The Opposites Inherent in Eretz Yisrael
The distinction between doing things ourselves and understanding that we are only messengers to carry out Hashem’s plan applied all the more so when it came to the land of Eretz Yisrael.
The holy land is blessed by Hashem both in רוחניות as well as בגשמיות—exponentially more so than any other place on earth. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted the Yidden to come to this blessed place—but on the condition that they will live up to its high ruchaniyus level.
If a person comes to this holy land with the attitude of ועוצם כחי ידי, I can do alone...it is the opposite of everything that Eretz Yisrael represents.
Eretz Yisrael has a tremendous potential for people to become davuk in Hashem in much greater measure. But if a person goes in the opposite direction, and he gravitates to the gashmiyus understanding of the world, he becomes even more sunken into a gashmiyus attitude.
In Eretz Yisrael, One Can Go Either Way
The Chasam Sofer explains the words of Kalev ben Yefuneh: הארץ טובה מאוד מאוד, the land is very, very good. It is extremely good in רוחניות—if that is what a person is looking for, and it is also very good בגשמיות, if that is what one is seeking. In Eretz Yisrael, one can go in either direction.
The story is told about one of the tzaddikim who was oleh to Eretz Yisrael. When he arrived, he saw the yetzer hara standing there to greet him. He asked the yetzer hara, “What are you doing here? I left you behind in chutz l’Aretz!” To this the yetzer hara answered, “That was only my messenger. Over here, I operate myself!”
The message is that although Eretz Yisrael is a very spiritual place, one can also have a terrible downfall if he turns in the wrong direction.
The Condition of Eretz Yisrael: A Spiritual Perspective
Klal Yisrael stood at the precipice of entering Eretz Yisrael—a place where one can attain deveikus in HaKadosh Baruch Hu without limit, above the parameters of nature, beyond what could usually be attained in this world. Everything in the land is above and beyond... spiritually as well as materially (hence the enormous fruits that the Meraglim saw). There are korbanos, and there are no aveiros, because the Korban Tamid constantly wipes them away. Klal Yisrael is about to enter a place where one can shed all the outer trappings of This World....
But there is a condition to live in Eretz Yisrael: We must let go of our perceptions and notions of This World and submit ourselves to a hanhagah of the truth, which is Hashem’s true sovereignty and control over everything.
If, however, people come to Eretz Yisrael with their gashmiyus perception of doing things on their own, they don’t shed these outer levushim of This World in favor of Hashem... then they will see the same blessings from a material perspective. “The figs are enormous... the grapes are massive... the people are giants...” and this is a problem, a threat.
Because if a person approaches things with a gashmiyus lens, then they begin to worry: What will happen? How can we conquer these giants? The Meraglim’s problem was that they came to Eretz Yisrael with the wrong perspective. Yehoshua and Kalev did come with the proper out-
