We all know the age-old story in this week’s Torah portion, of the 12 scouts who returned to their encampment and reported back to their leader Moses. Their report gave two conflicting accounts. “This is what they told him: ‘We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.’” (Numbers 13:27) However, we are told that the people who inhabit the country are powerful, the cities are fortified and very large, and that there were giants there. “Amalekites dwell in the Negeb region; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites inhabit the hill country; and Canaanites dwell by the Sea and along the Jordan. Calev hushed the people before Moses and said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.” But the other men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than we.” Thus, they spread calumnies among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying: “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its inhabitants – אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ . All the people that we saw in it are of great size; we saw the Nephilim there—the Anakites are part of the Nephilim—and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” (Numbers 13:28-33) From the earliest moments when we prepared to set foot in and possess our Land, we have conflicted and contradicted ourselves over what we see, how we speak about our Land and our situation, and our capabilities vis-à-vis our enemies. We speak about a merciless enemy who could destroy us in the blink of an eye and then collapse under our military prowess and competence. We speak about ourselves in the language of Calev, yet we fail to overcome the basic task of protecting our people. As the war with Iran enters its second week and the war in Gaza moves well into its 89th week, we are faced with a significant dilemma of multiple truths and conflicting reports. A classic case of אלו ואלו (“These and those are the words of the living God” – Eruvin 13b), and a stark example of “truth” being one’s perceived reality. Many commentators claim that the biblical spies weren’t actually two groups, but one pulled in opposing directions. In fact, they were not a split people, but rather a complex people struggling between spiritual poles. So too is it today. There is good reason to celebrate the unparalleled success of the Israeli military in Iran. After Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7, 2023, Iran chose escalation over restraint. Instead of allowing the conflict to remain contained between Israel and Hamas, the regime activated its regional proxies to target Israel directly. In response, Israel expanded its campaign beyond Gaza, dealing significant blows to Hezbollah and dismantling Iranian infrastructure in Syria, destabilizing Assad’s already fragile grip on power. Iran retaliated with the largest ballistic missile assaults ever launched against Israel. But thanks to a coordinated defense with the U.S. and allies, the attacks were largely neutralized. Israel responded with force. With that, Iran’s deterrence posture collapsed. The regime found itself more exposed and vulnerable than at any time since the Iran-Iraq War. For Israel—long aware of the Iranian threat and long preparing for such a moment—it was an opportunity it could not afford to miss. Let’s leave aside the more profound and more cynical questions of whether PM Netanyahu had ulterior political motives, needed a distraction from his fragile coalition, or that he took a gamble and risked the support of President Trump, who seemed to be on board only after it was deemed a success. These events exposed Iran as weak. They also prompted Israel to hit back against Iran directly, using its superior airpower to destroy key Iranian air defense batteries and military facilities in October, shattering the final barrier that had previously prevented Tehran’s adversaries from using military force against its territory. Iranian deterrence collapsed. Now, Iran could accept defeat and crawl back to the negotiating table, abandon its uranium enrichment, and try to salvage the now-crumbling 46-year reign of the Ayatollah’s Shiite regime. Or Tehran could try to keep the fight going—possibly even pushing for a nuclear breakout, betting that a tested weapon could restore deterrence. It might escalate attacks to exhaust Israel or rally domestic support. The regime may even hope Israeli or U.S. strikes will provoke a nationalist backlash. But, of course, it’s a dangerous gamble. The longer this war drags on, the more isolated and hollowed out the regime becomes, and the more Israel has a chance to lose even more credibility in the international arena. Still, many questions remain, such as:
  • Can Israel sufficiently destroy Iran’s nuclear capability without the United States?
  • What will the U.S. do in the next week or two? Will they lend B-2 stealth bombers armed with 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs, that they alone possess, or not? If the U.S. does engage directly, what threats will result against American citizens and military around the world?
  • Does Israel have an exit strategy? If the US engages, what is the American exit strategy?
  • How might the Israel-Iran War end? Will this war continue indefinitely?
  • What do we not know about the various factors that led to the timing and impetus of the war?
At the moment, some answers to these questions may depend on one’s perspective, Among the Jewish community, there are those who see the world through the lens of “a Land that devours its inhabitants” and those who see it as a “Land flowing with milk and honey.” Similar to the reports of the scouts, there is rarely any overlap. But if pressed, maybe Calev and Yehoshua could have said, “Yes, we reported back about the wonders of the Land, but of course we noticed the people there, and we share in some of the fears of our siblings.” And the other 10 scouts could have said, “Yes, it might have been helpful to share some of the wonders of the land that was indeed flowing with milk and honey, as part of our report that instilled fear and made the children of Israel think twice about coming to the Promised Land.” And so too is it with us. There are those who, in the same breath, celebrate Israel’s military prowess and success, while also pressing Israel to formulate an exit strategy in Gaza and planning the next stage in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and control of Gaza, provide shelters for so many who are exposed to Iranian missiles and more.  We can laud the Israelis’ ability to take out the Iranian top military brass, precisely identify their top nuclear scientists, and pinpoint the exact location of their uranium enrichment sites. And yet, they have been unable to return the remaining 53 hostages for these past 624 days. Those may be different skills and come with various popular and political considerations; however, they are significant considerations that must be addressed. This false binary also applies to keyboard warriors and protesters worldwide. There are those who will maintain a singular focus and approach to condemning Israel, regardless of logic or fact. For instance, while I am not surprised or shocked, I do want to highlight the inherent inconsistency among those who, on the one hand, strongly condemned Israel for attacking a hospital (some reports of which were deemed false) as part of its retaliation of Hamas’ attack knowing that Hamas operated from within and beneath said hospital, but on the other hand, could not bring themselves to condemn Iran for attacking Beer Sheva’s Soroka hospital. The same people who cavalierly toss around accusations of Nazism, fall short of labeling the actual singular regime who openly and loudly calls for the death and destruction of the Jewish State and sponsors murderous terror campaign against Jews around the world. I like to think that the biblical scouts believed they acted honorably and shared the truth as they perceived it. However, today’s reality requires us to hold these multiple truths, to see two things, and many more, at once. To offer praise and support, when necessary, but neither sleep nor slumber in the face of injustice and in places where we can just do better. We continue to stand in solidarity with Israel and know that the Iranian regime must never be able to reach the point where it can destroy us and pose such a threat to the Western world. Together, we can help prevent the inhabitants of the Land from being devoured (literally and metaphorically) and know that we all have a stake in this Land flowing with Milk and Honey.