I remember when I first caught the World Cup bug. It was back in 1994, and I had just completed my Junior year at Hebrew University. Walking around Jerusalem every screen in every home and every bar was turned to soccer. Ironically, while the games themselves were taking place back home in America, the best place to watch the games was nearly any other place in the world. Americans still decried the “slow pace” of the “beautiful game,” but here in Israel they had fully bought in.
The games that year are remembered by the great play of USMNT star Alexi Lalas (a fellow redhead) and by two major gaffes by established players: the own goal by Columbian Defender Andres Escobar against the US and the missed penalty kick in the final by Italian star Roberto Baggio. Reading this week’s Torah portion Shelach as the World Cup gets set to start back in North America for the first time since 1994, I thought back to those mistakes. As we read about our first journey into the Holy Land since Genesis, what sticks out is not the success, but the failure. Of the twelve spies sent to scope out the land, only two – Joshua and Caleb – come back with a positive report. The other ten are forever marked with ignominy.
To succeed in life, you have to accept failure. Our journeys are never in a straight line without incident or challenge. Whoever ends up winning this year’s World Cup will no doubt have moments of both extreme success and near defeat. Thus, the events in this week’s Torah portion should not be viewed as a terrible failure, but a necessary step toward success. It toughened us, made us more resilient, helping set the stage for Joshua’s eventual conquest. As the popular soccer saying goes, “together until the final whistle.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex