This week’s Torah reading (Eikev) brings up two contrasting stories, one looking back and the other looking forward. Firstly, Moses recalls a series of events where the Israelites behaved rather poorly: their worship of the Golden Calf, Korach’s rebellion against Moses but also against God, the sins of the 10 spies on their return from their scouting mission into Canaan, and their obstinate nature which angered God a number of times.

 

Then, Moses describes the land that the Israelites are finally about to enter after 40 years of wandering – a land “flowing with milk and honey” that is blessed with seven plant species (wheat, barley, grapevines, figs, pomegranates, olive oil and dates), a place with good land, abundant water and beautiful hills and valleys. These descriptions must have sounded so astonishing after decades of wandering in the wilderness.

 

I like the sequence in which these stories are told, and the message that they suggest. The first recalls the events of the past, and the second describes a promising future. And there is no conditional language between the two.

 

It seems that no matter how poorly we’ve done in the past or the number of times we repeat our mistakes, there is always a “promised land” ahead of us, graciously offered by the Divine. This speaks exactly to the ideas embedded within the High Holidays, which are just over one month away, especially the idea of return (teshuva).

 

Very much like a bicycle that wobbles back and forth over the straight line, we have always had the capacity to look back, fix things, and move forward with a clean slate into our own promised lands into the new year. In modern times, I look at that promised land simply as a place that is spiritually, emotionally, maybe physically healthier for me. And when I’m there, the world is probably a better place.

 

Continuing to repeat our mistakes is a choice. So is cleaning them up and acting differently and moving forward. That too is a choice. And the Torah offers the Israelites back then and us today exactly that same choice – to be mired in our past ways of doing things or moving forward into an astonishing future. Judaism is always aspirational. So, let’s choose to move forward.

 

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Allan