The Land of Israel is Humility – The Daily Inspiration from the Esteemed Rav Berland shlit"a

The daily inspiration from our teacher, the esteemed Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a – Why did the spies not want to enter the Land? "And the men whom Moses sent to scout the land" (Numbers 14:36) "From Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath" (Numbers 13:21) "There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah in their company" (Psalms 68:28) Sunday, 14th of Shevat, 5786 – With what intentions did the spies wish to enter the land? These are his holy words: It is written in Likutei Halachot Yoreh De'ah the reason why the leaders did not want to enter the Land of Israel. R' Natan explains that it was revealed to them that the moment they enter the land, everyone would be replaced; they had a personal interest here. The leaders thought they were doing it for Moses our teacher, that if they enter the land he would die, because they heard Moses would die, but in truth, the leaders heard that when they enter the land, all the leaders would be replaced. The holy Ari explains the entire matter of the spies. The Ari explains there are two aspects of intentions, Leah and Rachel, the spies were from the aspect of Leah and the dispute was with which intentions to enter the land. "To scout the land" (Numbers 14:36) is an acronym for Leah, "From Rehob to the entrance of Hamath" (Numbers 13:21) is an acronym for Rachel. The question is how to enter the Land of Israel, with the intentions of Leah or the intentions of Rachel? Rachel is below and Leah is above. Moses said, enter with the intentions of Leah "to scout the land," because truly they could conquer the entire Land of Israel alone. As we saw with the brothers in Egypt, Judah said, I will eliminate them all alone, I will eliminate all of Egypt. Joseph saw that the situation was very serious, that they were going to eliminate all of Egypt, so he kicked the pillar he was sitting on. The entire pillar shattered into pieces, so Judah said to him, now I will draw my sword against you. Joseph saw this and understood it was already the end of the world, so he shouted - I am Joseph. Everyone fainted on the spot, their souls left them. This is what came out of their sale - that Joseph is the ruler of the entire world, their souls departed. This is the whole matter of our Rebbe who gives a shout - I am Joseph. The question is, who is Joseph? The brothers did not want to believe that Joseph is Joseph, they said that just as Ishmael was the shell that emerged from Abraham, and Esau was the shell that emerged from Isaac, so Joseph was the shell that emerged from Jacob. Because there must be some waste, and after all, Joseph brought their evil report, so he was precisely the waste of Jacob. Afterwards, the brothers accused Benjamin of stealing the goblet, so he received deadly blows from them. If Benjamin had received one more blow, he would have received the entire Temple, and the southeast corner of the altar would not have been in Judah's portion. A strip extends from Judah's portion (Zevachim 53b) and this strip is 32 cubits. One more blow and Benjamin would have received the entire Temple. Afterwards, at the splitting of the Red Sea, the tribe of Benjamin jumped into the sea and stones were thrown at them. "There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah in their company" (Psalms 68:28), they threw rocks, each rock weighing 3 tons. They shouted at them to come out, because everyone wanted to jump into the sea first, and after all, Benjamin who is the last, he was born last and he jumps first. So everyone threw stones at him, come out we want to be first - so from these stones the Temple was built. If Benjamin had received one more stone, he would have received the entire Temple. It must be known, through every disgrace a person receives, he merits the building of the Temple. For every disgrace, for every stone thrown at him, every evil speech spoken about him, he merits. Even though the spies were from the aspect of Leah, and therefore wanted to enter the land in the aspect of Leah, "to scout the land," still the Land of Israel is an aspect of Rachel - because Rachel is humility. The spies knew they would not be leaders here, so that was their personal interest.