“Don’t Ask If, Ask How”

After more than two hundred years of slavery, the Jewish people stood on the threshold of their greatest opportunity. They were about to enter the Promised Land and transform G-d’s promise into reality. Before entering, twelve distinguished leaders were sent to scout the land and bring back a report.
What happened next would change the course of Jewish history.

The spies failed in their mission. They came back with negative reports that caused great fear and anxiety among the Jewish people.

Their mistake was not that they reported on the giants they saw, the fortified cities, and the powerful nations.

They saw and reported the reality exactly as it was.

Their mistake was rather the question they asked.

Instead of asking, “How can we accomplish the mission that G-d has given us?” they asked, “Can this mission be accomplished at all?”

“We cannot go up against the people, for they are stronger than us”.

The moment they began questioning whether the task could be done, they had already lost.

But two spies were successful in staying positive and giving calm and confidence to the people.

They, Yehoshua and Calev looked at the very same land, the very same giants, and the very same obstacles.

Yet they reached the opposite conclusion. Why? Because they never questioned the mission itself. If G-d wanted them to enter the land, then success was not a matter of “if” but a matter of “how.”

This lesson applies to every area of life.

When faced with a challenge, raising children, giving charity, learning Torah, improving ourselves, or fulfilling a mitzvah, we often ask: “Is it possible?” “Can I really do it?” “Am I capable?”

The Torah teaches us to ask a different question.

Once we know that something is right and that G-d wants it from us, the question is no longer if it can be done. The question becomes how it can be done.

The spies saw obstacles and concluded, “Impossible.”

Yehoshua and Calev saw obstacles and asked, “How do we overcome them?”

Many of the greatest accomplishments in Jewish history began with people who refused to ask “if.” Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabbeinu, and countless Jewish leaders throughout the generations faced challenges that seemed impossible. Their greatness was that they trusted that if G-d had given them the mission, He had also provided the strength to fulfil it.

The same is true for us.

When a challenge stands before us, we should remember the lesson of Yehoshua and Calev: instead of asking, “Can it be done?” we should ask, “How can I do what G-d is asking of me?”

Faith does not remove the obstacles. Faith changes the question.

Not “if.”

But “how.”

Shabbat Shlaom
Rabbi Zalman & Esty