It was the summer of 2003 and I was walking in Vancouver, Canada, down a main street. Suddenly a cyclist stopped in his tracks and pulled up next to me. ‘Do you really believe in G-d?’ he asked me. ‘Well yes’ I said, though a little stunned, ‘why do you ask?’. He looked me sternly in the eye and said ‘after the events of 9/11 you still think a creator exists!?’ And before I could even begin to respond, he rejoined the traffic and was gone.
A moment later I was hit by an intriguing thought. To me 9/11 was no theological challenge, and to the contrary, my faith was only reinforced. Obviously we can never understand why G-d allows such tragedies, however I viewed the disaster as a clear act of G-d. They were so painfully successful and so unlikely to have worked to the extent which they did. This is all aside from the thousands of miraculous survival stories which were told over and published.
Thus, despite the fact that the incident we witnessed was the same, the conclusions we drew from it were not. Why? How can the exact same episode send such opposing messages to different people?
There is a famous picture (1) of ducks and deer which is known as an ambiguous picture; examining it may lead us to an answer.
Most people say that the left one is a duck and the right head is a deer. This answer however seems quite puzzling since in reality both these heads are exactly the same! What causes the different answers is simply the context in which the heads are in. The left head is surrounded by ducks and the right one by deer; people’s minds simply assume that the corner one is no exception.
Thus this ambiguous picture actually tells a lesson for life. Everyone experiences countless situations that can be viewed in many ways. What determines what a person will take from them depends on the ‘context’ towards which they are heading. One who seeks out G-d will always find Him, wherever he’s looking, like the earlier story in Vancouver. The good news is that this is something that each individual can choose for themselves. Thus people are always predetermining how they will choose to see things.
This concept is also beautifully reiterated within the donning of Teffilin. Overall, the arm Teffilin (which is opposite the heart) is worn longer than the head Teffilin (which is between the eyes) for it is worn first and removed last. It is hoped that the longer positive influence on the heart will effect how the person chooses to interpret things with his eyes (2).
A concluding example can be taken from our Sedra. Twelve spies saw the same piece of land, yet their reports were diametrically opposite. Rashi (3) comments that they saw how Miriam (4) chose to focus on the bad in Moshe (at the end of last week’s Sedra) and did not learn a lesson. The Parsha is teaching that ‘the glass should be half full, not half empty’. When the choice of how to view things is really down to us why not choose the one that’s ultimately beneficial.
1. This picture is by Hanson 1958.
2. Based on the commentary of Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz (1550 –March 3rd 1619), known more famously by hi commentary Kli Yokar.
3. See Rashi to Bamidbar 13, 2. Its use here is based on a Shmuz by Rabbi M.Y. Karnovsky of Gateshead.
4. Of course, this is all on their level; Tzadikim are judges Kechut ha’sa’harah.