Moses sent spies into the Land of Canaan with instructions to report about its inhabitants and their cities and the nature of the land. They were also told to bring back some of the fruits. The Zohar examines the question posed to the spies: "Are there trees or not?"
Each of the names of G-d found in the Torah refers to a specific type of activity. The name Havayah alludes to G-d's creation of the world; the word "ayin", meaning transcendent nothingness, refers to a level so lofty that it transcends any names.
Moses was telling them: Determine whether this Land is bound to the name Havayah or to Ayin. He told them that if they saw that the fruits of the Land are like those of other lands, then "it has trees" - referring to the Tree of Life. But if you see that the fruits of the Land are unusually larger than anywhere else, then you will know that it is nourished by a primordial holy level, from which its unusual qualities are drawn.
The portion of the Torah read this week opens with the story of the princes of each tribe who were sent to spy out the land of Israel before the Jewish people entered it.
The patriarch Jacob had twelve sons, each of which became the progenitor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. When Joseph told his brothers, "you are spies", he was in effect telling them that all eleven of them would be reincarnated as the spies who spied out the land.
The Ari explains that the verse, "Man does not live by bread alone, rather on all that emanates from the mouth of G-d", solves the riddle that has long puzzled scientists regarding how the intake of certain foods enables the soul to remain attached to the body, although the soul, by definition, does not need to eat.
The answer is that food is something both physical as well as spiritual. The soul can also benefit from those spiritual ingredients in food, just as the body derives strength from the foods' nutrients. Because of this, the soul remains attached to the body as long as the body receives sufficient food of the right kind.
The word "sin-offering", chatat, is written with the letter alef; this letter represents the "Alupho shel Olam" - or "the Master of the world". If a person has complete knowledge and faith that G-d's Presence is hidden in every concealment and foreign thought, then there is no concealment at all.
A person should think: "How can I make my Creator angry by misusing the very life-force that He gives me, and seeing that He is actually with me? How can I commit this great evil?" As long as person clings to G-d in perfect faith, no evil can befall him at all - only love and affection.
Moses knew that it was not necessary to spy out the Land. On another level, however, Moses knew that by preparing ourselves maximally in the natural way, we pave the way for G-d to bless our efforts in a miraculous way. Furthermore, when we understand the particulars of what G-d wants us to do, we do it with greater enthusiasm and involvement.
The spies' error consisted of going beyond the scope of their mission. They should have recalled that Moses only asked them to see how the land could be conquered, not if.
Allegorically, conquering the Land of Canaan and transforming it into the Land of Israel means conquering the body and animal soul, sanctifying them and transforming them into holy entities. The seven nations that inhabited the Land of Canaan signify and embodied the seven basic emotions. The more we meditate on the futility of materialism and the awesomeness of G-d, the more we develop ecstatic love for G-d and antipathy for anything that opposes divinity and to that extent may we inspect and conquer our seven emotions, as well.
One of the Torah's most dramatic episodes is found in this week's Torah portion: the Spies and the evil report that G-d would be unable to conquer the Land of Israel. These spies caused doubt in G-d's abilities due to having seen the "nefilim" there, powerful angels who came to the physical world in that corrupt era before the Flood to prove that temptation and evil could be resisted. Unfortunately, they fell further into spiritual corruption than their mortal neighbors.
The Jews understood that physical barriers were no obstacles for G-d. However, these spiritually charged nefilim seemed to pose a real threat.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains the inner reason for these spies opposing the entry into Israel. The desert represented a spiritually oriented lifestyle; the Land of Israel denoted physical reality. The spies saw how very lofty angels, the nefilim, "fell" from spiritual heights to the basest depths. The assumption was that if angels couldn't make it, how much more so we humans would not be able to pass the test, standing up against the odds of a physical existence in Israel.
Joshua and Caleb recognized the mistake of the other spies and answered: We are more capable than the angels. G-d has placed a G-dly soul within each Jew, thereby giving us the ability not only to withstand the temptation of physicality but also to instill the world with spirituality. May each and every one of us succeed in making the factors of our life - including the smallest details - vehicles for holiness, and may this lead to the immediate redemption.
A tale of how the hidden powers of a mystic saved a traveling rabbi.
Shabbat Shalom.
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