The Parsha starts with the Pessukim: “Send out for yourself men ... And Moshe sent them ... they were all men” and Rashi explains that at the time that the spies were sent out they were all righteous.
In light of this, we need some further clarification in order to understand the following: If they were righteous, why did they not want to follow orders and enter Eretz Yisroel?
The Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah at the beginning of this week’s Chassidishe Parsha that the Meraglim were actually of a very high spiritual standing and it is for this reason specifically that they did not want to enter into Eretz Yisroel. This is because they did not want to demean themselves with the actual performance of physical Mitzvos which would be their main focus had they entered and lived in the land.
There are [actually] two approaches brought down in Likkutei Torah clarifying the spiritual position of the Meraglim. According to the first view the Meraglim were coming from the world of ‘Dibbur’ which is why they were called the ‘generation of the Midbor’ from the word ‘Dibbur’ meaning ‘speech’. Whereas by contrast being in the land of Eretz Yisroel is all about ‘Maaseh’ - action, and as is quite apparent, there, the main Avodah in Eretz Yisroel is Maaseh BePoel.
The Descent from Dibbur to Maaseh
As the Possuk states: שֵׁש שָנִׁים תִׁזְׁרַע שָדֶֶׁ֔ךָ וְׁשֵׁש שָנִׁים תִׁזְׁמֹר כַרְׁמֶׁךָ וְׁגּוֹ׳ “You may sow your field for six years, and for six years you may prune your vineyard”. Therefore, the Meraglim [from their perspective had good reason not to] want to enter the land, because this descent from the state of ‘Dibbur’ to the state of ‘Maaseh’ would constitute a very drastic leap and descent, to such an extent that the two states are incomparable.
This concept is self-understood from another concept discussed elsewhere in Chassidus, regarding the three lines that make up the letter ‘ה’ (with which the world was created). These correspond to the three garments of the soul ‘Machshova’ - thought, ‘Dibbur’ – speech and then and ‘Maaseh’ - action. The top line of the letter Hey corresponds to ‘Machshova’. The right line forming the letter hey corresponds with ‘Dibbur’ whereas the left line corresponds with ‘Maaseh’.
The mere fact that the left line forming the letter hey corresponding to ‘Maaseh’ is detached from the body of the letter ‘Hey’ representing ‘Dibbur’ and ‘Maaseh’, testifies that ‘Maaseh’ is a stand-alone and separate entity and [thus] incomparable to ‘Dibbur’.
The Second Opinion: Meraglim in the World of Machshova
The second opinion as to the spiritual standing of the Meraglim is that the Meraglim were in the world of ‘Machshova’ which is even loftier than the world of ‘Dibbur’, whereas Eretz Yisroel, according to this opinion, is [equated with] the world of ‘Dibbur’.
According to this version they did not want to stoop down to the level of ‘Dibbur’. We can even add that from this opinion it is even clearer to understand because the magnitude of the descent is very great [indeed] (From Machshova all the way) to actually entering the land [and thus] into the world of ‘Maaseh’.
Therefore, from the high spiritual level to which they were accustomed the Meraglim did not wish to enter the land.
The True Reason for Their Reluctance
From all this it is understood that the fact that the Meraglim did not want to enter Eretz Yisroel is because they did not want to demean themselves to a level where they would need to engage with physical objects. On a deeper level there is something which can be said that will also answer an interesting inference that requires clarification from the above-mentioned Maamorim. That is; for what reason did the Alter Rebbe elaborate so much discussing the spiritual levels of the Meraglim to such an extent that he brings two different approaches as previously mentioned (of ‘Machshova’ or of ‘Dibbur’)?
Seemingly, it seems superfluous, and for the above-mentioned explanation would it not have sufficed to say that the reason why they did not want to enter Eretz Yisroel is because they did not want to demean themselves to a level whereby they would need to engage with physical objects?
The answer to this is that the intention of the elaboration here is that it emphasises that the reason why the ‘Meraglim’ did not want to enter Eretz Yisroel is not because they were of the opinion that entering the land was not necessary. Rather was it that they held that this was not relevant to them; this being due to their lofty spiritual standing in either the world of ‘Machshova’ or the world of ‘Dibbur’. Therefore, they could not demean themselves to [enter] the world of ‘Maaseh’.
The Role of Moshe in Sending the Meraglim
Accordingly, it can be said: the reason why it had to be Moshe who sent them, is because the impetus to refine ‘Maaseh’ comes from a higher level [even] than the state of ‘Machshova’. It is specifically an impetus from this lofty level that has [this two-fold effect: firstly;] the וְׁיָתֻּרוּ אֶׁת־אֶׁרֶׁץ ‘Effectuating an addition in the land’. [In other words, Moshe gives the spies the ability to effect positive change within the land]. (This coincides with the basic understanding of this matter;)
