The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Shelach

The Rebbe says:

1. In this week’s Torah portion Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) sends twelve spies (twelve “Miraglim”) to examine the Land of Canaan (which would later be called the Land of Israel).

When the twelve spies returned from inspecting the land, ten of the spies reported to Moshe Rabbeinu and the entire assembly of the Jewish people that the inhabitants of the Land of Canaan were too strong for the Jewish people to conquer. The Talmud tells us that these spies were even saying that the inhabitants of the Land of Canaan are stronger then Hashem (G-d) and “even the householder (Hashem) cannot remove his utensils from there (because the Canaanites are stronger then He)”!

The Jewish people got very frightened by this report and complained by saying, “We should have stayed in Egypt; even if we would have died there our wives and children would not have been taken captive! Let us return to Egypt!”.

There were only two righteous spies, Yehoshua ben Nun (Joshua the son of Nun) and Calev ben Yefunah (Caleb the son of Jephunneh), who got up in front of the assembly of the Jewish people and tried to impress upon them that there was nothing to worry about and they would be so victorious that “they would eat the inhabitants like bread”. However their pleas fell on deaf ears and the Jewish people remained in their despondent state.

The end of this story is that Hashem was hurt by the Jewish people who still did not trust in Him and He caused them to stay in the desert for forty years (a year for every day that the spies were inspecting the Land of Canaan).

2. The Rebbe asks three questions on this story:

Firstly: What is the lesson for us in our lives? We know that the Torah is not a history book; the Torah (which comes from the Hebrew word “Ho’ra’ah – lesson”) only lets us know things which are pertinent to our daily lives. If so, what is the Torah teaching us by telling us this story?

Secondly: How was it possible that the Jewish people still did not trust in Hashem and got scared when the ten spies reported that the Canaanites were stronger then Hashem (Heaven Forbid)? The Jewish people just saw with their own eyes how Hashem performed supernatural miracles for them!?

On a daily basis they had the Manna fall from the sky for them, they had water flowing from a rock (the “Well of Miriam”), all the mountains in their way were made low and any valleys in their path were filled up by the Aron Hakodesh (the Holy Ark) and the Clouds of Glory (the Ananei Hakavod) so that they could walk straight, and the deathly snakes and scorpions were all killed.

They also saw with their own eyes the miracles that Hashem did for them in war: When the Egyptians attacked the Jewish people at the Sea of Reeds (the Yam Suf) Hashem fought their war and split the Sea of Reeds for them and drowned every single Egyptian, and the Jewish people did not have to lift a finger.

Never the less after all of this the Jewish people were still able to be frightened for their lives when the ten evil spies claimed that they would not be able to defeat the Canaanites? It just doesn’t make sense!

Thirdly: Even more questionable is the response given to the Jewish people by Calev ben Yefunah when he tries to calm them down. He tells the Jewish people, “If Hashem desires us He will bring us to this land and give it to us”. Why doesn’t Calev tell the Jewish people exactly what we just mentioned- that “Hashem has performed supernatural miracles for us daily and specifically in wartime, so there is nothing to fear”?

3. In order for us to reach the answers we must first understand exactly what the complaint of the ten spies was. The Rebbe explains:

The Alter Rebbe (Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi) explains that the reason the ten spies wanted to stay in the desert and not enter into the Land of Israel is because they did not want to lower themselves and deal with the physical world. Being in the desert they had everything taken care of for them (as we explained above); they did not have to work the land or plant seeds and wait for the produce to grow because Hashem sent down the Manna from Heaven, they did not have to dig a well and find water because Hashem made a miracle that all the water they needed flowed from a rock, they did not have to worry about their clothes because they cleaned themselves and grew with the person, in short- they did not have to get involved with the mundane acts of life. However when they would enter into the Land of Israel they would have to start plowing the ground and all the other acts involved in preparing the earth for planting, then they would have to plant seeds and wait for the growth, during growth they would have to make sure the produce is good… and the spies were afraid that this would pull them down out of their service to Hashem.

This is what the spies meant when they said that, “it is a land which eats up its inhabitants”: When someone eats, the food becomes a part of him; it becomes his flesh and blood. “The same goes for the Land of Canaan”, said the spies, “it will make us spend our time dealing with the mundane physical actions of life which will take away our sensitivity towards Hashem and spirituality”.

But of course the spies made a big mistake because Hashem’s purpose for creating this world is so that He can dwell even in the part of the physical world where He is so hidden. (And the only reason the Jewish people were in the desert and had everything taken care of for them until they entered the Land of Israel was for them to prepare themselves for the hard work about to come).

4. The Rebbe now explains the answers to our second and third questions (as to how the Jewish people could be afraid to enter the Land of Canaan if they saw so many miracles? And why didn’t the two righteous spies bring up this point when they were trying to calm the Jewish people?):

Now that we understand what the argument of the spies were we can understand why the Jewish people were frightened because of it:

Even though the Jewish people saw supernatural miracles performed for them with their own eyes of flesh and blood, they were still afraid to enter the Land of Canaan because they thought that in the Land of Canaan there would no longer be an atmosphere where miracles were possible. In the Land of Canaan Hashem demanded that the Jewish people live within nature. The Land of Canaan wasn’t a place where Hashem could perform miracles (Heaven Forbid) because He himself chose the order of “nature” to rule!

And this is what the spies meant when they said, “Even the householder (Hashem) cannot remove his utensils from there”: Since Hashem decided what the laws of normal life are, and He wants us to live in those conditions, He can’t make miracles to help us (Heaven Forbid). Only if we stay in the desert where we are not bound to all the rules of nature can we elevate the sparks of Holiness.

To this came the answer of Calev ben Yefunah and Yehoshua ben Nun, “If Hashem desires us He will bring us to this land and give it to us”: Calev and Yehoshua were saying that since Hashem’s desire is to have a dwelling place even in the most unrefined physical places, He will surely help us with anything we need, even if we need something supernatural. And they did not try to calm the Jewish people down by reminding them of the miracles performed by Hashem in the desert, because the Jewish people thought that this had no bearing on how their lives would be in the Land of Canaan.

5. The Rebbe now answers our first question (as to what the lesson is for us to learn?):

Every single day in the life of a Jew has these two aspects; we have 1) The desert and 2) The Land of Canaan. The desert is the beginning part of the day when we learn and Daven (pray) to Hashem and it is apparent that we are in a holy atmosphere. The Land of Canaan is the rest of the day when we are “working the land” and here one might think that he must live a “normal” life, “how can I know Hashem while I am trying to sell a diamond and make some profit? And even more so, since the main bulk of my day is dealing with the mundane aspects of life, this will even negatively affect my other part of the day when I am learning and Davening”.

To this comes the answer from the story of the Miraglim (the spies): Firstly we should know that this reasoning was the argument of the evil spies, and the answer to this is as Yehoshua and Calev said, “Hashem desires that we make a dwelling place for Him specifically in this physical world and He will surely help us in any we need Him to”.

Translated by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos volume four.