"If the Spies Had Gone with the Tzaddik

"Whoever walks with the tzaddik can conquer everything, even if they have no heart"

A lesson delivered by our teacher, the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, on Monday, Chukat, 28 Sivan 5776

Our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, explains in the lesson the three songs mentioned in the Parsha:

1. The First Song - The Miracle of the Brooks of Arnon

(14-15) Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Hashem: "Vahev in Suphah and the brooks of Arnon; And the slope of the brooks that turned to the dwelling of Ar, and leaned upon the border of Moab."

1. The Second Song - The Song of the Well

(17-20) Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The well which the princes digged, which the nobles of the people delved, with the scepter, and with their staves. And from the wilderness a gift: And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: And from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh down upon the face of the wasteland."

1. The Third Song - The Victory over Sichon and Og

(27-30) Therefore they that speak in proverbs say: "Come ye to Heshbon, let the city of Sichon be built and established: For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sichon: it hath devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity unto Sichon king of the Amorites: We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba."

The holy words of our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a

The entire work is to speak (prayer, Torah)

Today is Shabbat Shirah, the song of Miriam's well. There will be miracles now, and we will see Miriam's well eye to eye, flowing before us, and it brings us all the salvations in the world. Everyone will study the Parsha today, from chapter 20, we are at Miriam's well, "And you shall speak to the rock" (Numbers 20:8), just to speak, the entire work is only to speak, only to speak to the rock, and after that, it was necessary to pass through Edom.

"There is no forgiveness forever and ever for those who dispute the tzaddik"

Because previously we learned about Korach and about Shelach Lecha. Shelach Lecha begins with a tree and ends with a tree, "Is there a tree in it or not?" (Numbers 13:20). After that, "a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day" (Numbers 15:32), who wanted to continue the Tree of Life, therefore you fall in the desert. He wanted to abolish the graves, and this was forbidden, because it is written in the Zohar that every day they are brought to life anew at midnight and they die anew, because Rabbeinu Bachya says that for this there is no forgiveness. For the spies, there is already no forgiveness. To dispute the tzaddik who walks with a pillar of fire and cloud, then there is no forgiveness forever and ever. Therefore, they are brought to life, and he, the gatherer, wanted to abolish death, to continue the Tree of Life, a gatherer of wood, 'Is there a tree in it or not'—this is the Tree of Life. So Hashem said, I do not forgive you for this, therefore it is written, 'he died in his own sin' (Numbers 27:3). This was his private sin, this was his private iniquity, he did not intend to dispute Moses, only to abolish the Tree of Knowledge and strengthen the Tree of Life, as the Zohar says in Shelach Lecha.

"Whoever immerses in Tiberias in Miriam's well will live 120 years"

And now we are at Miriam's well, which is the Tree of Life, and whoever immerses in the Kinneret will live the entire 120 years, especially on Shabbat Shirah, about which it is said the Song of the Well, "He crouched, he lay down as a lion, and as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Blessed be every one that blesseth thee, and cursed be every one that curseth thee" (Numbers 24:9). And there are three songs here, "Then Israel sang this song: 'Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The well which the princes digged, which the nobles of the people delved, with the scepter, and with their staves. And from the wilderness a gift: And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth'" (Numbers 21:17-19), like "His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk" (Genesis 49:12). Bamoth, and then one merits Bamoth—through Miriam's well, and then one lives forever.

Because Miriam's well, Rashi says, is the Sea of Tiberias, "the face of the wasteland" (Numbers 21:20). It is written in Shabbat 34 that it is opposite the Carmel, but it could be that it is also called Carmel, if not, then it is two places. And therefore we received the song, "Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Hashem: 'Vahev in Suphah and the brooks of Arnon'" (Numbers 21:14). Arnon is the fiftieth gate, the fifty gates of Binah (understanding), this is written in the Zohar, Shelach Lecha, on page 62.

"And the slope of the brooks that turned to the dwelling of Ar, and leaned upon the border of Moab. And from there is the well" (Numbers 21:15-16), because Miriam's well, from there is the resurrection of the dead, 'And she gave life to the children' (Exodus 1:17), this is from the Nukva d'Pardashka. Miriam's well is from the Nukva d'Pardashka, the secret of the right that gives life, the secret of the right of eternal life, the left side of Mashiach ben David, about which the Chatam Sofer says in Part 6, Choshen Mishpat, that whoever merits to be Mashiach ben David, that Mashiach ben David does not want to be Mashiach at all, the opposite of Korach who wants to be the High Priest, "And from there is the well; that is the well whereof Hashem said unto Moses, 'Gather the people together, and I will give them water'" (Numbers 21:16).

The spies did not want to ascend to the fifty gates of Binah (Geulah, Eretz Yisrael)

After that, the third song, "For Heshbon is the city of Sichon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon." The brooks of Arnon are the fiftieth gate, the fifty gates of Binah, and then the song begins: "Therefore they that speak in proverbs say: 'Come ye to Heshbon, let the city of Sichon be built and established.'" Heshbon—the calculation (cheshbon) of the world, because Heshbon is exactly the gematria of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, 466, and therefore we must also be with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

"Let the city of Sichon be built and established: For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sichon," because Sichon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, in gematria is 1000, a thousand gates of holiness. "For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sichon, it hath devoured." Now on Shabbat Shirah, we devour all the enemies, nothing remains of the high places of Arnon, and we ascend to the fifty gates of Binah. And the spies sinned because they did not want to ascend to the fifty gates of Binah, they wanted to remain in the 49 gates of Binah.

"Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity unto Sichon king of the Amorites," because the daughters come from the crown of Yesod, the daughters are the tikkun (rectification), "A woman of valor is the crown of her husband" (Proverbs 12:4), and with us in the Parsha it is the opposite, "We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto Nophah." We see that a person falls into women even unto Nophah, he is constantly in the flaws of the covenant with his wife up to the nose (af). "Which reacheth unto Medeba."

"And Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. And Moses sent to spy out Jazer." This is the most important thing, that Moses sent to spy out Jazer and they conquered Jazer by themselves—this is the opposite of Shelach Lecha where they blemished the mission. Everyone must study the verse, "to spy out Jazer," from which we learn that if two spies conquered an entire city, that the twelve spies whom Moses sent could have conquered the Land of Israel in one second, because whoever walks with the tzaddik can conquer everything, even if he has no heart, meaning even if he is not prepared, and does not prepare himself properly, "and to set the battle in array, not with a double heart" (1 Chronicles 12:33). Hashem is with you.