What the Rebbe Taught Me
Belief in Yourself

"I have a problem," the man blurted out.

The Rebbe tilted his head slightly.

"I've started to become more Torah observant, but I have a girlfriend who isn't Jewish and I plan to marry her."

The man fell silent; what else could he say? He braced himself for a rebuke, expecting to be told how grave a transgression it was to intermarry.

The Rebbe was silent for a little. "I envy you," the Rebbe finally said.

"The tests you face are the ladders that elevate you to great heights"The young man did not quite grasp the meaning. "The Rebbe," he thought, "who is on the highest of spiritual planes, is envious of me—the guy who just told him of his intention to marry a non-Jew?"

The Rebbe continued: "There are many ladders in life; each person is given his or her own. The ladders present themselves as life's challenges and difficult choices. The tests you face are the ladders that elevate you to great heights—the greater the challenge, the higher the ladder.

"G‑d has given you this difficult test because He believes you can overcome it, and has endowed you with the ability to do so. Few are presented a ladder as challenging as yours.

"Don't you see, then, why I envy you?"

Conflicting Reports

It was like stepping into a different world.

From people to produce, everything in the Land of Canaan was gargantuan. It took eight of them just to carry a cluster of grapes.1 Seriously. Moreover, wherever they walked, people were burying their dead.2

They'd stumbled into a surreal and morbid nightmare, it seemed.

Oh, and security was skintight.

"Amalek [the Jews' sworn enemy] dwells in the land of the south; the Hittite, the Jebusite, and Amorite dwell on the mountain; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and next to the Jordan."3

A successful offensive, whether by land or sea, seemed fantastical—to everyone in the reconnaissance unit, that is, but Caleb and Joshua.

"We shall surely ascend and conquer it, we can surely do it!"4 Caleb excitedly rallied.

The other ten spies soberly countered: "We cannot go against that nation, for it is stronger than us."5

Their stories could not be more divergentAfter the spies described in detail their horrific experience and presented a sampling of mammoth fruit as proof of the Land's "bizarreness," the public agreed.

With the "realists."

Most peculiar about the story are the conflicting reports. Their stories could not be more divergent:

"The land that we passed through is very, very good"—Caleb.6

"The land through which we passed, is a land that devours its inhabitants…"—the others.7

Which leaves us wondering: Did they tour the same land?

Of Giants and Grasshoppers

A deep psychological and theological truth accounts for the contrasting coverage.

The more "sober" of the reports concluded: "There we saw nephilim (giants), and we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes..."8

They simply didn't believe in themselves and their mission.

Is it a wonder, then, that they pronounced: "We cannot go against that nation, for it is stronger than us."

As one psychological adage declares:

"Whether you think you can, or that you cannot—you are right."

Ten of the spies thought they could not. And sadly, they were right.

Caleb and Joshua, however, believed that they could: "We can surely do it!"

Which is why, eventually, they did.

Choice = Power

There's more.

To Caleb, faith in G‑d and in oneself go hand-in-handCaleb and Joshua had also seen the monstrous inhabitants of Canaan and their formidable fortifications. They had also seen the endless funeral processions. The difference in reports was not a matter of facts, but philosophy.

Caleb and Joshua internalized the belief that "G‑d doesn't ask of us more than what lies in our power to do."9 Thus Caleb declared, "We can surely go up—even to heaven; if [Moses] tells us, 'Make ladders and go up there,' we will succeed in whatever he says."10

To Caleb, faith in G‑d and in oneself go hand-in-hand. He created us, and He created the world—and we can be trusted with bringing the two together.11

What's in It for Me?

We were born to navigate this rocky land called life.

There are giants to vanquish, walls to climb, and odds to overcome.

Do we think that we are capable of succeeding at this monumental task?

In the tradition of the spies, many unfortunately see life as "a land that devours its inhabitants…" instead of the "land flowing with milk and honey" that it is.

Something has to change.

Not the way we view the world, but the way we view ourselves.12