Shlach: The Meraglim, Yehoshua’s Courage, and Seeing Eretz Yisrael Through Emunah

Transcript

We talk about the inyan of the meraglim. The inyan of the meraglim. Who are the meraglim? Who are they? It says in the pasuk, Shlach lecha anashim. Anashim. Rashi later tells us, anashim, kol anashim shebemikra lashon chashivus, v'osah sha'ah k'sheirim hayu. Someone's going to ask, why are we learning parshas Shlach in Korach? First of all, I don't like machlokes. I don't like it. I should talk about machlokes. I don't like it. I don't have machlokes. But that's not the real reason. The real reason is that Parshas Meraglim is one of the events that shaped, shaped the entire mahus of Am Yisrael. The churbanot came from Parshas Meraglim. So if there's one event that shaped the entire tahalich of Klal Yisrael, it's Parshas Meraglim. The Beit Hamikdash was nechrav because of Parshas Meraglim. Bochu tivkeh, bechiyah shel chinam is from Parshas Meraglim. So if there's one event that shaped and that affected, affected Klal Yisrael... It's Parshat Meraglim. What is Parshat Meraglim? What is? So first of all, who are the meraglim? Anashim, chashuvus, roshei Bnei Yisrael. You know what roshei Bnei Yisrael are? Nesiim, the heads of Klal Yisrael, the gedolei hador. Okay. Who did they take with them? They took with them the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin. It says clearly in Perek Yud-Daled, pasuk aleph, Vatisa kol ha'eidah—I'm sorry, one second—kol ha'eidah, yeah, says Rashi, Sanhedriyos. Sanhedrin. Yeah. Who did they take with them? They took with them the Sanhedrin. Isn't it Sanhedrin more there in the desert? When they came back, they told them, Sanhedrin said, Fine, we agree with you. Correct, and that's what I'm trying to say. They took with them doesn't mean—in English, took with them means himshichu achareihem. You don't know the word. It doesn't mean—they didn't take with them to Israel. Took with them means himshichu. They took with them. They drew them in. So the question is, of course, these were great people. What happened? What happened? The greatest anashim, and they were able to take with them the Sanhedrin. And let's take a look what they said. Let's take a look what these anashim chashuvim said. So if you look at Perek Yud-Daled, pasuk lamed aleph. Pasuk that they said, V'tapchem asher amartem levaz yihyeh. No, not this pasuk. I'm sorry. Let's take a look at Yud-Gimmel amud aleph. Yud-Gimmel amud aleph. Here, amru, what did they say? Lo nuchal — I'm sorry, Yud-Gimmel amud aleph — lo nuchal la'alos el ha'am, ki chazak hu mimenu. Which literally means from us. But Chazal say, what were they saying? Kavyachol, klapei Ma'alah amru, Gemara in Sotah, stronger than Hashem. Tell me something. Could you imagine the nesii Yisrael to be kofrim? Kofrim. Imagine if I would get up and tell you Hashem is not strong like this, so that you'd kick me out and get rid of me, and that would be it, right? Shh. You would kick me out and get rid of me. Kofer. How? You know how I like to use the words? Mafli ha-dat u'mafchid ha-lev.

What happened? Mafli ha-dat, mafchid ha-lev. What happened? How could it be? Meraglim, who were anashim chashuvim, nesiei Yisrael, roshei Bnei Yisrael, and they took with them. They convinced the Sanhedrin. You know what it means to be Sanhedrin? You know what it is to sit on the Sanhedrin? And that what? That techazeku mimenu, pure, unadulterated, open kefirah. Ayitachen? What's the pshat? There are many mahalchim in the mefarshim to what happened by the meraglim, many, many mahalchim. The Alter from Kelm has a whole mahalach, chachmah musar, that what happened was that, like the pasuk says in Devarim, Moshe Rabbeinu gives tochachah to Klal Yisrael, and he tells them, Vatikrevun elai kulchem. This is in perek aleph, pasuk lamed-beis. Vatikrevun elai kulchem, vayomru, nishlachah anashim lefaneinu. Says Rashi, kulchem b'irbuvyah. Irbuvyah means they came all mixed together, all grouped together. This is in Devarim, perek aleph, pasuk lamed-beis. Vatikrevun elai kulchem b'irbuvyah. What does irbuvyah mean? Irbuvyah means when you have a whole group of people, right, they make a protest, like, Bayim kacha, irbuvyah. So says the Alter from Kelm, you know what the problem was? Arvuvya is a siman that only bad things are going to happen. And he explains, whenever things are b'lo seder, when things come b'irvuvya, then only chet, only bad things come from it. Very interesting. V'hanirah, ki bishvil habilbul hadaas shenichnas bam, ki bishvil habilbul hadaas shenichnas bam mima'at hapachad, lachen nichnesu b'arvuvya, v'haya me'at b'chimum, v'haya b'listarim, u'mizeh navin chisaron b'listarim. A real, real bal mussar, you hear? Tashma, he's a bal mussar. Yesod hamaraglim, i seder. What are you going to do, the sefarim like? אי סדר זה סדר. כמו החסיד, אי סדר זה גופא הסדר. That's it. Hard to understand, hard to understand that the meraglim, because of אי סדר. It's interesting. Real Litvisha mussar, you know, real Lithuanian ethic. Yekkes, yeah, because I can hear a Yekke say that, because they were not mesudar, that's why the meraglim happened. Tzarich iyun, tzarich iyun. The Mesilat Yesharim in perek yud aleph gives a different pshat why the meraglim happened. He brings from the Zohar that the meraglim had negiut. What was their negiah? They knew if they come to Eretz Yisrael, they're going to lose their nesiut. They're going to lose their jobs. So because they were afraid of their jobs, they said, You know what? We'll mess up the whole plans to go to Eretz Yisrael, and like this we stay nesiim. Why? Because they felt that once they come to Eretz Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael is more chashuv, more chashuv, and therefore there's going to be a whole different system, a whole different system. No man, nothing. There'll be a whole change of system. Maybe they'll be a melech. They thought that this is it. You see, they felt very comfortable in their jobs now, and if they come into Eretz Yisrael, who knows? Who knows what's going to be? The pele of the story is, the pele of the story is, that you think for one minute that nesiim were ready to sabotage the entire coming into Eretz Yisrael because of a job, because of this. It makes them so low class, as they say. It makes them so not chashuvim that it becomes pilei playim, almost pilei playim. You know what?

To come and say, Ki chazak hu mimenu, that Hashem is not strong enough because you want a job, something is not right. To say it kipshuto, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. It's a sabotage. And you want to know something? Even if they meant that, so you do it in a quiet, subtle way, but to come out mamish against what Hashem said, and to say, Ki chazak hu mimenu, kavayachol, that Hashem is not strong? Why? Because you want a job and you're afraid you'll lose your job? Tzarich iyun. There's another entire pshat that's brought down in Chazal, that the men did not like Eretz Yisroel. Only the women liked Eretz Yisroel. Sure, it's a famous Chazal. It's a famous, famous Chazal. And you want to know the truth? The truth is, it's a pasuk in Tehillim. In perek kuf-vav, pasuk chav-beis, it says, Vayim'asu b'eretz chemdah. Ma'us. It became disgusting to them, the land of Eretz Yisroel. Chazal say, ha'anashim, the men didn't have love for Eretz Yisroel. The women had tremendous love for Eretz Yisroel. The Kli Yakar even explains, Shlach lecha anashim. You are sending men, but if you asked me, I would say you should send women. That's how the Kli Yakar says pshat. You never saw the Kli Yakar? Why? Listen to the Kli Yakar. Listen to the Kli Yakar. Why? Shh, here. It says like this: V'ata savor she'eretz chavivah aleihem, tishlach anashim, you send men. V'zehu shlach lecha, l'daatcha, anashim. Aval l'daati, hayah yoter tov lishloach nashim. It'd be better off if you sent women. Okay, okay, okay. All right, all right. What's the reason? That's a very good question. That's part of the shiur today. I don't know. I mean, I do know, but not that it's pashut pshat. You need to understand the pshat over here. Why is it that the men didn't like Eretz Yisrael and the women loved Eretz Yisrael? What does that all... what does it mean? Why does it mean, rabosai? Why is it that the men loved Eretz Yisrael and the women did not? So let's repeat over here the question. The question is that the story don't make sense. The story is strange, very strange story. The Gedolei Yisrael. Imagine, l'havdil elef havdalot, chas v'shalom, just to give you a mashal. Imagine Reb Elyashiv and Reb Chaim Kanievsky and Rav Wosner and Rav Vadia Yosef and all, Rav Yaakov Yosef, all the Gedolei Yisrael, yeah? Imagine they're sitting over there and they're saying, Hashem, He's not that strong. He's not that strong. The Arabs are stronger than Hashem. What would you say? You'd say, What? What are you talking about? Are you—what happened to you? The Sinai Yisrael, Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin could include the Rosh HaSanhedrin. I got Moshe Rabbeinu was probably Rosh HaSanhedrin. So let's say it was the second, the second in command. He took the Sanhedrin with him. It doesn't make sense. Something doesn't make sense here, rabosai. Then we start looking at the meforshim's pshatim. They were not mesudar, or they had negius, or because the man didn't like Eretz Yisrael. What are you talking about? What happened? Lo muvan. Lo muvan. What are you talking about? Let me ask you a kasha. How could you say any pshat about the meraglim if the Torah HaKedoshah clearly tells me what happened with the meraglim? If you take a look at perek yud-daled, pasuk yud-alef, it says clearly what went wrong. Perek yud-daled, pasuk yud-alef. It says clearly, Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, ad anah ye'atzuni ha'am hazeh, v'ad anah lo ya'aminu bi.

I finished. What do you want? All the Torah and all the פירושים and all the sefarim that are written to explain the meraglim. What happened to this pasuk? It says clearly, את עַם הַזֶּה וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲבֹתָם לָתֵת לָהֶם, וְלֹא יָאמִינוּ בִּי. If you look in Devarim, perek aleph, pasuk lamed, gimmel maybe over there, it says also, בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֵינְכֶם מַאֲמִינִם בַּה' אֱלֹקֵיכֶם. So Moshe Rabbeinu also tells them that. So Hashem tells us that they didn't have emunah, and Moshe Rabbeinu also confirms this when he gives them the tochachah in Parshas Devarim, that what? They didn't have emunah. Now I'm going to show you that the Siforno says it clearly in pasuk bet. Says the Siforno in pasuk bet, says the Siforno in pasuk bet: וְקַשֶׁה נִקְרְאוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל חַטָּאתָם, אַל שֶׁלֹּא בָטְחוּ בִּישׁוּעַת ה' כֵּל יִתְעַלֶּה, וְנִצְחוֹנוֹ, אַחַר שֶׁעָשָׂה עִמָּהֶם לְהַפְלִיא, שָׁבוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה. Beginning, the end of the piece on pasuk bet. וַיֹּאמְרוּ חָטָאנוּ לַה' אֲנַחְנוּ נַעֲלֶה וְנִלָּחֵם... וַיַּפִּלוּ. And they pray. And why did they pray? וַתָּשֻׁבוּ וַתִּבְכּוּ לִפְנֵי ה'. It says in the pasuk that they went back and they cried. What did they cry? In tefillah. So you see clearly, you see clearly, that where was the chet? אַל שֶׁלֹּא בָטְחוּ. They didn't trust Hashem's power to save them. So it's clear in the Sipur that it's about emunah. So then I turn around and I say, so then what? The zar made up the story? I don't understand. If the pasuk says clearly, וַתְּהִי חִסָּרוֹן אֱמוּנָה, so why would the zar be makhish what it says in the pasuk and say that it's because of they wanted a job? I don't understand. How could zar be cholek on the pasuk? Could a zar be cholek on the pasuk? You hear the question? Very simple question. Rafi, Reb Refoel, if someone asks you, meraglim, what would you say? It says clearly, it's important, it says clearly, they didn't have emunah. So how could this even, the zar, which the Mesillas Yesharim quotes, says it's because of hishtadlus, because of job? How could it be that the Alter from Kelm says to me that because they were not mesudar? How could it be that the Chazal and the Rashi's and the Kli Yakar, ha'anashim lo chivuvu et ha'aretz? It says a different reason. It says they didn't have emunah. What happened? Let's talk a little bit. Tell me, when they went to Eretz Yisrael and they came back, did they say over what they saw? Did they lie? The truth. They told the truth. That's right. That is 100% right. Did they exaggerate? They put like a salt and pepper. They say, Oh, like a scary way they told that, a different way they told that. But the... Oh, really? I know. They said what they saw. No, but... They dramatized it and exaggerated it all. It was. That's what happened. It was true. All true. All true. Scary way they say that. It's true. Now tell me, what were they sent to do? So there's a very nice pshat from the Ksav V'Kabbalah, a very nice sefer, and he says, very, very nice, they were not sent l'ragel את הארץ. If you look at the pesukim, it says they were sent l'tur את הארץ. Tur. Latur, latur, like a tour almost. Yeah, like a tour, but it doesn't mean that. It means, Latur lachem menuchah, he says. Latur means to search out the good. They went and they became meraglim. Like if you take a look here in the parsha, it only says, Vayaturu, Vayaturu, Valatur. In Devarim it says, Vayalu.

The pasuk says, Vayiraglu ota. It says, Vayiraglu. In Devarim it says, Mosh gizim toichachah, that they were meragel. Meragel is lashon hara, lo ragel al leshono, right? Lo ragal al leshono, right? Lashon hara. So it says, the ksav ha-kabbalah, they were sent to see the good, and they came back and saw the bad. I have two problems with that. Problem number one is he's being machkish the pasuk. Pasuk says not like that. It says clearly he sent them, what? U're'item et ha-aretz, mah hi, hechazakah hu, harafeh. Rafeh means what? No good. Well, the other way around, chazak is no good. Me'at im rav. Ha-tovah hi im ra. What does tovah mean? What does ra mean? Ra is also good? Okay, so ksav ha-kabbalah, okay, I hear. Nice pshat, very nice, nice pshat. But the pasuk is not like that. So the question is, okay, you want another question? In the end of the Torah we see that Yehoshua sent, Meraglim cheresh. Meraglim, I thought you went for the good or for the bad. I thought you said it was always for the good. And the answer is, could be by Yehoshua it's a little different. By Yehoshua they went to see the bad, meaning the weak points, so they could win, they could win the war. Different. Here they were only sent not to say anything about how to win the war, but rather to see what? The good parts of Eretz Yisrael. But the truth is the pasuk says, Im ra'ah. It says clearly, im... Ra'ah. So my question is, im ra'ah means bad, so they came back and said bad. You sent me good or bad, and I come back and say bad. I will say that. Imagine I call up a shadchan, tell me everything. I want to know the truth. Tell me the truth. He's not such a... Why'd you tell me that? Why could you only tell me the good? Shuggena. I asked you. I said to you, I said to you, Atah ra'ah, orah, im ra'ah. So then what do I say? Tzadik. What do I need tzaddik? What, I'm מבטל את המוח? What, need to embarrass? What do I need tzaddik? What do you think, I'm making you crazy? Of course I know. A simple question. I don't understand. I sent you to do a job. Good or bad? They came back and said bad. It's no good. You don't say that. I said, okay. So let me tell you. Some want to say that they were supposed to come back and just repeat what they saw. The nigun, efes ki azal... the Chafetz Chaim learns like this: Efes ki aza ama yoshev. What does the word efes mean? Nothing. No, what does efes know? In the translation of the pasuk, it doesn't mean that. It means but. Who told you but? When you say the word but, that means tohirugu. That's an interpretation. No one asked you to interpret. You know, a newscaster is supposed to be unbiased. Unbiased means say what you saw, and that's it. Don't translate. The minute they said, Efes ki aza ama yoshev, right? See the pasuk? What is the word efes mean? Aval. Don't aval me. Just repeat what you saw, okay? Just repeat, az, lo az. But. But means you're explaining. But. It's an opinion already. The word efes, Chofetz Chaim. Chofetz Chaim brings down this yesod, that with one word it can turn into lashon hara. The same thing, if it's said with one extra wrong word, it can turn into lashon hara. And the wrong word here is but. But connotates opinion that it's bad. But, but it's bad. Okay. So now we have maybe a pshat that they were supposed to repeat dryly what they saw, dry, and they were not supposed to add any nusach, nigun, you know, any song, you know, interpretation, unbiased. All right. I would say a little different. Yeah? I would say a little different. Okay. Why is Moshe Rabbeinu sending meraglim when he knows it's going to flop? Did Moshe Rabbeinu know it's going to flop?

So it's clearly, Kaya shyacha mehatzat meraglim. So he davened in advance. It seems like that he knew, right? Something, yeah? Question number two. Question number two. How come, how come Yehoshua, if it's so bad to send meraglim, so why does Yehoshua send meraglim? These are questions that the Rishonim ask. You know, rabosai, I thought a lot about these issues, and you know what I came up with? I'll tell you what I came up with. When they came out of Uvya, bli seder. What was the mekor? Why was it bli seder? You know why? What, because they didn't have the musar seder in yeshiva, Reb Yisroel Salanter to teach them how to be mesudar? Is that where the problem is? Where did the אי סדר come from? I don't know. The truth is, the Alter from Kelm himself speaks it out. Mi'ma'at ha'pachad. It came from fear. Fear. Even in the beginning he says it. Im nitzchu yoshav, v'nir'eh mi'zeh ki hayu mifachtim. It came from fear. Okay. Tell me, according to the Zohar, that they were afraid, they were afraid. You know what it is to go into Eretz Yisrael with the giants, that they're afraid, they're terrified, okay. According to the Zohar, that they were afraid of their job. Tell me the mekor of that. What's the mekor? So you would say the mekor of that is negiut, personal, personal. I'm going to teach you that the mekor of pachad and the mekor of negiut is all the same thing as lo hemantem bi. You know why someone is afraid? Because he lacks emunah. You know why someone is worried about his job? He's afraid. And you know why he's afraid? Also because he lacks emunah. The Torah is boiling down to the mekor of the problem, and that is, Yan lo hemantem bi, l'hakdisheni l'einei bnei Yisrael. You hear? You're listening. You're listening. Fear. Fear. When someone is afraid, fear. I'm going to show you something very interesting, my boys, yeah? Korach she'acham yatzat meraglim, yeah? Why did he daven for Yehoshua? You know why he davened for Yehoshua? It's a pasuk. You say Yehoshua was his student. He cared about his student more than Kalev or anybody else, right? Why? In the right way. Why did he daven for Yehoshua? Why did he daven for Kalev? Why did he daven for somebody else? That's the answer. Why? It was a student, it was a student. The Targum says because he was anav, anav. The Targum Yonatan. That's what it says, the Targum Yonatan. Ah, so what's the pshat? So there's many, many, many pshatim in this Targum, you hear? There's one pshat in this Targum, which is very interesting, which you'll really enjoy. Reb Chaim Kanievsky in the sefer brings down pshat. Techiyas hameisim is going to be lefi seder aleph-beis. Yes, just like a draft works lefi seder aleph-beis, right? They call you up according to your name. Techiyas hameisim is going to work lefi seder aleph-beis. The Mabit brings it down in his sefer. So the question is, how can he take Yehoshua, who was hei, hoshia, and make him yud, Yehoshua? He's pushing him off to be techiyas hameisim later. Reb Chaim Kanievsky in the sefer. Rafi, you're missing a pshat. Aflo vefeleh, aflo vefeleh. You ready? Why does he daven for Yehoshua? So the Targum says he davens for Yehoshua because Yehoshua was anav, and the nesus, yisur.

Look, look. Adav was humble, so therefore he davened himself. We have to say pshat. So there's many different pshatim that are said in this targum. One pshat is, Reb Chaim Kanievsky says, and I heard this before at Mussar, it's a famous pshat, but he brings it down in the sefer. Tchilas hameitim is lefi seder aleph-beis, and therefore the question is, how could he take—my bit, my bit says, Tchilas hameisim lefi seder aleph-beis. You're nun. Oy vey. First name. Change it to Aaron. That's it. Finished. Aaron. Zehu. Tchilas hameitim. I'm the second. Mi yichyeh kodem? Who's going to be first? Okay. I'm the second. Says the, unless you have one trait, and that is anavah. If you're an anav, then you go first. Says the Targum, that's pshat. He saw he was an anav, so therefore he didn't have a problem of changing his name from Hoshea to Yehoshua. Reb Chaim Kanievsky brings it down in the sefer. Okay. I would say a different pshat. No. Before we get to it, he's saying, why would he change his name from hei to yud? And the answer is because he was anav, and therefore for Tchilas hameitim, he's not pushing him off the list. He's not, because since he's anav, he's not pushing. How would I say pshat? I would say pshat like this. When someone is anav, it could come from two things. A, it could come from— Greatness. Greatness. Gadlut. A person's an anav. Then there's another type of an anav. He's insecure. He's not secure with himself, so he's humble. He's scared. He's frightened. People who are frightened are anavim. They're very, very humble. That's wrong? It's not pashut? He's scared. There are many people like that. They're humble because they're scared. They're afraid. They're afraid. Insecurity brings anavah, okay? Therefore, therefore, Yehoshua had anavah. Yehoshua had anavah. He was nar lo yamish mitoch ha'ohel. He always stood in the shadow of Moshe Rabbeinu. He was scared. He was scared. Yehoshua was scared? Yehoshua was what? He wasn't scared. Pachad. How do you know? He was a warrior. How do you know? How do you know? I heard he was a warrior. Who did you hear it from? You said he heard it. I want to know who he heard it from. Who did he hear it from? I want to know who. Did you hear it from your mother, your grandfather? Who did you hear it from? I read somewhere. Okay. So let me tell you about the warrior Yehoshua, okay? The reason why Yehoshua became a warrior, because Moshe Rabbeinu changed his name to Koh Yehoshiacha. That's gufa why he became a warrior. And I'll prove it to you. Exactly. Do you know when Yeshua actually got his name? When did Yeshua get his name? Yeshua got his name in Parshas Beshalach. Yeshua got his name in Parshas Beshalach when he had to go fight Amalek. The Netziv says this clearly. The Netziv says that when he fought Amalek, he was called Yeshua, and then people stopped calling him that, and he recalled him that. His name actually came when he had to go fight Amalek. It has nothing to do... HaGra, the Kli Yakar learns ka-yud because of the yud— not the Kli Yakar, excuse me, the Aruch HaShulchan says yud because of the yud meraglim, ka. Hashem, yud, with the name yud because against the ten meraglim. But the Netziv in Emek Davar explains clearly that he got his name in the war of Amalek. And why did he get his name in the war of Amalek? Ka yeshiachah. He became ein od milvado. He became very strong. He saw that he was anav, and it's not good to be anav, right? What is it good to be? Im katan atah b'einecha, roshe alfei Yisrael atah. Shaul was also anav. He was nechba el hakelim. But was it good or was it bad that Shaul was nechba el hakelim? Bad. It was no good. Im katan atah b'einecha— he was afraid. He was afraid. Did Shaul do...

He was afraid of who? Am Yisrael, the people. It says clearly. He was afraid of the people. He was afraid of the people. It says clearly, Im katan ata b'einecha. No good. Anav sometimes is not a good trait, because it can come from where? From insecurity. How you metaken that? You metaken that with, Ka'asher yashiacha mehatzad, bitachon, bitachon. I'm going to prove this to you. You ready? Listen carefully. What did they say? They came and they said that we were grasshoppers, v'chein hayinu b'eineihem. And that's how they looked. We were, and they looked at us that way. So there's a pshat from the Chafetz Chaim that, you know why they looked at us that way? Because we looked at ourselves that way. If you look at yourself as a nothing, then the guy next to you will look at you as a nothing. Shh. This is how the Chafetz Chaim in the sefer brings it down. Now, it's very interesting, in the newer version of the Chafetz Chaim, the new ones that they just put out, they refixed the whole pshat. They don't bring it down like this. You know how they bring it down? They begin with the Tana d'Bei Eliyahu. Tana d'Bei Eliyahu, Al mah she'amartem, v'nihyeh b'eineinu kachagavim, that we were in our own eyes like chagavim, ani mochel lecha. Hashem says, I'm mochel you. But this that said, v'chein hayinu b'eineihem, ain't ani mochel lecha. I'm not mochel you. Tana d'Bei Eliyahu says the Chafetz Chaim. down in the newer versions, watch the pshat. Pshat is as follows, yeah? Why is it that someone says, V'chein einu b'eineihem? Why do you say that? Bishloima you feel it, you're that, okay. But don't you know Hashem runs the world? What do you mean? When somebody looks at you, the way he looks at you has nothing to do with you. You know what it has to do with? It has to do with Hashem. It's very interesting because it's exact hafuch from the pshat that everybody brings down from the Chofetz Chaim. Everybody brings from the pshat of the Chofetz Chaim, the way you look at yourself, that's how others are going to look at you. Actually, what the Chofetz Chaim did say was the exact opposite: that the way you look at yourself is not going to change anything. It's the way Hashem wants people to view you. So meila, al mah she'amarta, this that you said that you're nothing, you're a chagav, ma ichpat li? That's your problem. But if you come and say, V'chein einu b'eineihem, that's Hashem. What does that have to do with you? Pisaron bitachon. Exactly the same vort. You know what you see from here? That sometimes insecurity in the eyes of others, the mekor is chisaron bitachon. Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. Unbelievable. It's an unbelievable thing. I'm showing you re'ayos, I'm showing you things that you'll never hear anywhere else. When they take books from Dr. Twerski, yeah, and they talk about self-esteem, yeah, self-esteem, take all the books and throw them in the garbage. No, you don't have to throw them; he's a good guy, Twerski. But the point is, I have a different method. My method is, if a person has bitachon in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, so bitachon atzmi does not become a problem. When he works on the bitachon to understand that Hashem, Hashem, Hashem is the one that makes people to be nosei chein b'einei habriot. Yeah, and it's exactly here, it falls exact opposite from the pshat everybody says in the Chovos HaLevavos. Everybody's saying in the Chovos HaLevavos that the way you look at you, the way you look at yourself, that's how others look at you. The new sefer from the Chovos HaLevavos comes out and explains, you missed it. You missed the big point. We try to bring out that when a person is humble, you have to know why. It could come from that he's a tzaddik, or it could come because he has no self-confidence. He lacks self-confidence. And you know why he lacks self-confidence? Because it's a very bad nekudah. He's afraid. He fears. He's afraid of his shadow. Shaul HaMelech was nechbal lakelim. Beautiful, a midah, huh? Anav. It wasn't good. It was a terrible thing. You know that? Shmuel HaNavi tells him, What are you doing? Im katan atah b'einecha, roshei alfei Yisrael atah. What's wrong with you? You don't know that you have to be strong and you have to... Why? He was afraid of the people. The people told him, We want to keep the animals by Amalek, and what happened? Yehoshua went to fight Amalek, I told you, huh? Yeah. What did he need? He needed to be not nechbal lakelim. He needed Roshei alfei Yisrael. He needed...

You need to be strong. You need to be kayah sheyacha, bitachon. That's why Moshe Rabbeinu prayed for him. Where does Moshe Rabbeinu pray for him? ... You have to go ... ometz. ... That's what I'm telling you. ... You're not going to hear this anywhere else, you hear? Huh? This you're not going to hear anywhere else. The Chofetz Chaim, they say over that the Chofetz Chaim says that we were like grasshoppers in the maila; they looked at us like grasshoppers. Says the Chofetz Chaim, because you looked at yourself like a grasshopper, that's why the guy around you looks at you that way. But if you look at the new Chofetz Chaim, the pshat is completely different, the opposite, the exact opposite. If you look at yourself as a grasshopper, it's your problem. The fact that they looked at you as a grasshopper means because you don't trust Hashem. Says it clearly. It has nothing to do with you. That's why I'm mochel you for looking at a grasshopper. Humble, unhealthy humble is no good. Humble from insecurity is no good. Humble from security is very, very good. Very, very good. Excellent, excellent, the best. Moshe Rabbeinu. It's an unbelievable point, Rabosai, it's unbelievable, unbelievable. Yeah, they come into the office and the guy comes and starts talking to the therapist: I'm insecure, I'm insecure, I'm insecure. So he comes there and he starts looking into the background, the father, the child, the little child in you, and chaveizlahs, all the psychology, all the meshugasin the day after today. Okay. You know what they should teach you? They should teach you, Emunah, bitachon, v'hakaras hatov. Finish, end of story. The meraglim had very low self-esteem. They were terrified of the shadow. You know why? Because chisaron emunah, bitachon. It's clearly, achmasei lehe'amin b'... I was thinking, avadai, another point. What is it that a person has negius because of a job? Also emunah, bitachon. You know, it's interesting. Midot is not found in the Torah. You know that? The Yerayim has that pesuk, mitzvah lihyos shafal v'anav. You know that? There's a mitzvah in the Yerayim. One of the mitzvot, the taryag mitzvah according to the Yerayim, is lihyos shafal v'anav, to be an anav. The Yerayim, it's one of the sefer yesharim. Pashut, there's no mitzvot of midot in the Torah. Midot, midot. We don't talk about midot in the Torah. So the Rassag and the Rishonim ask this for a question: why not? Why is there no midot? Why is there not a chiyuv in the Torah? You know what, rabosai, the teretz might be, the teretz might be, and we're going to find this in the Rishonim. Ready? If a person has emunah, bitachon, there's no room for bad midot. Seriously. If someone has bitachon, yeah, is he going to be a gaavah? He has emunah. If a person has emunah, is he chomed? This is a very famous Even Ezra. The Even Ezra asks a question. How could we tell a person, Lo tachmod? Don't be jealous, don't be jealous. I am jealous, says the Ibn Ezra. What's the pshat? No. If you have emunah in Hashem and you know that He gave it to that guy, He didn't give it to you, it's not yours. Here, you want to learn kairach. They like to learn kairach. I'll learn with them kairach, okay? Vayikach Korach. How did Korach make machlokes? You know what the yesod of Korach was? Vayikach, jealousy, right? So the mefarshim say, Vayikach — what is Vayikach? He was taking. What did he take? You know what he took? So Chazal say he took the Sanhedrin. Other Rishonim, other mefarshim say, you know what he took? He took what didn't belong to him. Hashem didn't give it to him. What do you want? Rav Zalberstein — what's his name again in the sefer? Rav Zilberstein, Rav Zilberstein. I saw it last night in the shul. There was a nice vort. Aleinu l'shabeach. I usually don't look there. I gave the sefarim to Rafi. But in the shul, it was there last night on the table. I opened up a minute before Maariv and I saw this pshat, and I said, Must have to tell it over to you guys. Vayikach Korach. You know, Vayikach — he took. He took what didn't belong to him. It was given to Moshe Rabbeinu, so what are you taking it for? What do you want? It's not yours. Sounds very much like this Ibn Ezra. If Hashem gave it to him, what are you taking? So the machlokes...

Of Kairach was based on what? Emunah. Again, everything boils down to the same yesod, that even the meraglim, ad masai? No? Lo he'emantem bi. All the stories. How much pirushim haTorah there in the meraglim? Vayesh elef. Kol darshan, kol rabbi Yisrael, yesh lo pirush shelo; he has his pshat in the meraglim. You know a sefer doesn't say pshat in the meraglim? Everybody says, right? There's one problem. I have a sefer that says pshat in the meraglim the best. It's the Torah. Torah says pshat in the meraglim. The best sefer, no? Could you argue with what it says in the Torah? Read what it says in the Torah. Go ahead. Yud aleph. What does it say? ... What does it mean? And the Seforno says it clearly: Chisaron emunah uvitachon. Finished. That's all. What do you want? So all the bad middot and all the cheshbonot, you know what it boils down to? Emunah. Emunah. Emunah. ... is emunah. Of course it's emunah. That's right. Tzaddik ... bachavakuk ve'emunah al achat. It's all about emunah, yeah? Very simple. Why does a person speak lashon hara? You know why a person speaks lashon hara? Love. Why does a person speak lashon hara? You know what he speaks lashon hara about? I'll tell you why a person speaks lashon hara. Some of lashon hara comes... From insecurity. You know that? Some of lashon hara comes from insecurity. And that is, when a person feels that he's better, he puts the other guy down. You know that? People don't—people that are raf, you know. Why do people put down other people? Insecurity. You feel much better. You feel good about yourself. He's better. Why do you have to feel good? You want to feel good about yourself? Be yourself. What's wrong being yourself? Tell me something. A lot of times you speak lashon hara because you think that that guy is going to get something that you want, so you put him down. You think that this guy that people are going to look up to? Very interesting. We spoke about emunah, the emunah. The question: how are you supposed to do this? A piece of cake. I can hear you can eat a little piece of cake, unless you're not pure. So the emunah is not complete, Rabbi. Not pure. Wait, coming cake. Wait, emunah. Ah, you came from Eretz Yisrael? Okay. Okay, pashut sayla, pashut sayla, yeah? Pashut sayla. You know when you put another guy down, I'll tell you why you put another guy down. You're afraid that people are going to look at him b'derech kavod, and you're jealous of that, right? First of all, if it's meant that he should get kavod, he'll get it anyway, because Hashem wants it. And if it's meant that he shouldn't get kavod, you're not the one who's going to make that. You think you have power with your words. You're able to do, you're able to talk against somebody. You have emunah, you look at it, it's all crazy stuff. What are you talking about? Hashem runs the world. What are you talking about? Don't hear it, don't hear it. ... He means well. He means well. Okay. Okay, he means well. Let me teach you something. I want to tell you, dimti me and the rest of the world. Now, there's nothing wrong. Now you put it. Don't embarrass him. Don't embarrass him. No, it's just... He's... on the table, yeah. He comes, he brings it up. Ten times. He goes back and forth. Be mechabed him. Don't worry about it. It's all fine. The only thing is, if you're not going to pay attention to the shiur because of this, I'm going to throw it at you. That's, yeah, that this much I'll do. Okay. You know, my zeide's atza, last great question, but everybody asks this question, but my grandfather speaks about it as well in the sefer. Yeah, great question. You ready? Vapros. What is vapros? A question, right? Question. Okay. Question. Huh? Vapros, vapros. Yeah. Tell me something. You know, you ever hear of schizophrenia? Okay. Oh, you heard of it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Oh, you mean by others, not by you. Okay. Let me ask you, when a guy comes and says, Eretz ochelet yoshveha, and in the same breath he says...

Bnei anakra inu sham. You don't think that's schizophrenia? I think so. Make up your mind. Is it Eretz achelet yoshveha, the people succumb over there, or it's v'gam bnei Anak ra'inu sham? Which one is it? Make up your mind. Which one is it? No? Is that a contradiction? Schizophrenia is when you're kooks, that you say two things are contradicting each other. Who? What happened? Let me tell you something. You want to know something? Can I tell you about this Jew? He never missed a shiur, you know that? Me'asher bati. He's always the first one and the only one. Never misses. Maybe Nissan, maybe. I'll talk about him. He's a good Jew. I'll talk about him. I come all the way from Lakewood. It's for guys like this I come all the way from Lakewood. I come from Lakewood, I have you in mind. I know, I know, I know the mesiras nefesh you have to come here. He's a good man. This is Yehudi tov. Okay, now. Ata shomea? Schizophrenia. What is schizophrenia? Eretz achelet yoshveha, v'gam bnei Anak. Which one is it? Middle people. What? Eretz achelet yoshveha is not the Anakim. Some say that maybe it's nowhere in the middle. It's either this or that. Some say whoever's not an Anak gets Eretz achelet yoshveha. All right. Let me tell you what I think the pshat is. Yeah? Let me tell you what I think the pshat is. You ready? Listen to the pshat. Eretz ocheles yoshveha. Chazal say there was a reason for it. There was a reason for it. Chazal say, what was the reason? That Hashem made there should be levayot, levayot. Yeah? Hashem made there should be levayot. Why did Hashem make there should be levayot? That they should be busy burying the people and not them. In life, rabosai, there's two worlds in front of you. There's a world which you could say, Bnei Anak. You can look at it that it's no good. There's a life where you could see, Eretz ocheles yoshveha. The difference of how you understand is if you have emunah and bitachon. If someone has emunah and bitachon, you know what he sees? He sees only good things. Bnei Anak, va'nu sham. Excellent. Ah, Eretz ocheles yoshveha. That's l'tovati. It's all l'tovati. It all makes sense. It's all because... Without bitachon, it's a contradiction. With bitachon, with emunah, there's no contradiction. They taka went to Eretz Yisrael and they saw contradictory things. They came back. If they were anashim k'sheirim with emunah and bitachon, they would have seen Yad Hashem in everything that happened. Instead, what did they come back with? That is ... What were you thinking? And the teretz is, you were not thinking. Rav Shach, zatzal, in his sefer—I learn this every year and I think about it—he says, Laku b'shitchiyut. You know what the problem with them was? They had shitchiyut. They saw everything very superficial. Superficial. They only saw the... You come there, you see that, that, that. Why don't you look deeper? Why don't you think before you... And you know what the problem was? Without emunah, bitachon, a person sees only shitchiyut. A person only sees... Unbelievable, unbelievable. I'm adding this to Rav Shach. I thought about it for many years. What did Rav Shach mean? And the teretz is, there's two types of glasses, and I'll tell you a good story. I know you like a good story. And the answer is, it wasn't deep enough.

I'm going to tell you that I don't believe for one minute that they were kofer baKadosh Baruch Hu. I don't believe they said, Kaviyachol, chazak hu mimenu. I don't believe they said it. I'll say the pasuk says they said it. Rabosai, the teretz is they said mimenu. Mimenu could mean they themselves, and it could also be interpreted, mimenu, Kaviyachol. Okay, the rest you put over there. It's becoming a smorgasbord. The rest you put over there. Here, rabosai, you think they said clearly Hashem is not strong. You know what you're talking about. They said, Ki chazak hu mimenu, they meant themselves. But because they were not having emunah ubitachon, they said that they are stronger than themselves. Mimeila, Kaviyachol, klapei Shmaya, they אמרו כי חזק הוא ממנו themselves. Where's your bitachon? That's pshat. כאילו אמרו, כביכול, כנגד הקב״ה. What do you חושב, נשיאי ישראל אמרו הקב״ה was weak? Chas v'shalom. I knew, mazal tov, mazal tov, a ben nachat, a ben nachat, רק שמחות, רק שמחות, אורך ימים ושנים. I want to tell you like this, rabosai, tell you two stories. I know a family where for many years we always were convinced that the wife was a big yirei Shamayim, and she talked about Hashem and loved Hashem. You know why? She was terrified of everything that happened, and she always took out a Tehillim to daven. And she would go to Kvarim, and she would run, and she... The husband never spoke about davening to Hashem, never spoke about running to the Kotel. So we always thought that the husband doesn't have so much Yiras Shamayim like the wife. As we got older, we realized, we realized, it's the opposite. The wife was afraid of everything because she had no Yiras Shamayim, she had no bitachon. And the person who was not running around, because you know why? He had bitachon. He trusted Hashem, and the opposite was the truth. Sometimes from our words and our actions, we show if we have bitachon. If you come around and say, Chazaku u'me'enu, for me. We don't say, Min Hashem. Ki chazaku u'me'enu means me. Is that min Hashem? No. But why are you afraid? Because Hashem gave you a guarantee. Ah, that means that you don't think that Hashem can do anything. That's the pshat. Even Hashem, if Hashem guarantees you, if Hashem tells you that I'm giving you, don't be afraid, and if you're afraid, it means ultimately, what are you saying? You don't trust Hashem. You don't trust Hashem that He's strong enough to do it. You think the spies stood that, Tachoshev, the spies amru, Ki chazak hu mimenu, because Hashem is weak. ... Aval, aval, b'diburam u'vema'aseihem heru shehayah nekudah, nekudah, nekudah, nekudah, nekudah shel mashu אי ביטחון. Oh, nekudah shel אי ביטחון, rabosai. Az ki'ilu amru, כביכול, kaviyachol, that Hashem is not strong enough. That's pshat. Sippur. Yeah, I'll tell you a sippur. She was afraid of everything. And therefore she walked around scared, scared, pachad, everything, pachad. Where's your bitachon? It took years, years and years to realize. Years, years. For years we always thought, look at that emunah, look at the way they daven, look at the way she davens. And then you realize, what are you talking about? Every two steps she's afraid of everything. Where's your bitachon? Where's your bitachon? Ah, the person who didn't daven. You know why? Because he trusts in Hashem. ... finished. Not holding there yet. You have to take it easy. Now, you wanted a good story. I'll tell you a good story. When I was in Camp Agudah, I was zoche to hear sichot mussar from Rav Gifter, zecher tzaddik livrachah, ...

I've gifteders atzal used to say over from one of the great Telzer baalei mussar, Reb Mordechai Pogromansky. Reb Mordechai Pogromansky was a famous name in Telz. Reb Mordechai Pogromansky said a yesod, and that is the buttermilk glasses. You woke up. Everybody woke up. The buttermilk glasses. You know what buttermilk is? Who knows what buttermilk is? They sell it in the stores, buttermilk. You ever see them? It's like a milk, buttermilk. The buttermilk glasses. Chaimoch, Chaimoch. The buttermilk glasses. What buttermilk glasses? I'll tell you. Reb Mordechai Pogromansky used to tell the following story. It's not chema, it's buttermilk. It's a type of milk. The glasses are mishkafayim, buttermilk mishkafayim. What is he talking about? I'll tell you. Reb Mordechai Pogromansky said the following. He said a story about a guy that they took into a museum to show him Picasso, beautiful paintings. Yeah, so they show him a beautiful painting, and he looks at it and he goes, Ah, so ugly. It's green. The old days the buttermilk probably spoiled; it was a little bit green also. It looks like spoiled green buttermilk. What are you talking about? Maybe he doesn't like it. It's not according to his taste. So they show him a different painting. Next. Ach, buttermilk, ugly green. Third painting, a fourth painting, a fifth painting. Finally they look and they go, There's got to be an explanation. And he looks at the guy and he goes, Give me your glasses. And he looks on his glasses, was bottom milk from breakfast, from the breakfast that was left over from yesterday's breakfast, and it turns green. And he's looking and he sees everything dirty, bottom of the glass. You can look at a Picasso. You can look at a gorgeous painting called This World. A person can look at a gorgeous painting called This World. Hashem is a metzayer, ein tzur kElokeinu, ein tzayar. Beautiful painting. And what do you see? You see garbage. And you see only pachad and emunah, and eretz ocheles yoshveha. You know why? You know why? Because your glasses are missing emunah, bitachon. You don't see well. The glasses are no good. So what do you want? You're right. Moshe Rabbeinu sent them, anashim kesherim. He thought, he thought, that they're going to come back and they're going to see unbelievable things. Why? Because kesherim, if they're kesherim, they're going to see beautiful things. The truth is they were chaser emunah, bitachon. So what did they see? Eretz ocheles yoshveha. Now let me tell you something nice which you guys will enjoy very, very, very much. I know you'll enjoy this. All right. Why does Moshe Rabbeinu daven for Yehoshua? I can't get down there. And the answer is, we said, because he was weak. So why does he change his name? Why does he change his name? Truth is, we know there's such a thing called shinui Hashem. Shinui Hashem is for mazel, but this is not really about mazel so much. This is not about mazel. This is something else, right? So what's the inyan of davning for him to change his name? Rabosai, let me tell you a big yesod. You ready? The Gemara in Brachos says, Eizehu ben Olam Haba? Kol hasomech geulah litfilah. Whoever is somech geulah litfilah is a ben Olam Haba. Geulah meaning ge'ulas Yisrael, Kriyas Shema, ge'ulas Yisrael. Gemara Brachos daf daled amud aleph. Says Rabbeinu Yonah, b'shem his rebbe, he doesn't understand. Only because of that you get Olam Haba? That's a pretty easy way to get Olam Haba. Every Jew does that. He's somech geulah litfilah. What's the big deal? Because he does this, he's zocheh to Olam Haba? Tirutz, says Rabbeinu Yonah, two terutzim, one teretz he brings from his rebbe and the following: When someone is somech geulah litfilah, he shows that he has full bitachon in Hashem. Because if a person is mispalel, what does he show? I trust Hashem.

Okay. Now, rabosai, why is it somech geulah? So I was thinking the pshat probably, and that's what the Rishonim mean. When you're somech geulah l'tefillah, you know what you're saying? That the whole geulah came about only because of tefillah. The whole geulah came about only because of tefillah. So this is kol hasomech geulah l'tefillah. Good? Kol hasomech geulah l'tefillah. That the geulah, meaning, I only know the geulah comes with tefillah. Okay. Says Rabbeinu Yonah, v'ikar hakol is emunah u'bitachon. The main thing is emunah u'bitachon, and therefore you get olam haba. How did I explain to you that the problem that we were afraid by the meraglim—what was the tzat meraglim? And the answer is, chisaron emunah u'bitachon. So what's the tikkun? Yehoshua, tefillah, and also Kalev. What did Kalev do? Mishtateach al kivrei avos. Tefillah. The inyan of tefillah is the tikkun for the tzat hameraglim. You know why? Because the tzat hameraglim is that they didn't trust Hashem. The inyan of tefillah is bitachon. So what does Moshe Rabbeinu do? He doesn't only daven for Yehoshua, but he puts into his name, which the Baal HaTanya explains clearly, that the name of a person gives his koach hakedushah. The person's ruchniyus comes from his name. The Baal HaTanya in Emunah v'Yichud, one second, chapter one, says clearly that the name of a person... Is his koach. His kochos in kedusha comes, says the Baal HaTanya. So he put into his name this inyan of ka, yoshiacha, meaning bitachon, bitachon, bitachon, knowing only Hashem helps, ko yoshiach, only Hashem helps. Why was Kalev mishtateach al kivrei avot? What's the inyan of mishtateach? Reb Chaim Kanievsky, the sefer asks this question: why mishtateach? You know what mishtateach means? To lie flat on the kever. Why do you have to lie flat on the kever? So he says that today we don't do it, but in the old days they used to do it. And he says, al pi Kabbalah yesh taam. There's a taam al pi Kabbalah. He doesn't say what it is. I'm supposed to get some kind of energy? Okay, so I don't know that part, but I can tell you what I think it is. I spoke it over with my uncle, Rabbi Kellerman, and he agreed with me that this is the pshat. And that is, you know what, the Gemara says that Moshe Rabbeinu davened different than others. You know how Moshe Rabbeinu davened? We have it in this week's parsha: Vayipol Moshe v'Aharon al... al panav. They fell on their face. It's in this week's parsha. When you daven, you fall on your face, yeah? You know what that is? It's a different type of tefillah. You know what type of tefillah it is? It is complete hitbatlut. Complete hitbatlut. Ein li shum amidah. I have no stance whatsoever. Complete hitbatlut. The idea of להשתטח על קברי האבות in tefillah is, ani efes. Ani, ein li ma'amad. Ani completely batel latefillah. I have nothing. Just Hashem, You're the one who's going to take me from here. Is that like what we do on Yom Kippur? Correct. Ki purta vitu will actually, that's in service of the melech. But this is more of a, I have no koach whatsoever. I stand in front of You completely subordinate. That's the word, subordinate to the Ribono Shel Olam. It's a beautiful word, by the way. That's the pshat in, that's the pshat in, nofal al panav, hishtachaveh. Kalev knew that he had to come onto HaKadosh Baruch Hu b'hishtachchut, complete emunah, because otherwise you'll be dragged into Atzat haMeraglim. Atzat haMeraglim was about—beautiful, huh? What does the Ohr HaChaim, the what? Yeah? Tafar aretz, that's what I wanted. Okay, that's what I want. Yeah, no, but that's by Korach. I'm talking about over here. I know, but over here, it says over here too, vayisha'ar. It says it here too, by tefillah. There's an inyan of tefillah of complete subordination. Okay. Why the name Koh? Why Koyah? Hashem has many names. Why Koyah shiachel me'atzat... Okay, so let me teach you about Hashem's names. There's a Gemara in Chavtes in Menachot that says, Bitchu baHashem ad... ki b'Kah Hashem.

We say it in tefillah, right? Says the Gemara in Menachos, Hashem runs the world, the next one, with adnut, right? Bitchu baShem, that's Adei ad. Ki baKah, that's this world. In this world it's Yud-Kei, and in the next—it's a Gemara in Menachos, Menachos daf chaf tes, it's a Gemara. The Maharsha explains the Gemara that way. The next world is adnut, Bitchu baShem, adei ad. Maharsha, Maharsha, Maharsha on the spot. Ki baKah Hashem, tzur olam. Okay. But the Maharsha adds, Tzur is olamim, both worlds. So Yud-Kei is a chibur of both worlds. It's a Gra like this. The Gra explains that Yud and Kei is the chibur of both worlds. That's why, if you notice, ish v'isha, Shechinah shruyah beineihem. Which word of Shechinah? The Yud and the Kei. Why? Because it's a chibur. When a person gets married, it's to mix the world here—he's living in this world—it's to make a life over here, but the truth is it's really to be mechaber the olam haba, that it should be. The Yud and the Kei is a chibur of both worlds. Tzur olamim, two worlds. Ki baKah Hashem, tzur olamim. Koch Yeshiachah. The inyan of koach Yeshiachah is this nekudah. Yeshua had to come to Eretz Yisrael. You know what he had to see Eretz Yisrael through the eyes of what? Through the eyes of olam haba. If you look through the eyes of olam hazeh, if you look at Eretz Yisrael about this world, you know what you see? Not a very pretty place. You ever walk around Geula? Pretty nasty, huh? Eh, it's not so bad. It's only beautiful, you know why? Because you know it's Eretz Chemdah. You know that it's Eretz HaKodesh, that's what you know. Someone told me a great story yesterday. What a great story someone told me. I like it. Beautiful story. A chassidishe Jew told me yesterday that there was once a Rimnitzer Rebbe. I don't know if you know about the Rimnitzer Rebbe, big tzaddik. So the Rimnitzer Rebbe was makpid not to touch anyone's hand who was a baal aveirah or didn't go to the mikvah. Big rebbes, they don't touch the hand. Okay. Rimnitz, Rimnitz. Maybe he was a germaphobe. So he said over a story like this, said over a story, that there was a Jew who was graded from Russia, but he didn't behave himself. So the Rimnitzer Rebbe didn't want to give him a hand. He saw on his face what type of guy he is, and he's... So the guy said he's from Eretz Yisrael. He says, Im ken, okay. Eretz Yisrael. Kedushas Eretz Yisrael. It's a beautiful story. It's a beautiful story. Now it's a beautiful story. Yerachap in the godliness of the story, you know? Eretz Chemdah, Eretz Chemdah. Vayeimasu b'Eretz Chemdah, why? Ki lo he'eminu baShem. Look at the end of the pasuk in Tehillim. The end of the pasuk in Tehillim. No, look at what it says, kuf-vav, pasuk chaf-beis. No? Vayeimasu b'Eretz Chemdah v'lo he'eminu bi. It goes hand in hand, rabosai. If you have emunah, then you appreciate Eretz Yisrael. If you don't have emunah, then you can't appreciate Eretz Yisrael. You know why? There's nothing to appreciate. It's not that great. What, the Dead Sea? All right, you can find a spa in California that also has Dead Sea. Don't worry about it. Here, go ahead. Read the pasuk, no? Pasuk chaf-beis. It says, Nifla'ot ve'eretz Cham, nora'ot al Yam Suf. Continue. Vayomer lehashmidam, lule Moshe vechiro, amad beferetz lefanav, lehashiv chamato mehashchit. Continue. Vayimasu be'eretz chemdah. Oh, vayimasu be'eretz chemdah? Lo he'eminu lidvaro. Chaf-beis, chaf-daled, right? Chaf-daled, excuse me. Okay, vayimasu be'eretz chemdah, yeah? Chemdah, lo he'eminu lidvaro. Oh, it goes together. You know why? That's what I'm saying, pshat. You know why it was nimasu be'eretz chemdah? They didn't believe in His word. Because of lo he'eminu. The emunah brought about that they should be ma'us be'eretz chemdah. This, rabosai, is the pshat. Tell me something. You want to hear something interesting? Did Kalev besoter what the meraglim said? It was interesting. What did Kalev say? Vayachas. Shh, quiet. What? Did he say that they were wrong about what they said? What does it say? No?

Olei naleh. What do you mean, olei naleh? What about what they said? They said horrible things. You know what the teretz is? Huh? It says just, Tov eretz, maid, maid. Yeah, they came, they said Eretz is cheles yeshved, and what's the answer? We saw levayos. Terrific. It's terrific? Okay, terrific, I'm sorry. Imagine a person comes and says, Oh, you saw that car crash? Don't worry, tov me'od, me'od. Excellent. Great. Perfect. Beautiful. What are you talking about? So I'm asking, so what did he tell them? No, it's good anyway. What did he tell them? He changed the glasses. U'leich kishma she'amru, ... tovah ha'aretz me'od me'od. Olei naleh, b'vitachon. In bitachon, olei naleh. We'll do it. Olei naleh. You notice the Seforno brings that. Pasuk vav, what does he bring? What's the lashon he brings? No, that what did they say? That they were chozer b'tshuva. They didn't have bitachon, then they were chozer b'tshuva. What did they say? Shavu b'tshuva v'amru, yeah? Anachnu naaleh. What was the teshuva? We will go up. We could do it. You know what Kalev's answer was? What? Levayos? I don't care. Tov ha'aretz me'od. The Eibishter said it's good. Olei naleh, let's go, we're going. Lack of emunah, bitachon? Tikun is, rabosai. Now, rabosai, let's bring it back l'maaseh, okay? I'm going to teach you l'maaseh, all right? How does it apply to us? You know, to talk about emunah and bitachon, you could talk all day. Second of all, if the nesiim could make a mistake, ma nomar ha-batrei, what are we going to say? What's the pshat? You know what the answer, rabosai, I'll tell you the answer. The nesiim were given a chance not to be taught emunah u'bitachon, but to learn emunah u'bitachon. I just told you something very brilliant. Again, in the Midbar, they were taught. When they came to Eretz Yisrael as meraglim, they had to learn it on their own. They had to apply, experience it themselves. They had to go there and see what they saw, and they had to have an exercise in emunah u'bitachon. What do you see? Do you see Eretz zavas chalav u'dvash yoshveha, or do you see, no, the opposite, bnei Anakim sham, and it's toiv me'od me'od? I could talk to you till I'm blue in the face about having emunah u'bitachon. You want to learn emunah u'bitachon? Take your life and interpret it through the glasses of emunah u'bitachon. Whenever something happens throughout the day, say to yourself, What is the reason? Where is the hashgachah pratis? What's the pshat? You know why Hashem made levayot? He made it in order that they should look at us. I could do that. I could have came and said, Oh, look at levayot. This, rabosai... What a midbar was shown. The Miraglim finally had an exercise in l'maaseh, how to react to it. And you want to know why we might pass the test? Because they had to go through it and they went through it. You understand that in the Torah, once in the Torah it became part of Torah that we go, we're able to learn and see, Ki tov ha'aretz me'od me'od. Now we're able to learn from that. The channel was made already. The test, the test was already made. It was made. That test was already made. Now we could pass that test. We could cheat, so to speak. We could cheat from, from, from what do you call that? What do they have, the regents, they have those things, what do they call that? Those notes, what are they called? No, it has different—my days it was called something else. Those books that they put out, the old tests. Cliff Notes. Okay, my days it was called something else. All right, whatever. But the point is—Barron's. Barron's. My days it was Barron's. Cliff Notes was for the books, for the novels. This is like Cliff Notes. You see, the Ribono Shel Olam is giving us now the way they went through the test and how they passed, so we can learn and study that, relate to that. That's what you have to say. Where is Yad Hashem?

Through the eyes of emunah and bitachon, through the glasses of emunah and bitachon, this, Rabosai, you'll see, toiv ha'aretz. Very pretty, very, very pretty world. I wish you have wonderful... Oh, why women? I don't have a 100% answer, but I could tell you: women have more emunah and bitachon than men. What? I don't know, but that's what it is. That's what I understood. I understood, but I'm not ready to say it, but that's what's going through my mind. They're mechaves ha'aretz because they see things differently. They don't feel the kochi v'otzem yadi as much as a man. That's the way I understood. A man has kochi v'otzem yadi. How come you didn't want she was one of the ladies, all the ladies? What? Miriam. What about Miriam? She got punished. Not because of chibah ba'aretz, because she spoke lashon hara against Moshe. Okay, Rabosai, what's going to happen next week will be b'kesher.