Finding Judaism in Algonquin Park
Shabbat Parshat V’etchana
Rabbi Stephen Wise
August 1st 2009 11 Av 5769
“The forecast calls for rain, rain and, guess what…more rain..now what do we do”. That was the beginning of the discussion I had with my 5 friends – Eyal, Nic, David, Romm and Roman – as we prepared for our annual canoe trip to Algonquin Park. As you can imagine, rain on a camping trip is the worst. When you’re wet, its almost impossible to get dry when you’re out in the backcountry. Its miserable and cold, you can’t start a fire to cook food, its windy and hard to paddle – pretty much its lethal to a trip. And so we had to decide…should we stay or go. Our staying option was to relax at our cottage up in Muskoka – protected by a nice solid roof, easy access to a hot shower, stovetop and toilet. We were already away from our wives and kids, so the holiday had begun, now was the moment of truth. Should we take the risk or take the easy way out.
I can imagine this is similar to what the Israelites were thinking as they left Egypt thousands of years ago. Do you stay with what you know, or go into the unknown. Granted what they knew was slavery in Egypt, but at least they had steady work. But all kidding aside, they were well fed, clothed and housed. They have very little to worry about and they always knew what tomorrow would bring. Out in the wilderness they could be cut down by the Egyptians – or any other marauding army such as the Amorites, Moabites, or Amalekites. There was no food, water or shelter in the desert. And there was a great river to cross between Egypt and Israel – how would they get across it. They were being led into the great unknown led by a man – Moses, who claimed he could speak to God and to trust him. This was a man who couldn’t even speak for himself, he had to have his brother Aaron speak for him. I read recently in a book called “Learning from the Heart” by noted psychiatrist Daniel Gottlieb, that according to new research there is a theory that actually only about 20% of the Israelites did take up the offer by Moses to leave Egypt and head for the unfamiliar. And in fact, of those 20% who did leave Egypt, how many died in the desert? All of them. Including their leader Moses himself. So perhaps those 80% of Israelites who stayed behind were right all along. But Gottlieb reminds us that they took a leap of faith. This coming from an author Gottlieb who himself is quadriplegic, having been in a serious car accident in his early 30’s with a wife and two small children. He knows what its like to take a leap of faith each morning, just putting his life together and continuing to create a new life for himself, maintain his career and support a family – all of which he has done quite successfully.
What he explains from this story of the 20% is that they took a leap of faith for the larger picture – they weren’t thinking about themselves, they were thinking about their children, and the future of their nation. They saw themselves as something bigger. They decided to take control of the destiny of the people Israel by embarking on this journey.
Our embarkation on a small canoe trip of course did not impact a nation, but there was a small lesson to be learned. You can’t know what is out there until you go. The weather could turn out to be great or it could pour every minute of the way. But how would we know unless we went. And the stories we’d bring back would be phenomenal either way. So we set out and wouldn’t you know it, the weather wasn’t so bad. It rained a lot the first day, but we had prepared. We weatherproofed our bags with layers of protection, wore rain coats and water shoes and so the rain barely bothered us. We luckily got a respite as we set up camp and in fact were able to make a pretty good fire and cook up some nice steaks. Overnight we got another rainstorm but by then we were happily set up in our tents with our waterproof tarps. And then something miraculous happened, the rain stopped and the sun came out. By the second day we were canoeing, swimming, gunneling and relaxing as we wanted too. There is something so wonderful about being far away from civilization. At night the sky was so clear you could see a million stars. We took out the canoes and lay back and just stared up at the sky for an hour. All we heard was the call of the loons and rustle of the leaves with the breeze and occasional crackling twig of animals in the brush. On the third day we actually saw a moose as we slowly paddled down a river off of Small Trout lake. He looked up from drinking and saw us. We stared at him as we paddled by and then, without fear, he slowly turned around and meandered back into the forest. It was the first time I had seen a moose up close like that, it was magical. And there is nothing like food cooked over the open fire. We made chicken breasts that melted in our mouths. We ate this freeze dried chili, that I wouldn’t even glance at in the supermarket, but out there, it was manna from heaven.
One night, as we lay by the fire, we started talking about the journey and the decision to come. It was touch and go for a while that first evening whether we would come or not, but we realized we had to just go out there, no matter the forecast. We had to experience it for ourselves.
In our portion this week we read how Moses pleads to enter the holy land. And its easy to understand his pain. He had led the Israelites through the desert. He was the first to step into the unknown. He trusted God at the burning bush. He followed God’s instructions and faced down Phaorah, the most powerful man in the ancient world. He stood at Sinai and instructed the Jewish people in the ways of the Lord. And now, at the climax of the journey, he was told to stop. No doubt he wanted to be at the front of the line again. He heard the report of the spies, he got a taste of the land. Its like being told we’re going on a big trip, everyone plans for it and then at the last moment, one person is told, sorry, you’ll be left behind. How unfair. No wonder Moses gets angry. He doesn’t show that much emotion through the Bible, and rarely complains. He’s always placating, always humble always eager to serve. He never asks for anything for himself, and even though he knew that he was not to lead them in, V’etchana – he pleads one more time. “God please give me this chance. I want to experience it for myself, to step into the unknown. Once I finish the trip, then I can die in peace". But God replies in frustration, "no, I said no, you will not enter the land. Your work is done right here".
Its hard to understand why Moses was not given this final gift. Commentators over the genereations have many explanations. Moses was part of the exodus from Egypt to the holy land, his job was finished. The people needed a new leader, they couldn’t rely on Moses forever, they needed to trust themselves and gain independence. These all hold some kernels of truth and make sense. For me the only part that made sense was that when Moses died, it was God who buried him. That was the ultimate response for why Moses could not go into Israel. God felt sorry for the decision, and even though it was the right one, the only way to make Moses understand was for God to bury Moses by himself. And in a spot that no one will ever know. Maybe he didn’t die, like Elijah he was carried up to heaven and watched the Jewish people from afar.
My journey was one that faced obastacles. Not real ones, just the fear of what might happen. They were quickly overcome when we set out. But I am so grateful that I was given the chance to make that choice on my own. We are reminded that we have our destiny in our hands, when we take the leap of faith. Our life is in our hands. We don’t know how life will unfold or what it will look like or what our life means. Like Moses, we take the step of faith and go where it leads us.
