Mission Impossible! We cannot succeed! These were the words uttered by the first Mossad intelligence operatives upon returning from an intelligence-gathering mission in the land that was to become Israel. They continued, “There is no way we can do it, we won’t succeed in setting up a country in this place, these people are too powerful for us, they will consume us and destroy us in battle”. This by the way is not modern history but is actually an event that took place 3324 years ago, when the first Mossad Operatives were appointed by Moses in the desert were sent to spy out the land of Israel and gather information. While they succeed in not getting caught and in gathering plenty of intelligence, they returned with a dismal and terribly negative report of what they saw and insisted that based on their intelligence there is no way the Jews will win in battle. In their view, the Jews attempt at capturing Israel was doomed to fail!
It in this week’s Torah Portion that we read about this dramatic account and what subsequently followed as the Jewish people despaired of ever entering the Land of Israel. Despite everything they had seen in the past year, which included seeing the world’s Super Power destroyed, they could not bring themselves to go forward and believe that they will succeed in this challenge. The Torah tells us that G-d was upset, as was Moshe, at the Jewish people and especially the spies. However, when looking a little deeper at the story, this seems somewhat strange considering the fact that Moshe was the one who chose to send the spies and gather the information! The spies seemed to have done just that, what and how did they go wrong?
To explain this story I would like to go back thirty six years ago, to June 1976, when the world watched the dramatic hijacking of an Air France Airline unfold and the taking of over 100 hostages who were either Israeli, Jewish or were the French flight crew who opted to remain with the hostages. During the tense days that followed, no one knew what would be the outcome of this terror attack, and the assumption was that the Israeli government had no choice but to give in.
Meanwhile one young officer, Yoni Netanyahu (brother of current Israeli PM), was given the role of leading an Israeli mission that would liberate the hostages and end the standoff. Many probably assumed that this mission was doomed to failure, or was bound to end up in mass casualties, and in fact, at one point it seemed like the Israeli Government was going to capitulate. For some reason the decision makers at the time decided that they could do it and succeed despite the immense obstacles and hurdles they would face on this mission. Over the next few days an immense intelligence gathering operation was initiated, which spanned the globe and included individuals of all kinds being recruited for information and help, including former contractors and business people, military sources and many others.
On July 4th Israeli Commandoes having flown thousands of miles from Israel, touched down in Entebbe, Uganda and launched a dramatic and brave operation to save the hostages. Ultimately, thank G-d the brave soldiers were successful and saved nearly all the hostages. Unfortunately, Yoni the mission commander and three hostages died in the assault. The Jewish world and Israel celebrated the dramatic rescue along with paying tribute to the bravery of the soldiers and especially Yoni who perished in the mission. The Lubavitcher Rebbe when discussing this event in its aftermath and praising the bravery of the soldiers involved in the mission would emphasize the miraculous nature of this amazing rescue, which logically, logistically and by its very nature defied the possibility of success to the degree that it did and yet nevertheless succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. In the words of the Rebbe, “we have a lot to be thankful to G-d in the story of Entebbe which was nothing short of a miracle”.
The Israeli’s didn’t just jump into it though, they did their homework, and did everything that they could to make it work, but the main ingredient that they had was their determination to succeed and rescue the hostages and with G-d’s help they succeeded. While many sane and balanced people would have said “it’s over” or “mission impossible”, the Israeli’s went for it said “Mission Possible” and succeeded.
Rewind 3324 years ago to the spies in the desert. The spies did exactly as they were told when it came to gathering intelligence and information, but they made one mistake, and that one mistake was the difference in succeeding and not succeeding. Their mistake was that they went beyond gathering information and intelligence, they added “mission impossible”, or in Hebrew “Lo Nuchal Laalot”. It was the misstep of overstepping their job of simply gathering information and adding their own dismal conclusion, which is where they messed up. This caused the people to lose hope and forget about G-d’s promise to help them succeed, and with the lack of true determination and belief that they could succeed, they were doomed to fail.
This not to say that we just have to jump into life’s challenges and ignore everything else about it. We can and must do our due research and intelligence, but ultimately it is our belief that when doing something right we can succeed, that will ensure our success and G-d’s help in dealing with life’s challenges.
Life is full of challenges and as Jews we have been given many responsibilities in making the world a better place through doing Mitzvot and Torah Study. In life, challenging situations and obstacles get in our way all the time and very often it may seem like “Mission Impossible”. Yet the story of the spies teaches us, that yes, we may have challenges and they may be truly big obstacles that make it hard for us to be a Jew or to do a specific commandment, but ultimately though, it is the belief that if we are faced with a challenge when doing something right or just trying to live a good Jewish life, that we have also been empowered to deal with that challenge, that will help us face it head on and succeed. We may need to remind ourselves that “Mission Possible”, but when we do so the challenge will be a different one and much easier to overcome!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yisroel Freeman
P.S This Torah Portion is my Bar Mitzvah Portion and I have always had a strong feeling about the messages in this week's portion.