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Purpose of Society - 1 Purpose of Society - 2 Concerning Love of Friends Love of Friends - 1 Each One Shall Help His Friend What Does the Rule "Love Thy Friend as Thyself" Give Us Love of Friends - 2 According to What Is Explained Concerning “Love Thy Friend as Thyself” Which Keeping of Torah and Mitzvot Purifies the Heart One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House Achieve in Order Not to Have to Reincarnate? Concerning Ancestral Merit Concerning the Importance of Society Sometimes Spirituality Is Called “a Soul” Forevermore One Sells All That Is His and Marries a Wise Disciple's Daughter Can Something Negative Come Down from Above Concerning Bestowal Concerning the Importance of Friends The Agenda of the Assembly - 1 And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You You Stand Today, All of You Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 1 The Meaning of Truth and Faith These Are the Generations of Noah Go Forth From Your Land And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre The Life of Sarah Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 2 Jacob Went Out And Jacob Went Out Concerning the Debate between Jacob and Laban Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived Mighty Rock of My Salvation I Am the First and I Am the Last And Hezekiah Turned His Face to the Wall But the More They Afflicted Them Know Today and Reply to Your Heart Concerning the Slanderers Come unto Pharaoh - 1 He who Hardens His Heart We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work The Whole of the Torah Is One Holy Name On My Bed at Night Three Times in the Work In Every Thing We Must Discern between Light and Kli Show Me Your Glory Repentance The Spies The Lord Is Near to All Who Call upon Him Three Prayers One Does Not Regard Oneself as Wicked Concerning the Reward of the Receivers The Felons of Israel And I Pleaded with the Lord When a Person Knows What Is Fear of the Creator And There Was Evening and There Was Morning Who Testifies to a Person A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering Hear Our Voice Moses Went Lend Ear, O Heaven Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah Concerning Hesed [Mercy] Concerning Respecting the Father Confidence The Importance of a Prayer of Many Concerning Help that Comes from Above Concerning the Hanukkah Candle Concerning Prayer A Real Prayer Is over a Real Deficiency What Is the Main Deficiency for which One Should Pray? Come unto Pharaoh – 2 What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians? A Prayer of Many The Lord Has Chosen Jacob for Himself The Agenda of the Assembly - 2 Who Causes the Prayer Concerning Joy Should One Sin and Be Guilty Concerning Above Reason If a Woman Inseminates Concerning Fear and Joy The Difference between Charity and Gift The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments] A Near Way and a Far Way The Creator and Israel Went into Exile A Congregation Is No Less than Ten Lishma and Lo Lishma The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit Concerning Yenika [Suckling] and Ibur [Impregnation] The Reason for Straightening the Legs and Covering the Head During the Prayer What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet Judges and Officers The Fifteenth of Av What Is Preparation for the Selichot [Forgiveness] The Good Who Does Good, to the Bad and to the Good The Importance of Recognition of Evil It is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing From a Bad Person What Is the Advantage in the Work More than in the Reward? The Importance of Faith that Is Always Present The Miracle of Hanukkah The Difference between Mercy and Truth and Untrue Mercy One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It? Purim, and the Commandment: Until He until He Does Not Know What Is Half a Shekel in the Work - 1 Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror Two Discernments in Holiness The Difference between the Work of the General Public and the Work of the Individual The Severity of Teaching Idol Worshippers the Torah What Is Preparation for Reception of the Torah - 1 What Are Revealed and Concealed in the Work of the Creator? What Is Man’s Private Possession? What Are Dirty Hands in the Work of the Creator? What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator? Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes At All What is Unfounded Hatred in the Work What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work? What Is a Light Commandment What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work? What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work? What Is “According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward”? What Is a War Over Authority in the Work – 1 What Is Making a Covenant in the Work Why Life Is Divided into Two Discernments What Is the Extent of Teshuva [Repentance]? What It Means that the Name of the Creator is “Truth” What Is the Prayer for Help and for Forgiveness in the Work? What Is, “When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,” in the Work? What Is the Difference between a Field and a Man of the Field, in the Work? What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven? What Does It Mean that One Who Prays Should Explain His Words Properly? What Does It Mean that the Righteous Suffers Afflictions? What Are the Four Qualities of Those Who Go to the Seminary, in the Work? What Are the Two Discernments before Lishma? What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator? What Is “the People’s Shepherd Is the Whole People” in the Work? The Need for Love of Friends What Is “There Is No Blessing in an Empty Place” in the Work? What Is the Foundation on which Kedusha [Holiness] Is Built? The Main Difference between a Beastly Soul and a Godly Soul When Is One Considered “A Worker of the Creator” in the Work? What Is the Reward in the Work of Bestowal? What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work? What Are Merits and Iniquities of a Righteous in the Work? What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work What Is “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,” in the Work? What Is the Preparation on the Eve of Shabbat, in the Work? What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work? What Is, “The Creator Does Not Tolerate the Proud,” in the Work? What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed? How to Recognize One Who Serves God from One Who Does Not Serve Him What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator? What Are the Two Actions During a Descent? What Is the Difference between General and Individual in the Work of the Creator? What Are Day and Night in the Work? What Is the Help in the Work that One Should Ask of the Creator? What Is the Measure of Repentance? What Is a Great or a Small Sin in the Work? What Is the Difference between the Gate of Tears and the Rest of the Gates? What Is a Flood of Water in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World Was by Largess? What Is Above Reason in the Work? What Is “He Who Did Not Toil on the Eve of Shabbat, What Will He Eat on Shabbat” in the Work? 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What Is “He Who Defiles Himself Is Defiled from Above” in the Work? What Is the Meaning of Suffering in the Work? What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2 What Is the Meaning of Lighting the Menorah in the Work? What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work? What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work? What Are Spies in the Work? What Is Peace in the Work? What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work? What Is “For It Is Your Wisdom and Understanding in the Eyes of the Nations,” in the Work? What Is “A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain” in the Work? What Are Judges and Officers in the Work? What Is, “Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,” in the Work? The Daily Schedule What Does “May We Be the Head and Not the Tail” Mean in the Work? What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah What It Means that the Generations of the Righteous are Good Deeds, in the Work What It Means that the Land Did Not Bear Fruit before Man Was Created, in the Work When Should One Use Pride in the Work? What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work? What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work What Is, “A Ladder Is Set on the Earth, and Its Top Reaches Heaven,” in the Work? What Does It Mean that Our Sages Said, “King David Did Not Have a Life,” in the Work? What Placing the Hanukkah Candle on the Left Means in the Work Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work? - 1 What Does It Mean that by the Unification of the Creator and the Shechina, All Iniquities Are Atoned? What Is True Hesed in the Work? What Does It Mean that Before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered, in the Work? What Is “For Lack of Spirit and for Hard Work,” in the Work? 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What Does It Mean that One Who Repents Should Be in Happiness? What Is, “If a Woman Inseminates First, She Delivers a Male Child,” in the Work? What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work? What Does It Mean that a High Priest Should Take a Virgin Wife, in the Work? What Does It Mean that One Who Was On a Far Off Way Is Postponed to a Second Passover, in the Work? What Does It Mean that Charity to the Poor Makes the Holy Name, in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Creator Favors Someone, in the Work? What Is Eating Their Fruits in This World and Keeping the Principal for the Next World, in the Work? What Is the Meaning of “Spies,” in the Work? What Is, “Peace, Peace, to the Far and to the Near,” in the Work? What Is the “Torah” and What Is “The Statute of the Torah,” in the Work? What Is the “Right Line,” in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Right Must Be Greater than the Left, in the Work? What Are Truth and Falsehood in the Work? What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities? What Is, “An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., Israel Does Not Know,” in the Work? What Is, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,” in the Work? What Is the Reason for which Israel Were Rewarded with Inheritance of the Land, in the Work? What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work? What Is the Son of the Beloved and the Son of the Hated in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Right and the Left Are in Contrast, in the Work?

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Rabash / What Is the Meaning of “Spies,” in the Work?

What Is the Meaning of “Spies,” in the Work?

Article No. 35, 1991

It is written in The Zohar (Shlach, Item 82), “Rabbi Yosi said, ‘They took upon themselves a counsel, to slander everything. What is ‘everything’? It is the earth and the Creator. Rabbi Yitzhak said, ‘The earth, this is true. But the Creator? How do we know?’ He told him, ‘This is the meaning of the verse, ‘Nevertheless, strong is the people,’ meaning Who can overcome them, for ‘strong is the people’? In other words, even the Creator cannot overcome them. Thus, they slandered the Creator.”

We should understand how such a thing can be said in the work, about the Creator, since we are speaking of people who want to draw near to the Creator. How can it be said that they do not believe that the Creator is almighty? It is written in The Zohar (Item 63), “‘And they returned from touring the land.’ ‘Returned’ means that they returned to the side of evil, and returned from the path of truth, saying, ‘What did we get out of it? To this day we have not seen good in the world. We have toiled in Torah and the house is empty. Who will be awarded that world? It would have been better had we not toiled so. We labored and learned in order to know the part of that world. That upper world is good, as we know in the Torah, but who can be rewarded with it?’”

We should understand what is the sin of the spies, if they said that everything is true, “but who can be rewarded with it?” In other words, they were saying that they are unworthy of the good, as it is written, “That upper world is good, as we know in the Torah, but who can be rewarded with it?” Thus, why is the sin so grave?

In Midrash Rabbah (Shlach 15:7), he says, “Rabbi Yehoshua says, ‘What were they (spies) like? Like a king who arranged for his son a fair woman, from a good and wealthy family. The king told his son, ‘She is a fair looking woman and she is from a good and wealthy family.’ The son replied, ‘I will go and see her,’ for he did not believe his father. Promptly, the matter perplexed and irritated his father. His father said, ‘What should I do? If I tell him, ‘I will not show her to you now,’ he will say that she is ugly, and this is why he does not want to show her.’ In the end, he said to him, ‘See her, but because you did not believe in me, I swear that you will not see her in your house, for I will rather give her to your son.’’”

This is perplexing, for it implies that the Creator showed that the land is good, but the spies did not see the good land, since they said that they did not see there any good. Instead, they said that they saw there only bad things, for they said, “It is a land that devours its inhabitants.” Thus, what is the allegory about the king’s son?

To understand the above, we must understand what we learn, that we have two things before us: 1) to receive delight and pleasure, which is the purpose of creation, 2) how to obtain the delight and pleasure.

Because we see that although everyone agrees that we should receive delight and pleasure, without labor, one does not attain anything. The labor is that we must offer some payment to the landlord so he will want to give us what we want. In the work, this is called “desire to bestow,” for only in vessels of bestowal can we receive abundance of Kedusha [holiness], which is as we learned, “You will be holy for I am holy,” meaning that everything must be in order to bestow.

Before one obtains the vessels of bestowal, he is placed under the Tzimtzum [restriction] and the concealment that were placed on the upper guidance, so that man is unable to see the truth. That is, a person is unable to see His guidance, the way He behaves with the creatures in a guidance of good and doing good, as Baal HaSulam said (in the book Shamati, essay, “Faith in the Rav”) about what is written, “They have eyes but they will not see,” that one must believe in his rav [teacher] about what the rav arranged for us—an order of work on the “right.” At that time, a person should depict to himself as though he has already been rewarded with complete faith in the Creator, and he already feels in his organs that the Creator leads the whole world in a manner of good and doing good, meaning that the whole world receives from Him only good.

And even though when he looks at himself, he sees that he is bare and destitute, he should say about this, “They have eyes but they will not see,” where “they” means that as long as one is under multiple authorities, called “they,” “they will not see” the truth. And what is multiple authorities? It is two desires.

This means that man has a will to receive for his own sake, which is a different desire from that of the Creator, whose desire is to bestow, and a person wants only to receive for his own sake. Hence, when one is going to criticize what the Creator gave him, he sees only suffering and pain, since there are two desires in the world.

Therefore, when one must thank the Creator and say, “Blessed is He who said, ‘Let there be the world,’” to praise and be thankful that the Creator gave us a world filled with abundance, yet, now he sees the opposite, then one must exert and go above reason and say that everything he sees is not the truth, and believe what is written, “They have eyes but they will not see” the truth.

It follows that every work and labor that one must give is in order to obtain the desire to bestow, for only then can one see how the Creator created a world so filled with abundance that our sages said, “There has never been joy before Him as on the day when heaven and earth were created.” This is so because to the Creator, there is no issue of time. Hence, He immediately saw the wholeness of creation at the end of its correction, since the purpose of creation was as it is written, “His desire to do good to His creations,” and to Him, past and future are all the same. Naturally, at that time He saw the delight and pleasure that the creatures are receiving.

However, when one begins to work in order to obtain the desire to bestow, begins the order of ascents and descents, since in everything there are things that are good for one and bad for the other. However, everything must be balanced. For this reason, often, a person does not keep to the middle road between them, but leans to one side more than to the other, and spoils everything.

It is known that in the work of bestowal, a person must walk on two lines, called “right and left.” “Right” means wholeness, and “left” is called in the work, “a path that requires correction.” Because of it, we have two orders in the work:

1) Songs and praises, which pertain to the state of wholeness. That is, when one is satisfied with the guidance of the Creator, with how He behaves with him, he thanks the Creator for the good that the Creator has given him.

2) Prayer and litany, which pertains to when one sees that he has deficiencies and wants the Creator to satisfy his needs. At that time, a person asks the Creator to grant him his wish. However, since they are opposite from one another, meaning when a person thanks the Creator, and certainly when a man is thankful, one should try to give to the Creator many thanks, for the gratitude should be evaluated according to the measure of the good that the Creator has given him. Thus, it is upon man to depict to himself the greatness and importance of the matter.

In other words, a person says that he does not deserve this good that the Creator has given him. Thus, how can he then say that he is deficient? Certainly, a prayer must be from the bottom of the heart, meaning to feel his need in all his organs or the prayer will not be from the bottom of the heart. Thus, how is it possible can it be said, once he has thanked the Creator for all the good that he has received, that he is deficient, and pray and cry to the Creator to grant him his wishes?

Therefore, those two things cause descents and ascents, since each one cancels the other. Yet, we should understand why we need both, and why prayer or gratitude is not enough, but rather both are required, but since they cannot be in the same carrier at the same time, we arrange them consecutively.

In other words, first we thank the Creator because He chose us from among all the nations, although we are lowly and inferior compared to His greatness, yet He chose us out of every nation. This is as our sages said, “One should always establish the praise of the Creator and then pray.” Thus, when one thanks the Creator because He has been good to him, meaning certainly when the Creator gave him all that is needed, how is there a place to then pray for the things he is missing, and for the prayer to be from the bottom of the heart?

The answer is that on one hand, one should receive vitality during the work. When one does not have anything from which to live, he is distraught and cannot observe the Torah and Mitzvot properly, as it is written, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and you shall speak of them when you sit in your home, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Thus, there is a complete order in observing Torah and Mitzvot. If one’s mind is not settled, his work cannot be done in the order that it should. Hence, when one praises the Creator and depicts to himself the greatness and importance of the Creator as much as he can, from this one can derive vitality and feel the importance of the Creator, that the Creator gave him a thought and desire to speak with Him. From this, one should derive contentment.

One should imagine what mood he would be in if the greatest in the generation, whom the whole world praises, if that great man gave him permission to speak with him, how elated he would be, since when he feels this pleasure of being able to speak with him, he would not feel that he needs anything in the world. The pleasure that one feels more than usual makes him forget all his worries and his whole body gives itself up to the pleasure he is receiving now. That is, if during the reception of the pleasure, he can think about anything other than the pleasure he is receiving now, it is a sign that the pleasure he is receiving now is incomplete.

Hence, when one depicts to himself that the Creator permitted him to speak with Him, it does not matter what he says, but the importance that he has an opportunity to speak to the Creator, from this one should derive delight and pleasure that he has such a privilege. It follows that the work of the right is that one should believe that he is speaking with the Creator and that he does not need anything right now.

However, one should know that anything that depends on faith, the body does not agree to this work, especially because this work is considered a correction, and anything that pertains to correction invokes the body’s resistance. This extends from the breaking of the vessels that occurred in the world of Nekudim. Therefore, there is much work on this.

Baal HaSulam said about the work of the right, when a person begins to slight it because he begins to work on a line that is contradictory to the right, which is the left line—that the work of the right is work in wholeness and truth, meaning that one must believe that the Creator is great and important, and man is utterly base. It follows that both are true. It is hard to walk on this line, and the body objects. He said that in the state of the right, a person is considered “blessed,” since he is happy with his share and does not need anything. At that time, a person is fit to receive abundance from above by way of “The blessed clings to the Blessed.” In this quality, he has Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. Hence, precisely in that state, a person can rise in degree.

However, we must also walk on the left line, which is the way to see how one sees the faults that need correcting. In other words, in the right, the work is only to depict the greatness of the Creator and believe in His greatness and importance. But the quality of the left is specifically to look at oneself and see the faults in him, in order to correct himself so there is no flaw in him. But the main flaw that one should see is the bad within him, meaning what is the essence of the evil that we must find, meaning that we must search and find.

Certainly, each person knows that there is evil in him. The thing is that we must know the root of evil, which is what prevents one from being able to receive the good that there is in the world.

The world was created for a purpose, and it was said that the purpose of the creation of the world was His desire to do good to His creations. Since man suffers torments in the world, and asks, “Why does it seem to us in this way?” For this reason, one must believe in the sages, who said that one should know that there was a correction on the purpose of creation, so as not to have the matter of shame upon the reception of the pleasure. This can be only if during the reception of the abundance, it will be in order to bestow. In that state, there is no place for shame.

Hence, only then, when he believes in the sages that we must obtain vessels of bestowal, otherwise it is impossible to obtain the good that the creatures should receive, then one realizes that all the bad is only the will to receive for one’s own sake, and man should do everything to root it out and receive in its stead the desire to bestow, called a “second nature.” At that time, he will be rewarded with the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation.

According to the above, we should work in two manners:

1) On the path of the right, which is the time when one works so as to feel that he has wholeness and he is content with his situation, and he can thank the Creator for it. This is the time when he can receive from above abundance and advance in the rungs of Kedusha [holiness]. However, although this is time to receive abundance from above, he does not lack anything, meaning he has no Kelim [vessels] to receive the abundance, so he must shift to the other line, called “left.”

2) This is the path of the “left,” by means of criticism that one passes on himself. The right line means that one looks only at the Creator, meaning to understand and to learn about the measure of the greatness of the Creator, and not about himself, to see what he is missing. Rather, he wants to look at what he has, meaning what the Creator gave him, and be thankful to the Creator for this.

However, the path of the left is to examine oneself, how much bad he has and what is the bad within him, and to try to correct it. At that time begins the matter of the spies who slandered the earth. “Earth” means the kingdom of heaven, as they said, that this matter of the kingdom of heaven is not for them.

According to the above, we should interpret what is written, “Rabbi Yosi said, ‘They took upon themselves a counsel, to slander everything. What is ‘everything’? It is the earth and the Creator. ‘This is the meaning of the verse, ‘Nevertheless, strong is the people,’ meaning who can overcome them?’ In other words, even the Creator cannot overcome them. Thus, they slandered the Creator.”

They said that “We were born with a nature of doing everything for ourselves, so how can we accept the burden of the kingdom of heaven with the aim to benefit the Creator, meaning to do everything in order to bestow? After all, we began the work many times and in our view, we have done all that we could. But not only did the Creator not help us advance at all toward the aim to bestow, but we have even gone backwards. Thus, we must determine that even the Creator cannot help us emerge from the control of the will to receive. Otherwise, we would have moved a little bit forward. But after all the labor we have given in order to obtain the desire to bestow, in our view, it has all been in vain. Therefore, we are in a state where we have neither the corporeal world nor the spiritual world.”

This is why it is written, “What did we get out of it? To this day we have not seen good in the world. We have toiled in Torah and the house is empty. Who will be awarded that world?” That is, they saw that they were not advancing in the work. But what was the sin? It was that they should have had faith in the Creator that all those descents that they felt in the work were not because they did not go forward, but that each time a person sees that he is far from the goal, it is in order for him to find a real need for His salvation. And the need is called “a Kli [vessel] to receive the filling.” Yet, what was missing there and for which they could not continue and wanted to escape from the campaign was the lack of the right line.

The meaning of “right” is that one must have vitality during the work, and we receive vitality specifically from wholeness, which we can obtain precisely when we are not looking at ourselves, but at the Creator, and all the effort is to think about the greatness of the Creator and not about ourselves, meaning what we acquired, some progress in the work. Rather, we should think what a privilege we have that we have some contact with the Creator.

This means that when he performs a commandment or says a blessing, he should say, “I am happy that I believe that I am doing the Creator’s will by observing His commandments. Although I understand that we must observe the commandments of the King with more importance than I ascribe to observing the Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], I cannot appreciate the importance of the act, even though the act is incomplete. Still, I am happy that the Creator has given me a desire and yearning to do something in observing Torah and Mitzvot, even if these actions are not so important. Yet, it is important to me, since now I can say that I am doing the Creator’s will.”

From this, one should derive vitality and joy because it is the truth that the Creator is great. Hence, when one has a desire to do something in the work, this is very important. A person should believe that even when a person does things by coercion, it is still important, since in terms of the action, there is nothing to add and the act does its thing.

Therefore, since the spies did not go on the right, as well, they wanted to escape the campaign and said that even the Creator cannot help them. That is, they understood that the Creator should bring them closer in the way that they understood, not in the way that the Torah obligates us, as it is written, that there are two writings that deny one another until the third wiring comes and decides between them. For this reason, the spies, who strayed to walk on the left line and abandoned the right, saw that they could not come and inherit the land. It was all because they went by the wrong path, as Moses had arranged for them.

This is the meaning of what is written about a king who arranged for his son a wife and said, “I will show her to you (but) I swear that you will not see her in your house, for I will rather give her to your son.” We asked, But the spies did not see her, that she is fair and comes from a good and wealthy family?! We should interpret that in the work “father and son” are “cause and consequence.” The present is called “father,” and the future is called “son.” In spirituality, “seeing” means attainment. Since they took the wrong path, they could not see it “in your house,” meaning in the state they were in, in vessels of reception. Rather, “to your son,” meaning after you repent, when you are rewarded with vessels of bestowal, you will be able to see all the merits that there are in the inheritance of the land that the Creator promised to our forefathers.