sing with will.i.am
D'var
Torah: Shelach Lecha
June 19, 2009
The singer will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, along with other artists, created the song entitled Yes We Can. The lyrics or words were taken from a speech then candidate Barak Obama gave in Nashua New Hampshire on the night of its presidential primary. These words Yes We Can became a theme of the campaign that clearly inspired millions across the country. While inspiring, these words are by no means new. Yes We Can are first recorded in the Torah in Numbers 13:30 which is part of our Parsha this week.
Perhaps it is because we more often meet others who would say No We Can’t or we are more inclined to the negative ourselves that we feel so uplifted by someone who inspires us to believe tomorrow can be better than today. While Jimmy Carter spoke about a national malaise, Ronald Reagan envisioned Morning in America. America chose, as it almost always does Yes We Can over No We Can’t.
As the Torah tells the story, Moses commissions twelve scouts to reconnoiter the land of Israel to bring back a report recommending whether the Israelites will be able to enter the land and create a home of their own. With unanimous agreement, the twelve reported that it is a land flowing with milk and honey. That is as far as their unanimous agreement went. Ten of the twelve reported that the Israelites would not be able to penetrate the fortified cities inhabited by people who seemed like giants. At that point Joshua and Caleb quitted the crowd which was ready to give up and head back to Egypt. After hundreds of years of slavery, your outlook on life becomes No We Can't. Joshua and Caleb saw the same thing as the other ten but their reaction was quite different. Yes We Can was their response. We will surely be able to go up because we are surely able to. Yes We Can!
In the musical production Yes We Can, one artist Maya Rubin offers these words in Hebrew. She says Ken Anu Yekholim. Her's is the same Hebrew word spoken by Caleb and Joshua when they said Kee Yakhol Nukhal We are surely able to: Yes We Can!
There are so many important issues that we confront in America today. One of the most important presently is whether we can find a way to provide adequate health coverage for all of our fellow Americans. While I confront the challenges of medical costs while having excellent health coverage, I think about and can’t imagine what life is like for those who have similar severe medical challenges with inadequate or no coverage. Can we find the way for all Americans to have affordable access to health care? Yes We Can!
History is made by those who say Yes We Can. President Kennedy said Yes We Can put a man on the moon. President Johnson said Yes We Can pass new laws to provide greater civil rights for people of color. President Roosevelt said Yes We Can survive the great depression and again find a way to thrive and Yes We Can save the world from the Nazi menace. President Reagan said Yes We Can beat the evil empire and President George H.W. Bush who said Yes We Can bring down the Berlin Wall.
This week has been historic in hundreds of thousands of Iranians walking almost silently on the streets of Tehran while expressing the message Yes We Can stand up to the ruling regime and the supreme leader who discounted our vote. We can’t help but be their cheerleaders.We will now see if the demonstrating masses will defy the Ayatollah's most recent threats of a severe crackdown. If they can achieve their goals, others in repressive societies may also come to feel Yes We Can Too.
The reality however is that saying Yes We Can doesn’t make it necessarily so. Sometimes the answer to Yes We Can is No You Can’t. We Can’t always have what we want even when we want it so desperately. One of the great challenges of life is how we respond to the rebuke of No You Can't. Our response involves dealing with disappointment, sadness, pain, grief and one response I recommend is when life says, in no uncertain terms, No You Count, reformulate your goals. Maybe it means reaching for something more modest, maybe more realistic, maybe equally great but moving in a different direction. Candidate Obama gave the speech with the refrain Yes We Can on the night he did not win the New Hampshire Primary. Yes We Can fueled his still long journey from Nashua New Hampshire to the White House in Washington D.C.
I think those who say Yes I Can are happier people. They are more productive people. They may actually fail more than the No We Can't crowd because the latter gives up at the outset. The No We Can't crowd may even see themselves like the ten scouts who said "We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes."
There are many commentaries written on our Torah passage by the great commentators Rashi and Ibn Ezra and Ramban and Sforno. These words delivered by a future president in the snow of New Hampshire serve as a commentary as well:
Yes we can.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the
destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail
toward freedom through the darkest of nights.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and
pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and
prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this
world. Yes we can.
And so we have a choice. We can be more like grasshoppers in our own eyes, or we can sing with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. Sometimes the response will be No but we will do best still saying Yes. Yes I can! Yes We Can!
Shabbat Shalom,
- Rabbi Perlstein
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