A Tribute to our Righteous Gentiles!
In Parashat Shelach Lecha, twelve scouts were sent to reconnoitre the land that the Creator “had given” to the people of Israel. This demonstrates an important concept in the Torah and Biblical Judaism: God told them that He was giving them the land, but they needed to go in and conquer it. Similarly, the Creator gives us principles, but we need to make them work. That’s why we call it the Living Torah. It teaches us how to walk with Him: from Emunah – faith to Bitachon – Trust, through Bechirah Chofsheet – Free Will and Kavanah. – Intention. We are all given Emunah – His gift of faith. It is activated with bitachon, as we take small steps of faith. The Creator has given each of us the capability to think and decide for ourselves. This is called Bechirah Chofsheet – we use His gift of Free Will to make good choices as we learn to think for ourselves. We are not robots. Before making a decision, check whether it aligns with the Torah, and then put it into practice. If you are still confused about what to do, ask for advice from others: In the counsel of many lies wisdom. Don’t have tunnel vision; keep an open mind. Lastly, with kavanah, we understand that God knows the intention of our hearts, and we take responsibility for our actions.
Instead of speaking about the spies today, I’d like to focus on those in our community, who are not Israelites by birth, and whom I call our “silent heroes”. You have decided to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even though you were not born Jewish. Now that you are part of our family, we need to treat you as one of us and an equal in every sense. The only thing you needed to do with be aligned with one of the thirteen tribes. The Creator accepts you as part of Israel, and it is He who gives you your calling.
In Shelach, there are two heroes: one Hoshea ben Nun (Joshua), who was renamed Yehoshua by Moses, and the other was Calev ben Yefunneh. In Hebrew, Calev means “from the heart”, but it also means “dog”, which was not an Israelite name. He was a righteous gentile, a goy tzaddik, who behaved better than the Israelites themselves. He was the Prince of the tribe of tribes – Judah or Yehudah, from which we get Yehudim, and the term “Jews”. Furthermore, we know that Calev was a Gentile, a Kenezzite, a descendant of Edom, not an Israelite, because the Torah writes that he was going to inherit Hebron. If he were an Israelite, he would not need to inherit any land and look at Hebron today. No matter which tribe we are from, even Levites, we are still all called Jews. Our sages do everything they can to prove that Caleb was a native-born Israelite. They believe that we are set apart to be better than others. That is the furthest thing from the truth. We were set apart to be servants, not to be served, but we prefer to be treated as kings and queens.
Here, Caleb, as the prince of the tribe of Judah, was sent as one of the scouts to “tour” the land. There are two different narratives of this story, one here in Bamidbar 13 and also in Devarim 1:22 and following, in which Moses blames the people for his decision to send them to reconnoitre the land. In the haftarah, we read the story of Rahav, who said, ” We have heard, and we know what your God did for you, opening the sea and defeating your enemies…we want to be on your side.” She was an unbeliever and a woman of ill repute, yet here she was acknowledging the Creator. Both Torah portion and haftarah speak of Gentiles who were integrated into Israel; they were not “Pure-Laine,” but they had something that many of our own lacked – courage.
The Israelite princes were strong warriors, macho men…not just anyone, but what did they do? They buckled under fear, crying out that the people of the land were giants, while they were grasshoppers. Then they wanted to appoint another leader to bring them back to Egypt, and Joshua and Caleb were the only ones to say, “Let’s go ahead, we can take the land.” This was strong Israel? These are my people, but it is time to say things for what they are. If we, the Israelites, are not dedicated to the Torah and to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we lose our identity, our calling and who we really are. We were not chosen to be wishy-washy! It is not about how strong we are; it is about Who is with us! The prophet Zechariah said in 4:6: “Not by might nor by power but by my Ruach, my Spirit says the LORD.”
We need to start examining ourselves and be grateful to the Goyim Tzaddikim – גוים צדיקים, Righteous Gentiles. We need to warn our own dear rabbis that their teaching is wrong. The Torah is not to be kept for ourselves, hidden from the rest of the world. Israel was chosen to be “ohr l’goyim” – light to the world, to give the Torah to the whole world. There are no 613 commandments – only Ten! Ask any rabbi to show you where there are seven Noahide laws in the Torah! They don’t exist. That way of thinking divides people, placing us higher than the rest. We, Israel, are to serve, not to be served; we are not supposed to put ourselves at the top; we are to help others to reach the top.
Instead, we have been contaminated by this world’s philosophy of “me first”, “Number 1”. We are in a religious war. Every religion will promote itself as being right while the rest are wrong. That’s why I believe that Biblical Judaism is not a religion; it is a way of life. We don’t follow a religion; we follow the Creator and the revelation that he has given to each of us. He has given us brains, the ability to think for ourselves, and free will. Many oppose this idea, touting that we don’t have free will; that we need to be like cattle, followers. That is totally contrary to what the Creator teaches, that there needs to be morals and ethics. Today, the world’s moral turpitude is destroyed because His morality has gone down the drain. Our heads are being filled with garbage instead of the moral values from the Torah. People celebrate a life of debauchery, in total contradiction to the Torah. They mock and insult anyone who stands for morality and justice. The true believer should be brokenhearted for what is happening in this world today.
Caleb stood alone against everyone. It says in 13:30, “Caleb called the people to silence and said, We must march immediately and take it. We are certainly able to conquer it.” But the men said disparaging things about the inhabitants, that they were giants, while they saw themselves as grasshoppers, so that is how the people must have seen them. Let me tell you, one of the worst things that we can have is low self-esteem. Don’t confuse this with being humble. Humility is a quality of greatness. Low self-esteem is the opposite. Who are we discrediting by saying that we are nothing, that we are nobody? The Creator made us in His likeness and image and said that we are fearfully and wonderfully made!
The whole community cried out in dismay that it would have been better to have died in Egypt or in the desert; that now it would be best to return to Egypt. How many people who have found a relationship with the Creator later have doubts and say that they were better off without God and want to go back to their old way of life?
The men wanted to appoint a new leader to take them back to Egypt. They wanted to run away. The people who stirred up the crowds were the “assafsouf”, not the “Erev Rav”, the strangers among us, the gentiles who left Egypt with us and those who joined us along the way. The rabbis love to blame the Erev Rav, but here it was the chief princes of Israel who caused the uprising. The Creator is telling us that we, as individuals, need to recognize our own faults, and that is how we can find true teshuva, and return to our GOD. Let’s not blame others or point fingers. No one can make us do anything.
It has recently become popular, especially in Hollywood, to arrest a man for molesting a woman 40 years earlier. In a free country, don’t women have the right to say no? I am not supporting the behaviour of the men who behaved like that; it was wrong, but how many women sold themselves to obtain a career? Let’s be fair. Let them take responsibility for their choices. By selling themselves, it’s the same as prostitution.
The two men said If the LORD is pleased with us, He will give us the land flowing with milk and honey, but do not rebel against the LORD; do not be afraid of the inhabitants. If God is with me, who can be against me?” How many of us give up too easily? When we have the truth, we have the covering of the Creator; don’t be afraid. It doesn’t mean that we will be popular. Here is a good example of when the majority was against doing the right thing. Don’t follow the majority – they lead you to destruction. Follow the Creator.
I have a message for my dear fellow rabbis. Look at what it says in Numbers 15:15: “There will be one Torah both for you, members of the community and for the stranger who lives with you. It shall be ‘chukkat olam’, one ordinance throughout the ages. You and the stranger shall be alike before GOD…”
My dear Gerim, Gentile friends, you have as much right to observe the Torah as we do; you are part of us, neither better nor worse, because the Creator has also called you. There is no hocus pocus that can convert you; only the Creator can give you that calling. All religions use their own rules to convert you. The great-grandmother of King David, Ruth, simply said to Naomi, “Your people will be my people and your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16b) That was her conversion process, no hocus pocus.
Verse 27 says, “If any individual who has sinned unintentionally, wants to offer a yearling kid, he will be forgiven whether he is an Israelite or a ger, one Torah for anyone sins inadvertently.” Forgiveness is not a performance; it is about who you are within, your relationship with the Creator, and your teshuva – acknowledging what you have done wrong, confessing before the Creator, and making amends.
This is followed by the rules for wearing tzitzit, which serve as a way to remember what the Creator has done for us. They do not involve spiritual hocus-pocus, but are simply like tying a string around your finger to remember something. It tells us to put a blue thread, but again, the rabbis have approved only white tzitzit, replacing God’s word with their own. Our great Rabbi Yeshua called those who wore long tzitzit show-offs. It is a personal thing, not meant to advertise how religious we are. We need to go to the heart of the teaching. If we forget what the Creator is doing for us, how can we be a light?
I am so grateful to you, our Goyim Tzaddikim, who demonstrate strength, loyalty, joy, and a desire to serve our God. I wish that my people had your dedication. Gratitude, blessings and honour to our Creator.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Netanel ben Yochanan, Z” l
Ranebi