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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 00:23:36 +0300

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From: Betsalel and Ilana Edwards <edw@internet-zahav.net>

Subject: Mei Hasiloach - Sh'lach L'cha

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     "And G-d spoke to Moses saying, send people ..."

     It is said in the holy Zohar (Bamidbar 159a), "The Holy One, blessed

be He, has three worlds - the world which is hidden within Him and is not

known at all, the world which is always known, and the world which is known

and not known."  The point is, there is one whose prayer will not benifit

him at all, and this is called the world which is not known at all. That

is, for this one G-d withdraws His glory above. The world which is always

known correponds to one whom G-d always helps, aiding even without prayer,

and so he will have no use for prayer.  The world which is known and not

known corresponds to one who receives no divine assistance without prayer,

yet if he prays he is answered. This one will have the will in his heart to

pray, yet the first two will not have any desire to pray. Both the one who

it doesn't help anyway, and the one who is helped  without prayer, will not

find any will in their hearts to pray.  So it is, when a man finds that he

as no desire for prayer, he needs to understand why he has no will, whether

it is because it will not help him or because he doen't need it.  

     Likewise it was with the spies, for no prayer would have benifited the

spies and therefore they had in their hearts no will to pray. Except for

Calev, who had a need for prayer (the world which is known and not known),

and that is why he alone went to Hevron to throw himself down on the graves

of the patriarchs in prayer.  Yehoshua did not need to pray because

wherever he went he was helped by G-d, as it says in the holy Zohar

(Bamidbar 158b), "Moses blessed him with supernal assistance," therefore he

didn't need to pray.  

     (Included in this Torah portion are all the matters of prayer, for

whosover needs great mercies, G-d sends to the heart of the tsaddik or

righteous leader of the generation to bless him and pray for him.  This is

Yehoshua, our teacher Moshe blessed  him and prayed for him.  Calev didn't

need Moshe's prayer, and therefore the desire to pray for him didn't enter

Moshe's heart.  Prayer would not have helped the spies, so he did not have

the desire to pray for them either.  the righteous leader of the generation

needs a great depth of understanding to know why the will to pray for some

would not enter his heart, whether it is because he is helped without

prayer or because prayer would not help anyway.)



     "And Moses called Hoshea bin Nun Yehoshua ..."

     The letter Yud hints at innocence, straightforwardness, simplicity,

for its form is a small dot. This is why Moshe added the Yud to his name,

as it says in the Gemara (Kidushin 58b), "If one says to his friend, go (be

my intermediary) and betoth this woman for me,  and the friend goes and

betrothes her for himself, she is betrothed to the friend."  The Gemara

says of this that he had acted with him in deceit.  Thus it seemed also

with Yehoshua for Moshe had asked him to investigate the land (so Moshe

could enter it, i.e. become "betrothed" to it), and in the end he scouted

it out just for himself.  Therefore it seems that his excursion was not

done in innocence, so the Yud was added to his name signifying that he

sould be straightforward in all his actions.  This is further seen in the

aramaic translation of Yonatan ben Uziel, "when Moshe saw the =humility= of

Hoshea, he called Hosha bin Nun Yehoshua."  



     "And they told him and they said we went to the land ... (we can do)

nothing, for the people are strong ..."

     They derided the land with ten statements of derision, for there were

ten spies and each one said one.  The name of each spy teaches of the

statement he said to deride the land, and the one who unerstands will

understand. 

     (See Bamidbar Rabba, 16:7, Midrash Tanchuma, Shlach 6, also the Gemara

in Sotah, 34b, says, "Rabbi Yitschok said, we have a tradition in our hands

from our fathers that the spies were called according to their actions. We

only know how to explain one of them, "Satur ben Michael" "satur" that he

contradicted ("satar") the acts of G-d. {that he made G-d his enemy, Rashi}

"Michael" that he made himself lowly ("mach"). {weak, Rashi}  Rabbi

Yochanan said, we can also say Nachbi be Vafsi, "Nachbi" that he hid

{"hechbi"} his words {and did not say things as they really were, Rashi},

"vafsi" that he stepped over {"pisea"} the attributes of G-d {skipped over

them, not saying when they were, Rahsi.}."  The Holy Isbitser is saying

that the work of the "one who understands" would be to similarly match each

name of the spies with each one of the statements of derision of the land.

In my humble opinion, something like, "Palti ben Rafu said, 'the people are

strong' for he felt weak (Raf) before them, and saught refuge {miflat}.

Betsalel)

 

     "And the children of Israel were in the desert, and they found a man

gathering wood on the day of the sabbath ..."

     It is written in the Mishna (Menachot, ch. 5), "there are offerings

than need oil and frankincense, oil without frankincense, frankincense

without oil."  Oil teaches of  (an action) "bringing honnor from the

community (pirke avot, Ch. 2.1)," in other words, that a man or woman

should strive to be rightous and pure (hence oil) to the depths of his or

her heart, and should have intentions for the sake of heaven. Frankincense

teaches of "bringing honnor to he who does it," that is that the action

should serve to adorn the one who does it in the  eyes of his or her

surroundings.  All actions should (ideally) bring honnor to ones self and

honnor to one's surroundings, yet sometimes we find it is, "a time to do

for G-d," that one doesn't have to make sure that the action brings himself

honnor, just that it is done for the sake of heaven, as it says (Psalms,

119:126), "it is time to act for 

G-d, for they have made void Your Torah." (here interpreted that even if

the act is contrary to the Torah it is still for the sake of Heaven)

Sometimes this is the will of  the blessed G-d.  At other times the

opposite is true, that even if the intentions are the purest goals, it is

still forbidden to act against the Torah.  Thus it is with the one who was

gathering wood on shabbat (Tslofchad), that even though his intentions were

for the sake of Heaven (his act of transgressing the sabbath was

unprecedented, so Israel did not yet know the great depth of shabbat until

they found someone breaking it, which in this light turns out to be a form

of valiant self-sacrafice on the part of Tslofchad, a classic, "one cannot

uphold the Torah until one has failed in keeping it" situation, a theme in

the Holy Isbitser which Reb Shlomo zts'l had often explained. Betsalel) he

was nonetheless punnished for it, for it was not the will of the blessed

G-d that a man should enter himself into such a situation.  Yet when

someone falls into a situation (beyond his control) that would bring honnor

to his surroundings, he does not need to consider whether it will bring

honnor to himself.  Yet one should not premeditatedly enter himself into

such a situation, rather before acting he needs to see that the action will

"bring favor in the eyes of G-d and man."  



     "And they shall make for themselves tsitsit .. "

     Now will be explained the juxtaposition of the section of tsitsit to

the section of one found gathering wood on shabbat.  Tsitstit teaches of

the fear of G-d, as it is said, "and you shall see them and you shall

remember all the commandments of G-d." (which would inspire fear)  Shabbat

teaches of great strengths, for it hints at "the day which is all shabbat

(the messianic era)," when all fear will be removed, as it says in the

Midrash (Torat Cohanim Behukotai, 3:3), "I will walk with them in the

garden of Eden and the commandments will be nullified in future (messianic)

times. (Nidda, 61b)  It was the understanding of the wood gatherer that on

shabbat there is no need to use the atribute of fear.  Yet now, before the

final separation (before the messanic era) it is necessary to use the fear

of G-d, and in particular on the level of action.  



     "And they shall make for themselves tsitsit ..."

     Tsitsit are also called "gdelim," or tassels.  Tsitsit teaches of the

fear of G-d, that one should not find it clever in his eyes to transgress

the words of Torah even to a hairsbreadth, and to be careful to appear

clean to others.  "G'dil," or tassel teaches of strengths (g'dil is similar

to gedol, meaning great), that one should not become weak before those

accusing him with hate,  and remain strong in his resolve against them.  





      In this weeks Torah portion we find six sub-sections,  coresponding

to the six sayings in Psalm 19.  "the Torah of G-d is perfect, restoring

the soul," corresponds to the section about the wine offerings (see numbers

15:7), for after the event of the spies the comandment of the wine offering

was given to Israel to revive them and restore their soul.  The section of

wine offerings hints at joy, as Rabbi Tanchuma said (Midrash Tanchuma  -

Shlach, 14, refering to the juxtaopsition of the discussion of taking

challa from bread and the wine offering), "go eat your bread in joy.

(Kohelet 9:7)" that is, the offerings would bring 

G-d joy.  These commandments were given to them after they believed that

they had sinned clear to the depth of their lives, and this is the

intention of the Midrash (Bamidbar Rabba, Shlach, 16:4), "the spies were

Gentiles," (figuritively) for the root of the Gentile is anger, and this

characteristic has no place in Israel.  For this it is said, "the Torah of

G-d is perfect, restoring the soul,"  for in truth they intended to do the

will of the blessed G-d,  according to the saying of G-d (Bereshit 15:16),

"and the fourth generation will come here again." (that the generation of

the desert was not ready to enter the land.)  Truly it was in their power

to praise the land, yet they had received an understanding in their hearts

from the blessed G-d to deride it.  Thus they were intending to do G-d's

will, and He gave them the section of the wine offerings. This is called

(Shir haShirim, 5:1), "I have drunk my wine,"  in other words, they gave

G-d joy in that they let themselves be conquered by G-d, and this can only

be done by Israel.  For the other nations could not bring a wine offering

without and animal offering,  only Israel could do this, as it is said in

Menachot (73b), since  the Gentile cannot agree to be vanquished by G-d, as

is explained.  

     The next saying in Psalm 19 is "the testimony of G-d is faithful,

making the simple wise."  A  testimony is something clear, and this

corresponds to Yehoshua,  for as long as the reasons behind the mitsvot are

not clear one may be easily tempted into anything that confronts him. Yet

when the meaning of the mitsvot are clear he may no longer be tempted.  Yet

we find Yehoshua's atribute was honesty, naivety, so therefore G-d placed

him in Moshe's tent, for from the influence of Moshe Rabeinu, peace upon

him, he let himself be tempted only from the good, this is why his name is

Yehoshua {meaning G-d will save (protect) you}.  

      Psalm 19 continues, "the statutes of G-d are straightforward,

gladdening the heart."  "the statutes or charges of G-d," in other words

harsh decrees or divine warnings, though they seem difficult, severe, at

their depth they are filled with mercy and love.  This corresponds to the

passage about the one who was found gathering wood on shabbat.  Even though

the warnings about shabbat are formulated in severity, as in "he who

desicrates it will surely die ...", this is because shabbat contains the

deepest good and He feared we may not receive it in its completeness.

Therefore the holy One, blessed be He, warned not to miss the good, yet

rather accept it in its completeness, as a father who strongly reprimands

his son out of his love. 

     "The commandments of G-d are clear, illuminating the eyes,"

corresponds to the passage of tsitsit, for tsitsit teaches of the fear of

G-d, and by means of a man's fear G-d will illuminate his eyes. As it says

(menachot, 43b), "all who are careful regarding the commandment of tsitsit

will merit to receive the countenance of the Shechina (divine presence)."  

     "The fear of G-d is pure, standing forever," corresponds to the

commandment of taking challa, that is that one should not refrain from

crowning G-d King over him even for a second.  Even though G-d was made

King through the separation of tithes from the produce, yet nonetheless

when he wants to benefit from and eat the produce it must be in a state of

the fear of G-d and thereby establishing His soveriegnty through the

separation of challa from the dough.  

     "The judgements of G-d are true, altogether righteous,"  corresponds

to the section (15:22), "and if you have erred."  this hints at the

complete absence of contradictions in G-d's commandments, as in the saying

of the Gemara (Horaiot, 13a), "even thouge it says here (15:24) 'a bullock

for an ascent offering,' whereas in parshat Vayikra it says, 'a bullock for

a sin offering,' " and the Gemara resolves the seeming contradiction, here

it refers to erring in idolatry, and here it refers to erring in all other

commandments, and there is no contradiction.



