SHELACH

Shalom, Shalom. We commence this DEVAR TORAH by focusing our attention on the opening narrative of the PARASHAT. It is written, “HaShem spoke to Moses saying, Send forth men, if you please, and let them spy out the land of Canaan that I give to the Children of Israel, one man each from his father’s tribe shall you send, every one a leader among them. Moses sent them forth from the Wilderness of Paran at HaShem’s command; they were all distinguished men; heads of the Children of Israel were they.” Numbers 13:1-3. From this scenario, we are given instructions on how one should effect the ASCENSION into Spirituality.

Spirituality is the experience of MOCHIN DE GADLUT, i.e., an expanded consciousness. In egism, which is body consciousness, that is, the experience of OLAM (the world) through the five senses, the awareness is one of limitation. This limited awareness is termed MOCHIN DE KATNUT in Hebrew. The transliteration MOCHIN DE KATNUT is indicative of a constricted consciousness that gives rise to a narrow existence. The narrow existence, from the perspective of time, is an awareness of only that which is in the past and the present. On the other hand, the expanded consciousness termed MOCHIN DE GADLUT not only embraces the PAST and the PRESENT but also the FUTURE. It is the knowledge of THINGS TO COME that is revealed in Spirituality.

From the ROOT LANGUAGE, the LAND mentioned in the text is indicative of Spirituality. The command from the Holy Blessed One of Israel to spy out the land is an instruction suggesting that spiritual leadership is to investigate SPIRITUALITY before attempting to lead the protege in the attainment. We can not lead a person to a place that we have not been. This would be the BLIND leading the BLIND.

Thus we are able to conclude from this scenario that competent SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP is that which has attained SPIRITUALITY and thus empowered to lead others.