Parsha Ki Tisa: Canada US Tensions – What to Do

Tensions between the United States and Canada seem to grow by the hour. Two long-time neighbours and friends who share the longest unprotected border in the world are having the worst hostilities in memory. As a dual citizen who loves both countries, it is personally painful to witness. 

But what can one do on a practical level to try to fix this? Does anyone not in power or part of government have any ability to do anything? Perhaps this week’s parsha may give us a lesson. 

In parshat Ki Tisa we read of the troubling event of the Israelites making and serving the Golden Calf at the foot of Mount Sinai 40 days after they received the Torah at that self-same spot. We tend to think of this event as a national failing, and it was in many ways. But not in the way we would normally think.

Ask your average person who is somewhat familiar with the story just how many people they think participated in this grievous sin and you will most likely hear that a significant percentage of the populace did. Maybe even the majority. Cecil B. DeMille, the producer the 1950’s classic, The Ten Commandments, certainly portrays it that way. But when you look at the original source and read the text in the Torah itself, it says that those who were put to death for worshipping the Golden Calf were 3,000 men.

Now consider that the Torah elsewhere states that 600,000 males left Egypt at the Exodus. Doing the math, we see that a mere half of one percent were actually directly involved with the Golden Calf. And that doesn’t take into account the women and children. Factor that into the population and the number becomes even lower at about a tenth of one percent.

Don’t get me wrong, this was most definitely a national failing, and the Torah portrays it as such. But mostly due to the fact that the vast majority of the Israelites were sitting on their hands and not doing anything to protest this travesty. But when you look at the hard, cold numbers it was a very small group who created this national calamity.

The same can be said about an equally and perhaps even worse national failing that occurred later on in the Torah when 10 spies were sent to Canaan to check it out before the Israelites were to go into the Promised Land. 10 men managed to significantly alter all of Jewish history with their hostile and negative report of Israel. Their intimidating report changed the heart of the whole nation and, as a result, God decided that generation would not enter the land of Israel. 

The impact of these tiny groups emphasizes the power that a small assembly can have in changing their community and even their entire nation. When a group as small as ten people are unified and dedicated to a particular cause, they can transform the society around them in a very dramatic fashion and even alter the course of history. A mere ten individuals, working together can have a huge impact and indeed Rabbi Weinberg zt”l, the founder of Aish, in his quest to build a movement used to often declare, “Give me 10 Men and we can change the world!”

This is how it is in life and in societies. A very small group can impact the vast majority. A small number of people can have an outsized impact on the rest. This is a simple fact of life for both good and bad.

Too often people are under the impression that there is some very powerful, large group of people who create the good, or sometimes not so good, of their society. They feel dwarfed that some large assembly has all the power and makes the laws. But in reality it is often a small group of people pulling the strings. 

When you read of historically horrible people like Stalin, Hitler and today’s Putin, you discover that it is a very small cadre of one leader and his inner-circle calling the shots and making life miserable for millions. It is usually one ruthless, cruel, brutal yet sometimes charming man and his tiny group of yes-men cohorts inflicting economic pain or worse, death and destruction, on so many millions. Alas, few and far between are the Churchills and Zelenskys willing to challenge, fight and stand up against such evil brutes.  

On the other hand, movements for good also start on a grass-roots level before they take off and are embraced by many. Aish began with one rabbi who enlisted a small group of students before it became an international organization with the best real estate in the Jewish world, across from the Western Wall and boasting a website, www.aish.com that has millions of visits per month. Chabad was not very big on the Jewish map until the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson transformed the movement into one of the most widespread Jewish movements in the world.

So if there is any lesson we can glean from this week’s parsha and other events, it is that individuals and small groups of supporters can unify and change our world for the bad but also for good. Don’t be intimidated and think that you cannot change things. It is not as impossible as one imagines to band together with a small group of dedicated, like-minded people and have a profound impact on a community, which then spreads to other communities and even the world. 

This week I mentioned to my brother, Murray that we need to try to do something to recreate the harmony between the United States and Canada in light of all the animosity and vitriol being slung across the border in both directions. I suggested that there should be a Unity Rally of Friendship between Canada and the USA. He has a relationship with MP (Member of Parliament), Melissa Lantsman who is also the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party in Canada. He liked the idea and said he would pass it on to her. 

So who knows, if you read about thousands of people rallying in both nations for unity and resetting the love and harmony back between the USA and Canada, you heard it here first. Maybe it just takes a good idea mentioned to the right person in the right place (kind of like Mordechai encouraging Esther to speak to King Achashverosh) to get the ball rolling. Often times it just takes is a little bit of will and courage from good people who want to make our world a better place to step up, get off our behinds and try to do something – anything – to make things right again. 

Seems like I’ve always been looking for some other place
To get it together
Where with a few of my friends I could give up the race
And maybe find something better

But all my fine dreams
Well thought out schemes
To gain the Motherland
Have all eventually come down to waiting for Everyman
-Jackson Brown