Ari Goldwag - Shlach - Seeing Through the Lie

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast recorded with the Sherman's never-ending assistance in ramat beit shemesh Israel 5770 6 2016 this week's parsha outside of Israel is going to be partial schlock the Torah tells us the story of the spies Moshe robaina sent to the Land of Israel to look at the land to get the lay of the land to bring back their report to the Jewish people there were twelve spies one from each of the tribes two of those spies came back and gave a good report yoshua and kool-aid Joshua and Caleb the other ten spies came back give a negative report of the land and said it would be impossible for the Jewish people to come into the land of Israel to conquer the land as a result of the testimony of these ten witnesses these ten spies the Jewish people were thrown into a tizzy they heard this information they were all crying they said god hates us God is going to bring us here to be destroyed rather we should die in the mid bar in the wilderness and not going to Israel and have a difficult and challenging time there and just be destroyed by the people of that land as a result of this great sin as a result of their lack of trust or lack of faith in hashem that God could take them in and indeed conquer those nations Hashem said for 40 years the Jewish people have to wander in the desert and indeed that's what happened now we would think that after this story so this occurred we had this tremendous travesty that happened as a result of these spies we would think that 40 years later when the Jewish people would come into the land of israel they wouldn't send spies again because they would just trust in a Shem that all would be well but interestingly the Jewish people 40 years later would be led by a great man named yoshua one of those spies himself and the Torah tells us in Josh from the first chapter there that yoshua sends two people to be spies to Jericho to Yuriko in order in do to get a lay of the land and those two spies had a very different experience than these twelve spies with those two spices or hazael telus they were a Caleb one of the good spies who indeed had gone at this time and pen class Phineas now what's really thing is that we read the story we see that those two spies are almost caught they are noticed and they're able to narrowly escaped only with the aid with the help of rock of who extracted from the promise that she wouldn't he be saved along with her family when the Jews would come not so long afterwards to conquer Jericho and to begin their conquest the Land of Israel now when we look at these two stories there's a great contrast between the Moroccan despise that were sent the first time by moshe by Moses and the spies the story what happened with them when they were sent by yahushua by joshua the immediate and obvious contrast is something that I cause I'll tell us or sages tell us that when the Miralem despise went through the Land of Israel everywhere they went they saw that the people were burying their dead that people were dying everywhere that's why they came back and said Eretz a fellow sesh well he the Land of Israel is a land that eats up so to speak consumes it's an Abba dance and the reason that everywhere they went there were people dying it's because I Shem specifically performed a great miracle for them so that they wouldn't be noticed that there would be no suspicions aroused by their presence so it's very interesting because at that time they had this great miracle but when yahushua sent his spies they went in and they were noticed almost immediately and the message tells us that the fact was that they tried to do something in order to hide their presence they came in and they were selling or than where vessels in order to hide the fact that there were spies and nevertheless they were detected and they were chased after now another thing that's interesting is the difference between how they responded you see that the more Adam in our partial when they were sent so they saw this going on they didn't realize they didn't accept the fact that I Sean was taking care of them and causing his people to die to distract the people from their presence rat they came back and they saw something negative about it yo shoes spies however they saw these things go and they didn't have any negative report to bring back they just came they did their job they returned to yoshua and always well what's the difference why do we what is the understanding of the contrast between these tumor agonies two sets of spies now there's something more something deeper a question that bothers me every time I read these parts shows every time I read this story and a few other stories in the Torah and this is something which is a fundamental question and it's almost impossible to read the Tyra and not have this question and the answer to this question is also tremendously fundamental in understanding logic of the tyra the outlook of the Torah and the actual reality of life how things really are in the world and how I xem set up reality and the question is like this when we read the parsha so we see that miraculum the spies give it a bad report the Jewish people cry as a result of it they say god hates us as its described in Deuteronomy that that's that's what their response to this whole thing and as a result of this a Shem says I'm going to destroy the Jewish people that's his first statement a sham says I'm going to destroy the Jewish people as a result of their sin and I'm going to make a new nation out of you moshe rabbeinu out of you Moses this is something that I chemin said previously linked into the mice I a go when it came to the golden calf and Moshe robaina responds and he says a shame you can't do it what will the nations of the world say they'll say that a shame you don't have the ability you have the ability perhaps the two to fight the gods of Egypt but you don't have the ability to fight against the gods of of the of the nations of Canaan of Kanaan so a Shem relents and he says okay you're right i'm not going to destroy them instead I'm just gonna they're all gonna have to die here in the wilderness in the mid where they're gonna wander here for 40 years you know as we read the story we read a description makes it sound like God is this angry man that comes out and he says I'm going to destroy the Jewish people that's it I had enough of them I'm going to destroy them in a shot and it seems that Hashem has to be consoled or convinced really by Michelle been by Moses Moses Satan yo calm down a Shem calm down God let's not be so rash let's not be so brash let's let's take it easy now Shem responds and says okay so la clique is Veronica I forget the Jewish people as you have said we look at this and we say can this be the shot can this be the understanding is God an angry you know old man in the sky heaven forbid is that is that true is that what the toe is really saying is that the idea behind what's going on here or is just something much deeper that's going on here what is the understanding furthermore another question and that is that we find that the Jewish people you know why didn't they think that they'd be able to enter into the Land of Israel ok so the inhabitants are very powerful the people who live there it's a difficult place it's a place which is a challenge but they saw that a sham took care of him until now they saw that a sham took them out of Egypt play said no slave had ever exited from they had never been in Exodus it was something that was unique one time in history of Shem swooped down as it were took the Jewish people under his wing brought them out of Egypt not only that Russia will continue to sustain them in a place which was impossible to survive this wilderness this desert there was no water there was no food a sham brought the miraculous a bear Miriam the special well in the merit of Miriam the Mon the mana special bread rained down from heaven and they're able to survive despite the impossible difficult circumstances that they found themselves in so Sean was taking care of them miraculously why wouldn't they think that when they came into Israel she would take care of them as well ok it's a difficult place in a challenging place but it's not any more challenging or difficult than where they found themselves already neither in Egypt nor in the wilderness itself so why do they believe that they wouldn't be able to get into the Land of Israel what was the problem what were they missing so required freelander explains and it seems like that was that's the flesh of shot is the simple understanding that the Jewish people they saw that indeed it's a difficult place to go into and they thought for some reason we need to understand why but they thought that when they get into the Land of Israel they're going to lose their merit they're not going to have that special protection from God God is not going to even though God has stood up for them and help them I recklessly save them until now perhaps they would lose their merit they will come into Israel God would drop them as it were and he would no longer take care of them and he would not stand up for them and they would have to stand on their own merits they won't have the merit and therefore they would indeed not be able to come and conquer the nations of the land and just like the land was a place I was like hello SIA chevelle it destroys the people who are there consumes those people because they're not worthy they're not righteous so too they would walk into the Land of Israel they felt that they wouldn't have that merit that they wouldn't be righteous that they wouldn't stand up to the scrutiny of God and now if we look at the story there seems to be something here that confirms their fear immediately after they make this great sin immediately after they cry in their tents and a house I'll tell us that that crying was was a crying that would echo throughout history because it was on tissue of night was the night of the destruction of both temples was a night of great sadness throughout history inquisition began on the ninth evolved and the same very on that very same date numerous horrible difficult things occur on that date all because of them crying but what happens Hashem and D confirms their fear they're afraid they're not gonna have a merit and then a sham is going to no longer be with them immediately after the Torah tells us you can't go up to Israel Moshe Rabbeinu exhort the people don't go now cuz a sham is not with you they were afraid that I Shem would not be with him that they would lose their merit it seems quite clear that they could easily lose their merit the very thing that they feared came true so why indeed was it such a horrible thing that they were afraid it seems clear that they could lose their merit they did lose their merit if that's the case why was it such a great sin if they cried and they were afraid that they would not be able to go in when indeed that was such a great and clear possibility that they could lose their merit and that they wouldn't have a Shem on their side to begin to understand this I'd like to take you to another place in the Torah where we see that there's a parallel story a very similar story very similar idea that occurs where there's a fear that something's going to happen it some negative situation is going to occur and indeed as a result of the fear the negative situation is created that story is the very first story of the tour the very first story that with human beings the story of Adam harish on the first man and his wife they are instructed by Hashem by God to eat from all the fruits of the gun all the different fruits in the Garden of Eden except for one tree except for the oddest avira the tree of knowledge of good and evil now you all know this story listen carefully because there's a very important point that occurs is we listen to the conversation between the snake and hava the snake and Eve there's something that parallels what happened over here in our story that is that the snake says to Eve that God does not wish for you to eat from this tree do you know why it's because on the day that you eat from this tree God told you you're going to die but i'll tell you something different on a day that you eat from this tree you're going to be like God God doesn't want you to be as great and as perfect as he is if you eat from the tree you'll be like God and you will know good and evil you'll be able to have that discernment you'll be able to have that awareness you will enter into a new space a new consciousness God didn't want you to get that high or get that close to him but if you listen in the fayum you will indeed get into a higher state of consciousness to a greater place than you are now now there's a great lie of course in the statement of the snake and that is that God doesn't want the best for you that's what the snake was saying two other men kava God doesn't want the best for you he's telling you something to do something to refrain from doing something because he doesn't want you to be as great as him doesn't want you to have that great consciousness that's the lie now Adam and kava and this is our experience too so watch how this might be true in your very life that they existed in a state of certainty that God loved them and that God had a relationship with them and that God wanted only the best for them but the snake placed in them a doubt the snake lied and created the possibility for there to be a different reality where God doesn't care about them and God doesn't seem to love them and in that reality God doesn't want them to grow higher and have a greater consciousness and come into greater communion with God but rather God wants him to remain in a lower state at a lower level that was the lie of the snake and the snake lied in order to get them to sin and indeed what happened when they ate from that tree when they from that tree their experience was that Hashem doesn't love them now sham is disconnected from them and now indeed instead of the promise of greater consciousness and greater closeness to God they were sent into the very place to the very reality that the snake described which was a disconnect from God a disconnect from life they would no longer live forever as God lives forever but rather they would they would enter into a state of disconnect from God where the possibility of death indeed existed and it seemed that God was distant from them and I Shem speaks to them from that place and he says I yeka Adam where are you as if I Shen doesn't know where they are as if a sham is unaware and disconnected from them isn't it amazing isn't it interesting that the same word ayeka that question that God asks where are you to Adam is the same word that we read on Tish above on that day which is the same day as a senator spies which is a co the same letters as a claw how could it be a clash boba dad had a Jerusalem get to her desolate state and it's not a coincidence that these two words are the same word the statement of God how did you get here where are you how did you get to a place of distance from me you bought into the law you believed the lie of the snake you believed the lie of the eights are I the evil inclination that false sense of reality you bought into it and now the saddest thing of all is that you found yourself in that very place that you are afraid of that wasn't true before that wasn't the reality before but now that's where you found yourself as a result of believing in that reality that becomes the reality so we see something amazing and it's true in the case of the spies as well and that is that it's possible to be in a very high state of communion with God in a state of closeness with God to be thrown a curveball where you believe that no I'm not really close to I won't have that relationship with a Shem it's not going to be the way can't continue won't continue and as a result of buying into that one falls from the state of being closed session and actually enters into the place to that state that he feared that he would get into which is distance from Hashem distance from God now it's important to understand that but it's important to also understand how do you get out of that space once a person has fallen into that space that lower place that place of distance from a Shem how does one get back to the place where indeed he's close to him indeed wash em shows himself in his life where that person experiences that a sham is connected to him so I'd like to suggest that that's the contrast between the two stories of the marathon is tues different instances where spies were sent the first time the spies were sent they were in a state where a sham was watching out for them divine providence unbelievable miracles the trek that should have taken in 80 days to walk through the Land of Israel took them only 40 days what a miracle the they should have been noticed there were 10 men and they were walking around they were they were spies they should have been noticed but Noah Shem created a distraction they however took the miracles they took the very thing which showed that a Shem was in communion with them was connected to them and they saw something negative in it they thought they had that guitar that evil inclination to believe for whatever reason it's not important why but they were sent that yet Sahara that evil inclination that snake spoke in their ears and said no God isn't close to me no God is not going to protect me he's not going to take care of me I won't continue to have that relationship as a result of that as we said they fell the Jewish people felt they cried they bought in they really bought into the lie they cried and they lost and they fell to a place where indeed a Shem says I am not with you I am NOT following in fact I'm going to destroy you just as you feared just as you are afraid is the reality that you not found yourselves in as a result of listening to the snake it's not that a Shem is an evil man in the sky God acts with us as we act toward him if we don't remain in that relationship if we fall out of that relationship we bind to the live the eight zara then that is where we find ourselves it's not even a punishment it's just the reality when we believe if we buy into the lie the lie becomes real for us but now let's look at this story as opposed to the story of the Moroccan 40 years later those spies that yoshua sent they came in they were clear it was kool aid who's Caleb himself who had been faithful to a Shanda the previous time four years earlier they came in clear with him and it was Pentecostal also stood up for God they came in to Jericho with a clear mission we are here to do a Shems will we are the shluchim we are the messengers of God we have no other will besides her shams will which recline freelander goes into to death explaining how it's connected to the fact that they came in there selling earthenware vessels earthenware is something which is from the earth it's something that doesn't have its own Mitzi's doesn't have its own existential reality it's a whole discussion not for now but they came in there what were they doing they were coming in as representatives of a Shem they were very clear on Ashley who's now the Jewish people at this point were not in a place not in a space where the divine presence would often openly show them that he was taking care of them they wouldn't be missed they were indeed noticed they were immediately noticed despite their disguise despite the fact that they came in and they were acting like you know earthenware vessels salesman it didn't matter because they didn't have the sea otter dishmaya why didn't they have the sea otter dish mind widened they had a divine help it was because of what happened 40 years earlier the Jews were still in that state they were still in that place and these schlucken these messengers couldn't be any greater than those who sent them which was the Jewish people but they were able through their faith through there a moon they were able to step up into a higher realm in fact it's really interesting that if you look at the verse of the measures points out that only one of them actually was hidden the verse refers in singular to the fact that rock of the woman who saved them hid it says he hit him she didn't hide both of them why the message explains she only had to hide khaliv khaliv needed hiding but Pennock us Phineas who interestingly was from the tribe of lavy who wasn't originally sent he was on a higher plane he was like a mala the measure says he was like an angel and he said I don't need you to hide me I will not be seen and he in fact he stood in front of the the messengers of the king of Jericho and they didn't even see him they were blind to him just as it had been 40 years earlier somehow Pentecost was on a higher level he was on a higher exhausted state because he was from the tribe of Lavy it was a unique thing it was part of that transcendent ride that 13th tribe not a conversation for now either but colleague who is not he was a representative of the tribe of Judah and in turn represented of the entire Jewish people they were not on that level but still he was able to have the hots laka the success that he shouldn't be seen that he should be able to be hidden and successfully hidden why because he was called kula it was completely in in his mind he was in a state of Shriekers he was God's messenger he was able to access the higher level that the Jewish people had been on before how is he able to do that through his complete submission surrendered to Hashem I am actually I'm just an extension of God i am called cool i I'm all completely just doing God's will because he was in that state he was able to return to the place where the Jewish people had lost that state they had lost as a result of their crying as a result of the tissue above 40 years earlier so we see that it works in two directions we see that her person gives in to the HR the fear the belief that I'm not connected to a chev heaven forbid if that's what a person thinks if that's what a person believes in that's what a person acts on so then the result is that indeed Hashem is no longer in that person's life or at least that's the way it seems that's the way the reactor interaction will seem to come out and play itself out but the opposite is also true that according to our person thinks and feels of a person sees himself even though it seems like he's disconnected from God if he sees himself completely as an extension of God makes himself Buttle nullifies himself to God in that way he's able to enter back into their that relationship and thus he finds himself back in the arms of God and he's just an extension of God he's one with God and each and every one of us in all of our lives there are places that we seem to be disconnected from a Shem it seems like a sham is not helping us he may have helped us before as a Jewish people so I Shem optus out of ex the exodus out of Egypt he helped us in the in the mid bar in the wilderness but who says he's going to help me in the future there's that fear who says I'm going to merit it but that fear itself has a potential heaven forbid to create the very problem the very situation that we're afraid of so what's the eight sir how do we face off with the utahar ax how do we face off with the evil inclination that wants to pull it down and bring us into a place of disconnect from God the answer is a moon or the answer is faith the answer is despite the fact that my senses are saying a lie knowing the truth knowing the truth that a sham is with me Shem has been with me Shem will always be with me as long as I remain willing to stay in this state to place myself as Ashley ah ha ha Shem that I am NOT here for myself I'm just here to serve Hashem to be his servant to be hastily have to be his agent in the world I want to bless you and please bless me the shrimp should help us to not be afraid to recognize that those situations that we enter our just that their tests their challenges and there's a lie and a seat Sahara it's the snake speaking in our ear should help us to resist the words of the snake to resist the way it seems to be true to what we know that a Shem is in our lives Shem should help us to always remain connected and in the places where we feel that we've disconnected should help us to be able to reconnect and to act as true agents for EM in the world thank you so much for listening have wonderful shabbos this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www a calm or search on itunes re gold black