The Sedra tells us that Hashem tells Moshe ‘Send for yourself men who will explore (veyaturu) the Land of Canaan’.
One needs to understand the precise meaning of the word veyaturu – translated above as ‘explore’. Further, why does it say ‘for yourself’? When Hashem says ‘send’ we understand that this means these men – the twelve Spies - are emissaries of Moshe, expressing the idea that ‘a person’s emissary (shliach) is like himself’. When it adds ‘for yourself’, this emphasises even more that these men are strongly connected with Moshe himself.
The Tzemach Tzedek discusses this word vayaturu, pointing out other verses where it is used, and Midrashic explanations of it. He concludes that in this case it relates to the word yitron, meaning ‘yield, produce’. Hence the effect of the verse is as much as to say that in order to get the best yield (in all senses) from the Land, then the men who are sent as the twelve Spies have to be ‘Moshe’s men’, specially bonded to their leader Moshe.
The Rebbe explains that the Land of Israel particularly relates to the Attribute (Sefirah) Malchut, Kingship. Although Kingship is the lowest Sefirah, it is at the same time ‘higher’ in certain senses than the higher Sefirot. This is expressed in the way the physical world has a potential which is greater than the spiritual realms which are higher.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman wrote about this in his last teaching, written shortly before he passed away. The fact that the earth produces crops and fruit, as if ‘something from nothing’, is an expression of its spiritual power, which is greater than that of the higher Sefirot. This is why human beings, the higher domain of Creation, need the vegetable and animal worlds to sustain themselves. In one sense the vegetable is much lower than the human, in another, the human needs it, and that shows its power.
This emphasises the importance of the physical Land of Israel. It has a spiritual power which is greater than the purely spiritual realms which are higher. From this we see the importance of the human being ‘casting himself down’, with humility, in order to work the Land and reveal its tremendous potential, in all senses of the word. As we will see, this was something most of the Spies could not accept.
The Rebbe explains that this division between Malchut and the higher Sefirot is expressed in the life of a person in the distinction between Mitzvot (Malchut), and Torah (the higher Sefirot). There are discussions in the Talmud about what is greater: Torah study or action? The final answer is that Torah study is greater – because it leads to action! This is also the central theme of Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s last teaching, mentioned above: the great significance of the practical Mitzvot.
At the same time, in order to carry out the Mitzvot properly, one needs Torah knowledge. One’s study of Torah flows into one’s Miztvot, so to speak. For Torah is like fire from above and the Mitzvot achieve an elevation from below.
In terms of the Sefirot, this is like Yesod (Foundation), pouring a sacred flow into Malchut, the Feminine. This can be described as the ‘Arousal from Above’ which provokes the response of the ‘Arousal from Below’.
This is like the song we sing on Friday evening, Lecha Dodi, which expresses the groom going out to meet the bride, Shabbat. The groom going towards the bride is like the arousal from above, and then the bride, Shabbat, responds and becomes ready to be ‘received’.
However, the Rebbe explains, through this flow from above from Yesod, Foundation, the lower level Malchut reaches a greater power, even in comparison with Yesod.
But in order for this process to take place, the upper level has to contract itself and reach down in order to reach the lower level and inspire it. The Maggid of Mezeritch describes a father reaching down to his child in order to play with him.
This explains the true nature of the sending of the Spies. They were the ‘men of Moshe’, bearing a spiritual power, and their entry into the Land of Canaan was in order to bring a spiritual flow from Moshe which would then result in a spiritual response from the Land, revealing the tremendous potential which is in the Holy Land. However, the Canaanites were among the morally lowest people in the world, and so the entry of the Spies (and later, the Jewish people as a whole) meant bringing light to a realm of moral and spiritual darkness, and revealing the great potential which would be in the Land as the Land of the Jewish people.
This is what worried the Spies. They could not undertake the ‘descent’ into the Land. They felt that they were comfortable in the higher realm of the World of Thought, the encampment in the desert, with the Sanctuary and the Pillars of Cloud and of Fire, the Manna and the Clouds of Glory – all indicating the presence of G-d.
Entry into the Land would mean, for them and the whole people, encounter with purely material activities, ploughing and reaping. The Spies felt they would lose their spiritual strength and be sucked down into materiality. They did not have the humility to be true emissaries of Moshe. Hence, instead, they declared that it would be impossible to conquer the Land.
This is also the inner meaning of our long sojourn in Exile, keeping the practical Mitzvot of the Torah in a dark world. But the fulfilment will be the tremendous revelations of the future, of the time of Moshiach.
In our time of Exile, we have the power of Teshuvah, Repentance, when even deliberate sins can be transformed into merits, and darkness is turned to light, and bitterness to sweetness. This is why it is said that Moshiach comes to make even the Tzaddikim, the perfectly righteous, gain the spiritual height of Repentance.
All this is achieved through our keeping the Mitzvot now, and keeping them ‘with hiddur’, literally ‘beauty’, beautifying the Mitzvah and keeping the Mitzvah with great care.
Through this we will be able to leave the prison of the Yetzer HaRa and the prison of Exile, reaching true freedom, with the ultimate Redemption in which we will sing ‘a new song’.
