"
And Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun: Yehoshua" (Numbers/Bemidbar 13:16)
The holy Rebbe Yaakov Shimshon of Shpetivka zy"a went up to settle in Eretz Yisrael. After some time, he expressed himself: "I was sure that in Eretz Yisrael I would not have any more connection to the Yetzer Hara, because one needs a ship to travel across the sea, and I only got one ticket for the ship myself, and I made sure not to get a ticket for the Yetzer Hara to travel with me, but I see that he also immigrated to Eretz Yisrael". He added that he asked the Yetzer Hara himself, and he answered, "Eretz Yisrael is my natural home, in Chutz L'Aretz you only met the soldiers I sent in my service".
Along these lines, my holy ancestor Rebbe Yitzchok Isaac of Komarna zt"l in his holy Sefer Zohar Chai (Parshas Vayeitzei 151a), concerning Jerusalem, which is the holiest city in the world, where we see there is a tremendous amount of heresy and sectarianism, because the Samech Mem has one foot in the entire world, and one foot just in Jerusalem.
Along these lines, the Gerrer Rebbe the Imrei Emes zt"l said that a few weeks before World War II, Jewish blood was spilled like water, and the Rebbe gave a drashah on the Parshah of the Meraglim, and in his holy words he prophesied the difficult days that would come, and this is what he said:
"The Canaanites and the other adjacent peoples were wicked sinners with their abominable behaviors, because in every place where there is an abundance of holiness, there is also the power of impurity. Therefore, when the Meraglim were in Eretz Yisrael and saw the inhabitants, they became aware of the power of impurity that exists in Eretz Yisrael with so much power, therefore they were worried that the Israelites would not have the power to withstand the temptations of the impurity they had there in Eretz Yisrael. This is why they said "they are stronger than us", meaning that the power of impurity was stronger than the power of holiness, therefore why would they enter Eretz Yisrael, where they would stumble in sins and anger the Blessed Creator? Therefore, they decided to convince the Klal Yisrael that it is better for them to remain in the Midbar under the Ananei HaKavod.
"However, their sin was very great, because there is a general concept in Torah, that Hashem never brings a temptation upon a person that is more than he can withstand, because Hashem wants us to fight with our Yetzer Hara and conquer it. By virtue of the fact that Hashem tested a person with a particular temptation, it must be that a person has the power to resist and overcome the test. This is why Hashem wanted to give the Jews the Land of Canaan, because they needed to believe that Hashem would endow them with the spiritual energy to stand up against these temptations that are tied to this Land. This is because Hashem made everything one thing opposite the other, and it is impossible for a person to have a temptation without the spiritual energies to overcome the test." Until here are the words of the Gerrer Rebbe zt"l.
The Gerrer Chasidim testified that these words from their Rebbe gave them the courage and strength to stand up against all of the difficulties and tests that they suffered from during the horrors of the War and the Holocaust, because they engraved this clear knowledge into their souls, and accepted all of the tests with the surety that they are able to conquer these tests and to become stronger from them.
This is a tremendous foundation in Judaism, that it is impossible for any person to have any excuse why they would not be able to keep and fulfill the mitzvos that Hashem commanded us with a claim that he is not fit for this. Hashem never asks a person to do something that he does not have the power to do. Rather, He gives every Jew the power to fulfill everything which He commanded in His Torah to all of the Bnei Yisrael. However, a person has the responsibility to actualize this potential, and to bring out all of these hidden powers from the potential to the kinetic.
This is what Tzaddikim say to explain the teaching of Chazal (Shabbos 104a) "he who comes to be defiled, the door is opened for him", that if someone receives a temptation to become defiled, he should know for sure that from Heaven the door of salvation is open to him, and he has the power to overcome the Yetzer Hara, and thus he is able to be rescued from the temptation, and to grow from this experience and go to a higher spiritual level.
Therefore, throughout the years, I have seen among many youths, when I ask them to accept upon themselves to keep some mitzvah, and they answer that by their nature they are unable to do so, and they even say that the Psychologists have told them this. However, in the end, they accept upon themselves to keep the mitzvah, and they see that the truth was all along that they have the power to overcome, and they are worthy by this to live a happy life, and to establish faithful Jewish homes. This actuality of the myriads of Baalei Teshuvah in our time proves to everyone that it is indeed true that they are able to overcome the lusts and to change their habits in order to keep the mitzvos commanded by the Creator.
This fundamental concept is what gave courage to Caleb ben Jephuneh and Yehoshua bin Nun, to enable them to overcome the temptation of joining in with the counsel of their fellow spies, because they knew that even if a person does not usually have the power to overcome the impurity of the evil klipos of the seven nations that resided in Eretz Yisrael, all human power comes from Hashem, and Hashem wanted them to enter Eretz Yisrael with the strong desire to fight to remain pure. Then we say "he who comes to be purified is helped", and the truth is it is just the opposite, because the atmosphere of Eretz Yisrael makes one wise, and one can use this to be spiritually elevated from the tremendous side of holiness in the Holy Land. Just as we see what is happening in our time with the battle we have against the enemies of religion in the Holy Land, that those who come to be purified are successful in conquering the tests which tempt them in a supernatural manner, by Hashem's Help.
According to this, it is possible to explain that which we find here, "and Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun: Yehoshua". Moshe changed Hoshea's name to Yehoshua to hind that Hashem is the savior, in order to remind us constantly that Hashem saves us and gives us the power to overcome all temptations, and through this, Moshe rescued Yehoshua from joining in with the counsel of the other spies, who forgot this fundamental concept.
Comments
Post a Comment