Parsha Perspectives - Shlach

We're having okay good morning do sorry we're having some technical difficulties hopefully they will not persist welcome back para perspectives for today I want to thank our sponsors our para series sponsors for the year Becky cats and family memory of David Gman our learning is leishmas Becky's father David Benish This morning is also sponsored by Carol Lurman in honor of her mother's year. Leia Baspalo should have an aliyah and by Howard Koig our dear friend in honor of his mother's year Barbara Ko her nama should have an aliyah as well. And of course our learning is dedicated in honor of our extraordinary soldiers of the IDF and the pilots of Israel's air force. They should have success and triumph in honor of our hero heroic brothers and sisters in Israel who have been running and out of bomb shelters. They should have the peace and serenity and safety they deserve and we should be able to welcome all of the hostages home. Okay, we're learning parl of any para we spoke last said a year a needs to live with the times. To live with the times doesn't mean reading the newspaper or wearing the latest fashion. To live with the times means to find to interpret what's happening in the world based on the para. The para has a message. The para is speaking to us. What's going on in the world around us, how we respond, how we should feel can be found in our parha. That was true last week where Hashem makes several promises of our victory in war. And that's true this week, which is all about love and affection for the land of Israel. Never, God forbid, speaking negatively about it. Never be intimidated by those who are trying to prevent us from conquering or living there. This para also is speaking right to us. This is the para of the times. God speaks to Moshe. [Music] God says, "Send for you men to investigate to spy the land that I'm going to give you one man from each father's tribe. Send one leader among them." We all know the story. Moshe sends spies to investigate the land. They come back and give a terribly negative report and the rest is history so to say because that night of that negative report and the Jewish people reacted by crying they reacted by grieving by as if it was a catastrophe when in fact it was Hashem's that night was designated as a night of crying and pertu and indeed it is the night on our calendar of tishab the nth of the nth of says rashi Rash is always focused. The rabbis are always trying to learn from the just position the the contrast of why one section appears next to another. So we ended last week's para with Aaron and Aaron and Moshe speaking Aaron and Miriam speaking negatively about their brother Moshe. And we pick up this week with the spies investigating the land speaking negatively about the land of Israel. And it's not a coincidence that notion of gossiping, speaking negatively, critically, judgmentally is what binds the end of last week's para and the beginning of this says the parish. Miriam was struck. Miriam was secluded. Miriam spent time in solitude. All because she needed to rehabilitate herself from that mistake. speaking negatively about her brother. And these wicked men, they saw the consequence of her negative speech. And they should have learned. A Jew doesn't gossip. We don't hyperritical. We don't speak negatively. We see the positive. They should have been able to walk away and learn that lesson. They saw it firsthand. And yet, what do they do? They come, they see Israel, they come back and report negatively about it. says it. What a powerful insight. What's the most egregious thing that these did wrong? Why were they and we so accountable for their mistake? Where did they go wrong? If you would have asked me, I would say where they went wrong was coming back and speaking negatively. They should have said, 'Look, God told us he's going to take us in. God told us he's going to have our back. God told us he's going to take care of us. You could take that to the bank. We don't have to see anything. We don't have to question anything. We have no doubt or uncertainty. Hashem's word is good enough for us. Instead, they came back and spoke negatively. Ah, there's giants. I don't know. We're intimidated. They're powerful. They have fortified. But that's not what our rabbis were critical. They weren't critical of their speaking negatively. What are they critical of? They could have learned the lesson and they failed to do so. Where they went wrong wasn't coming back and speaking negatively. Where they went wrong was they should have lived their life, experienced what was happening around them and extrapolated and extracted lessons. They should have lived life in color, not in black and white, in high definition. They should have lived life in such a way that they were astute. They were analyzing. They were perceptive. They were experiencing the world around them, extracting the lessons for life. Even the most wicked person, if they don't learn from what's happening all around them, because a Jew is always where we're meant to be. Nothing that happens to us or around us is chance, random, or coincidence. Whatever we see, whatever we hear, whatever we observe, whatever is happening is meant for us to learn a lesson. It's meant for us to grow, to stimulate growth in us. So yes, we're accountable for where we go wrong, but fundamentally, why do we go wrong? because we could have and should have listened to the lessons that being broadcast all around us and we fail to do so. There are people and we can learn from their mistakes. We can learn from their consequence and accountability. There are world events and we can learn lessons derive lessons. And when we're not listening, when our antenna is not extended, when we're not focused, then that's where we make mistakes. And Hashem afterwards says you're not accountable for the mistake. You're accountable why? because you didn't learn the lesson. This is a big to have closed our eyes from the me message from writes this says this is a terrible malady. It's a terrible illness. those who are so closed, those who are so apathetic and complacent, those that are not growth oriented, growthminded, they're not looking, they're not listening, they're not learning, they're simply coasting through life. And if a person is coasting through life and they feel finished and fixed, if they're stuck where they are, then they're never going to grow and they're going to make horrible, sometimes irreparable mistakes. But if a person has a growth mindset, they're looking, they're listening, they're learning. What's the world broadcasting? What's the message from me? What can I take away from what I'm watching, from what I'm seeing? Then we're going to grow as a result. And even though you can't say it's an exact comparison, because after all, Miriam was speaking about her brother Moshe. And Moshe, God himself testifies himself endorses Moshe. Moshe is Hashem's loyal servant. And when Miriam spoke that way about Moshe, she was doing it for a good reason. She was bothered. Why did her brother separate himself from his wife? Ah, because he's a prophet. He can't have intimacy. Miriam says to herself, "I'm a prophet." "Hey, aren't aren't you a prophet?" And yet, we don't refrain. We don't abstain. Why does Moshe feel he has to? It's not fair to our sister-in-law. It's not right. She was doing it for good intention, for good reason. The come back negative. It's critical. They're trying to stop us from trying to ascend to the land. And even though there's such a fundamental difference between the two, you could give every rationalization, every justification. You could explain why why would you wouldn't learn the lesson. We should live our lives with our eyes wide open. Live your life looking, listening, learning. What's the message from me from what I just read? What I just saw? What I just What can I extrapolate? I heard a story about someone. I saw something in the news. a certain way learner the lesson should have learned [Music] M was critical it meant something made a difference it harmed and injured her brother she had a consequence they should have learned we speak yes we have a mission we're being sent to investigate the land when we come back how we that good intent suffer consequence. So all the more so that's what they should have learned. They should have learned how how important it is the power of speech, power of language. They should have extrapolated that lesson v. And then in Manhattan. Are we still streaming? We're still streaming. We see people in Manhattan. If you've ever been in Manhattan, you don't see anybody walk slowly. Everybody, New Yorkers, they've got a stride. They've got to skip in their step. They're always rushing. They're always running. I got a meeting. I got a place to be. I got to get somewhere. I have something going on. Manhattan. Everyone's running to make the next deal, the next meeting, to make the next dollar. They're always running, rushing, pushing, using all their energy, all their effort, all their time. So if you sit back and you're having a coffee and you're watching the streets of Manhattan, you're watching everyone rush and run say what's the lesson from me? How can I apply myself? What can I learn from from this from this bam also used to say about the yeshiva about the mirror in Brooklyn? There was a makola a little bodega in in Brooklyn or at least where I was in Washington the nights you'd call it a bodega that was open a little supermarket, a little mini market. So if it was snowing outside and the boys all wanted school to be cancelled, close the yeshiva. No school today. No school today. He'd say, "If the mini market's open, we're open. If they could be open, the stock market's open. We're open." If you live your life looking around saying, "What's the lesson? Where can I draw my inspiration, motivation? What can be what pushes me?" You can live life with your eyes closed, you're not paying attention, you're not looking, you're not listening. Or you can live your life with your eyes open. Absolutely. Absolutely everywhere. It's all a question of how we're living how we're living life. The um I'll skip ahead and come back. And now the Torah provides a list. Who were the 10 heads of tribes? And this deserves to be understood and unpacked. We have previously you can listen later online. These aren't 10 ordinary individuals. When we talk about their failure, these wicked leaders who so misled the Jewish people, they led them in the wrong path, the wrong direction, they came back with the wrong report. You know, we're seeing this in real time. We're seeing this in real time. What does it mean to love peace? To not attack Iran or do you really love peace because you're willing to attack Iran and take away their nuclear capability? Which is really making America great and safe? We're seeing this in real time. There are world leaders. Are they on the cusp of breaking out nuclear weapons or do you want to believe ah they've been saying that for years it's not true now either self-hating Jew Bernie Sanders who's not far from in my mind damaging the Jewish people like Nuri Carta who who's calling war crimes what Israel Netanyahu are doing calling for America not to be helping because he says yeah we should negotiate we should negotiate look we're negotiating left what if these ballistic missiles that have been landing in Israel what if they were carrying nuclear warheads what if they were smuggled led into America and American cities. You see that there are people who mislead. They're misguided. They misquote and and they they sound persuasive. They make compelling arguments. They can make everyone paralyzed with fear and stay up all night crying. So laavdil these moraglin of our para are not the lowly I don't even I don't even know what words to use to describe them of today. These moragum these are the heads of the tribes. This was Ra Salvichek and the Labereb and Raudner and Raakov. The 12 of them going to do this mission. How could they fail so miserably? How could they make such a fundamental mistake? How could they so negatively impacted the trajectory of Jewish history and of the Jewish people? It's a very powerful and difficult question and one that we've studied in the past. We're not going to look at now. But here the Torah gives us their names. Mosha bin Yahosua. And Moshe calls Yeshua. Hosen. What name does he give him? Yoshua. Yoshua. Now we'll see in a moment that we called him that already. So the truth is he already gave him that name. So this is what Sak says. And there a change of name in the Torah always implies a change of character or calling. A became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. When our name changes, says the Rambam in his discussion of Chuva, the second paricuva, it's as if we or someone else were saying, you're not the same person as you were before. Why do we change a name? God forbid a person has a terminal illness. God forbid a person has a dire circumstance. We call to the Torah and we change, we add their name. Why? Because the Gmorrah says shin hashem changing a name is shin mazle. We want to change their mazle. Change their name. They're not the same person. So whatever they deserved, whatever they were suffering, whatever was determined for them, change their name. Could this hint at what gift, what strength of character Yeshua and Khalif possess that the other 10 spies do not? Khaliv comes from the tribe of Yehuda. Yehuda we learned was the first Baluva, the first penitant. When he said sud come many when he overcame that test when he admitted that she is more righteous than I he matured he was taught a lesson by his daughter-in-law Tamar Yehuda is the clearest example in braces of someone who takes adversity as a learning experience rather than a failure anyone who like has experienced a name change has likewise been inducted into what Carol Dwek calls a growth mindset it's the name of her book I've quoted it several times I love it you could have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset she has an entire book and it's all wonderful where she distinguishes in life between those two mindsets and they determine so much about our lives. A fixed mindset finished stuck there's nothing to learn gets paralyzed by crisis because doesn't see the opportunity versus the growth mindset. All of life is a learning opportunity. It's all a platform and a stage in a classroom to grow. So no c every crisis is an opportunity to learn and to fail forward and you never lose. You learn that they know their qualities are not predetermined. They can change and grow. People with a growth mindset do not fear failure. They relish challenges. They know that if they fail, they'll try again until they succeed. I do not think it's a coincidence that the two spies with a growth mindset are also the two who are unafraid of the risks and trials of conquering the land. Hashem does not ask us never to fail. He asks of us that we give our best and he forgives us when we fail. All he asks is we acknowledge our failures. This gives us the courage to take risks. This is what Yeshua and Khaliv know. One through his name change, the other through the experience of his ancestor Yehuda. Alone among the 12 spies, Yeshua and Khalif show leadership. They tell the people that the conquest of the land is eminently achievable. Not because they're all powerful, but because God is with them. It's a paradoxical but deeply liberating truth. Fear of failure causes us to fail. It's the willingness to fail that allows us to succeed. Let me read that again. Fear of failure causes us to fail. It's the willingness to fail that allows us to succeed. So says Rabbi Sachs, Yeshua's name is changed from Hosa to Yahosua. A name change is a new identity. Yeshua says, "I'm not done. I'm not finished. I can grow. I can learn. I can change. I can evolve. I can develop. I could make progress. I'm not finished. I'm not finished. And it's that growth mindset, a Yahushua and a K that enable and empower them to be willing to take the risk to say we got this. Alah, let's climb. Let's ascend. Hashem has our back. We can we can do this. This is the growth mindset that is talking about as well. The growth mindset of that's what Rashi tells us, our rabbis were critical of. The mistake of the moragum, of the spies, what they're accountable for is not the negative report. What are they most accountable for? They're most accountable for not listening, not learning from what they saw happening around them. At the end of our life, it will be filled with mistakes we've made. That's okay. Hashem has a tolerance for failure, for making mistakes. We have to own up. We have to admit that he can live with. What he has no tolerance for, is he'll say, "But why'd you make that mistake if you were only listening? If you're only learning, if you're only watching, I was sending you messages. I was broadcasting. I was hinting. I was trying to elevate you. Why weren't you why weren't you listening to the bodega and staying open and staying open as well? Saxs has another beautiful insight that I want to begin with. He says the following. The spies, what were they sent to do? You have to pay very careful attention to the language of the Torah. It's never random. It's always carefully curated by Hashem. So what's the language of the Torah? send men. We learned last year how the kakar points out this never would have happened if we sent women. The whole and the 40 years of wandering was all because we sent men. Women would have asked for directions much sooner. We would have gotten there earlier. 40 years to get there. We're still paying the price. No, he gives a deeper reason. Women have optimism and faith and hope. The men are negative and pessimism and despair. They see the best and the men see the worst. They see what could be and the men see what they feel is. And it wouldn't have happened. It should have been women and it never would have happened. Vasuru, the word vasuru is a bookend in our par because the para ends with the para of titsus. The titsus that men wear the small begged, the big begged. And what do we say? Why do we wear the so we see them and we remember and we're not going to investigate other unfamiliar foreign temptations ideasu don't investigate foreign ideologies to our own so that's the book end of parl we begin vasuru these men are being sent to investigate ends with titsus veloas Suru don't investigate coincidence? I think not. We've spoken about this in the past as well. Why are those the book ends of our para? Why is tits the antidote to the moragum? We're not going to review it right now. But calls our attention to that word. The men are being sent to investigate. What other word could the Torah have used? Bib biblical Hebra has two verbs that mean to spy and they are lurel from which we get and lur means to dig to dig. Sometimes someone calls me a was read to my child. Someone made a suggestion for a could you dig into it a little bit. What do I go to the garage and get a shovel? What does it mean to dig in? If you ask somebody, could you dig into it? Could you look into it? It means to investigate. Could you investigate? I'm not spying, but could you investigate? So, the Torah could have chosen dig into it or spy. But neither of these words appear in our para. Instead, writes surach, no less than 12 times we encounter the rare verb lassur. This word was revived in modern Hebrew where it means and sounds like to lur. If you read it like a in the Israeli sounds like how do you say a tourist in modern Hebrew a there is all the difference between a tourist and a spy the malam explains the difference simply lass means to seek out the good think about it what does a tourist do you don't choose choose a destination to go to because you're going to spy and you don't choose a destination to go look at everything that's wrong. Streets are dirty, people are unfriendly, food's no good, nothing to see. That's not where you choose to be your summer vacation or your destination. Where do you choose? What do tourists do? They go to the beautiful, the majestic, the inspiring. They don't spend their time trying to find out what's bad. Laorel are the opposite. They're about searching out a place's weakness and vulnerabilities. That's spying. When the brothers come before Yoseph in Egypt to buy food, he accuses them of being moraglin, a word that appears seven times in that one chapter. He also defines what it is to be a spy. Yoseph says to them, "You've come to see where our land is exposed, where it is undefended." The exclusive use of the verb lassur and our para repeated 12 times is there to tell us that the 12 men are not being sent to spy. But only two of them understand this. The reason 10 of the 12 men come back with a negative report because they have misunderstood their mission. They believe it is their role to find out where the land is exposed, where it's vulnerable, where its defenses could be overcome. They look and cannot find. The people are strong, the city's impregnable. In fact, they're meant to see what's good about the land, not what's bad. So, if they're not meant to be spies, what's the purpose of their mission? says by Sax, I suggest that the answer is to be found in a passage in the that states it's forbidden to marry a woman without seeing her first. There's a prohibition Torah says you're not allowed to get married without how could you get married without seeing the woman first? Because there's a concept of getting married through agency through you could send a an agent and you say, "Do me a favor. There's a singles weekend up in New York. I had it. I've been on enough dates. I can't do this anymore. I can't talk about where I went to yeshiva, how I spent my summers, what I think about what's going on. I can't I can't. Here's a ring. Go find a woman and put a ring on her. If you find her attractive, you think she's smart, you think we'd have chemistry between us. I am empowering you to be my agent and you betro her on my behalf. That doesn't mean that the agent is doing it so that when I see her then I marry her. It means when the agent gives her the ring, she's married immediately to the Michelle, to the one who sent the agent, he has the power of attorney, the power of agency, the power to make them married even at that distance, even on his behalf. In fact, the Mishnas and Kaducian have a fascinating discussion because what if the agent is talking to the woman trying to find out a good a good for the one who sent him and by the time he's done talking to her in a little speed dating after six minutes he says you know I think she's better for me. So what if the agent actually proposes instead? How does that work? The Mishna all deal with so the is you're not allowed to do that. If I met and spent time and saw a woman and then send the agent and say go betro her on my behalf, it works. But says the gamser, a man is not allowed to marry a woman without seeing her first. Why were he to marry without having seen her first he might when he does see her find he's not attracted. Tensions will rise. The idea first see and then love. The Gar says it'll be a violation of you have to because what if the agent comes back with the woman, knocks on the door and says, "I'd like to introduce you to your wife." And the man says, "Really?" That's not at all what she looks like from the picture. She doesn't look at all like the photoshopped makeup artist hair cropped picture. So the moment he says, "Oh, she's going to feel horrible and he will have violated the'll violate loving your neighbor as yourself." So says the know what you're getting into. Know who you're proposing to. Don't go forward unless you know because otherwise it is simply unfair to the other party. Tensions will arise. The idea first love, first sea, then love. Same applies to a marriage between a people and its land. Jewish people are traveling to the country promised, but none of them have ever seen it. How then can they be expected to muster the energies necessary to fight the coming battles? They're about to marry a land they've not seen, says Ra Sachs. The 12 are sent lassur. Their mission is to be the eyes of the congregation, letting them know the beauty and the goodness of what lies ahead. The land that has been their destiny since the days of their ancestor Aram. Moshe has told them the land is good. It's flowing with milk and honey. But Moshe has never seen the land. They need the independent testimony of eyewitnesses. And in fact, all 12 fulfilled that mission. When they return, the first thing they say is, "We came to the land you sent us, and indeed it's flowing with milk and with honey, and this is the fruit." But because 10 of them think their task is to be spies, they go on to say the conquest is impossible, and disaster ensues. Only Yeshua and Khalif have in fact understood the mission. So we have different words that we can use. Lorel is to spy. Lassour is to be a tourist. Go tour. Go be a go be a tourist. Only two understood. Only two understood the mission. When your mission is to see the good and the positive. When your mission is to find what's right, you'll come back and you'll tell everybody you've got to check it out. The Ubers cost nothing and there's tons of food and they're fascinating things to see. When you're going as a tourist, you see what's right. When you go to spy, you're looking davka for what's wrong. So what's our mission? Everywhere we go and what we do, everyone with whom we interact, what's our mission? You travel, you go to the family, you travel, you go to the event, you participate. Are you going to spy or are you going to tour? If you have the tourist mindset, you're going to find the good. You're going to come back with what you can celebrate and be nostalgic about. And if you're going to spy to investigate, you'll always find what's bad and you'll find what's wrong and you'll find what's off. Cesar Sax, it's a matter of understanding the mission. The mission of a Jew is to tour this world. Lass tour the world. Tour the world and extract the beauty and the admirable and the redeemable and the positive and the good. Come back with something good to say. If you bring the mentality and you think your mission is to spy, then you'll suffer from the missing tile syndrome. That was last week's para. They they became a nation of complainers. There are people who are positive people who have a legitimate complaint and then there are complainers. You could complain the verb or you could become a complainer of the noun. The Torah has no tolerance for the complainer. The complainer wakes up in the morning in a bad mood and has a complaint. They just don't know yet what it is. They'll find it. They'll figure it out. They'll figure out what they're miserable about, what they want to complain about, but they know one thing. They've got to complain. The positive per person wakes up and says, "Everything's amazing. Everything's going to be amazing. By the way, I have some feedback. I have constructive criticism. We can make this better." So, our mission is not to be mison the reflexive. Never be a complainer. Be a positive tourist who has some feedback. You're allowed to fill out the the thing at the end of your stay, the survey. You know, it was amazing. It was wonderful. Here are all the things that were great. Ah, this little tweak would have made it better. The tourist is allowed to fill out the survey. But do you bring the mentality that the mission is to be a tourist? We're tourists through life. We're tourists at our shabas table and our dinner table. Everything that was good, everything that was right in the food and the people. We're tourists on the family vacation. We're tourists at the family sima. We're tourists when we come to shul and we interact with the community. Let's tour what's right, what's good, what can we positively experience and remember. And if you come as a spy, ooh, let's find what's wrong. Let's catch them. Let's be hyperritical. Let's be negative. 10 of the 12 didn't get it. They all went to do the same thing, but 10 misunderstood the mission. Only two got it. And that changed the course of our of our history of our history. So Moshe calls Yeshua Hosen Yoshua says uh all hold on let's go back the word when else in the Torah do we see the word and we're told is for your own good's first test in the Torah is for your own good. So, where's the in this mission? It's a big debate among our commentators. Did God send us? Did God demand of us to send spies? Or did he allow us to send spies? Did he say, "Look, I know you haven't seen the land. You're still coming out of Egypt. You're still a slave nation. You got some questions. Go check it out. I'm okay with that. You're good to go. You don't have to, but if you want to, if you'll feel better, feel free." Did he allow us or did he send us? There's a big debate. But the word if normally means as in for your own good then how can here mean for your own good how was this for our own good? So if David Feinstein answered and he said had the Jewish people entered Israel right away who would not have been with them Moshe. Moshe wasn't destined to enter the land. Why not? Why couldn't he? For another time. But Moshe wasn't going to join them. Had they entered right away, they would have been sons of Moshe. No Moshe. So the in the one silver lining, the one benefit was 38 more years with Moshe. 38 more years they wrote to get with Moshe. And that was the there was a silver lining. A silver lining. I think in this Feinstein you can see one of our phrases that we come back to in Amunir all the time. We're going to talk about it tomorrow morning. particularly addressing the countless incredibly inspiring texts and emails I've gotten from Jews running in and out of bomb shelters from those who were supposed to have returned from their seminary year or yeshiva year for those who were supposed to make a sima and they're not able to go where they want and they're writing I am where I'm meant to be a Jew is never stuck embrace your place you are where you're meant to be so here the Jewish people are spending 38 extra years in the desert all because of what because the Maglin blew it. They messed up. They came back and they gave a negative report. For those 38 years, they could have walked around saying, "Can't believe you did this. Such regret. Why'd you have to do that? You messed everything up. We're still here in the desert." But that's not the way a Jew lives. A Jew lives saying, "We're accountable. It was a mistake. We have to learn from it. We have to make sure to never repeat it or do it again." But you know what? Now that it happened, we are where we're meant to be. And where's the silver lining? What's the in where we are? that were with Moshe 38 years with Moshe girl reached out from a particular seminary asked if I could do a zoom I don't know if I will or combine it with the amunes here but one of the messages whichever way I get it across is the if you're stuck but you're stuck in Israel okay there were summer plans you were going to come back you were going to work you were going to go to camp you had a family vacation you were going to start dating but the where can we find the silver lining when we have to embrace our Where's the says of David Feinstein the was 38 more years they got with Moshe otherwise that would have been it had they entered the land right away that doesn't justify it was a mistake they were accountable you have to learn from it but there's a silver lining when you bring the attitude of always embracing your place also addresses this back Moshe calls and adds the and gives him the name Yeshua and Rashir explains why may God save you from the plot the conspiracy of the Maglin. Many mafian point out says of Sha alter that we already saw his name as Yoshua earlier. Where do we see that? in the context of the war with Amalik back in Schmoer Zion and twice when Yeshua leads the army in the war with Amalik and after the terrible mistake of theel he's already referred to in both those contexts as with the Yud. So how can the Torah tell us right now Moshe changes his name and says I'm setting you off on a difficult mission and therefore I want to give you all the kak that you'll need. I'm adding a letter to your name. You're no longer Hosa, but now you're Yahosua, he was already Yeshua. So the Rishonim, the Rashbam, the answer that although his name was already Yoshua before the story of the Maglim, Moshe was trying to impress on him that he had been called that as a to be saved from the Moragim. It's true. Earlier already you were called Yeshua. But you need to know that your name itself is a prayer that you be spared from their influence. That you not give into that peer pressure. But what was unique about the Moshe had to remind Yahua? Why now? When it came to Malik, he didn't remind him that his name is Yahosua. When it came to theel, he didn't remind him that his name is Yahosua. So why now? What's so special about this? What's so pernicious or dangerous about this that Moshe has to remind him by the way your name is Yoshua be careful so it says to get a Malik's attack on the Jewish people was a spiritual religious attack it was an attack on our kadusha on our holiness was a spiritual war says God maintains a war against Malik we don't understand it but with regarding So Yoshua, Yoshua knew a Malik was attacking our spirit, our soul, our holiness, our sanctity. Yoshua understood on his own that a war like that can only be won with Hashem's assistance. Just like the Garra and Kaducian explains, you cannot defeat the without Hashem's help. So Yeshua understood a malik is wickedness is evil and you can't defeat evil who are trying to attack the spirituality the soul your religious values without hashem's help yes was fully cognizantel also was a machination of theel was the evil inclination convincing us to go astray and it needed to be fought how but all by all appearances the journey of the moraglin was no cause for concern. After all, all its members, the Moraglin, were the 12 heads of the tribes, upstanding people who wanted to just scout the land. What could go wrong? What could be bad? And that's why Moshe impressed upon him at the time of the message. Yeshua, what you think you're setting out on is benign. It's innocuous. Nothing particularly dangerous. You need to remember. Remember your name is Yahosua. Hashem should spare you. There's a hidden conspiracy, a hidden Yates on this journey. And a hidden Yates is more dangerous than the open one. Only with Hashem's help, says Moshe, can you be saved from the Moraglam's scheming. That's one of the tactics of the Sahara to be hidden. To be hidden. So it's exactly what made this look so not dangerous is what made it dangerous. says the G rashivael on his own. Yeshua saw something very bad is going on. The Amalik Yeshua saw in his own there's an attack against our ideology and our religious identity. But the Moragland, what's the problem? So a Jew needs to know that even when you're going with what looks to be admirable upstanding people, there's a particular danger and therefore he changes his name Yahushua. Now you have to dive into Hashem that it all goes right. You have to be very careful. off base. They came up from the south. They reach and they run into and Rashir tells us when they arrive at that why who takes this detour to who's on this detour? None other than Khal. And why does he take this detour? Why does he take this detour to Davin says Rashi Khal alone went there and he spreads himself out. He dabbins over the uh the graves of our forefathers and he says give me the fortitude. Give me the strength to not give in to not to not uh to not succumb to the peer pressure. To not succumb to the peer pressure says that of course did something remarkable by praying. You see that where did BB go hours before the initial attack, the preemptive attack, the attack that was so highly coordinated and precise. Everyone right now, we don't need 30 years is saying that it's greater than the six- day war. What I always heard my whole life about the miracle of the six day war and what Israel pulled off. Israel pulled off in those opening hours in ways we barely know 5% and that 5% is enough to know it's extraordinary. And where did the prime minister, the leader of the Jewish people go hours before he launched the attack? He went to the Kel to Davin under the guise he was with the president of Argentina. It was innocuous. He was heading off on vacation. It was part of the deflection, part of the distraction. But we know the real reason. You know, there's pictures all over the internet. I don't know if it's real or fake. It doesn't matter. That the note that BB put in the kotel said for voting for what was about to happen. That's the Jewish people. That's the Jewish people. So where did Khiv go? We're about to set out on a mission. We're launching a mission. Where does he go to? To Davin. To Davin. And what does the what does Rashi tell us? Because Kh went there to Davin. What did he earn? What was he given? The city of K was gifted. Granted the city of That's it. You d someplace you get to get it. That's it. That's as simple as it goes. Whoever has a set place to den, God is by your side. And when a person dies who had a muck where they dened, not all over and not walking around the back and not wearing out the carpet and not changing seats and not changing minion, but is the minion I go to is the seat that I sit in. I have a certain consistency and constancy, dependability, reliability to me. So when that person passed away, we say, "Wow, that person is an offspring of of au." So how do you know that? Because it says because got updates. What's so great about ding in a set place? Aram is praised having a set place by the way understands this not only in shul in fact in shul's policy as most have and should have is that you don't have a set seat you're not entitled to kick someone out of your seat this isn't jetloo and you got the aisle and someone's in it and you have to replace them mean dollar draw a six foot circumference around where you want to sit two seats in front two seats to the two seats behind find another seat near where you sit that's also called the makum kava says all of shul is your makum kava all of shul the place that you set the davin when the gumar when our rabbis tell us set a place to den they mean in your house in your house in our home we have a wall happens to have Jerusalem stone we have aender we have a sign that says misra that's where the seduramar anyone needs to dav in the home that's a set place to davin a set don't dment sometimes in the kitchen sometimes in the living room sometimes in the hallway sometimes are walking around putting the slippers back in the closet. Sometime there's a set place changes your mentality but that's such a big deal that au is so lauded and a person who passes away who had a set place is called a disciple of a and what earned kron just because he chose to don there what's going on over here says of the following a set place to doesn't just mean physically you have a set place it means set place means this is my default. This is where I want to be. This is where I am. When I live my life, it's interruptions to it. But the default of where I am is in that conversation. Someone told me a couple weeks ago, it's possible they're sitting here right now. They were sitting having lunch. Their husband, each of them were reading on their own. She said to her husband, "Can I interrupt you? Can I interrupt what you're reading?" And he said to her, "So romantic and they're not 22 years old." He said to her, "My whole life as a conversation with you. I was reading was interrupting that conversation. Of course, you could tell me whatever you want." Not this the most beautiful thing. You're not interrupting my reading or what I'm doing. My whole life is a conversation with you. If I'm leading or doing something else, it's interrupting that conversation. Such a beautiful, beautiful, what a what a bar for marriage, which where we should want to go. Says that's what the gum means. It means your conversation with Hashem should be your that's my my whole life is one conversation with Hashem. I got to go to work. I got to do laundry. I got to cook dinner. I've got to also talk to other people and interrupt that conversation. But as soon as I'm done, where do I go back? What do I revert to? Where do I pick up? The conversation with Hashem, that is my life. My whole life is an ongoing conversation with him that gets interrupted. And that's what it means. So when Khal goes to Davin and he begins to have this conversation with Hashem there that says, "This is my life. This is my He said when he goes to he said this is my place I feel I'm in conversation with Hashem here. This is my home. This is where I want to be. This is where I want to return. This is what I want to revert to. This is my anchor. This is the anchor of my life. When you make that set place to dav and you say I go to work, I go to gym. I go to the supermarket. I go all over. But where do I want to come back to? What's my anchor? my spouse, my children, my home, Hashem, that's my anchor. That's my safe space. That's what I want to return to. That's my place of refuge. So when Kali felt he perceived is my place, Hashem says, "I feel you, brother. You feel me here, I feel you. It's yours. This is going to be our special place. This is our shared home now together. This is what it's really all about." Z spies come back and they report this national hysteria. Top of page 804 interrupts. The people can't be placated. Yeshua and Khal tore their garments. They spoke to the entire people. They said the land that we pass through it's m what does it mean land to be m says the le they're trying to contradict the poor report that was given the misinformation fake news essentially get up and they say fake news fake news fake This is not a land that eats its inhabitants. The air is amazing. What are you talking about? Don't say that if you move there, you can't make it. You know, how do you make a small fortune in Israel? Start with a large one. That's a old joke. The terrible things that people say, they come to correct it. tove. Amazon now delivers in Israel. You can get Hines ketchup in Israel. Every American sugar cereal you can get now in Israel. I was talking to someone last week who was here from Israel. Unfortunately, still here from Israel. And it used to be in our day, you know, you'd pack your duffel for our years in Israel. You you'd bring all these things that you couldn't get in Israel. There's nothing you can't get in Israel. In fact, the food's better. Everything's better. Nothing you can't get in Israel. ESPN, it's all in Israel. You got a sports center. You get it all in Israel. There's nothing you can't get. So the Yeshua get up and they say, "What are you talking about? It's a magnificent environment. The air is amazing. It's flowing with milk and honey from the shua. Why do they have to say why do they have to repeat the land is very very good?" Did the second very add to the first very means very. So what's very very good? mode. Why was it enough to say mode? And that's what Raan comes to answer. But they were coming to contradict two things. Two things. Number one, the air is great. And number two, it's flowing with milk and honey. Where else do we find the words? When you see words, they should trigger hyperlinks. Where else do you see? A person should be exceedingly humble. Don't just be very humble. Be very, very humble. What's the connection? When they say the land is very very good to our rabbi saying be very very humble. If I had to if I prepared the par better I would have presented it as one theme because we saw it at the beginning says why are we accountable when we're not listening and learning from everything being broadcast around us the end of last week's para they should have seen what happened when Miriam wasn't careful with her words and they should have learned we have to be careful with our words person has to have a growth mindset Rabbi Sak said person has to have a growth mindset don't be fixed don't be Finished the change of Yeshua's name is indicates person is always growing. And now the third and rav says what's the connection between the land is very very good and be very very humble because who sees the truth? What investigator comes back with an accurate report? The one who's humble. If you're humble, you'll see the truth. But if you come in arrogantly thinking you have all the answers, then you're going to come in and you're going to project your predispositions or you're predisposed to think your judgment on what you see. You're seeing through a filter you're not seeing clearly. Who sees clearly with no filter? If you're very very humble, you'll see the truth of what's in front of you. But if you're arrogant and you think you have all the answers, you're going to miss what's right in front of you and you're going to come in with an arrogant arrogant attitude. If you bring us to this landm What does that mean? If Hashem desires us, he'll bring us to this land and give it to us. A land that flows with milk and honey. [Music] asked, "What do you mean if Hashem desires us?" They said, they said, "They're stronger than we are. We can't conquer. This is above us." So, how does it have to say if Hashem wants us and Yeshua and Khal don't set that straight? They don't say it's not true. You're claiming that the others are stronger. Kamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, they're too strong. You're crazy. World War III will break out. Russia and China are gonna get involved. You can't do it. And the answer wasn't. It's not true. We're stronger. You don't know what the Msad's got planned. You don't understand how powerful we are. That wasn't the answer. What was the answer? What does that mean? What does it have to do with anything? also more fundamentally, right? This is a nation that all just experienced 10 plagues, a splitting of a sea. They saw extraordinary miracles. And this is where they draw the line. They experienced unbelievable miracles. They stood at the base of a mountain and God revealed himself and spoke. And now they're saying, "We can't go up. They've got kichnikovs and they've got jeeps and bicycles. We can't do it. You just saw 10 plagues. You just saw a splitting of a sea. You just stood at the moment of revelation and now you're intimidated from that. We're not worthy. We used up all of our miracles. We used up all of our merits. It's going to take a miracle. And you know what? I don't know if God's got any miracles left for us. I don't know if we're worthy. I don't know if it's going to happen. I don't know if we could bank on it. So, what are you going to answer? No. No. No. God God could do anything. Yeah. But the whole premise of the problem is not questioning whether God could do anything. What was it questioning? Are we worthy? Will he for us? Is he gonna come through? I can't see a way out. I can't see a way out. the VANO. What's their answer? Is not we're stronger. We've got more air force. We've got more bombs. We've got more bullets. The answer was not we're smarter. We're better. We got beepers. We interrupted their supply chain. We've got Mossad. They've built a drone base in Iran. The answer was not disputing the facts. What was the answer? You think that Hashem is not going to bring can't bring another miracle. We don't deserve. We don't merit. Maybe he doesn't have any left. You know what our answer is? faith hashem. If Hashem wants us if we're close to him, then nothing is beyond him. Just sit back and watch what's going to happen. Then believe and trust. We have to do our part. Don't just sit back. We do our part. Our holy and precious and heroic soldiers of the IDF are incredible pilots. Could you be more proud? The 2,000-year image of the meek, weak, pale Jew who can't defend themsself and goes like sheep to the slaughter. We've got the most precise, greatest pilots on the planet right now pulling off missions no one would believe. I don't know about you, I've been getting goosebumps when I'm watching non-Jewish military experts interviewed on the news who are gushing in saying, "I don't know how the MSAD pulled off what they did. I don't know how they got it done." Pinpoint holes in the wall. That general was sleeping in his bed. They knew which floor, which apartment, which bed. No civilian casualty. They took him out in Iran in his sleep. The Mossad was oper if Hashem wants if Hashem wants if we have a when the Jewish people are in pain. Hashem is with us. Hashem is with us in that pain. Hashem is also under attack. Hashem is also a victim of the enemy. I mentioned this past Shabas. It was a rash on last week's para again. You have to live with the time says the alterba. When we sing every Monday, every shabas when we put away the Torah when we when we when we take out the Torah, when we say who are the enemy, what did Rash in last week's pa say? Israel. These are the enemies of the Jewish people. Anyone who hates the Jewish people hates the creator of the universe. Hashem goes with us. If you hate the Jewish people, if you're an enemy of the Jewish people, you are declaring war on God. And I got to tell you, spoiler alert, you're never going to win a war against God. We know the way that this story ends. We know the way every one of our stories ends. And it ends with us winning. The reason that we're concerned, we doubt in the bottom of our hearts, is at what cost? What price will we have to pay? How many times will they run into bomb shelters, wake children in the middle of the night, assist elderly, god forbid, how many casualties, how many buildings will be bombed? That's the only part we don't know. But how it ends that we win, that we know. It's we've won the last 2,000 years. We're still here to testify. And that we know because those who hate the Jewish people also hate they hate the one who spoke and the world came to be. When we're in So when Hashem is doing for us, he's doing for himself. He's defending his name, his brand, his vision, his blueprint for this world. He's with us. He's on our side. He's on our side. He's with us. He does it through our air force pilots, our IDF, our courageous leadership who called the shots, our Mossad, our intelligence. He's doing it through them, but it's him writes years ago. The redemption of the Jewish people is the redemption of God himself. The redemption of God himself. And therefore, he comes and he stands up on our behalf. We turn to him. We rely on him. And that's why Khaliv and Yeshua, there are always detractors. There are always cynics. There are always doubters. There are always spies instead of tourists. And they're compelling and they're persuasive. And they're trying to change public opinion. And that's what the spies did. 10 out of 12 got public opinion on their side. And the people cried the whole night and said, "We can't do it. It'll never happen. If on October 6th, I would have told you that in a year and a half, Hzbollah will be decimated." So much so that when Iran is at war, a message to Hezbollah, join the fight. Hezbollah sent an email to Iran. I mean, how how degrading. An email said, "Sorry, we're sitting this one out. You're on your own." Iran was banking on all their proxies that they had spent billions of dollars on that if they would ever be attacked, Israel could never Israel could never sustain Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, the militias of Iraq, Syria. If on October 6th, I would have told you Syria, Syria is no longer and in fact they told Israel feel free to use our airspace in bombing Iran. If I would have told you on October 6th, Hezbollah decimated. Beepers blew up in the pants of all the Hezbollah fighters and in a moment decimated. Hamas still fighting but decimated. Decimated the militias in Iraq on the retreat. And that Iran the very beginning before they even knew what hit them, their military's been taken out. And that the entire Middle East has changed in a year and you would have said impossible. We can't do it. Will never happen. How many casualties? At what cost? What world war? Will never happen. But you know when Hashem is a target, when Hashem is a victim, when they're declaring war with Hashem, nothing is beyond him. Boru is fighting this battle and he's fighting this battle with us. And that's what Yeshua and Khif have to fight the fake news. They have to fight those who are trying to win the public opinion in the wrong direction when they say we can't. and they have to come out and what's the argument? They don't get into the details of why we have military superiority because that's not what it's about. What's their ultimate response and answer if Hashem wants us to win? You don't you're not going to believe what's about to happen. You're not going to believe what you're about to see. You're not going to believe how this ends. So, there's much more in the para I wanted to get to. Yash, they gave the negative report. So they wandered 40 years. Why' they wander 40 years? How long was the negative report? One day. So if you're going to calculate the punishment based on how long the negative report was, they should wander for one day. Why do they wander or wander for one year? For the one day they gave a negative report. Why do they wander for 40 years? 40 days. What's the 40 days? 40 days they investigated the land but they only reported negatively one so they should have wandered one year why do they wander 40 years so we'll learn next year and together but and both say the same answer you know why because the spies mistake was not the report they gave when they got back that was one day it's that all 40 days when they went they were looking for the bad bring it full circle this is now the fourth or fifth again if I were doing this right if I were a decent teacher I would have given you the whole theme beginning to end all these ideas and showed you that's what's going this whole par is about don't come in with predisposed ideas don't come in and project be a student be a tourist learn extrapolate extract be a growth mindset not a fixed mindset the spies went in with a fixed mindset they said here's the deal we'll go through the motions we'll spend 40 days but I'm telling you right now how it's going to turn out so When they got back and gave the negative report, they were punished 40 years for 40 days because the mistake wasn't one day. How long was the mistake? 40 days. Because all 40 days, there was confirmation bias. They were biased about what they were going to see. So what they saw confirmed what they were already biased to see. When you're going as a spy, you'll find what's bad. If you're going as a tourist, you'll see what's great. Our mission like Kleen and Yoshua were the only ones who understood. Our mission live life like tourists a growth mindset. Don't go lur or lael. Go lassur. Go tour the world and life. See what it has to offer. All the positive. Next year we'll cover kala and sitsus. I wanted to get to kala and sitsus so badly but next year should be a day of bisurus to Yeshua. Destroy him.