Parshas Shelach: Time for New Leaders Who Respect Unborn Human Life

Our Torah portion this week, Parshas Shelach, Bamidbar (Numbers)13:1 - 15:41, illustrates clearly the grave consequences of disobeying God's directives and instructions. Whether this disobedience stems from arrogance or ignorance, bad things happen when we go our own way. We need to be in His will to receive His goodness. When we remove ourselves from His presence, we subject ourselves to all sorts of trouble. 

This spiritual law plays out dramatically when all but the tribe of Levi demand a reconnaissance mission be sent into the Holy Land before the leaders comply with God's order to just walk in and possess it. Moses picks 12 'princes' for the mission, one from each of the 12 tribes. Upon their return, 10 of these highly regarded leaders recommend scrapping God's plans to enter the land of Israel based on an assessment that the newly formed army lacks sufficient military skill to overcome the enemy tribes that stand in their way, They dismiss completely God's promise ensuring victory. Only Joshua and Caleb dissent.

The ten princes, the best and the brightest of their respective tribes, dismiss awesome, life changing miracles of only a few weeks previous that prove God's presence, reliability and love for His people. Within this short amount of time, they slip back into their fear based, self conscious mind. For most of them, this abandonment of the Divine mind back into their self centered usual state of being probably occurs beneath a conscious level. This trick of the subconscious to regain control and mastery over one's actions challenges many spiritual seekers.

The ten leaders die in a plague and all the people, except the tribe of Levi, complain against Moses, lamenting their departure from Egypt. They threaten mutiny. Moses informs the people that they are not going back to Egypt nor are they going to be put to death like their errant leaders. Instead, God shows mercy by requiring a penance of 40 years wandering around in the desert until a new generation more amendable to His law has a chance to posses the Promised Land. Rather than face this bleak future, some choose to launch the earlier planned military offensive without God's support. They all perish in battle.

The Haftorah portion this week, Yehoshua (Joshua) 2:1-24, recounts another occasion when spies are sent out on a reconnaissance mission, this time to the Canaanite city of Jericho, known for extreme depravity, including child sacrifice. Joshua is tasked with destroying the city, the first offensive by the Israelites in the Holy Land meant to clear the region of degeneracy and wickedness. This time the mission succeeds and Jericho falls. God shows great restraint towards Jericho. The order to destroy the city comes after 400 years of chances to repent, which the city leaders decline. 

10 of 12 is 83%, a substantial majority in an age of visible miracles. Consider the time we live in now, with few obvious miracles and social media tools to influence many Jews who know nothing of our binding moral contract with the Almighty. We suggest that today even a higher percentage of leadership positions are filled with compromised 'princes,' men and women who identify as Jewish upon whom a majority of Jews depend for political opinion and social action.

These leaders deploy tortured distortions of traditional Jewish concepts that result in loss of innocent unborn life. The source of these distortions comes from rabbinic opinions on the Torah that find exceptions to the prohibition of child sacrifice so clearly stated in Torah. In many ways, the word of the Almighty in Torah has been replaced by the word of Jews in leadership positions who claim religious authority based on faulty rabbinic opinions dating back from the 1st century to the 21st century. In America and in Israel, even as Jews face increasing existential threats, many of our legal, political, religious and medical experts continue to oppose abortion bans or choose to remain silent for fear of donor disengagement or loss of employment. How long do we dare try the patience of the Almighty with child sacrifice and other anti-Torah practices endorsed by a majority of Jewish leaders and their adherents?

It's long past time for new Jewish leaders who respect unborn life. We need Jewish leaders who endorse the science that proves life begins at conception, Jewish leaders who recommend the use of pro-life medicine that rejects torturing a baby to death in the womb to save a mother's life when life saving options such as preterm delivery are much safer with better outcomes, Jewish leaders who have the courage to speak up in public and from the pulpit for the right to life of unborn human beings based on the right to life from conception in Torah.

In our newsletter this week, we spotlight a Jewish politician and a Jewish doctor whose actions promote child killing: New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin whose demands from a pregnancy resource center for donor information has landed at SCOTUS, and Shelly Sella, MD, recently interviewed by a pro-abortion influencer. Dr, Sella is a retired late term abortionist and friend of infamous abortionist George Tiller. Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Shelly Sella, MD represent a “Chilul HaShem," a desecration of God's name, yet they are lauded as virtuous and courageous by many Jews who know nothing of their apostasy nor of the danger they pose to Jewish safety and posterity.

The events in our Torah portion this week prove the law of spiritual consequences that applies to all people. When we enact policy that doesn't have God's approval or favor, we suffer and we perish. Yet, God's mercy always applies in ways that He considers good and correct. Let's pray that His mercy still prevails in places where religious and secular authorities continue to lead us in the wrong direction, causing much suffering and death and destruction. To secure our future, we need new leaders who respect the life of unborn children.

Please share this post on your social media to amplify our message in this troubled world. Thank you.

Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.