Did you know that your eyes are able to process 36,000 pieces of information in a single hour? Or that the muscles in the eye are 100 times stronger than they need to be to perform their function. It’s quite interesting how something so small like your eyes can do so much. The eyes are one of the most prominent tools of perception in our bodies. We say not to judge a book by its cover, however, we’re only human, so we do it anyway. We think of our eyes as how we see. But what does seeing really mean? How much of what we see is really happening and how much are we letting our minds imagine and create? It is perception that we deal with the majority of the time.
Perception is crucial to this week’s parsha, Sh’lach L’cha. God instructs Moses to send one spy from each tribe to scout the land of Israel. After 40 days of exploring the spies return to Moses and the Israelites with news that the land is indeed “a land following with milk and honey.” They even came with a cluster of grapes so large that two men had to carry it. But the good news subsides with ten of the spies telling stories of powerful people, large fortified cities and dangerous inhabitants. Their report terrifies the community. Caleb, however, seeks to reassure the people and states, “Let us by all means go up to the land, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.” His positivity is struck down when the ten negative spies claim that the country “is one that eats up its inhabitants. All of the people we saw are giants” They exclaim, “We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.”
At this point, the entire community of Israelites turns on Moses and Aaron. They become crazed wondering if they should have ever left Egypt in the first place. Caleb, now joined by Joshua, tell the people that the land is exceedingly good and that with faith in God the people will conquer it. The people reject their counsel and threaten to pelt them with stones. God tells Moses that since the people have no faith they will be destroyed. Moses responds to God’s challenge, “What will the Egyptians say when they see that God has freed the people only to kill them? What will the nations conclude about God’s power when it becomes known that God is powerless to bring them into the Promised Land?” Moses pleads with God to forgive the people. God does forgive them however they must wander the desert for 40 years and only their children will go up and conquer the land.
The perception that the Israelites could not overtake the inhabitants of Israel caused them to question their own abilities. They could not see past the picture painted by Moses’ spies even after Caleb and Joshua reassure them that the land is good, and God will help them conquer it. Rabbi Nancy Weiner wrote, “In one brief story, the Torah highlights a central aspect of our human experience. The facts on the ground, the raw data, are what they are. But like the spies, we make meaning out of this data based on our personal and collective experiences, our own psychological concerns, and the lenses through which we look. We create meaning from the facts by interpreting them, both in the context of our own lives and through the subjectivity of our own experiences.”
I am personally petrified about falling from heights. Would you believe I ran a ropes course for several years where participants climbed up to four stories and then would slide down a zip line? I knew through training and experience that the likelihood of me getting injured or falling was next to impossible as long as properly used my equipment and put some faith into my own abilities. However, when I first started out I perceived that I would surely fall as I was climbing to the top. This perception of falling has prevented me from doing a lot of things others would not even bat an eyelash at, like rollercoasters. Even though I know they are fairly safe, the perception of falling prevents me from even getting in line for one of those iron giants. The key for the Israelites, me and everyone else, is to eventually look beyond what we perceive to be deadly, dangerous, scary, etc. and have a little faith we’ll will be okay. I remember a great scene from the Steve Martin film, Parenthood. As the family rushes to get everyone in the car for a recital, their grandmother explains to an anxious Steve Martin that life as an amusement park filled with rides. You can choose to get on the Ferris wheel which goes around in a nice smooth circle, but you end up back where you started. On the other hand you can ride the roller coaster which has ups and downs but it’s full of excitement. Grandma chose the roller coaster and could not be happier. May we all find the courage to ride that roller coaster and have faith we will be okay in the end.