민수기 13:34의 Chasidut
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 13,2. “send out men for your own satisfaction.”
We have a rule that when an Israelite arrives at a place where he serves the Lord, all the ”sparks” (that had fallen to earth from the Shechinah on account of some misdemeanour) that are scattered around him, feel ashamed in the presence of such people.
[The expression ניצוצות, sparks, occurs both as something material, though not tangible, in the writings of Maimonides for instance, examples hilchot Shabbat 28/25 and hilchot tefillin 4,18, whereas in Yalkut Shimoni, i.e. midrashic exegesis, it occurs as more esoteric, though not as applicable to purely spiritual beings as in kabbalah. Up until this point, our author always used the term for spiritual concepts such as “fallen angels.” At this point I am not quite sure how to understand his reference to it. Ed.]
In the Talmud Shabbat 31 we read that G’d created the universe only in order that His creatures be in awe of Him. (opinion of Rabbi Yehudah) The scriptural “proof” for this opinion quoted is Kohelet 3,14 והאלוקים עשה שייראו מלפניו, “and G’d has acted so that [man] should stand in awe of Him.” Accordingly, it appears that the author understands the word ניצוצות here as negative forces that obstruct man in his quest to fulfill the Creator’s commandments. When these negative forces (commonly called Satan) observe how man goes out of his way to fulfill G’d’s commandments, they become ashamed, and while in that state man can easily overcome their feeble efforts to distract him from serving G’d. (and, according to our author elevate these negative forces to a higher spiritual level in the process of his worshipping Gd.) There is, however, a limitation to the statement expressed in the rule expressed at the beginning of our exegesis, and this is that the rule that the person wishing to worship G’d can overcome external obstacles is based on the premise that he himself has freed himself of subjective, sensually influenced considerations when setting out to perform one of G’d’s commandments.
The choice of the words שלח, at the beginning of our portion is reminiscent of Genesis 37:32 where Onkelos translates the word וישלחו, commonly translated as: “they sent,” as ושלחו, “they stripped” [Joseph of his striped coat, the personification of his earthly aspirations. Ed.]
We have a rule that when an Israelite arrives at a place where he serves the Lord, all the ”sparks” (that had fallen to earth from the Shechinah on account of some misdemeanour) that are scattered around him, feel ashamed in the presence of such people.
[The expression ניצוצות, sparks, occurs both as something material, though not tangible, in the writings of Maimonides for instance, examples hilchot Shabbat 28/25 and hilchot tefillin 4,18, whereas in Yalkut Shimoni, i.e. midrashic exegesis, it occurs as more esoteric, though not as applicable to purely spiritual beings as in kabbalah. Up until this point, our author always used the term for spiritual concepts such as “fallen angels.” At this point I am not quite sure how to understand his reference to it. Ed.]
In the Talmud Shabbat 31 we read that G’d created the universe only in order that His creatures be in awe of Him. (opinion of Rabbi Yehudah) The scriptural “proof” for this opinion quoted is Kohelet 3,14 והאלוקים עשה שייראו מלפניו, “and G’d has acted so that [man] should stand in awe of Him.” Accordingly, it appears that the author understands the word ניצוצות here as negative forces that obstruct man in his quest to fulfill the Creator’s commandments. When these negative forces (commonly called Satan) observe how man goes out of his way to fulfill G’d’s commandments, they become ashamed, and while in that state man can easily overcome their feeble efforts to distract him from serving G’d. (and, according to our author elevate these negative forces to a higher spiritual level in the process of his worshipping Gd.) There is, however, a limitation to the statement expressed in the rule expressed at the beginning of our exegesis, and this is that the rule that the person wishing to worship G’d can overcome external obstacles is based on the premise that he himself has freed himself of subjective, sensually influenced considerations when setting out to perform one of G’d’s commandments.
The choice of the words שלח, at the beginning of our portion is reminiscent of Genesis 37:32 where Onkelos translates the word וישלחו, commonly translated as: “they sent,” as ושלחו, “they stripped” [Joseph of his striped coat, the personification of his earthly aspirations. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Another look at “send for yourself men to tour the land of Canaan which I am about to give to the Children of Israel.”
Most commentators already focused on the word לך, “for yourself,” in this verse, finding it difficult to understand
I believe that G’d’s principal purpose was that Moses should use the most G’d fearing individuals from each tribe to make up this delegation, men whose devotion and sincerity to the highest principles of Judaism was beyond doubt. The word לתור, usually translated as to “tour,” i.e. to examine visually, in this instance was not intended as an instruction for these men to examine the material benefits that the land of Canaan had to offer the Jewish people. By dispatching truly G’d fearing men to tour this land, G’d intended for this land to become attuned to the presence of G’d fearing human beings, [seeing that since the day Yaakov had left it there had not been anyone residing there who was a servant of the Creator. Ed.] It was hoped that after being visited by such individuals, the soil of the land of Canaan itself would experience a desire to become the home of the people who had sent such emissaries. The mere temporary presence of these “tourists,” would encourage the response from the celestial sources of G’d’s largesse to bestow it in generous measure on this land, much as it had done while the patriarchs had resided there.
We may therefore understand the word שלח in the sense of המשכה, extension, continuation, similar to Exodus where Pharaoh’s daughter whose arm was not long enough, dispatched her servant maid to bring her the basket that contained the infant Moses. One of the sages in Sotah 12 discussing that verse understands the word אמתה as referring to the princess’ arm and not to her maid servant.
We may extrapolate on this allegory somewhat further, following our approach when dealing with true service of the Lord, and understand Pharaoh’s daughter as “stripping herself” of material physical concerns when setting out to save the life of Jewish baby after seeing the basket had aroused maternal instincts in her. Similarly, in our portion, when Moses dispatched the twelve emissaries to examine the qualities of the land of Israel, he charged them with divesting themselves, שלח, of material concerns when setting out on a mission approved by the Lord Himself. (Numbers 13,1) The choice of the word ויתורו, instead of וירגלו, “and to spy out,” or ויחפרו, as in Deuteronomy 1,22 is an allusion to the word תורה, and points to the difference between what the people had demanded and what G’d had agreed to.
To repeat, G’d’s i.e. Moses’ purpose in agreeing to the people’s request to spy out the land of Canaan was to sublimate what was a material quest into becoming a spiritual quest and to thereby convert it into an act of worship. The word לך, “for you,” therefore simply means that Moses should select the kind of men for this mission that best guaranteed that G’d’s criteria for allowing it would be met. This is also the reason why G’d repeats to Moses: אשר אני נותן לבני ישראל, “that the land that I give to the Children of Israel” in order to perform His commandments when they are in that land, not for any other reason. The fact that this land is a gift from G’d for a purpose must never be absent from the minds of the men viewing the land for the first time. When Moses prayed that Joshua should remain steadfast against any attempt by his colleagues to abort the purpose of this mission by adding a letter ה as a reminder of G’d’s name to his name, this is what he had in mind. (Compare 13,16) He did not want him to become a מרגל, “spy.” The תורה element in this mission had to be preserved for it to be crowned with success.
Most commentators already focused on the word לך, “for yourself,” in this verse, finding it difficult to understand
I believe that G’d’s principal purpose was that Moses should use the most G’d fearing individuals from each tribe to make up this delegation, men whose devotion and sincerity to the highest principles of Judaism was beyond doubt. The word לתור, usually translated as to “tour,” i.e. to examine visually, in this instance was not intended as an instruction for these men to examine the material benefits that the land of Canaan had to offer the Jewish people. By dispatching truly G’d fearing men to tour this land, G’d intended for this land to become attuned to the presence of G’d fearing human beings, [seeing that since the day Yaakov had left it there had not been anyone residing there who was a servant of the Creator. Ed.] It was hoped that after being visited by such individuals, the soil of the land of Canaan itself would experience a desire to become the home of the people who had sent such emissaries. The mere temporary presence of these “tourists,” would encourage the response from the celestial sources of G’d’s largesse to bestow it in generous measure on this land, much as it had done while the patriarchs had resided there.
We may therefore understand the word שלח in the sense of המשכה, extension, continuation, similar to Exodus where Pharaoh’s daughter whose arm was not long enough, dispatched her servant maid to bring her the basket that contained the infant Moses. One of the sages in Sotah 12 discussing that verse understands the word אמתה as referring to the princess’ arm and not to her maid servant.
We may extrapolate on this allegory somewhat further, following our approach when dealing with true service of the Lord, and understand Pharaoh’s daughter as “stripping herself” of material physical concerns when setting out to save the life of Jewish baby after seeing the basket had aroused maternal instincts in her. Similarly, in our portion, when Moses dispatched the twelve emissaries to examine the qualities of the land of Israel, he charged them with divesting themselves, שלח, of material concerns when setting out on a mission approved by the Lord Himself. (Numbers 13,1) The choice of the word ויתורו, instead of וירגלו, “and to spy out,” or ויחפרו, as in Deuteronomy 1,22 is an allusion to the word תורה, and points to the difference between what the people had demanded and what G’d had agreed to.
To repeat, G’d’s i.e. Moses’ purpose in agreeing to the people’s request to spy out the land of Canaan was to sublimate what was a material quest into becoming a spiritual quest and to thereby convert it into an act of worship. The word לך, “for you,” therefore simply means that Moses should select the kind of men for this mission that best guaranteed that G’d’s criteria for allowing it would be met. This is also the reason why G’d repeats to Moses: אשר אני נותן לבני ישראל, “that the land that I give to the Children of Israel” in order to perform His commandments when they are in that land, not for any other reason. The fact that this land is a gift from G’d for a purpose must never be absent from the minds of the men viewing the land for the first time. When Moses prayed that Joshua should remain steadfast against any attempt by his colleagues to abort the purpose of this mission by adding a letter ה as a reminder of G’d’s name to his name, this is what he had in mind. (Compare 13,16) He did not want him to become a מרגל, “spy.” The תורה element in this mission had to be preserved for it to be crowned with success.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 13,3. “Moses dispatched them from the desert of Parana at the command of Hashem;” [note that the Torah writes about this both in verse 3 and again in verse 17, so that exegesis for this repetition is forced upon us. Ed.]
Moses and his generation, predominantly part of the generation of the desert, are viewed as comparable to the written Torah, whereas Joshua and the people entering the Holy Land with him, are viewed as comparable to the oral Torah. This is also what the Talmud in Baba batra 75 referred to when the sages said that the face of Moses was comparable to the sun whereas the face of Joshua was comparable to the moon. The oral Torah is viewed as being the vessel which received input from the written Torah, just as the moon receives its light which it then reflects from the sun.
When the Torah writes here that Moses dispatched the 12 men to “tour” the land of Canaan, this is an allusion to the generation of the Israelites that were supposed to make their home in the Holy Land, i.e. it was appropriate for these men to reflect the oral Torah. Actually, seeing that, as we explained repeatedly in connection with the ability of the righteous in each generation being able to change G’d’s decrees, the “oral Torah” is not quite the same in each generation, as the sages in each generation have the power to add or change protective decrees knows as סיג לתורה “a protective fence around Biblical decrees.” This is also the reason why the Israelites who are perceived as symbolic of the oral Torah count their months according to the lunar calendar, the moon being symbolic of the oral Torah. [I believe that the author wished to explain why the name of Moses had to be mentioned again in this verse, seeing that he had been addressed by G’d in the verse before and the subject had not changed. Ed.]
Moses and his generation, predominantly part of the generation of the desert, are viewed as comparable to the written Torah, whereas Joshua and the people entering the Holy Land with him, are viewed as comparable to the oral Torah. This is also what the Talmud in Baba batra 75 referred to when the sages said that the face of Moses was comparable to the sun whereas the face of Joshua was comparable to the moon. The oral Torah is viewed as being the vessel which received input from the written Torah, just as the moon receives its light which it then reflects from the sun.
When the Torah writes here that Moses dispatched the 12 men to “tour” the land of Canaan, this is an allusion to the generation of the Israelites that were supposed to make their home in the Holy Land, i.e. it was appropriate for these men to reflect the oral Torah. Actually, seeing that, as we explained repeatedly in connection with the ability of the righteous in each generation being able to change G’d’s decrees, the “oral Torah” is not quite the same in each generation, as the sages in each generation have the power to add or change protective decrees knows as סיג לתורה “a protective fence around Biblical decrees.” This is also the reason why the Israelites who are perceived as symbolic of the oral Torah count their months according to the lunar calendar, the moon being symbolic of the oral Torah. [I believe that the author wished to explain why the name of Moses had to be mentioned again in this verse, seeing that he had been addressed by G’d in the verse before and the subject had not changed. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 13,16. “Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Yehoshua.” Rashi comments on this verse that this means that Moses prayed that G’d should protect him against being swayed by the evil advice offered by the majority of the men who were part of this mission.
This commentary is strange, as whence did Moses know already that these men would turn out to be spies counseling that the land was beyond their ability to conquer? Surely, if Moses had been aware of the tragic outcome of this mission he would never have allowed it to go forth? This is also why Rashi says that at the time when this mission set out all the members partaking in it were beyond suspicion of wanting it to fail. If Rashi is correct, we must then ask what made Moses pray for Joshua’s being protected against the “spies’” evil influence?
It appears that the answer to the above questions is that G’d had told Moses to send out men to “tour” the land of Canaan, whereas in Deuteronomy 1,22 when the whole incident is recalled by Moses he describes the intiative for this to have been the people, who had, however, demanded that the mission be one of spying, i.e. ויחפרו את הארץ לנו את הארץ “who will spy out the land for us.” the Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1,9 in relating to this request states that just as a human being has 248 bones and 365 tendons, so the earth is similarly made up of as many constituent parts. [The text there only speaks about man and the earth having certain organs in common. Ed.] It elaborates by saying that just as the Torah speaks of ערות הארץ, לב הארץ, טבור הארץ, עין הארץ, “the nakedness of the earth, the heart of the earth, the navel of the earth, an the eye of the earth, etc.; these are only a few examples of the earth possessing parts which serve it in a manner similar to the way that the bones and tendons serve the human being.
It follows that when the Israelites perform G’d’s commandments on this land, that the land itself will develop a fondness for this people. We are entitled therefore to view in the expression לתור את הארץ, Moses’ way of instructing these men to establish a personal relationship with this land based on Torah (תור) observance. By doing so the Jewish people would assume the role of dispensing spiritual largesse of their own to this land. The land, seeing that it had become a recipient of largesse from the Jewish people would also become indebted to them. This explains Moses’ command to the subterranean waters in the part of the land of Canaan already captured by the Jewish people to give forth its waters, i.e. Numbers 21,17 אז ישיר ישראל את השירה הזאת עלי באר ענו-לה באר חפרוה שרים, “then Israel sang this song: ‘spring up O well-sing to it-, the well which the princes dug.’ The word חפרוה is derived from חפר “to dig,” and is completely analogous to the expression ויחפרו את הארץ in Deuteronomy 1,22 where we can then translate it “in order to dig for us in the land.” The wish expressed by the Israelites when singing this song was meant to convince the earth of the land of Canaan (in this instance the east bank of the Jordan) that complying with Israel’s request was for its own benefit.
This commentary is strange, as whence did Moses know already that these men would turn out to be spies counseling that the land was beyond their ability to conquer? Surely, if Moses had been aware of the tragic outcome of this mission he would never have allowed it to go forth? This is also why Rashi says that at the time when this mission set out all the members partaking in it were beyond suspicion of wanting it to fail. If Rashi is correct, we must then ask what made Moses pray for Joshua’s being protected against the “spies’” evil influence?
It appears that the answer to the above questions is that G’d had told Moses to send out men to “tour” the land of Canaan, whereas in Deuteronomy 1,22 when the whole incident is recalled by Moses he describes the intiative for this to have been the people, who had, however, demanded that the mission be one of spying, i.e. ויחפרו את הארץ לנו את הארץ “who will spy out the land for us.” the Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1,9 in relating to this request states that just as a human being has 248 bones and 365 tendons, so the earth is similarly made up of as many constituent parts. [The text there only speaks about man and the earth having certain organs in common. Ed.] It elaborates by saying that just as the Torah speaks of ערות הארץ, לב הארץ, טבור הארץ, עין הארץ, “the nakedness of the earth, the heart of the earth, the navel of the earth, an the eye of the earth, etc.; these are only a few examples of the earth possessing parts which serve it in a manner similar to the way that the bones and tendons serve the human being.
It follows that when the Israelites perform G’d’s commandments on this land, that the land itself will develop a fondness for this people. We are entitled therefore to view in the expression לתור את הארץ, Moses’ way of instructing these men to establish a personal relationship with this land based on Torah (תור) observance. By doing so the Jewish people would assume the role of dispensing spiritual largesse of their own to this land. The land, seeing that it had become a recipient of largesse from the Jewish people would also become indebted to them. This explains Moses’ command to the subterranean waters in the part of the land of Canaan already captured by the Jewish people to give forth its waters, i.e. Numbers 21,17 אז ישיר ישראל את השירה הזאת עלי באר ענו-לה באר חפרוה שרים, “then Israel sang this song: ‘spring up O well-sing to it-, the well which the princes dug.’ The word חפרוה is derived from חפר “to dig,” and is completely analogous to the expression ויחפרו את הארץ in Deuteronomy 1,22 where we can then translate it “in order to dig for us in the land.” The wish expressed by the Israelites when singing this song was meant to convince the earth of the land of Canaan (in this instance the east bank of the Jordan) that complying with Israel’s request was for its own benefit.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 13,17. “ascend from here in the south and climb the mountain from which you will be able judge the nature of the land.”
The rule is that when engaging in the attempt to elevate “sparks”, i.e. spiritually fallen people, one must first attach oneself firmly to G’d’s attribute of חסד, loving kindness. The location of that attribute traditionally is the south, דרום, another word for נגב, south, means חסד, i.e. breaking the hold of the evil urge over one’s various תאוות, lust and cravings. We have already explained this elsewhere in connection with psalms 119,98 מאויבי תחכימני מצותיך כי לעולם היא, “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, they always stand by me.” The “enemy” in this verse is the evil urge, Satan, a force that G’d employs to test man’s ability to resist temptation. Man’s basic error in relating to the satisfying of his cravings is that he imagines that by indulging his cravings he attains true satisfaction, well being without more cravings. He does not realize that the only craving that will result in such satisfaction is his desire to provide pleasure for his Creator. This is what the psalmist means when he describes the fulfillment of his craving for the service of the Lord as one that is enduring.
This idea is also alluded to when Moses said to the men “touring” the land of Canaan ועליתם את ההר, “you will ascend the Mountain,” the “mountain” being the evil urge.
We have a statement in Sukkah 52 in which the evil urge is referred to as הר, “mountain.” The Talmud there refers to the post-messianic era during which G’d is presented as “slaughtering” the evil urge in the presence of both the righteous and the wicked. The evil urge in that story appears to the righteous as a mountain, whereas to the wicked he appears as a thin hair. Both the righteous and the wicked weep when looking at the evil urge. The wicked weep as they cannot believe that they had been unable to overcome such a weak adversary, whereas the righteous weep as in retrospect they marvel at having conquered such a high mountain. According to the report in the Talmud, G’d agrees with the wicked having reason to berate themselves for failing to have conquered their cravings. The righteous’ amazement was due to their realizing that they had used the very efforts by Satan to indulge their material cravings as a tool to serve the Lord with the kind of overpowering desire that had enabled them to completely dehumanize, i.e. turning the ego, אני into an אין, a creature devoid of material desires, by concentrating on the source from which all the divine souls originate. There is an additional allusion to this subject when Moses added that the “tourists” are also to evaluate the cities in the land of Canaan i.e. ומה הערים? In the words of the Talmud in Pessachim 88, when discussing the difference between Moses and Avraham, the Talmud distinguishes between an early stage in serving the Lord, when to Avraham G’d appeared to have His residence on top of the mountain, i.e. (Isaiah 2,3) whereas to Yaakov He had already appeared as a “house-guest” (in the same verse). Moses had attained a level where he could completely divest himself of ego, as when he said of both himself and his brother Aaron: ונחנו מה, “what do we as personalities amount to?,” making sure that he omitted the letter א in the wordאנחנו , when referring to himself and Aaron. (Exodus 16,7-8). When the tzaddik is aware of all the three nuances in serving the Lord, he will succeed in elevating the “sparks” together with him and as a result subject Satan to a humbling experience.
The rule is that when engaging in the attempt to elevate “sparks”, i.e. spiritually fallen people, one must first attach oneself firmly to G’d’s attribute of חסד, loving kindness. The location of that attribute traditionally is the south, דרום, another word for נגב, south, means חסד, i.e. breaking the hold of the evil urge over one’s various תאוות, lust and cravings. We have already explained this elsewhere in connection with psalms 119,98 מאויבי תחכימני מצותיך כי לעולם היא, “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, they always stand by me.” The “enemy” in this verse is the evil urge, Satan, a force that G’d employs to test man’s ability to resist temptation. Man’s basic error in relating to the satisfying of his cravings is that he imagines that by indulging his cravings he attains true satisfaction, well being without more cravings. He does not realize that the only craving that will result in such satisfaction is his desire to provide pleasure for his Creator. This is what the psalmist means when he describes the fulfillment of his craving for the service of the Lord as one that is enduring.
This idea is also alluded to when Moses said to the men “touring” the land of Canaan ועליתם את ההר, “you will ascend the Mountain,” the “mountain” being the evil urge.
We have a statement in Sukkah 52 in which the evil urge is referred to as הר, “mountain.” The Talmud there refers to the post-messianic era during which G’d is presented as “slaughtering” the evil urge in the presence of both the righteous and the wicked. The evil urge in that story appears to the righteous as a mountain, whereas to the wicked he appears as a thin hair. Both the righteous and the wicked weep when looking at the evil urge. The wicked weep as they cannot believe that they had been unable to overcome such a weak adversary, whereas the righteous weep as in retrospect they marvel at having conquered such a high mountain. According to the report in the Talmud, G’d agrees with the wicked having reason to berate themselves for failing to have conquered their cravings. The righteous’ amazement was due to their realizing that they had used the very efforts by Satan to indulge their material cravings as a tool to serve the Lord with the kind of overpowering desire that had enabled them to completely dehumanize, i.e. turning the ego, אני into an אין, a creature devoid of material desires, by concentrating on the source from which all the divine souls originate. There is an additional allusion to this subject when Moses added that the “tourists” are also to evaluate the cities in the land of Canaan i.e. ומה הערים? In the words of the Talmud in Pessachim 88, when discussing the difference between Moses and Avraham, the Talmud distinguishes between an early stage in serving the Lord, when to Avraham G’d appeared to have His residence on top of the mountain, i.e. (Isaiah 2,3) whereas to Yaakov He had already appeared as a “house-guest” (in the same verse). Moses had attained a level where he could completely divest himself of ego, as when he said of both himself and his brother Aaron: ונחנו מה, “what do we as personalities amount to?,” making sure that he omitted the letter א in the wordאנחנו , when referring to himself and Aaron. (Exodus 16,7-8). When the tzaddik is aware of all the three nuances in serving the Lord, he will succeed in elevating the “sparks” together with him and as a result subject Satan to a humbling experience.
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Mei HaShiloach
In the Book of Numbers, it is hinted that no living being will be exculpated before Him, that even precious souls, "there is no righteous in the land who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20), as in this portion it is written "consuming at the edge [katze] of the camp"(Numbers 11:1)—the elite [ketzinim] of the camp (see Sifri Numbers 85), and in parashat Shelah is written the sin of the scouts "all of the men being heads of the Children of Israel,"(Numbers 13:3) who were "mistaken hearted... and not knowing the ways [of God]" (Psalms 95:10), and so, in the section of the gatherer [of sticks of Shabbat], and in parashat Korach, "who was clever... and his eyes misled him” (Bamidbar Rabba 18:8, Midrash Tanhuma Korach 5, Rashi on Numbers 16:7), and in prashat Hukat is written “the waters of conflict” (Numbers 20:13) about Moses and Aaron, and in parashat Balak about Zimri ben Salu [who was killed for improper relations with a Midianite woman] that he was a chieftain (see Numbers 25:14). This hints to what was said “Remember, do not forget how you angered God your God in the wilderness”(Deuteronomy 9:7) because ‘wilderness’ indicates the destruction and the desolation that is in every individual, as how there were worlds that were destroyed before the world of building (see Kohellet Rabba 3:11:1, Zohar 3 292b:2). And this hints to the strength of humans over the demonic and wild forces within them that want to mislead them in youthful sins, and thus also in all lofty matters, are found deriving from the force of the wilderness, as the wilderness indicates the whole world, because before the creation of the form of humanity the whole world was a wilderness, because settlement [the alternative to wilderness] is only from people, and anything before the complete finishing of the formation of humanity is called wilderness.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 13,33 “we looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we looked in their eyes.” Rashi explains that they had heard the Canaanites say that their vineyards had been invaded by “ants.” On the face of it, this seems very difficult, seeing that according to our text they had referred to them as grasshoppers.
Apparently, we have to understand this as follows: when the Israelites perform the will of G’d this reflects favourably on their G’d and His kingdom. This is also what Calev referred to when the Torah quotes him (13,30) as ויהס כלב את העם עלה נעלה, usually translated as “Calev hushed the people, saying: “we will most certainly be able to ascend, etc.” He meant that if only they would acquire the necessary merits by remaining on the same “wavelength” as G’d they would overcome any apparent difficulties. Rashi had hinted that the “spies” had been guilty of throwing off the yoke of the Torah, and that is what he meant by his reference to “ants,” similar to what Solomon had to say about the ants in Proverbs 6,6 when he urged his people to learn a lesson from the ant which in spite of not even having a ruler who forces them to act diligently still do so due to their own intelligence. [grasshoppers are destructive, living for the immediate satisfaction of their desires without concern for the future, whereas the ants provide for the winter when the grasshoppers will not find anything fit to eat. Ed.]
Apparently, we have to understand this as follows: when the Israelites perform the will of G’d this reflects favourably on their G’d and His kingdom. This is also what Calev referred to when the Torah quotes him (13,30) as ויהס כלב את העם עלה נעלה, usually translated as “Calev hushed the people, saying: “we will most certainly be able to ascend, etc.” He meant that if only they would acquire the necessary merits by remaining on the same “wavelength” as G’d they would overcome any apparent difficulties. Rashi had hinted that the “spies” had been guilty of throwing off the yoke of the Torah, and that is what he meant by his reference to “ants,” similar to what Solomon had to say about the ants in Proverbs 6,6 when he urged his people to learn a lesson from the ant which in spite of not even having a ruler who forces them to act diligently still do so due to their own intelligence. [grasshoppers are destructive, living for the immediate satisfaction of their desires without concern for the future, whereas the ants provide for the winter when the grasshoppers will not find anything fit to eat. Ed.]
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Toldot Yaakov Yosef
(208) And we will begin by explaining the verses of the portion "Send to you men" (Numbers 13:2-18) ... and they will spy the land I am giving you ... and he said 'go up the Negev and up the mountain and see' ... and the doubts increased. And also why does it say 'go up the hill'?
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Toldot Yaakov Yosef
(208) And we will begin by explaining the verses of the portion "Send to you men" (Numbers 13:2-18) ... and they will spy the land I am giving you ... and he said 'go up the Negev and up the mountain and see' ... and the doubts increased. And also why does it say 'go up the hill'?
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Toldot Yaakov Yosef
(215) And he said "and you will see etc if it is strong or weak" (Numbers 13:17-18) - and this is also the aspect that a person is able to check themselves in whatever level they are, as I wrote before regarding the verse in Song of Songs (Songs 8:1-2) " if only it could be as with a brother,as if you had nursed at my mother’s breast: then I could kiss you when I met you etc" and also regarding the verse in Genesis "they were naked and were not ashamed of themselves" (Genesis 2:25), that a person when checking oneself they know whether they are strong and connected in the service of Hashem, and when it never occurs to the person a laughing thought and a bad and dispersive thought, it is because they were able to divest from the physical, which are the husks and the illusions, and they cling to God and are called "naked" and then they are not ashamed. That is not the case when one thinks of a laughing thought, or the other impediments [to prayer] then one knows that "they are lazy, lazy in the work" (Exodus 5:17) of Hashem. And this is what it means "are they strong or weak": one should know from those signs whether one is strong or weak in the service of Hashem.
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Toldot Yaakov Yosef
(219) "And what the land is like, fat or lean" (Numbers 13:20) - this is that a person should test and know in their heart of hearts regarding what they learn why did they come to this world, and in how they can progress, if in Oral Torah, which is Mishnah, which is the root of all the Oral Torah, or in the hidden aspects of Torah, and one should see what their soul desires, and through this one will know why they came to this world. And this is "what is the land, is it fat" - the letters HaSHMeNaH are the same of MiSHNaH, or "is it lean" RaZaH, since RaZ is secret, which is the internal aspects of the Torah.
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Toldot Yaakov Yosef
(220) "Does it have trees or not" (Numbers 13:20), as it is written in the Zohar "do not destroy its trees [etza] (Deut. 20:19) this is the student of the sages that advises [meyaetz] the people regarding teshuvah etc" (Zohar 3:202a and Zohar 3:202b). If so, in this case also, regarding an individual, the inclination to good is called tree, since it advises a person to Torah and teshuvah. And a person should test if the inclination to good rules them and advises them well, and if not, one should "exert yourselves and take", meaning that to do the opposite needs strength, and doing the opposite [of the yetzer hara] is "fruit of the land" since evil deeds are the husks and externals of the fruit, which does not happen regarding good deeds, which are the fruit themselves, and this is why is written "and exert yourselves and bring some of the fruit of the land".
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Toldot Yaakov Yosef
(221) "now these days were the days of the first ripe-grapes" (Numbers 13:20) meaning, that all this a person needs to hurry, and do this in the days of first-fruits, that is, when one is young, which is before the old days, as the Zohar explains regarding "In the face of the gray-hair, you are to rise" (Leviticus 19:32), [meaning, rise yourself spiritually when you are young] and so it will be good when one comes [to the next world] (Zohar 3:87b:6), and do not overthink this.
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