Yes, You Can!
Brandon Steiner is a renowned American entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker, primarily recognized for founding Steiner Sports. Brandon Steiner shared a pivotal moment in the early stages of building Steiner Sports. He felt his business growth had hit a wall and realized it wouldn't progress much further without a major breakthrough.
He had been trying to get someone from the Yankees on the phone for eight months without a return call. Finally, through a personal connection, he secured a meeting with an executive from the team. Brandon showed up for the meeting without a plan, flowcharts, or any idea of what he was going to discuss. He just followed his gut.
Eventually, through a combination of faith, persistence, and a good dose of Chutzpah, a new partnership called Yankees-Steiner was formed, which ultimately paved the way for Steiner Sports to become a leader in the memorabilia industry.
In life, the difference between success and failure often depends on our perception of reality and our willpower to make it happen. Of course, we need to create a plan of action and do our due diligence and research, but we must not allow our fears or lack of perfection to hold us back.
A fateful episode is recounted in this week's Torah portion, Shlach. At that point in history, less than a year after receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, the Jewish people were traveling through the desert towards their ultimate destination, the land of Israel. To prepare accordingly, they requested of Moses to send out twelve men, leaders of their tribes, to scout out the land so that it would be easier to conquer. Moses turned to G-d with their request and was granted permission.
As Rashi, a foremost commentator on the Torah, points out, “G-d said 'Shlach Lecha (send out for yourself)', according to your own understanding. I am not commanding you, but if you wish, you may send.” G-d wanted them to see the land for themselves so that they would become enthused about its greatness and take the initiative to conquer and settle the land.
However, ten of the scouts returned with negative reports, declaring that although the land was beautiful, the people living there were too powerful to conquer. They concluded, and subsequently convinced the rest of the Jewish people, that the only logical thing to do was to remain in the desert. As a result of their report, G-d decreed that the Jewish people would have to remain in the desert for another forty years. Ultimately, only the next generation would merit to enter the land.
The Torah describes the scouts as men of wisdom and spiritual stature. After witnessing the great miracles that occurred to them both in Egypt and in the desert, how could they commit such an error and say they could not conquer the land? What made them lose their faith at that particular time?
Kabbalah explains that the scouts reasoned that G‑d's miracles worked in the desert. Their existence was guaranteed as long as they stayed there because everything in the desert was miraculous. But as soon as they entered the Land of Israel, their existence would need to subscribe to the laws of nature. What guarantee did they have that they were going to be successful? According to the laws of nature, the scouts reasoned, the Canaanites are stronger than us. Meaning, not only are the Canaanites physically stronger than us, but the natural law of materialism is stronger than the natural law of spirituality. It won't work to be spiritual people surrounded by materialism; we'll be easily overwhelmed.
And yet, the scouts were wrong. The purpose of Judaism is the sanctification of the world. The end to which every mitzvah aims is to make a dwelling place for G‑d in the world. This implies two contrary thrusts. On one hand, we must occupy ourselves with the material concerns around us instead of seeking to divorce ourselves from them. On the other hand, we should not see these material concerns as ends in their own right but rather as mediums to positively transform this world.
Of course maintaining a strong faith in G-d is a vital foundation for our daily lives, but Judaism also expects us to use our own intellect and capabilities to fulfill our life's mission. To ensure that our intellect arrives at the objective truth, and not just supply us with evidence that bolsters any subjective perspective, it needs to be based on G-d-given morals and a firm distinction between what is wrong and right.
The mistake the scouts made was that they added their own conclusions, contradicting their mission. They were only instructed to determine "how" to conquer the land, not "if" it was possible. By introducing their conclusions, they compromised the entire mission.
The Torah describes what caused the scouts' state of panic and fear: “There [in Canaan] we saw the giants … In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.”
The Rebbe analyzes these words carefully. Why did they say, “…and so we were in their eyes”? Did they know what the giants were thinking? The answer lies in the fact that the spies' problems all began with their self-perception. When a person has an inferiority complex, their perception of self is, “What am I? I'm just a grasshopper. I'm nobody. I will never amount to anything.” When one sees themselves as a grasshopper, pretty soon everyone else will see them as a grasshopper as well. But if you see yourself as a giant, everyone else will see you that way too. It all begins with a healthy sense of self, which comes directly from recognizing that we are all connected to G‑d and are empowered to change the world. We are on a mission, doing what He wants us to do, and therefore nothing is impossible, and nothing is hopeless. We can accomplish anything.
As the two dissenting scouts Yehoshua and Caleb declared: 'We shall surely ascend and take possession of it, for we can surely do it!'”
Over three thousand years ago, at Mount Sinai, the Jewish people were entrusted with a special mission of transforming this world into a home for G-d through the study of Torah, fulfillment of mitzvot, and ultimately ushering in the final redemption, which is the purpose and goal of creation.
Judaism teaches that the ultimate purpose for which the universe was created is to bring it to a state of Redemption. As the Talmud teaches: “The whole world was created for Moshiach”. In other words, the mission statement of Judaism is not to remain isolated from the outside world and remain in a metaphorical desolate desert (as the spies wanted). Rather, our mission is to elevate the most materialistic aspects of our lives and the world around us and infuse them with a higher, G-dly purpose. Ultimately, the cumulative service of all generations results in the transformation of the world which will usher in an era of peace and prosperity for all nations on earth with the coming of Moshiach!
