My Soul Thirsts - Parshat Shelach Lecha

The weekly Torah portion, Shlach Lecha, from the mouth of our teacher, the holy Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a: The entire nation of Israel heard the prophecy of Eldad and Medad: 'Moses will die and Joshua will bring [the people] in.' All of Israel heard a terrible prophecy; the prophecy spread throughout the entire camp. Eldad and Medad said, 'Know that Moses is going to die. The moment we reach the border of the Holy Land, Moses will die for us! And Joshua will be the leader, and he will bring the people into the land.' The entire nation was in a panic, seized with horror; the whole nation wept, saying, 'If we enter the land, then Moses will die!' Rebbe Natan explains that the dispute between the spies and Joshua bin Nun was that the spies claimed, 'We love Moses our teacher; we want Moses our teacher; we will not leave him. We are for Moses; we want him to live and not die. We do not want to enter the land for one reason only: so that Moses will continue to live and continue to lead us. It does not matter to us if we remain in the desert, as long as Moses lives.' The holy Arizal says in Shaar HaPesukim on Parashat Shlach Lecha that this was the terrible dispute between the spies and Joshua. The spies said to Joshua bin Nun, 'You heard the prophecy that Moses will die and Joshua will bring them in, and therefore you want to enter the Land of Israel so that your master will die. You are simply a murderer; you simply want your master to die; you want to inherit your master; you want to be the leader.' Whereas Joshua argued, 'Moses lives! Moses lives and exists; there is no such thing as Moses dying. Moses cannot die.' Joshua bin Nun explained to the spies that Moses our teacher is eternal.

The tzaddikim are forever alive and existing. There is no such thing as Moses our teacher dying, no such thing as Rashbi dying, no such thing as the Arizal dying, no such thing as the Baal Shem Tov dying. The tzaddikim never die; Moses our teacher lives and exists. He descends and is imbued within all the tzaddikim of the generations. Moses can be imbued within anyone. The more refined and holy a person is, the more he can merit the revelation of Moses, that the soul of Moses will be imbued within him. The spies claimed, 'We love Moses; we will not give up on Moses. Joshua wants to be the leader... fine, then let him go himself, let him take the people of Israel with him. We will not leave Moses alone; we are loyal to Moses.' So what was the mistake of the spies here? Rebbe Natan explains that the spies disgraced Moses our teacher with the greatest disgrace in the world. Not only did they not listen to his voice when he told them to enter the land, but our Rebbe says that they also did not believe in the eternity of Moses our teacher. They did not believe that Moses our teacher is eternal and that his words and his ways are alive and exist for all eternity, and that he can be imbued at any moment in anyone at all. By wanting the living Moses, by wanting the body of Moses our teacher to be with them, they materialized him; they materialized the matter of Moses; they turned Moses our teacher into a body.

Rebbe Natan explains that what the spies claimed—that they wanted to stay with Moses—was actually a revelation of the opposite: that they were waiting for the passing of Moses, for the departure of Moses. They revealed that they wanted to be rid of Moses already, to be rid of the difficult ways of Moses. Moses would serve Hashem with all his strength; Moses would rise at midnight, pray at vatikin, perform hitbodedut, study Torah day and night, etc. And they said, 'We will stay with Moses our teacher in the desert for another ten years, another 20 years in the desert, and in the end, we will be rid of him, and then we will be able to wake up at 10 or 12 and have a good time. There is no choice; we will suffer a little longer. We have already fallen into the trap of Moses our teacher; what can be done?' And in truth, they knew that Joshua bin Nun would continue the path of Moses our teacher, the ways of Moses our teacher. They did not want Joshua bin Nun; they wanted Moses. They wanted to stay with Moses only to wait for his passing. Rebbe Natan asks: What did Calev ben Yefuneh do? Where was he in the midst of this dispute? Calev was silent. Calev did not know who was right—whether Joshua was right or the spies were right. The spies claimed that they wanted Moses our teacher to live and did not want to enter the land, and they called Joshua bin Nun a murderer! 'Joshua bin Nun wants to enter the land and is waiting for the passing of Moses.' Calev said to Joshua bin Nun, 'Joshua, what are these rumors? Look at what they are saying here: 10 righteous, elderly men, leaders of the land, with thick sidelocks—look at what they are saying about you? How are you not afraid to enter the land? After all, Moses our teacher will die!' Joshua said to Calev, 'I know that Moses is eternal! Moses is not dependent on the body. I do not see the body of Moses; I see his soul. His soul is eternal; it is found everywhere; it can be imbued in you, it can be imbued in the princes, in Eldad ben Kislon, in Gadi ben Susi. Whoever the soul of Moses is imbued in, I will listen to his voice. If there is a passing, I know that immediately the soul of Moses will be imbued in someone else because Moses lives and exists!' And Calev did not know who was right, Joshua or the spies. He stood between the hammer and the anvil. How would he know who was right? How could he clarify such a thing? So what did Calev do? He traveled to Hebron and arrived at the graves of the holy Patriarchs, and there the truth was revealed to him. How was it revealed to him? The moment he prostrated himself on the graves of the Patriarchs, he saw that the Patriarchs are alive and existing! He saw that Abraham lives, that Isaac lives, that Jacob lives! It was revealed to him that what Joshua says is the truth: a tzaddik never passes away, he does not die. Rashbi lives, the Arizal lives, the Baal Shem Tov lives. It was revealed to him that Abraham our Patriarch, 400 years after his passing, speaks to him and tells him, 'Joshua is right; Moses will live forever.' Isaac tells him, 'Moses will live forever.' Jacob tells him, 'Moses will live forever.' Rebbe Natan says this is what was revealed to Calev at the graves of the Patriarchs—that the tzaddikim are not a body, it is not what one sees with the eyes; the tzaddik is an eternal soul, for all eternity.