The Land of Israel is Humility

The daily chizuk from our teacher, the holy Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – Why did the spies not want to enter the Land?

"And the men whom Moses sent to scout the land" (Numbers 14:36)

"From the approach to Chamat" (Numbers 13:21)

"There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah, their stone-throwing" (Psalms 68:28)

Sunday, 14 Shevat 5785 – With what intentions did the spies want to enter the Land?

These are his holy words:

It is written in Likutey Halachot, Yoreh Deah, the reason why the princes (Nesi'im) did not want to enter Eretz Yisrael. Reb Noson explains that it was revealed to them that the moment they would enter the Land, everyone was going to be replaced; they had a personal bias here.

The princes thought they were doing it for the sake of Moses our teacher, that if they entered the Land he would die, because they heard 'Moses is dead,' but in truth, the princes heard that when they would enter the Land, all the princes were going to be replaced.

The holy Arizal explains the entire matter of the spies. The Arizal explains that there are two aspects of intentions (kavanot), Leah and Rachel; the spies were of the aspect of Leah, and the dispute was with which intentions they would enter the Land.

"To scout the land" (LaTur Et HaAretz) – the acronym is Leah; "From the approach to Chamat" (Rechov LeVo Chamat) – the acronym is Rachel. The question is how does one enter Eretz Yisrael, with the intentions of Leah or the intentions of Rachel?

Rachel is below and Leah is above. Moses said, enter with the intentions of Leah, "to scout the land," because in truth they could have conquered all of Eretz Yisrael by themselves. Just as we saw with the brothers in Egypt, Judah said, 'I will finish off everyone by myself, I will finish off all of Egypt.'

Joseph saw that the situation was very grave, that they were going to finish off all of Egypt, so he gave a kick to the marble pillar he was sitting on. The entire pillar shattered into crumbs, so Judah said to him, 'Now I am drawing my sword against you.'

Joseph saw this and understood that it was already the end of the world, so he cried out – 'I am Joseph.' Everyone fainted on the spot, their souls departed. This is what came out of the entire selling of him – that Joseph is the ruler of the whole world; their souls departed.

This is the whole matter of Rebbe Nachman, that he gives a cry – 'I am Joseph.'

The question is, who is Joseph? The brothers did not want to believe that Joseph was Joseph; they said that just as Ishmael was the 'shell' (kelipah) that was clarified from Abraham, and Esau was the 'shell' that was clarified from Isaac, so too Joseph was the 'shell' that was clarified from Jacob.

Because there must be some waste, and after all, Joseph brought back their evil report, so he was specifically the waste of Jacob.

Afterwards, the brothers accused Benjamin of stealing the goblet, so he received a beating of death from them. If Benjamin had received one more blow, he would have received the entire Holy Temple, and the southeastern corner of the Altar would not have been in the portion of Judah. A strip extends from the portion of Judah (Zevachim 53b), and this strip is 32 cubits.

One more blow and Benjamin would have received the entire Holy Temple.

After that, at the splitting of the Red Sea, the tribe of Benjamin jumped into the sea and they threw stones at them. "There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah, their stone-throwing" (Psalms 68:28), they threw boulders, each boulder 3 tons.

They shouted to them, 'Get out,' because everyone wanted to jump into the sea first, and yet Benjamin, who is the youngest, he was born last and he jumps first. So everyone threw stones at him, 'Get out, we want to be first' – so from these stones the Holy Temple was built.

If Benjamin had received one more stone, he would have received the entire Holy Temple. One must know, in the merit of every humiliation a person receives, he merits the building of the Holy Temple. For every humiliation, for every stone they throw at him, every lashon hara (evil speech) they speak about him, he merits.

Even though the spies were of the aspect of Leah, and therefore wanted to enter the Land in the aspect of Leah, "to scout the land," Eretz Yisrael is still an aspect of Rachel – because Rachel is humility (shiflut).

The spies knew that they would not be princes here, so that was their personal bias.