Seeking Heaven on Earth or Turning Earth into Heaven

Having spent a week studying the portion
of the Meraglim, end delving into the additional support given to Joshua and Caleb, and learning that the neshamot of the original Shevatim joined each of the ten other meraglim to boost (although unsuccessfully) their spiritual awareness, I am trying to understand the mindset of the ten. I endeavor to put myself in their shoes and figure out why they did what they did.

We read the various explanations discussing their intent, but something was still missing for me. If we look at Rashi, we see that at first, he praises the Meraglim quoting the Torah’s description of them as anashim - men and telling how important each and every
one of them in fact was. The rabbis tell us that the Torah lists their names in
order of importance, and we don’t find Joshua or Caleb until the middle of the
list. We have to ask, if these guys were so special, how did they mess up?

But then Rashi tells us that they went
in as they came out and with that, he explains that just as they came out with
an evil intention, they went in with an evil intention.

So, when did they go from important,
honorable, righteous people to people who went in with this evil intent?

I think we can also get a feel for where
they went wrong or what the thought process which led to their miscalculation
was by looking at the responses to them by Joshua and Caleb.

I don’t think that anyone goes in with
the intent to derail a mission unless they think that they are totally
justified and righteous in what they are doing. These ten must have thought
that they were doing the most beneficial thing for Benai Yisrael.

Many of our rabbi suggest that the
meraglim thought it best to stay in the desert under the leadership of Moses
where they could eat the maan, drink from the well of Miriam, dwell in the
protection of the divine clouds and study the Torah firsthand within a life of
perfection rather than leaving that Heaven on Earth and connecting themselves
to a land, to a battle and to farming to work, where the torah might be
forgotten.

Caleb tells them that we can surely go
up and inherit the land because Hashem gives us the ability. We explained in
the class based on the Talmud in Sotah that he saying that even if you gave us
ladders, we could climb into heaven provided we have Hashem‘s assistance. When
they are afraid and the strength of those in the land. Joshua tells them:
'Have no fear of the people of the country, for they are our prey: their
protection has departed from them, but the Lord is with us' (14:9).

I
believe we have a reasonable clue as to what was on the minds of the 10 spies.

If we say that they were righteous and
suddenly everything changed when they were ready to go into the land, then
something happens at the time of their appointment. Perhaps until then they
didn’t feel a responsibility for the nation as a whole, but at this point, as
leaders, they became responsible and with that responsibility, tremendous fear
takes hold.

At this point in the story, we are about
a year and a few months after the exodus. In that time, we left Egypt, we came
to Mount Sinai, we heard and were present at the revelation. 40 days later,
Moses returns with the first tablets to find us worshiping a golden calf. 80
days after that, Moses returns with the second set of tablets on Yom Kippur. A
few days later, we begin the construction of the mishkan - tabernacle which is
completed in the winter, but is not dedicated until the first of Nissan. We go
through a second Pesach and the Pesach Sheni. The next step is to go and
conquer the land.

In our class on Shabbat, we quoted a
beautiful thought of the Shvilei Pinchas who suggests that the first luchot -
tablets were associated with the Etz HaChaim – The tree of life in the garden
of Eden. Those tablets were pure and the Torah within them was pure. Those
tables relate to Adam HaRishon before the sin. The Torah relating to the Etz HaChaim is described as the Shivim Panim –
the 70 faces of the Torah.

Just as Adam fell, we fell through the
egel hazah, the golden calf, and the second tablets relate to the tree of
knowledge of good and evil which Adam ate from. Within the second set of luchot
are good and evil. There is a mixture and with that the confusion it brings.

About these tablets, we describe a Torah
where each law is taught by Hashem to Moses in 49 ways to prove something is
pure and 49 ways to prove something is impure. And when Moses asks what the
decision is, Hashem tells him that the decision is up to man below.

After man’s fall through the calf, this
mixture of good and evil requires man to delve through and struggle in the
Torah to bring out the truth relative to us.

These spies now have this job of delving
in and being commissioned in some way at least in their own minds to make a
decision between right and left, good and bad, right and wrong, all relative to
their specific situation.

They could have and should have simply
relied on Moses. Moses sent them as we discussed in the last class and it was
to Moses whom they should’ve reported to and Moses could have shown them the
error of their ways. Moses still had the direct connect. Perhaps their
appointments changed them. We say that power corrupts, and perhaps at the time
of the appointment, pride went to their heads and they felt that they could
independently make decisions without Moses

But what was the thought process which
brought them to a decision which they must have felt was the correct decision
to be made for the people?

There are those that suggest that they
didn’t want to lose their position. But let us not forget, that with their
testimony, they not only quickly lose their position, they also lose their
lives in a most horrendous manner.

Again, I am forced to consider that they
had to believe deep down inside that what they were suggesting was proper.

They understood that in the desert they
lived under a divine light and divine protection. Everything about their
existence, from the moment the first plague descended on the waters of Egypt
through the death of the first born was an entire year of miracles. This
continued in an even greater revelation through the Exodus, the splitting of
the sea and the Revelation at Har Sinai. The entire year in the desert was one
of miracles as we noted, maan, water, clouds, Moses and even defending
themselves from attack.

In contrast to this, they felt that
going into the land would put them in a place where they were subject to
nature. It would put them in a place where they no longer would live a
miraculous life. Let me suggest that they believed that they would have to
physically fight the battle against the 31 kings dependant on their own
manpower, skills and weapons. They believed that it would be totally incumbent
upon them to earn a living subject to the whims of the rains and the earth and
the efforts they made. They believed that upon entering the land, Hashem might
wish the adieu and that the only way they would succeed would would be through
their own strength and the effort of their own hands. They believed that once
they entered the land, Divine intervention would cease.

And I believe this was their fear. They
were afraid that not only would they no longer be living a miraculous life, but
they would be completely on their own

To this Caleb responds that even if we
were told to climb to heaven, we could do so, as long as Hashem is with us. To
their fear that they would have to fight a physical battle with the nations of
the land, who are certainly strong, Joshua tells them you can surely defeat
them provided Hashem is with us

I believe their misunderstanding could
be compared to the misunderstanding of the generation of Enoch. After creation,
man knew Hashem was the Boreh, the creator, but they assumed he stepped back
and did not realize Hashem is also the manhig – the one constantly running the
show. The meraglim appear to have assumed that Hashem would step back once they
crossed the border and they would have to deal with things on their own.

The mistake is part of the illusion that
we all face when we start to believe
kochi VeOsem Yadi, that we are really doing things on our own. We too have to
remember that Hashem promises us that a blessing will be on the work of our
hands. We have to make an effort, we have to turn on the switch below, but we
have to remember that there is no success without Hashem joining us.

Their mistake was in thinking that
Hashem would simply say goodbye and good luck And they were hoping to protect
the people by remaining in the desert within a miraculous existence under
Hashem. They believed that in the desert, they found heaven on earth. And why
should they give that up for what they perceived to be an earth without heaven?

I think the big lesson of the spies is
that Hashem puts us here to work the land as he told Adam and the illusion is
that we are doing things on our own, but the lesson is that without Hashem we
cannot succeed. We must have Emunah and Bitachon and partner with Hashem and
know that if we reach out, Hashem is never abandoning us. We see this all
throughout history. All of our victories are miraculous because Hashem is with
us

Right after the failure of the spies, we
see another tragic mistake. The error of the spies is compounded by those who
respond to the failure by saying, we will go up. They too think they are
righteous, but one cannot go up alone. Without Hashem’s help, we are doomed to
fail.

And this concept of partnership is
expressed throughout the rest of the commandments in the portion as if to
reinforce the concept. The mitsva to separate challah, reminds us again to
elevate the physical with the spiritual; we are planting, we are making flour,
we are baking, but all that is provided Hashem is with us. We learn of a kahal
and an individual who sin with avoda zara by mistake reminding us that when we
think Hashem has rescinded into the background, the next step is placing our
trust in ourselves or in other outside forces. We are taught about the person
who collects wood on Shabbat which reminds that even in a physical world,
Shabbat is a testimony that Hashem is in charge. He is not only the Boreh, the
creator, He is the manhig, the one who keeps the world in motion. Finally, down
to the last paragraph of Shelach, which teaches the misvah of sisit, we are
told to look at them in order to remember always that Hashem is there and
Hashem is with us.

The failure of the spies was not being
able to see that their job was to take the physical and raise it to a
spiritual. When later after entering the land an encountering our first battle,
we circled Jericho, we blew horns, we were dressed for battle, when in fact, it
was Hashem who went in front of us and led us to a miraculous victory.

The meraglim believed that everything
was up to the farmer, and everything was up to the worker. They believed that
success of failure was put completely into our hands. Perhaps when we crossed
the sea and everyone knew G-d was with us, namogu kol yoshvei Canaan, those in
Canaan trembled with fear, but on our own they feared, who will tremble?

They forgot the avot who made the rffort
but realized they were junior partners and it was Hashem who did the real work.

How important this is to us in our own
lives. We live in the physical. We work in the physical. We live in an illusion
that allows some to error and say, “That it’s my own strength. It’s my own
power. It’s my own effort that brings me reward.” But that person is a fool
because everything we have comes from Hashem. We may be driving the car, but
the car we are driving is sitting in on a track on the kiddie rides at Nelly
Bly in Coney Island. We press the gas, we turn the wheel, we hit the brakes,
and we honk the horn, but in essence all of that is an illusion because there’s
really a man standing on the side, pressing the button.

May we all learn the lesson of the
spies. May we remember Lo Yanum VeLo Yishan – Hashem neither slumbers nor
sleeps. Hashem watches over us and is with us. If we believe in hashem, Hashem
will believe in us!

Shabbat Shalom,

David Bibi