Caleb and the Spies: Silence and Action, שלח לך A New Kabbalah class by Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz

Welcome to our class once again. This week we're going to be learning a beautiful acidic discourse in the Rebbe. The name of the acidic discourse is called Shlach L'cha. The Rebbe said this acidic discourse in Shabbos Parshas Shlach. That year was the 23rd day of the month of Sivan. It was also the the Shabbos that blessed the month of Tammuz in the year Tav Shin Mem, 46 years ago. So again, the acidic discourse is based on the verse where it says, "Shlach L'cha Anashim." Go ahead and send people to scout out the land of Israel. The Rebbe says we know the questions that are brought out in the acidic discourses of the previous Chabad Rebbeim in the Likutei Torah starting with the Alter Rebbe and in acidic discourses afterwards. So we have to understand what's the idea behind the spies. Because we know these were the the tribal leaders. And it says that they were the the leaders of the Jewish people. And especially like we know Chazal tell us, "Hashem said Shlach L'cha L'daatcha." That means according Yes, Moshe Rabbeinu also agreed to it. They were sent according to with the with the certification, the hechsher, the approval of Moshe Rabbeinu. And if that's the case, why didn't they want to go into land of Israel? And he continues on in Likutei Torah from the Alter Rebbe to explain that says, based on the verse, "Ki Lo Al Lachem L'vado Yichyeh Adam." That the human being doesn't just live on the physical bread. But we live on the Motzei Pi Hashem, on the fact that Hashem said, "Totzei Aretz." That the earth should give off the bread. That's what we live off. We live off the spiritual, the godly spark within it. And that's why we eat the bread, not because of the physical bread, but because of the godly spark in it. So the Rebbe says, "One second." The Alter Rebbe asks a question. So very nice, there's a godly spark in the bread, but why is the godly spark in the bread more powerful? We were created also by a godly spark. Motzei Pi Hashem Shel Adam. There's a godly spark that causes us to exist. And why do we need to receive our energy from the godly spark in the bread? So, the Rebbe he liked to explain the connection between these two ideas. In other words, on the one hand, we're dealing with the spies. And the spies was an introduction to go into the land of Israel. Conquer the land of Israel, enter the land of Israel. And the bread comes from the land. And like it says, to take out the bread from the earth. Lehoitzi lechem min ha'aretz. And that's why he explains the connection between the bread that comes from the earth, which is an introduction to understand the idea of the spies. That's the connection. And he explains that the the the the word of Hashem in the in the bread, which comes from the earth, is higher than the the word of Hashem that that was created that created the human being. What does that mean? He explains as follows. In this physical world, there's four levels. What are the four levels? Domeim, inanimate. Tzemach, things that grow. Chai, living beings. Umidaber, humans that speak, communicate. And that's the order going from the lowest level to the higher highest level in in energy. And so, the lowest is inanimate, then is tzemach, things that grow, then then then living things, and then the human that speak. But the Rebbe says, there's even though it's the lowest domeim, but there's a quality in the lowest level compared to the higher levels. And the same thing also, there's a quality in tzemach, things that grow, compared to the higher level of it of chai umidaber. Even umidaber. And and we we we're Jewish people are called Adam. And that's why because even though it's a lower level, but in certain aspects it's higher, so the human being has to get that energy from the bed from the bread. Because bread comes from tzemach. And the and the and the bread comes from the earth, from which the earth is domeim. Why is that? Because specifically when you go down to the lowest level, that's where you have the the the the greatest elevation. And that's why we went into the eretz, to the lands. And especially the eretz Canaan, which is on the level of the land of Egypt, which is one of the most decrepit praise places on Earth. And like Rashi says, like the action of the land of Egypt, because specifically when you go down to the lowest levels, into the tzelem Mayach, and into the doymem, that creates the greatest elevation in the human being. And now, based on the introduction that the four levels, and we go to the lowest level, now understand the reason why the spies did not want to go into the land of Israel. Because the spies we said, yes, they were the leaders of the Jewish people. Like it says kol masim bahem. And therefore their arguing was, why do we have to leave the desert to go into the land of eretz Canaan? Why? Cuz in the desert, how did they eat? They got the mana from heaven. Food from heaven. And in that food, there was no waste. And we all know that the Torah was given specifically to the people that generation that ate the mana. They were in a higher level in a certain way. Water we have from the well of Miriam. And the clouds covered hovered over them and cleaned them and cleaned their garments. And so we were in we were in the spiritual oasis. So why do we have to go into the slowest level? To to eretz Canaan, which is the most decrepit place on the whole Earth. >> [snorts] >> And like it says clearly in the verse, Canaan beyond the walls of Yam they're all full of trickery. And to go in there to go ahead and make a a make a a place that wants to do the will of Hashem. And go into a place that the eyes of God are there from beginning to end and the real which is land of Israel. And like it says in eretz Yisrael eretz land and Yisrael is because it comes from you Jacob fought with the angel and be successful. So, therefore, the spies, they were arguing saying, "Yeah, well, who why do we have to go into the land of Israel? They're strong. They they physical land, the materialism is very strong. The place eats up its inhabitants." In other words, when you go ahead and you try to transform and you want to elevate the world, it's possible the world is going to consume you and it take you down from the high level that you at. That's the land of Israel. However, in the desert that we're in, we have everything we need. We had the manna, like we said, we had the food from heaven, we had the water from the well, and you have garments that were being cleaned for you, and every every child that was born was born with a with a a set of clothing. Everything we received, everything was complete. That was their argument. Why do we have to go down to a physical place? We can sit and and and and and serve God in the desert. We can go from one level to the next in holiness, and especially after we receive the Torah. And that's why he tells them in in Kabbalah that the Miraglim, they were from the world of speech, and they don't want to go down to the world of action. Cuz Midbar is from the word of Dibur, speech, and they want to stay in the world of speech. They don't want to deal with the physical world. Good argument. So, in order to nullify the argument of the spies, came along Caleb. What did Caleb say? Vayas Caleb. What does that mean? Vayas Caleb, he made everyone quiet. What does that mean? He he he quieted them down. What What does it mean when you're quiet? Quiet is acceptance. Quiet is acceptance. Bittle. So, Caleb was able to create acceptance. In other words, when you're dealing with speech, which is the level of the of the spies, their speech, not action, their speech, You can't reach the level of action. Cuz you're going to talk and you're not going to do. But when you're quiet and you're in the level of acceptance, now you can do action. And that's why they connect this idea with with the Jewish people when they received the Torah they said, "Naaseh before Nishma." We're going to do before we're going to hear. Cuz what's the idea of saying we're going to do before we're going to hear? Besides the fact that it's accepting I we're accepting to Hashem himself. No, it's in Hebrew it's called the Baal Haratzon, the owner of the will, which is referring to Hashem, which is higher than the accepting just the will of what Hashem wants. Like explained at length in the Siddur discourse of Shavuot. But this literal translation is when you say Naaseh before Nishma, it's not only first in quantitatively in order, but also in a spiritual level. >> [snorts] >> It means I'm ready to do because all the mitzvahs is all action. And most of them are a lot of the majority of them are applying to the land of Israel. And especially when it comes to planting and holiness, like explained in Likutei Torah. So basically we're willing to do before we understand. And that's why Caleb came along and he said, "Alenu we're going to go up and we're going to inherit the land cuz we could." And and Chazal bring and Rashi actually explains this. What does it mean we're going to go up? Even to heaven. And we're going to bring ladders we're going to go to heaven. What does that mean? What does What does it mean we're going to go to heaven? Shamiyim is Makif. Very powerful levels. But when you go ahead and Vayas Caleb, but you when you're quiet, when you're accepting, you can even reach the level of Makif, which is higher than speech, which is the level of Kesser. That's the idea of Naaseh before Nishma. What does it mean on a spiritual level? It It's called in Kabbalah Reisha d'liba. The depth of your heart. And on that level says thought doesn't reach there, but you can reach with rules of the leave you can reach the highest places. So through bitter, through acceptance you have the power to reach the highest places. And that's why he says, we are rash noise now. We're going to inherit it. Because when a person does the spiritual work down here, you actually inherit what? The powerful sparks of toyo. And like it says clearly in the prophets, even though A 7 Yakov are brothers, but nevertheless, Hashem says I love Yakov and A 7 unfortunately hate him. Why is that? Because the sparks of toyo went down to the lowest level. And therefore you see that its source is even higher. And the same the same thing is just like it's in the world of tikkun. That the the the the the spark of Hashem that's in the bread is higher than the spark of Hashem that's in the human being. And the same thing also with the sparks that came down to this world, even into the land of Canaan, which is the most decrepit part of the of the earth, the source of it is much higher. And like we know the famous terminology, I'll say it in Hebrew and I'll explain it, call gavoya gavoya beyoser yoyred lemata lemata beyoser. Something that's high, the higher it is when it falls it falls to the lowest places. And that's why they have to go into the land of Israel to get the sparks from the lowest places. And that's why we go ahead and we take from eretz Canaan. And we take a place a place that Hashem is there from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. We We draw in this revelation that there's no difference in beginning and the end. That's the highest. There is no difference beginning and the end. But it's always there. Like it says lo yishaneh Hashem doesn't change. And how do we bring it in? We bring it in by working with our yechida she benafsho, the highest level of our soul, which receives the level of yochid. Now what does that mean practically? Every single day we get up, what's the first thing we do? We we modeh ani, we accept. And then we do the whole prayer until we get to the to the to the shmoneh esrei and we stand with tremendous humility. And we when we do serve Hashem with acceptance and bittul. When we say in the beginning modei ani, we start the day with modei ani and then hoydo Hashem in the beginning of the of of of the prayer service and then when you stand with humility by by shmoneh esrei, you bring upon yourself the acceptance for the whole day. And then from there from prayers with that acceptance you go out to study Torah and then you go out to work and we know when you go to work you do everything for the sake of Hashem and all your ways you know Hashem and all everything physical world you bring in from the from the initial power of bittul acceptance and acknowledgement. And when we we we take that approach, we're going to come to fulfillment of the promise where it says ki savoi ha'aretz in the future when they come to land of Israel. And Hashem is giving you news we're going to go into the land of Israel. Why? By doing our actions and our work in exile. Action and work like the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya is specific. Maseinu means action which is means sometimes you have to force yourself to do to do a mitzvah or to give charity. Charity. You force yourself. You accept. And how much more so literally. And what does it mean avodah? Like just like a servant. And the ultimate of a level of a servant a faithful servant when we when we do what we need to do. We're going to come very very soon to the redemption which comes from the first redeemer, the second redeemer, Moshiach, Hashem's servant and King David who's a who's who's who's the the leader for the Jewish people and they're both going to come with the coming of Moshiach and take us out of golus. And let's hope and pray we have the coming of Moshiach like the Rebbe says over here in the next class will be in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. Have a great and blessed week. Shabbat tov.