Shlach - Releasing Fear and Bias

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast recorded with hashem's never- ending assistance in ra Israel 5775 2015 this week's para is para schl and this this par we have the challenging difficult story of the morim of the spies the Jewish people asked mosha Renu to send spies into the land of Israel indeed Moshe agreed Moses agreed to send them Hashem agreed to send them and the spies there were 12 Spies two of them came back with a positive report that was yahushua Joshua and C Caleb they came back with a positive report but the other 10 spies came back with a negative report and the Jewish people received accepted the negative report of the 10 spies and as the resulted that they cried that evening and it was the evening of Tish the 9th of a which every year we commemorate which the second temple the first temple many different occurrences occur very sad things occurred the the Inquisition began on that day in 1492 World War I began on that day in the early 1900s many different events occurred that would affect the Jewish people and affect the world on the n9th of a it was a day of crying they cried then Hashem said they would cry for generations and we need to understand what was the mistake of the Morag what was their mistake what was the Jewish people's mistake why did they accept the report of the morim of the spies how was yosua how is K how were they able to overcome whatever it was that the maragam the the spies themselves could not over overcome and what is the lesson that we can take with us what is the lesson that we can learn for our lives how we can recognize the mistake that they made and not make the mistake ourselves and thereby create a TI and rectification for the mistake that was made so many so many years ago and in looking at the story so kazal tell us a few different things that shed some light but really bring up a few questions as we try to examine the statement of our kazal kazal tell us first of all that the Jewish people asked for the Morag to be sent they asked for the spies to be sent and they had very good reasons we need to know what's going on there we need to know what we're up against and indeed moshu agrees to it and hasem agrees to it which seems very strange that clearly hashm says himself is the one it seems in the in the verses themselves who initiates it by saying send some people you know so it's strange that Hashem would agree to something which would end up being have the Jewish people would have such a downfall from it seems like it seemed it was a good idea at the beginning but in the end it didn't turn out so good so the question is what was the fundamental mistake what was what was wrong at the onset something points out is that it's important to understand that when we look at the story the agent of a person has the the power of the person who sent them and in a certain way on in a spiritual sense but also in a very uh simple sense as well on a more mundane sense the the agent is an extension or manifestation of the one who sent them so speaks at length about the fact that the Jewish people had a fundamental error and we'll see soon what that error was but it manifested as well in the maragam themselves the spies themselves had a similar or parallel error that they made but it was a manifestation of the fact that they were sent in error now looking at the morim looking at the spies or sages tell us that what was the mistake the mistake was that the morim they when they came into the land of Israel everything that they saw they saw in a negative light they had had a bias says kazal they had a bias what was their bias they had a nigia their ngia was that they knew that when the Jewish people would get into Israel they would lose their positions of power these were people these these spies were all people who were rash B Israel they were heads of the Jewish people they were anim they were significant important people they were learned people they were sikim they were righteous until the sin till they caused the Jewish people to sin they were very good people what was the mistake though the mistake was that they had this bias they thought that when the Jewish people enter into Israel that they would lose their positions it's not clear exactly why they thought that I heard from rashash r that the reason that they thought that was because the Torah says that when the Jewish people enter into the land of Israel there's an obligation to make for yourselves a king now in reality that wouldn't occur till a few hundred years later but the weren't aware of that if there would be a king so then the necessity for them as Leaders would become limited because the king is the one who takes the power and is in charge and directs the people so of course I when we look at that also in the service it seems strange because well a king also needs people beneath him to whom he can delegate the power and delegate he can't do everything himself but whatever the whatever the proper understanding of it is why they were afraid of this the bottom line is that when a person is in a state of fear he's afraid he's going to lose his job he's afraid he's going to lose his position he's afraid that something important to him is going to get lost when a person is in fear and he has a bias so all of a sudden everything is cast in a negative light tell us that when they walked in as they said everyone is dying they said everyone in the in the country is dying because kazal tell us said when they walked into the land of Israel so everywhere they went Hashem had created a diversion so that the spies wouldn't be noticed the diversion was that people were dying so they said that it's a land that eats up it's inhabitants cuz they kept seeing people dying in fact Hashem had done that as a diversion but they saw it as it was a land where everyone's dying everywhere they went there were funerals going on so instead of seeing the good because of their bias they only saw the negative and they saw the they saw all the problems now we asked a question before c c and yua they were able to overcome you know we think about yua so Yeshua is going to end up being the next leader of the Jewish people did he know that at that point the answer is no as far as he knew mosh was going to lead the Jewish people into the land of Israel the decree would not occur that they would have to stay in the midbar in the wilderness for 40 years until after the spies returned Yeshua didn't know that he was going to be a leader that's that's number one k also had every reason to assume just like the other spies assumed that he would lose his leadership now what was different about K was amazing Caleb when he walked into Israel it says that it speaks about the fact that the Morag the spies came into Israel and he got it says he got to Kon doesn't say they came to Kon it says he came toon and who is the he s tell us it was Caleb K came toon even even though it was a dangerous place to be he came there and he wanted to pray he wanted to pray at the at the at the the Cave of the Patriarchs he wanted to come there to pray that he should be able to overcome his bias it's an amazing thing K felt he saw also he had the bias he was also afraid but he knew that he wanted to be a he wanted to be a proper agent and he wanted to be positive light and so he was able somehow because he had that dedication he had that commitment to the he gave himself up he bowed he he lied down as it were on the the K on the the graves of his forefathers Patriarchs in order to ask them to intervene on his behalf so hasem should help him to succeed in his mission and not fall in to the mistake of the other morum of the other spies it's very interesting freedlander in explaining this idea he mentions that the mor there were two Morag later on after after 40 years in the midbar in the wilderness so yahushua Joshua is the leader they're coming into the land of Israel and Joshua also sends maragam he sends two spies and they enter into Jericho now what's interesting is that and say beautiful idea that they came in and what did they do to disguise themselves as it were they came in and they presented themselves as if they were sellers they were merchants of earthware vessels of what's theat says freedlander why did they choose they could have chose to be merchants of anything why do they choose to sell earthware vessels to disguise themselves that way and the idea is that those mlim those spies that yosua sent they were indeed good spies they completely were mled themselves they nullified themselves to the one who sent them they were completely focused on their task and they didn't let their bias get involved to interfere with how they would look at the land of Israel this is represented by the concept of kis of earthware we find Abraham says when he wants to speak of his humility says I'm dust I'm earth when he says I'm nothing God I he wants to express his humility speaks of himself as being like the earth the earth is something that reminds a person that from from the earth he came to the Earth he returns so Earth andwar vessels represent the fact that these schim these Messengers these agents completely nullified themselves they were just extensions of those who sent them and in the very same way yua and K were able to overcome their bias they were able to overcome the the the very thing that the other morac fell into that they were they were seeing negative everywhere K and Yeshua were able to see the positive everywhere they were able to recognize that Hashem would be able to stand buy them because they didn't have they didn't allow the fear to take hold of them they didn't allow the bias to control their thinking now looking for a moment back at am Isel am Israel the Jewish people had asked that these schim these Messengers these morum these spies be sent to the land of Israel what motivated them so they had on the surface many good reasons but what they weren't aware of was that they also had a bias and their bias was based in fear what were they afraid of they wanted to know what's going to happen in Israel what are they up against why did they need to know that why didn't they just trust that if Hashem is bringing them to this place Hashem had just given them an amazing miraculous Victory they had been they had been slaves to Egypt for hundreds of years and here they are they're going to come against these nations you know in in Egypt it was one country one United Nation and and they were powerful nation and Hashem destroyed them land of Israel there were seven different nations there were 31 different Kings there was wasn't it was really fractured those people weren't United at all Hashem could destroy Egypt the most powerful Empire of the time certainly Hashem could destroy these nations that didn't have that kind of power and the problem was the fear was that you know when they were in Egypt they had a tremendous they had a trem this is how my rashash explained it they had a tremendous Merit the Merit was yurin they had difficulties they were in pain and that Merit the Merit of yurin of difficulties of challenges when a person goes through difficulties and challenges in his life so that creates a tremendous Merit that was something that they had at that time that created miracles for them created a a merit that they would be able to experience those Miracles but at this point when they had already left Egypt they didn't recognize they didn't realize they were afraid that they wouldn't have the Merit to experience those Miracles they wouldn't have what it takes for Hashem to give them a miraculous Victory could Hashem help them could Hashem overcome all of these of these 31 Kings of course Hashem could but are we worthy for it do we have what it takes do we have the merits to receive those Miracles that Hashem would bring they were afraid that they didn't and that lack of self-esteem created the necessity within them to ask for theim these Messengers to be sent and when theim went they also went in fear those 10 went in fear they were afraid that they would lose their positions now if you think about what that means that means that they were afraid that they wouldn't have any purpose that they wouldn't have something significant to to give to the Jewish people and they wouldn't be able able to fulfill any specific or special tkid any specific purpose in the world after they entered into Isel and what a sad mistake they also in a certain sense didn't believe that Hashem would have something significant for them to do when they got into the land of Israel they also had a fear that was a disconnect from Hashem from God now contrast that with yosua and K they were able to focus in on this moment they were able to say what is my tkid now right now I have a sacred Mission and my mission is to be an agent of Hashem to be an agent of the Jewish people in looking at the land of Israel and seeing what is this amazing place that God wants to give to the Jewish people and because they were able to subdue their own ego not look at the future but Focus simply on the present they were able to indeed bring back a positive report to see Israel in the most positive light and see that it's an amazing place and it's a place that they were able to say Hashem will help us Hashem will be on our side because they had stayed focused on the present moment they stayed focused on their present TK their present Mission now the amazing idea that comes out of this if we focus and we think about it in a more broad perspective is we're speaking about entering into the land of Israel and if the Jewish people had entered Ed into the land of Israel at that moment miva said thatu would have you know he would have led them into the land of Israel the Jewish people would have started an Empire they wouldn't have stopped with Conquering the land of Israel but rather the the spiritual influence of the Jewish people would have spread they would have conquered the world and led the world in service of God in the proper approach to a relationship with Hashem it would have been the beginning of the days of Messiah of the side that we await when the whole world will be focused on service of God on spirituality they would have turned over the entire world now how does that happen how would they have been able to enter into the land of Israel what was the mistake that prevented them they would have been able to enter the land of Israel if they had followed if all the Morlin and all of the Jewish people had recognized their bias recognized Their Fear they were afraid that I can't possibly deserve it they were stuck if we could frame it as we've spoken about in the past they were stuck in the idea of MH y that I need to earn it I need to be good enough for God I need to be perfectly righteous in order for God to give me good things Hashem wanted them to be focused as yahushua and K were focused not on my not on my Merit but rather like mashia David like the aspect of Yehuda of Leia that no I don't really deserve it but hashm wants to give it to me anyway it's not because because of Any Aur and difficulties that I've undergone it's because God made a promise to Abraham to Isaac and Jacob to to the Jewish people that he would give them this land I don't deserve Israel because I deserve Israel I deserve Isel because hasem said so it's that simple that's the aspect of mhia bavid I am here because Hashem said so do I have to do something to earn that no no I don't does it mean that if hashm is giving it to me does it mean that I have obligations yes I have a relationship with Hashem yes of course but do I have to earn that relationship with Hashem or is the the relationship de facto the relationship is the fact the relationship comes first that's the aspect of MH bavid that the Morag couldn't recognize that the Jewish people were afraid that it wasn't there they were afraid that they have to earn it and if I don't have that hasem is not going to perform miracles for me Yeshua and K said no it was because of their commitment because of their relationship which was which they recognized that they were theim they were the Agents of hem because they were mavle themselves to the relationship first because they nullified themselves to God first and they recognized that they don't have to do something to earn that relationship they were able to be in the moment within their mission and accomplish their mission the Jewish people they had fear they had bias they didn't even see the fear they didn't even see the bias the Morag the spies they had fear they had bias they didn't recognize it and because they disconnected from the relationship with hasem because they disconnected from from the fact that hashm wants to give them unconditionally because of that they lost the relationship they severed themselves from Hashem they severed themselves from the good that hashm wanted to give them unconditionally what a powerful lesson this is for each and every one of us so many times we're afraid we're trying to serve hem we're trying to to connect to spirituality we're trying to do what's right and we're afraid we're not good enough for God we're afraid we're not good enough for ourselves we're not good enough for our families and that bias that fear creates more fear more separation it's a cycle I'm afraid I disconnect from God I disconnect from from my spouse from my children and then I judge them and then I I become disconnected even more it's it's a it's a cycle it's a descent it keeps descending and what it begins with what's the way out of this mistake what's the way out of the bias what's the way out of the fear that colors our lives that colors are judgments the way out is to begin with a recognition that I am a what is the the de facto what is the the Han what is the the foundation the foundation is is I'm connected to Hashem no matter what there's nothing that can break that nothing that can break that I'm a child of Hashem nothing can take that away from me I have a relationship with my wife we made a commitment so many years ago that come come what may we're connected and we're not going to give that up I have a relationship to my children the moment that they're born this is my child there's nothing that can ever take that away that relationship will be there forever and what that allows me to do is that allows me to say I am committed to my relationship and I recognize that it's there no matter what I'm going to let go of my bias I'm going to recognize that I'm afraid that I'm disconnected I'm going to recognize that I'm afraid and I have a bias and I'm going to let go of that and I'm going to serve Hashem anyway not because hashem's going to love me more hasem will always love me with an infinite love and I'm going to try to be a good spouse a good father not because I need my spouse to love me because I need my child to love me but because I have a relationship and the relationship means it manifests in doing good in in being connected Hashem should help us Hashem should bless us to be able to recognize our biases and recognize that they come out of fear they're based in fear sh should help us to recognize that if we want a relationship we want to enter into is we want to enter into the times of Messiah we can do that now should help us see that we can have that relationship with him that relationship with those around us with the understanding that that relationship is a pre-existing relationship Hashem should help us to see that and to live that way and to be able to do not out of fear not because we feel like we're going to lose it but because we already know and we're confident that we already have it thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabus this podcast was made possible through the gracious ations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit 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