Purpose of Society - 1. 1-1 (1984)
Purpose of Society - 2. 1-2 (1984)
Concerning Love of Friends. 2 (1984)
Love of Friends - 1. 3 (1984)
Each One Shall Help His Friend. 4 (1984)
What Does the Rule "Love Thy Friend as Thyself" Give Us. 5 (1984)
Love of Friends - 2. 6 (1984)
According to What Is Explained Concerning “Love Thy Friend as Thyself”. 7 (1984)
Which Keeping of Torah and Mitzvot Purifies the Heart. 8 (1984)
One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House. 9 (1984)
Achieve in Order Not to Have to Reincarnate?. 10 (1984)
Concerning Ancestral Merit. 11 (1984)
Concerning the Importance of Society. 12 (1984)
Sometimes Spirituality Is Called “a Soul”. 13 (1984)
Forevermore One Sells All That Is His and Marries a Wise Disciple's Daughter. 14 (1984)
Can Something Negative Come Down from Above. 15 (1984)
Concerning Bestowal. 16 (1984)
Concerning the Importance of Friends. 17-1 (1984)
The Agenda of the Assembly - 1. 17-2 (1984)
And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You. 18 (1984)
You Stand Today, All of You. 19 (1984)
Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 1. 1 (1985)
The Meaning of Branch and Root. 2 (1985)
The Meaning of Truth and Faith. 3 (1985)
These Are the Generations of Noah. 4 (1985)
Go Forth From Your Land. 5 (1985)
And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre. 6 (1985)
The Life of Sarah. 7 (1985)
Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 2. 8 (1985)
Jacob Went Out. 9 (1985)
And Jacob Went Out. 10 (1985)
Concerning the Debate between Jacob and Laban. 11 (1985)
Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived. 12 (1985)
Mighty Rock of My Salvation. 13 (1985)
I Am the First and I Am the Last. 14 (1985)
And Hezekiah Turned His Face to the Wall. 15 (1985)
But the More They Afflicted Them. 16 (1985)
Know Today and Reply to Your Heart. 17 (1985)
Concerning the Slanderers. 18 (1985)
Come unto Pharaoh - 1. 19 (1985)
He who Hardens His Heart. 20 (1985)
We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work. 21 (1985)
The Whole of the Torah Is One Holy Name. 22 (1985)
On My Bed at Night. 23 (1985)
Three Times in the Work. 24 (1985)
In Every Thing We Must Discern between Light and Kli. 25 (1985)
Show Me Your Glory. 26 (1985)
Repentance. 27 (1985)
The Spies. 28 (1985)
The Lord Is Near to All Who Call upon Him. 29 (1985)
Three Prayers. 30 (1985)
One Does Not Regard Oneself as Wicked. 31 (1985)
Concerning the Reward of the Receivers. 32 (1985)
The Felons of Israel. 33 (1985)
And I Pleaded with the Lord. 34 (1985)
When a Person Knows What Is Fear of the Creator. 35 (1985)
And There Was Evening and There Was Morning. 36 (1985)
Who Testifies to a Person. 37 (1985)
A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering. 38 (1985)
Hear Our Voice. 39 (1985)
Moses Went. 1 (1986)
Lend Ear, O Heaven. 2 (1986)
Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah. 3 (1986)
Concerning Hesed [Mercy]. 4 (1986)
Concerning Respecting the Father. 5 (1986)
Confidence. 6 (1986)
The Importance of a Prayer of Many. 7 (1986)
Concerning Help that Comes from Above. 8 (1986)
Concerning the Hanukkah Candle. 9 (1986)
Concerning Prayer. 10 (1986)
A Real Prayer Is over a Real Deficiency. 11 (1986)
What Is the Main Deficiency for which One Should Pray?. 12 (1986)
Come unto Pharaoh – 2. 13 (1986)
What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?. 14 (1986)
A Prayer of Many. 15 (1986)
The Lord Has Chosen Jacob for Himself. 16 (1986)
The Agenda of the Assembly - 2. 17 (1986)
Who Causes the Prayer. 18 (1986)
Concerning Joy. 19 (1986)
Should One Sin and Be Guilty. 20 (1986)
Concerning Above Reason. 21 (1986)
If a Woman Inseminates. 22 (1986)
Concerning Fear and Joy. 23 (1986)
The Difference between Charity and Gift. 24 (1986)
The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]. 25 (1986)
A Near Way and a Far Way. 26 (1986)
The Creator and Israel Went into Exile. 27 (1986)
A Congregation Is No Less than Ten. 28 (1986)
Lishma and Lo Lishma. 29 (1986)
The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit. 30 (1986)
Concerning Yenika [Suckling] and Ibur [Impregnation]. 31 (1986)
The Reason for Straightening the Legs and Covering the Head During the Prayer. 32 (1986)
What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet. 33 (1986)
Judges and Officers. 34 (1986)
The Fifteenth of Av. 35 (1986)
What Is Preparation for the Selichot [Forgiveness]. 36 (1986)
The Good Who Does Good, to the Bad and to the Good. 1 (1987)
The Importance of Recognition of Evil. 2 (1987)
All of Israel Have a Part in the Next World. 3 (1987)
It is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing From a Bad Person. 4 (1987)
What Is the Advantage in the Work More than in the Reward?. 5 (1987)
The Importance of Faith that Is Always Present. 6 (1987)
The Miracle of Hanukkah. 7 (1987)
The Difference between Mercy and Truth and Untrue Mercy. 8 (1987)
One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future. 9 (1987)
What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It?. 10 (1987)
Purim, and the Commandment: Until He until He Does Not Know. 11 (1987)
What Is Half a Shekel in the Work - 1. 12 (1987)
Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover. 13 (1987)
The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror. 14 (1987)
Two Discernments in Holiness. 15 (1987)
The Difference between the Work of the General Public and the Work of the Individual . 16 (1987)
The Severity of Teaching Idol Worshippers the Torah. 17 (1987)
What Is Preparation for Reception of the Torah - 1. 18 (1987)
What Are Revealed and Concealed in the Work of the Creator?. 19 (1987)
What Is Man’s Private Possession?. 20 (1987)
What Are Dirty Hands in the Work of the Creator?. 21 (1987)
What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?. 22 (1987)
Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes At All. 23 (1987)
What is Unfounded Hatred in the Work. 24 (1987)
What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?. 25 (1987)
What Is a Light Commandment. 26 (1987)
What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?. 27 (1987)
What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?. 28 (1987)
What Is “According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward”?. 29 (1987)
What Is a War Over Authority in the Work – 1. 30 (1987)
What Is Making a Covenant in the Work. 31 (1987)
Why Life Is Divided into Two Discernments. 1 (1988)
What Is the Extent of Teshuva [Repentance]?. 2 (1988)
What It Means that the Name of the Creator is “Truth”. 3 (1988)
What Is the Prayer for Help and for Forgiveness in the Work?. 4 (1988)
What Is, “When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,” in the Work?. 5 (1988)
What Is the Difference between a Field and a Man of the Field, in the Work?. 6 (1988)
What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?. 7 (1988)
What Does It Mean that One Who Prays Should Explain His Words Properly?. 8 (1988)
What Does It Mean that the Righteous Suffers Afflictions?. 9 (1988)
What Are the Four Qualities of Those Who Go to the Seminary, in the Work?. 10 (1988)
What Are the Two Discernments before Lishma?. 11 (1988)
What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?. 12 (1988)
What Is “the People’s Shepherd Is the Whole People” in the Work?. 13 (1988)
The Need for Love of Friends. 14 (1988)
What Is “There Is No Blessing in an Empty Place” in the Work?. 15 (1988)
What Is the Foundation on which Kedusha [Holiness] Is Built?. 16 (1988)
The Main Difference between a Beastly Soul and a Godly Soul. 17 (1988)
When Is One Considered “A Worker of the Creator” in the Work?. 18 (1988)
What Are Silver, Gold, Israel, Rest of Nations, in the Work?. 19 (1988)
What Is the Reward in the Work of Bestowal?. 20 (1988)
What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?. 21 (1988)
What Are Merits and Iniquities of a Righteous in the Work?. 22 (1988)
What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work. 23 (1988)
What Is “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,” in the Work?. 24 (1988)
What Is the Preparation on the Eve of Shabbat, in the Work?. 25 (1988)
What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work?. 26 (1988)
What Is, “The Creator Does Not Tolerate the Proud,” in the Work?. 27 (1988)
What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?. 28 (1988)
How to Recognize One Who Serves God from One Who Does Not Serve Him. 29 (1988)
What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends. 30 (1988)
What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?. 31 (1988)
What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?. 32 (1988)
What Is the Difference between General and Individual in the Work of the Creator?. 33 (1988)
What Are Day and Night in the Work?. 34 (1988)
What Is the Help in the Work that One Should Ask of the Creator?. 35 (1988)
What Is the Measure of Repentance?. 1 (1989)
What Is a Great or a Small Sin in the Work?. 2 (1989)
What Is the Difference between the Gate of Tears and the Rest of the Gates?. 3 (1989)
What Is a Flood of Water in the Work?. 4 (1989)
What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World Was by Largess?. 5 (1989)
What Is Above Reason in the Work?. 6 (1989)
What Is “He Who Did Not Toil on the Eve of Shabbat, What Will He Eat on Shabbat” in the Work?. 7 (1989)
What It Means, in the Work, that If the Good Grows, So Grows the Bad. 8 (1989)
What Is, “Calamity that Comes upon the Wicked Begins with the Righteous,” in the Work?. 9 (1989)
What Does It Mean that the Ladder Is Diagonal, in the Work?. 10 (1989)
What Are the Forces Required in the Work?. 11 (1989)
What Is a Groom’s Meal?. 12 (1989)
What Is the “Bread of an Evil-Eyed Man” in the Work?. 13 (1989)
What Is the Meaning of “Reply unto Your Heart”?. 14 (1989)
What Is, “The Righteous Become Apparent through the Wicked,” in the Work?. 15 (1989)
What Is the Prohibition to Bless on an Empty Table, in the Work?. 16 (1989)
What Is the Prohibition to Greet Before Blessing the Creator, in the Work?. 17 (1989)
What Is, “There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted,” in the Work?. 18 (1989)
Why Is Shabbat Called Shin-Bat in the Work?. 19 (1989)
What Does It Mean that the Evil Inclination Ascends and Slanders, in the Work?. 20 (1989)
What Is, “A Drunken Man Must Not Pray, in the Work?. 21 (1989)
Why Are Four Questions Asked Specifically on Passover Night?. 22 (1989)
What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?. 23 (1989)
What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work?. 24 (1989)
What Is “He Who Has a Flaw Shall Not Offer [Sacrifice]” in the Work?. 25 (1989)
What Is “He Who Defiles Himself Is Defiled from Above” in the Work?. 26 (1989)
What Is the Meaning of Suffering in the Work?. 27 (1989)
Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?. 28 (1989)
What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2. 29 (1989)
What Is the Meaning of Lighting the Menorah in the Work?. 30 (1989)
What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?. 31 (1989)
What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?. 32 (1989)
What Are Spies in the Work?. 33 (1989)
What Is Peace in the Work?. 34 (1989)
What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work?. 35 (1989)
What Is “For It Is Your Wisdom and Understanding in the Eyes of the Nations,” in the Work?. 36 (1989)
What Is “A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain” in the Work?. 37 (1989)
What Are Judges and Officers in the Work?. 38 (1989)
What Is, “The Torah Speaks Only Against the Evil Inclination,” in the Work?. 39 (1989)
What Is, “Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,” in the Work?. 40 (1989)
The Daily Schedule. 41 (1989)
What Does “May We Be the Head and Not the Tail” Mean in the Work?. 1 (1990)
What Is the Meaning of Failure in the Work?. 2 (1990)
What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah. 3 (1990)
What It Means that the Generations of the Righteous are Good Deeds, in the Work. 4 (1990)
What It Means that the Land Did Not Bear Fruit before Man Was Created, in the Work. 5 (1990)
When Should One Use Pride in the Work?. 6 (1990)
What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?. 7 (1990)
What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work. 8 (1990)
What Is, “A Ladder Is Set on the Earth, and Its Top Reaches Heaven,” in the Work?. 9 (1990)
What Does It Mean that Our Sages Said, “King David Did Not Have a Life,” in the Work?. 10 (1990)
What Placing the Hanukkah Candle on the Left Means in the Work. 11 (1990)
Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work? - 1. 12 (1990)
What Does It Mean that by the Unification of the Creator and the Shechina, All Iniquities Are Atoned?. 13 (1990)
What Is True Hesed in the Work?. 14 (1990)
What Does It Mean that Before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered, in the Work?. 15 (1990)
What Is “For Lack of Spirit and for Hard Work,” in the Work?. 16 (1990)
What Is the Assistance that He who Comes to Purify Receives in the Work?. 17 (1990)
Why the Speech of Shabbat Must Not Be as the Speech of a Weekday, in the Work. 18 (1990)
Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work?-2. 19 (1990)
What Is Half a Shekel in the Work? - 2. 20 (1990)
What Is, “As I Am for Nothing, so You Are for Nothing,” in the Work?. 21 (1990)
What Is the Order in Blotting Out Amalek?. 22 (1990)
What Does It Mean that Moses Was Perplexed about the Birth of the Moon, in the Work?. 23 (1990)
What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work?. 24 (1990)
What Is, “Praise the Lord, All Nations,” in the Work?. 25 (1990)
What Is, “There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,” in the Work?. 26 (1990)
What Is, “Every Blade of Grass Has an Appointee Above, Who Strikes It and Tells It, Grow!” in the Work?. 27 (1990)
What Is, “Warn the Great about the Small,” in the Work?. 28 (1990)
What Is, “The Torah Exhausts a Person’s Strength,” in the Work?. 29 (1990)
What It Means that “Law and Ordinance” Is the Name of the Creator in the Work. 30 (1990)
What “There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted” Means in the Work. 31 (1990)
What “Israel Do the Creator’s Will” Means in the Work. 32 (1990)
What Is “The Earth Feared and Was Still,” in the Work?. 33 (1990)
What Are “A Layperson’s Vessels,” in the Work?. 34 (1990)
What Is “He Who Enjoys at a Groom’s Meal,” in the Work?. 35 (1990)
What Is, “The Children of Esau and Ishmael Did Not Want to Receive the Torah,” in the Work?. 36 (1990)
What Is, “The Shechina Is a Testimony to Israel,” in the Work?. 37 (1990)
What Is, “A Cup of Blessing Must Be Full,” in the Work?. 38 (1990)
What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns forJerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work?. 39 (1990)
What Is, “For You Are the Least of All the Peoples,” in the Work?. 40 (1990)
What Are the Light Mitzvot that a Person Tramples with His Heels, in the Work?. 41 (1990)
What Are a Blessing and a Curse, in the Work?. 42 (1990)
What Is, “You Shall Not Plant for Yourself an Asherah by the Altar,” in the Work?. 43 (1990)
What Is an Optional War, in the work? - 2. 44 (1990)
What Is, “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord Our God,” in the work?. 45 (1990)
The Order of the Work, from Baal HaSulam. 46 (1990)
What Is, “We Have No Other King But You,” in the Work?. 1 (1991)
What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?. 2 (1991)
What Is, “The Wicked Will Prepare and the Righteous Will Wear,” in the Work?. 3 (1991)
What Is, “The Saboteur Was in the Flood, and Was Putting to Death,” in the Work?. 4 (1991)
What Is, “The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,” in the Work?. 5 (1991)
What Is, “The Herdsmen of Abram’s Cattle and the Herdsmen of Lot’s Cattle,” in the Work?. 6 (1991)
What Is “Man” and What Is “Beast” in the Work?. 7 (1991)
What Is, “And Abraham Was Old, of Many Days,” in the Work?. 8 (1991)
What Is, “The Smell of His Garments,” in the Work?. 9 (1991)
What Does “The King Stands on His Field When the Crop Is Ripe” Mean in the Work?. 10 (1991)
What It Means that the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination Guard a Person in the Work. 11 (1991)
These Candles Are Sacred. 12 (1991)
What “You Have Given the Strong to the Hands of the Weak” Means in the Work. 13 (1991)
What Does It Mean that Man’s Blessing Is the Blessing of the Sons, in the Work?. 14 (1991)
What Is the Blessing, “Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,” in the Work?. 15 (1991)
Why We Need “Reply unto Your Heart,” to Know that the Lord, He Is God, in the Work. 16 (1991)
What Is, “For I Have Hardened His Heart,” in the work?. 17 (1991)
What It Means that We Should Raise the Right Hand over the Left Hand, in the Work. 18 (1991)
What Is, “Rise Up, O Lord, and Let Your Enemies Be Scattered,” in the Work?. 19 (1991)
What Is, “There Is Nothing that Has No Place,” in the Work?. 20 (1991)
What Does It Mean that We Read the Portion, Zachor [Remember], Before Purim, in the Work?. 21 (1991)
What Is “A Lily Among the Thorns,” in the Work?. 22 (1991)
What Is the Meaning of the Purification of a Cow’s Ashes, in the Work?. 23 (1991)
What Does It Mean that One Should Bear a Son and a Daughter, in the Work?. 24 (1991)
What Does It Mean that One Who Repents Should Be in Happiness?. 25 (1991)
What Is Revealing a Portion and Covering Two Portions in the Work?. 26 (1991)
What Is, “If a Woman Inseminates First, She Delivers a Male Child,” in the Work?. 27 (1991)
What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?. 28 (1991)
What Does It Mean that a High Priest Should Take a Virgin Wife, in the Work?. 29 (1991)
What Does It Mean that One Who Was On a Far Off Way Is Postponed to a Second Passover, in the Work?. 30 (1991)
What Does It Mean that Charity to the Poor Makes the Holy Name, in the Work?. 31 (1991)
What Are Banners in the Work?. 32 (1991)
What Does It Mean that the Creator Favors Someone, in the Work?. 33 (1991)
What Is Eating Their Fruits in This World and Keeping the Principal for the Next World, in the Work?. 34 (1991)
What Is the Meaning of “Spies,” in the Work?. 35 (1991)
What Is, “Peace, Peace, to the Far and to the Near,” in the Work?. 36 (1991)
What Is the “Torah” and What Is “The Statute of the Torah,” in the Work?. 37 (1991)
What Is the “Right Line,” in the Work?. 38 (1991)
What Does It Mean that the Right Must Be Greater than the Left, in the Work?. 39 (1991)
What Are Truth and Falsehood in the Work?. 40 (1991)
What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities?. 41 (1991)
What Is, “An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., Israel Does Not Know,” in the Work?. 42 (1991)
What Is, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,” in the Work?. 43 (1991)
What Is the Reason for which Israel Were Rewarded with Inheritance of the Land, in the Work?. 44 (1991)
What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?. 45 (1991)
What Is the Son of the Beloved and the Son of the Hated in the Work?. 46 (1991)
What Does It Mean that the Right and the Left Are in Contrast, in the Work?. 47 (1991)
Kabbalah Librarychevron_right
Rabash/Articles
chevron_right
The Spies
 

The Spies

Article No. 28, 1985

The holy Zohar interprets the matter of the spies that Moses sent to tour the land (Slach, items 56-58) concerning the spiritual land: “Why is it written that the Creator tells them, ‘Go up there into the Negev,’ delve in the Torah, and by that you will know that world. ‘See what the land is like,’ meaning from that you will see the world to which I bring you. ‘And the people dwelling in it’ are the righteous in the Garden of Eden.

“‘The strong is the faint,’ meaning that in it you will see if they were rewarded with all that because they overcame their inclination by strength and broke it, or by weakness, without effort. Or, if they were strengthened in the Torah, to engage in it day and night, or left it off and were still rewarded with all that. ‘Whether they are few or many’ means if many engage in My work and strengthen themselves in the Torah, and are rewarded with all this or not.

“‘And what is the land like, is it fat or lean.’ You will know what the land is like in the Torah, meaning what is that world, if the upper abundance is plentiful for its dwellers or if anything is missing there.

“‘And they went up into the Negev and came to Hebron.’ Going up in the Negev means that people are ascending in it, in the Torah. ‘In the Negev” means with an idle heart, as one who tries in vain, dryly, thinking that there is no reward in it. He sees that the wealth of this world is lost for it, and thinks that all is lost. ‘In the Negev’ means that the water has dried out. ‘And came to Hebron’ means that he comes to connect with the Torah. Hebron was built in seven years, which are the seventy faces of the Torah.

“‘And they came to the stream of Eshkol’ are words of legend and interpretation, which come from the side of faith. ‘And cut down a branch from there,’ meaning learned chapter headings from there, headlines. Those who are faithful are happy with the words, and the words are blessed within them. They look at their being of one root and one kernel and there is no separation in them. Those who are not faithful and do not learn Torah Lishma [for Her sake] separate faith, which is Malchut, from ZA, since they do not believe that they are of one kernel and one root. This is the meaning of ‘and they carried it on a pole between two,’ meaning that they separated between the written Torah and the oral Torah.

“‘With the pomegranates and with the figs,’ meaning they put these words completely with the Sitra Achra [other side], to the side of idol-worship and the side of separation. Rimonim [Pomegranates] comes from the word, Minim [idol-worshipers], and Te’enim [figs] comes from the words, ‘And the Lord is not by his side,’ meaning when they do not believe in Providence and say that everything is incidental, and separate the Creator from the world.

“‘And they returned from touring the land’ means that they returned to the bad side, 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 labored in the Torah and the house is empty. We have dwelt among the lowest in the nation. Who will be rewarded with that world? Who will come into it? We’d be better off not laboring so much.’

“‘They told him, and said,’ we labored and learned in order to know a part of that world, as you advised us. ‘And it is also flowing with milk and honey,’ that upper world is good, as we know from the Torah, but who can merit it? ‘However, the people … are strong,’ the people that has been rewarded with that world is strong, dismissing the entire world as something to engage in and have great wealth. Who can do so and be rewarded with it? Of course the people who dwell in that land are strong. One who wishes to be rewarded with it must be strong in wealth, as the writing says, ‘The rich man answers roughly.’

“‘And the cities are big and fortified,’ meaning houses filled abundantly; nothing is missing in them. And yet, ‘we also saw there the descendants of the giant,’ meaning it requires a body as strong and as mighty as a lion, since the Torah exhausts man’s strength, who can be rewarded with it?

“‘Also, Amalek is living in the land of the Negev.’ If one should say that even with all this he will be rewarded with overcoming, ‘Amalek is living in the land of the Negev,’ meaning the evil inclination, the slandering accuser of a person is always in the body.

“With these words, ‘they discouraged the hearts of the children of Israel,’ since they gave it a bad name. ‘These faithful ones, what did they say? ‘If the Lord is pleased with us, He will … give it to us.’’ That is, when one tries with the desire of the heart toward the Creator, he will be rewarded with it because all He wants from him is the heart.

“‘But do not rebel against the Lord.’ We must not rebel against the Torah because the Torah does not need wealth or vessels of silver and gold. ‘And you, do not fear the people of the land,’ for if a broken body were to engage in Torah, there will be healing for all, and all of man’s slanderers will become his helpers.” Thus far its words.

According to how the holy Zohar interprets the matter of the spies in relation to man’s entrance to the holy work, it is generally called “taking upon oneself the burden of the kingdom of heaven.” By this, one is rewarded with the reception of the Torah, as it was at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when they said, “We will do and we will hear.” It is just as each and every one who wants to be rewarded with the Torah must go through a period called “we will do,” and then he can be rewarded with “we will hear.”

There are many degrees in “we will do,” which generally divide in two ways:

1) The revealed part is regarded as keeping the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] in practice, learning day and night and being meticulous with all the details of the Mitzvot, until there is nothing more he can add as far as actions are concerned. His intention is that he does everything for the Creator, to keep the King’s commandment, and in return he will receive reward in this world and in the next world. In this respect he is considered righteous.

2) The hidden part refers to the hidden part in the Torah, which is the intention. What a person intends while practicing is hidden from people. But mostly, it is hidden from the person himself because this work must be above reason. Thus, the reason cannot criticize his work—if he is on the way that ascends toward Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, meaning if he is on the path called “in order to bestow,” called “not in order to receive reward.” Therefore, it is hidden because he is working without reward, so the reward is hidden from him.

This means that a person who works for a reward knows that he is working well because he is receiving a reward. But one who works in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, so the Creator will enjoy, cannot see if the Creator is enjoying his work. Rather, he must believe that the Creator is pleased. It follows that the reward, too, is called “in order to bestow,” and it, too, is above reason.

There are other reasons, called “the hidden part.” This work does not belong to the general public, but to individuals, as Maimonides says (at the end of Hilchot Teshuva), “Sages said, ‘One should always engage in Torah, even if Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], since from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma [for Her sake]. Therefore, when teaching children, women, and uneducated people, they are to be taught to work out of fear and in order to receive reward. Until they gain knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are to be taught this secret bit-by-bit, and are to be accustomed to it pleasantly until they attain Him and know Him, and serve Him out of love.”

The matter of spies begins primarily in a person who wants to walk on the path of Dvekut, which is to bestow. At that time the spies come with their just arguments according to their views. Through reasoning, they make one understand that they are right.

It is known that the holy Zohar says, “Every man is a small world,” consisting of seventy nations, as well as of Israel. This means that since there are seven qualities, which are seven Sefirot, and opposite them there are seven qualities in the Sitra Achra. Each one consists of ten, thus they are seventy. Also, each nation has its own passion and wants to ordain its passion over everyone. And the people of Israel in a person also has its own passion, which is to adhere to the Creator.

There is a rule that one cannot fight oneself. Rather, this requires a special power for a person to be able to go against his views. But he does have the power and strength to fight against another if he understands that his view is true, and he will never want to yield before the view of the other.

Accordingly, if the seventy nations are within the person, how can he fight himself? That is, once a certain nation prevails over the seventy nations with its passion, and then a person is governed by that passion. Then, when a person thinks about himself, he sees that this is his passion. He does not say that someone from the seventy nations wants to govern him, but thinks that this is he, himself, and it is very hard to fight against himself.

Therefore, a person should depict to himself that he has seventy nations in his body, as well as the people of Israel. He must determine for himself to which people he belongs. That is, there is a rule: every person loves his homeland and fights for his homeland. Therefore, he must determine if he belongs to the people of Israel or to a nation from the seventy nations. If he determines that he belongs to the people of Israel, then he can fight the seventy nations when he sees that they are coming to fight.

At that time he sees that the seventy nations want to obliterate the people of Israel, as it is written in the Passover Haggadah [story], “She stood for our fathers and for us, for not only one arose against us to obliterate us. Rather, each and every generation, there are those who arise against us to obliterate us, and the Creator saves us from their hands.” If he knows that he belongs to the people of Israel, he has the strength to fight against the seventy nations, since there is strength in nature to fight for one’s homeland, for he knows that he is an “Israelite,” and they want to obliterate him. It follows that it is as though there are two bodies fighting one another, and then he has the strength to fight.

Thus, here, when we speak of the work of the Creator, the “people of Israel” is called that which is Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]. He wants to adhere to the Creator, wants Malchut, meaning to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven. Malchut is called El [God], as it is written in the holy Zohar (Korah, item 14): “This is why it is written, ‘A God who has indignation every day,’ meaning Malchut, while the seventy nations in him resist it and fight with the Israel in him. With all kinds of tactics, they wish to annul and obliterate the Israel in a man’s body.”

Here, in the work with the intention—when he wants to go specifically in a manner of bestowal—the argument of the spies begins, which the holy Zohar interprets their arguments according to the verses written in the Torah, which dispute and fight the Israel in him, and want to eradicate them from the face of the earth.

That is, he must not think that he will achieve what he thought he would achieve with all kinds of arguments, for they are fighting him, since the basis of the seventy nations is the will to receive, and Israel is precisely annulling before Him without any reward at all. Therefore, precisely when a person wants to go against their views begins the argument of the spies, who make him understand rationally that he has no chance of achieving the goal that he plans to achieve.

However, sometimes the spies make a person understand something that is harsher than anything the spies claim. They say to a person, “Know that the Creator cannot help an ignoble person such as you.” This is the harshest of all because usually, whenever a person is in trouble he can pray. But when they come to a person saying “You are wasting your efforts because the Creator cannot help,” they deny him the prayer, since what can he do then? To whom can he turn for help?

It is written in the holy Zohar (item 82): “Rabbi Yosi says, ‘They took it upon themselves to slander everything. What is ‘everything’? It is the earth and the Creator.’ Rabbi Yitzhak said, ‘With the earth, it’s true. With the Creator, how do we know?’ He told him: ‘It is implied in the words, ‘However, the people … are strong.’ That is, who can defeat them? ‘The people are strong’ is accurate, meaning that even the Creator cannot defeat them, and they slandered the Creator.’”

A person cannot argue with the words of the spies with his reason, or wait until he has what to reply to them, and in the meantime be under their governance. Rather, he must know that he will never be able to answer their doubts with the external mind. But specifically when he is rewarded with the inner mind, he will have the words to explain to them. In the meantime he must go above his mind, meaning say that although the intellect is very important, the importance of faith is still higher than the intellect. Therefore, he must not go according to the intellect, but according to the path of faith, to believe what our sages told us, that a man must take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven as faith above reason. At that time there is no place for the argument of the spies because they speak only within the reason of the external mind.

This is the meaning of Israel saying at the time of the preparation for the reception of the Torah, “We will do,” and then “We will hear.” “Doing” means without the external intellect. Rather, he calculates according to the Commander, for the Commander probably knows what is good for him and what is not, meaning what is good for a person and what is not. But one big question remains, “Why did the Creator give us an external intellect, which we use in every single thing, while here in the work of the Creator we must go against this intellect, and not with the intellect with which we were born?”

This comes because the Creator wanted to be asked for help. The help He gives is the light of Torah, and if they could go without the help of the Creator they would have no need for the light of Torah, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” Therefore, in order for him to need to extend the light of Torah, we were given this work in concealment on the intention, so that man will need an inner mind.

From the perspective of the outer intellect, the Creator made it so as not to give any help for the work. On the contrary, it is obstructing him to work in order to bestow. This is the meaning of what is written in the holy Zohar (Noah, item 63): “If a person comes to purify, he is aided with a holy soul. He is purified and sanctified, and he is called ‘holy.’”

By that one comes to need to be rewarded with the NRNHY that pertains to the root of his soul. Hence, there was a correction of concealment, which is the Daat, meaning that a person’s outer mind will be against working in order to bestow. This is called “within reason of the outer mind,” which makes all of man’s calculations that it is not worthwhile for him to work in order to bestow.

When he overcomes and does not escape the campaign, and prays to the Creator to help him go above reason, meaning not to be under the rule of the will to receive, then, when the Creator helps him he receives an inner mind called “inner reason.” At that time, through this reason, the body agrees to work in order to bestow upon the Creator, as it is written, “When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies be at peace with him,” referring to the evil inclination.

It follows that while he is within reason, meaning that the intellect tells him it is worthwhile to do this work, he can exert in the work. Therefore, when he has an outer intellect, the reason compels him, meaning the intention to receive. This is called “within reason.” When he is rewarded with the inner mind, meaning the inner reason, the mind obligates him that it is worthwhile to work in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator.