ב"ה

Article Summaries of Editors' Picks

Transcendent Nothingness
The Zohar
Moses sent spies into the Land of Canaan with instructions to report about the nature of the land. The Zohar examines the question posed: "Are there trees or not?"

If they were to see that the fruits of the Land are like those of other lands, then "it has trees" - referring to the Tree of Life. But if they are unusually large, then you will know that it is nourished by a primordial holy level, from which its unusual qualities are drawn.
Souls of Spies and Princes
The Holy Ari
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.
By the Sweat of Your Brow
Mystical Classics
"Man does not live by bread alone, rather on all that emanates from the mouth of G-d."

The Ari explains that the intake of food enables the soul to remain attached to the body, although the soul, by definition, does not need to eat for food is something both physical as well as spiritual. The soul can benefit from those spiritual ingredients in food, just as the body derives strength from the foods' nutrients.
The Joining of Spirit to Spirit
Chasidic Masters
Caleb went to Hebron and prostrated himself on the graves of the forefathers, that he not be persuaded by his fellow spies to participate in their scheme.
Spying Out the Land and Our Selves
Contemporary Kabbalists
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 we may inspect and conquer our seven emotions, as well.
Spying on G‑d
Israel is an opportunity to redeem the physicality of the world.
The nefilim were angels who “fell” from Heaven to dwell among humans, attempting to prove that temptation and evil could be resisted. Unfortunately, they fell further into spiritual corruption than their mortal neighbors.

In the land of Israel the Jews would be compelled to engage in mundane tasks. Seeing the nefilim in Israel caused the spies doubt, that they also would not be able to stand up against the odds of a physical existence there.
A Perceptive Eye
A tale of how the hidden powers of a mystic saved a traveling rabbi.
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