This week's Gaza-bound Flotilla crisis has highlighted a trait of human nature which can be traced back to a news story which took place over three thousand years ago and is in this week's Torah portion.
Long before the facts became clear, before even the first IDF video was released, a great portion of journalists, politicians, and yes, people such as you and I, had already come to their snap judgments and conclusions about who was right and who was wrong out there on the Mediterranean waves.
Naturally (since we are talking about human nature), nearly every anti-Israel PA-supporter on the planet assumed that Israel had murderously instigated a massacre of innocent peace-lovers, on international waters to boot. After all, wrote one commenter on the INN website, "look at the outcome - 10 dead on one side, 4 soldiers injured on the other. Clearly a massacre".
Naturally, as is the case when Israel is at war with terror, Jews and Israel-supporters decided within hours that the boat was filled with a mob of Israel-haters who planned and almost succeed in violently lynching IDF soldiers. After all, we know that the IDF is the most moral army in the world. The video evidence shows the boat passengers using clubs and beating the soldiers. Clearly, Israel was in the right to defend itself and its soldiers from attack.
And naturally, those in the international community's 'middle ground', those who are expected to show leadership, heads of state, and more importantly, the United States, calmly condemned the violence and called for an inquiry into the incident. Listening to the press conference by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, there was one word which Gibbs repeated at least 5 - 6 times. It was the word: "obviously." "Obviously, the U.S. supports an inquiry." "Obviously, we condemn violence. "Obviously, it's an untenable situation." "Obviously, we are concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza."
All three types of contradictory conclusions, reached by each type of person, seemed to that person to be "obvious". And that's the point. Human nature directs us towards taking sides with those we sympathize and reaching "obvious" conclusions.
But is anything really obvious?
In this week's Torah portion, Shlach l'cha, we read of the Sin of the Spies. Upon the Children of Israel's request and with G-d's blessing, Moses sent out twelve emissaries to spy out the Land of Israel (Bamidbar 13). They were instructed to bring back a report, regarding what kind of land it was, what type of fruit it possessed, what its were people like and how they were fortified. It was a military expedition, intended as a tactical intelligence-gathering mission prior to Israel's military conquest of the Land.
When the spies returned and gave their 'bad' report, and the people believed them and despaired, G-d was angry and condemned the whole generation of the desert to die out over 40 years of wandering, until a new generation could spring up that was worthy of the Land. That's a pretty serious punishment to say the least.
But what was the sin of the spies? After all, didn't they do what they were instructed to do - bring a report? What was the sin of the people? Did they not have a right to despair after hearing such troubling news?
Most Torah commentators, with the Ramban (Nachmanides) taking the lead, explain that the spies' sin lies in one key word: "Efes", meaning "All that is nothing". "The land is fruitful," said the spies, "But all that is nothing, because the people are strong and as big as giants..." That one small word Efes was what turned a factual report into an opinion. The spies were not asked to give their opinion on if the conquest was going to succeed, or whether or not Israel should embark on this quest. They were asked to communicate the facts and the facts only. When they decided to cross the line and give their own commentary, becoming like advisors, they angered G-d by over-stepping the task He had given them, and in effect, contradicting His will and His plan for the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel too, heard this commentary, this opinion, and believed it. That night, sitting in their tents, they cried over their "obvious" fate. Again G-d was angered and the entire nation was punished for their lack of faith, and for accepting the evil opinion of the spies.
Can having an opinion be a sin? Can accepting an opinion as truth be a sin? According to this week's Torah portion, the answer is a resounding yes! When journalists around the world take sides against Israel, when they paint the facts in one direction, and when the leaders and the populace read and believe these opinions, are they committing a sin? After all, we are human beings. Are we not entitled to form opinions of the world around us? Without that, how could we make decisions? Opinions are one of the basic things that make us human. Otherwise, we're not much better than the directionless passengers in another ship, the famous Ship of Fools, painted by Sebastian Brant.
The lesson of this week's Torah portion is that the type of opinions we choose to form are just as much actions as any other action. We must strive for the truth, and we must strive to learn the facts. But after we do learn the facts, the Torah is asking us to reach the 'right' conclusions, and take G-d's side of the issue. Of course, in these days without prophets and open miracles, it's not always easy to see what side is right and what side is wrong. But the words of the Torah, the teachings of the prophets, and the advice of our sages do exist to guide us. And each of us, in our hearts, does possess a moral compass, which harks back to an even older Biblical story, Adam and Eve's partaking of the Tree of Knowledge, which, despite being a sin, gave us the ability to differentiate between Good and Evil, and hopefully, to choose Good.