The True Tzaddik is Alive and Exists. Parshat Shlach Lecha

The entire nation of Israel heard the prophecy of Eldad and Medad: "Moses will die and Joshua will bring [the people] in." The entire nation 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, they were seized with horror, the whole nation wept, saying, "If we enter the land, then Moses will die!"

Rebbe Nachman explains that the dispute between the spies and Joshua bin Nun was that the spies claimed, "We love our teacher Moses, we want our teacher Moses, 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 only one reason: so that Moses will continue to live and continue to lead us. We do not care if we stay in the desert, as long as Moses lives."

The holy Ari says in Shaar HaPesukim, Parashat Shlach Lecha, that this was the terrible dispute between the spies and Joshua bin Nun. The spies said to Joshua bin Nun, "You heard the prophecy that Moses will die and Joshua will bring [the people] in, and therefore you want to enter the Land of Israel so that your teacher will die. You are simply a murderer; you simply want your teacher to die, you want to inherit your teacher, you want to be the leader." Whereas Joshua argued, "Moses is alive! Moses is alive and existing. There is no such thing as 'Moses died'; Moses cannot die." Joshua bin Nun explained to the spies that our teacher Moses is eternal.

The tzaddikim are forever alive and existing. There is no such thing as our teacher Moses dying, no such thing as Rashbi dying, no such thing as the Ari dying, no such thing as the Baal Shem Tov dying. The tzaddikim never die. Our teacher Moses is alive and existing; he descends and is incorporated into all the tzaddikim of the generations. Moses can be incorporated into 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 incorporated into 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 Nachman explains that the spies disgraced our teacher Moses 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 our teacher Moses. They did not believe that our teacher Moses is eternal and that his words and his ways are alive and existing for all eternity, and that he can be incorporated at any moment into anyone. By wanting the physical Moses—wanting the body of our teacher Moses to be with them—they materialized him; they materialized the matter of Moses; they turned our teacher Moses into a body.

Rebbe Nachman explains that what the spies claimed—that they wanted to remain with Moses—revealed the opposite: that they were waiting for the passing of Moses, for the departure of Moses. They revealed that they wanted to get rid of Moses already, to get 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 our teacher Moses in the desert for another ten years, another 20 years in the desert; in the end, we will get rid of him, and then we will be able to get 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 our teacher Moses, what can be done?" And in truth, they knew that Joshua bin Nun would continue the path of our teacher Moses, the ways of our teacher Moses. They did not want Joshua bin Nun; they wanted Moses. They wanted to stay with Moses only to wait for his passing.

Rebbe Nachman 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 they wanted our teacher Moses to live and did not want to enter the land, and they said, "Joshua bin Nun is 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 elderly tzaddikim, elders 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, our teacher Moses will die?" Joshua said to Calev, "I know that Moses is eternal! Moses is not dependent on a body. I do not see the body of Moses; I see his soul. His soul is eternal, it is in every place, it can be incorporated into you, it can be incorporated into the princes, into Elidad ben Kislon, into Gaddi ben Susi. Whoever the soul of Moses is incorporated into, I will listen to his voice. If there is a passing, I will know that immediately the soul of Moses will be incorporated into someone else, because Moses is alive and existing!" 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 were alive and existing! He saw that Abraham is alive, that Isaac is alive, that Jacob is alive! It was revealed to him that what Joshua says is the truth: a tzaddik never passes away, he does not die. Rashbi is alive, the Ari is alive, the Baal Shem Tov is alive. 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 Nachman 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 you see with your eyes; the tzaddik is an eternal soul, for all eternity.

Prayer at the Graves of the Tzaddikim

Master of the World, please accept all the terrible prayers that we say at the holy and awesome burial sites of the holy Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Tannaim, and the holy Amoraim, upon whom alone we have supported our stakes and upon whom alone we have relied, for only in their ability can they elevate our prayers before the Throne of Glory, and only they can intercede for us before the Throne of Your Glory. Please, Compassionate and Gracious One, hear the voice of our cry, our supplication, our groaning, and our screams, and save us in the merit of these tzaddikim in the blink of an eye, and may we merit to see in the blink of an eye the coming of Yinnon, and the building of our Holy Temple in the blink of an eye, Amen, Netzach, Selah, Va-ed.

Courtesy of the 'Tzma'ah Nafshi' pamphlet.