. As he does so he alters the details of the story. 

In the retelling he states that the idea of sending the scouts came from the people, not from God. Furthermore, he tells them that the scouts brought back a positive report, but it was the people who did not want to listen to their words; instead they refused to follow God's command to conquer the land out of fear. However, the result was the same, as they were still forbidden to enter the land.

The name of the portion, Devarim, means both words and things. This reminds us that words are so powerful that they can easily take on a life of their own. Words can bring comfort and peace, just as they can create strife and disagreement. In the initial telling, it is the words of the ten spies that create fear and doubt in the people and cause them to rebel. In the retelling, it is the people themselves who refuse to listen to the positive words of the spies. It is their words and thoughts of fear and doubt which causes them to act as they did.

I believe that the change in the narrative was intentional. Moses is now speaking to a people who had never known slavery, as opposed to their parents, who had been freed from Egyptian bondage, and so the message was different.

It is not surprising that their ancestors were portrayed as following bad news provided by a group of strong leaders. After all, they were accustomed to listening to the instructions and commands of others.  Even though Joshua and Caleb had a different report, as recently enslaved people they did not believe in their own strength enough, nor did they fully trust  Moses, or even God.

After 40 years of wandering, though the people still challenged and complained, it came from them as individuals and as a community. They did not need leaders with greater power to influence them, though they still did so at times. They relied more on themselves, sometimes for better and other times for worse. These people, poised on the brink of a new passage in their life, had the power, as individuals and as a nation, to create discord and strife of their own accord. If they did so, their entry into the Promised Land could be disastrous. Moses's retelling of the narrative points to this. 

However, at the same time, he reminds them that they do have a leader who is poised to take them into the Land, if they trust him - and themselves - and God. This leader, Joshua, was one of two people able to see clearly 40 years ago. And so he has the vision to lead them today, as long as they are willing to listen and follow.

As they prepare to enter a land filled with promise Moses wanted them to remember to listen to his devarim/words as they follow Joshua into the land creating other devarim/things or actions. They must also remember that they are being led by Yehoshua/Joshua, whose name means "God shall save!" This name was a message to them all.

They are also reminded by Moses that settling the land will not be easy. They will face adversaries whom they must fight and conquer. And of whom they will be afraid. Yet, led by Yehoshua they will do just that, if they don't fill their minds with words of doubt and turn those doubts into destructive actions. 

At this moment we are like the Israelites waiting on the other side of the Jordan. This is especially true of Black Americans, for whom the narrative of the Israelite slaves journey to freedom had a powerful meaning.

Our country has been wandering for over 400 hundred years since the first enslaved Africans stepped foot on our soil.

Throughout these centuries of wandering we have been trying to create a nation. Yet, this nation, such as it is, has been built by and for some on the backs of many. 

During the times of slavery and even afterwards, Black Americans, and their allies, were convinced by seemingly caring and benevolent white leaders either to fear change or to believe that it had actually occurred and all was well. After all, they were no longer enslaved. Legally. They were free - to an extent.

It became clear that equality was ruse. Black Americans learned this quickly thanks to Jim Crow laws, as well as the unequal systems of policing and incarceration. The "war on crime" which began in the 1960s, exploded in the 1990s, and continues to today, only made the inequity and injustice worse. 

It took a little longer for most White people to finally acknowledge these truths, though some still deny them (especially in our government). But today it is clear to all whose eyes are open what "freedom" has really meant. Through years of wandering through  on different and unequal paths, in the desert the desert we call the United States of America, it became clear that the "more perfect union" is a fantasy; it is a Promised Land in which all can live freely and equitably - and which does not yet exist. 

Through these centuries, and especially in the last 150 years, Black Americans have fought and struggled. They did not complain because of a lack of faith or because of ego, like the Israelites. They revolted and rebelled because of the denial of civil and human rights. 

After years of travelling these separate paths, more of us are finally joining together to stand on the other side of the Jordan as a nation still in formation. Led by Black Americans, and along with all people of color, we are ready to cross the river into the Promised Land. We have the power to bring salvation. We do not have to listen to the words of so-called leaders who tell us that change has already come, for we know that's a lie!

And so we must listen to our own hearts and to the leaders who are truly dedicated to salvation and freedom. We must listen to the words within us which tell us it is time to tear down the walls, rebel against injustice, dismantle the structures that keep people enslaved, and turn those words into actions that will bring about real change. We can protest in the streets, we can write to our politicians, we can teach others, and we can vote to make the change happen!

Yehoshua/Joshua's name reminded the Israelites that God would bring salvation. We must find the Yehoshua, the source of salvation and freedom, within our leaders and within ourselves. That is what we must continue to do.

We are ready. We are ready to cross the Jordan. We are ready to fight the battles together that need to be fought. We are prepared for revolution. And when we enter the Promised Land together it will truly be a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of equality and equity, and a land of justice and compassion; a land in which we can finally proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all its inhabitants.

Shabbat Shalom.