Shelach

The sicha for parshas Shelach is in Vol. XVIII of Likkutei Sichos.

When Moshe Rabbeinu is asking forgiveness for the sins of the Spies, the posuk says, “v’ata yigdal na koach Ado-nay” “let the strength of G-d be strengthened”. On this the Zohar says, that Acha and Reb Yossi say, Jews are more worthy than the idolatrous nations of the world. How?
1) G-d wants them, 2) He calls Himself by their name, the G-d of Israel, so that Jews are like a nickname for G-d and 3) G-d takes pleasure and pride in the Jew, because the world was created only for the Jews, and the Jew is the force that maintains the world, that keeps it in existence, and give continued existence to all the other nations.

The Rebbe then explains why it is that the Zohar chooses these three qualities  with  which to praise and make the Jewish people unique – that G-d wants them, that G-d is defined by them, that the Jew is G-d’s nickname, and also that G-d takes pleasure and is proud of them, and doesn’t bring other virtues that would seem to be even greater than these, with which to compliment the Jewish people, with which to set them apart from other nations, as for example, as we say in Pirkei Avos, that  Jews  are  called G-d’s children.

The Rebbe’s father, on his notes on the Zohar, explains that this is in keeping with what it says a little bit further in the Zohar, that the Jews are the heart of the world. And even in this quote of the Zohar, it says that the Jews are the ones who maintain the world. Therefore it mentions the three virtues with which Jews are different and set apart from other nations that have some connection to emotions - chesed, kindness - gevurah, severity and - tiferes, beauty. The emotions are in the heart, and since the Jews are the heart of the world, so it mentions the virtues that exist in a heart. It explains that G-d wanting the Jew, choosing the Jew, is chesed, that we are G-d’s nickname, is gevurah, like Elokim, that conceals the essence, so does the nickname conceal the essence. And then, G-d is proud of us, this is tiferes, beauty.

Therefore it wouldn’t be appropriate to mention the quality that Jews are called G-d’s children, because this doesn’t show how Jews are higher in the creation but rather higher than creation. How is that Jews are children of G-d? Jews are created not out of the word of G-d, like the rest of the world, but rather out of G-d’s thought, and the Divine thought from which the Jewish neshama is created, is higher than the rest of creation.

And so this sets the Jews apart not from other nations but from the creation itself. And here in the Zohar, it speaks about how in the world among the nations the Jews are different, and have a special function in the creation, and a special effect on creation, as it says the world was created for the Jewish people.

But what needs to be understood, the Rebbe says, is what is the connection of these three virtues to the posuk on which the Zohar gives this explanation. How does this whole subject of the specialness of the Jewish people, enlighten us on the meaning of this posuk, “v’ata yigdal na koach Ado-nay”? Secondly, before the Zohar mentions the three virtues, it says, Jews are better than the idolatrous nations of the world, which implies that the Zohar is telling us something that we didn’t know before. How could we think that there is no difference between the Jew and the non-Jew? And in general why is the specialness of a Jew described in contrast to non-Jews? Why aren’t Jews described independently and their virtues presented on their own merit?

To understand this, we first have to understand what is the simple meaning of the posuk, “v’ata yigdal na koach Ado-nay” “let the strength of G-d be strengthened”. Moshe Rabbeinu is praying that G-d should forgive the Jews for the sin of the spies, as the Midrash explains the words “yigdal na koach Ado-nay” that the attribute of kindness should be victorious over the attribute of judgment so that the forgiveness would be given. But here we have a few questions. Since Moshe is trying to arouse kindness and compassion, he should have referred to G-d as Havaye, which is His name that describes compassion. Why in this posuk where he is asking for kindness, does he use the name of G-d, Ado-nay, Master, L-rd of the world, invoking the element of severity and judgment?

2) Why do we find that in this particular forgiveness and in reference to this particular sin, Moshe said “yigdal na koach Ado-nay” but in other sins, like the sin of the golden calf, where Moshe also asked for forgiveness, he doesn’t use this expression?

To explain: the sin of the spies was that they didn’t want the Jews to go into the land of Israel, not because they denied G-d’s ability to perform miracles and give them the land, but rather because they were lacking in their recognition of G-d being the master of the world, “adam l’chol breasacha,” that G-d is the master in creation and of creation, as we will explain soon. Since their failing was in their recognition and awareness of G-d’s mastery of the world, of being Master of the world, in order to fix their damaged connection with the name “Ado-nay” there had to be an increase “v’ata yigdal na koach Ado-nay”, a greater revelation of the fact that G-d is “adam l’chol breasacha.” the master of all creation.

On the posuk where the spies are saying we can’t go into Israel because “chozak who mimenu” “the people who live there are stronger than us”, the Sages explain that the spies were saying that even the master of the house can’t take his property out of there. In other words, He can’t give us the land. But Chazal uses this expression that the master of the house can’t get his vessels out of the house. We have already explained this at length on other occasions, but briefly, the Rebbe says, the spies argued that there is a time when G-d performs miracles, as during the forty years the Jews were in the desert, this was a time of miracles, but it is because the Jews were living in a miraculous environment and lifestyle. They had not gotten involved in the ways of the world, and so their life was a life of miracles, which were appropriate and revealed in the desert.

But when it came time to go into Israel, they were told in advance by the Torah itself, that living in Israel meant, living by the laws of tevah, nature, living within the world and doing what nature demands, planting, sowing, reaping etc. Once the Torah tells you that you have to live by the laws of tevah, how can there be at the same time a miraculous conduct on G-d’s part to introduce miracles into the normal, natural affairs of the world? And so they said, since by the laws of nature, the people who live in the land, outnumber us and our stronger than us, and we are not allowed to depend on a miracle, because now we have to live by the laws of nature, so it is impossible for us to do this, and even G-d will not perform a miracle, when it comes to settling into the land.

And that it was they meant when they said that the master of the house couldn’t take his property out of there. The spies certainly knew that G-d could perform miracles. And what is more, they also knew that the laws of nature are a G-dly law, that it is what G-d wants. It is not that the laws of nature defy G-d, but that the laws of nature are another style in which G-d creates - there is the miraculous style, and then there is the natural style.

So the laws of nature are also G-d’s will. And that is why in the example that the master of the house can’t take his property out of the house, it is still his property. The world and everything in it, including the laws of nature, all belong to G-d, they are His kelim, His property. But they argued that since the Master of the house created the house whereby the affairs of the house should be structured according to a certain order, likewise that is how G-d wants us to live by the laws of nature. Therefore He cannot take His order of affairs out of their ordinary and natural course, because then He is undoing His own structure. And so there can’t be, they argued, miraculous behavior and natural behavior at the same time.

However, even though G-d put the world into a certain order and set up laws of nature by which the world conducts itself, it is not proper or correct to say that G-d can’t at the same time also perform miracles and introduce miraculous behavior into the land. And since the Jew is a “helek Elokai mimal mamush” the soul of a Jew is literally a piece of G-d, or as it says, “helek Hashem amo” the Jewish people are a part of G-d, therefore even as he lives in the laws of nature and conducts himself according to the laws of nature, he is at the same time capable of rising above the limitations of nature.

And that is why Moshe Rabbeinu prayed “v’ata yigdal na koach Ado-nay” because the name Ado-nay is the source from which nature derives. The Alter Rebbe explains it is from this name and from the attribute of G-d that the entire world comes into existence in such a manner that it seems to be a separate and independent entity not connected to its Creator. But at the same time, the word itself “Adon-ay” means master of the creation, and so that by being the master, G-d can change and rearrange the laws of nature and the conduct and the direction of nature as He wishes.

The argument of the spies was that even the master of the house can’t change the condition of the house damaged, so to speak, their connection with this name of G-d, Ado-nay, with the aspect of G-d that is the master of the world. By Moshe Rabbeinu praying “v’ata yigdal na koach Ado-nay”, he was asking that G-d’s mastery of the world should be more obvious and more revealed so that people not be able to make this kind of a mistake, and by strengthening the name Ado-nay in the world, the world would come to recognize that there is no separation between the natural and the miraculous.

Why didn’t the spies have this recognition of G-d’s mastery of the world that G-d is not limited by the laws of nature that He Himself created? It is because they didn’t fully appreciate and recognize the greatness of the Jew. Even while the Jew is in the world, he remains independent of the limitations of the world and he remains connected to that which is above the laws of nature. As far as they understood, the greatness of the Jew comes from his soul and from his being higher than creation. Since he is not part of creation, his relationship to G-d has nothing to do with creation, with the world, and with the laws of nature, that is why Jews are special. And when is this expressed? When he is davening or when he is learning, or when he is doing other mitzvahs, then the Jew is special. But when a Jew gets involved in natural affairs, in human affairs, which externally make him appear to be no different than the non-Jew, then there is nothing special that makes him different from other nations. So they perceived the virtue of the Jew inherent in their performance of Torah and mitzvahs, which expresses the part of the Jew that is not involved in creation, which is not part of the world.

But that part of the Jew that is involved in human affairs, here they couldn’t see any distinction between Jew and non-Jew. And since they couldn’t see this greatness of the Jew even as the Jew is in the world, that is why they also made that mistake concerning G-d Himself. Because they created this separation between the spiritual part and the natural part of the Jew, they also came to the erroneous conclusion that in G-d there is a separation between G-d’s spiritual influence and His natural influence. When there is a time for  miracles, that is the spiritual part of G-d is functioning. But when G-d settles into a normal pattern of nature and asks the Jew to settle into that pattern, then there can be no miracles; there can be no spiritual part of G-d expressed at the same time. And that distinction was their mistake.

Now we will understand better it says in the Zohar that Jews are special compared to the idolatrous nations. This virtue that the Zohar wants to point out, is that Jews are special even when they are not doing mitzvahs, when they are not being spiritual. Even when a Jew is living in a world of concealment, and on the outside one doesn’t see any special behavior or qualities and so he seems to be the same as all other nations, until people can actually think that there is no difference, so here the Zohar says that Jews are special even in comparison with other nations, meaning even in their conduct which is comparable, when they are living a worldly life, even then they are completely uniquely different from other nations. And this is expressed in the three qualities that separate the Jew from the non-Jew even when the Jew is living by nature: G-d chooses them, G-d uses Israel, the Jewish people as His nickname and G-d takes pleasure and is proud of the Jews.

Each of these qualities is found in the rest of the world, yet even in these the Jew is unique. For example, the Sages say that there is nothing in creation unnecessary for G-d’s plan. From this we understand that every thing in creation fulfills G-d’s will and plan, and yet G-d chooses and wants a connection to the Jewish people. The reason is that since the Jew is the purpose for all of creation, there is a different between G-d’s wanting the Jewish people, and G-d wanting the rest of creation because the fact that G-d wants creation is a result of the fact that G-d wants a relationship with the Jewish people. So the Jewish people G-d wants directly whereas the rest of creation, G-d wants as a means to the end. And so the desire for the Jew is different than for His desire for the rest of creation.

The second quality is that the Jew is a nickname for G-d. Just as a nickname conceals the true name - a nickname is used to avoid using the real name, and at the same the nickname has some relationship to the person himself and therefore through the nickname the person is described and revealed, so it is also with Jews. Since the Jew is a part of G-d from above, it should be recognizable in every Jew that this is a piece of G-d walking on earth. But this comes in two ways. When the Jew is acting by his neshama, he is living a life of Torah, avodah and mitzvahs, then everyone recognizes easily and immediately that this is a piece of G-d from above, as the Torah says concerning the mitzvah of tefillin, that when they see the Jew putting on tefillin, all the nations of the world see that he is connected to G-d.
But when a Jew is busy with his worldly, physical affairs, then it is not so easy to recognize the holiness and the G-dliness of the Jew, and the non-Jew and even other Jews may mistakenly think that there is nothing special, there is no connection then between that part of a Jew’s life and his neshama and G-d. And so it is a matter of gevurah, concealment, where it is not easily recognizable, it is somewhat concealed.

However, like a nickname, the Jew even when he is not acting in a G-dly fashion, bears a resemblance to the Creator, to his neshama, like a nickname bears a resemblance to the person who is described by it. Only in this case, one has to be a maven to be able to see it. There is the famous story about the chassid Reb Monya Monason was by the Rebbe Rashab, and the Rebbe was praising very highly some simple people. So Reb Monya said, I don’t see it, I don’t see their greatness. Reb Monya was at that time traveling on business, and being a diamond merchant he had with him a bag of diamonds. Later that evening the Rebbe asked him to show him some of the diamonds and as he spread them out, he pointed to one diamond in particular and said, this one is very special. The Rebbe said I don’t see it. Reb Monya answered, to appreciate the diamond you have to be a maven. And so the Rebbe said to him, every Jew is something special but you have to be a maven to appreciate it.

And that is what the Zohar is saying, that the Jews are special from all other nations even in those areas in which they are similar, even when a Jew is not acting in any special way, even then the Jew has a special relationship with G-d because all of creation and everything in creation is the word of G-d that gives it life, but for this, you have to be a maven, because when you look at the physical objects that G-d created, it doesn’t seem to be getting life from G-d, it seems to exist by itself. So you have to be a maven to recognize the creative force in the Creation. However even then, the ability to see that the Jew is connected to G-d is special and different from the ability to see other parts of creation connected to G-d, because even when the neshama is concealed, and you don’t see it easily yet that special connection remains and makes it easier for the maven to recognize the connection between the Jew and G-d.

The third quality is that G-d is proud of the Jewish people. Here also the Zohar needs to tell us that the Jew is special because G-d is proud of all of His creation, yet the pride that G-d takes in the Jewish people is unique and different. The pride that G-d takes and the glory that the Jew brings to G-d is unique, as a king who builds a palace, which brings him honor, because who else can build such a beautiful palace. But he is building it for his daughter and son-in-law and they bring him much more glory, so it is the Jew that brings out the G-dliness in the world and makes the world something G-d can be proud of as it says, “ mi k’amcha Israel, goy Echad b’aretz”  - who  is like  the people  of   Israel, bringing  out the oneness,  the G-dliness in the land.

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