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Realizing that this was something no one was yet doing,, Rabbi Finman sent the missive to his mailing list of about 30 people. Requests from recipients friends came pouring in. The next week Rabbi Finman sent the e-Parsha to 100 people. Within a year more than 2000 people were receiving it. Today, more than 14,000 receive the e-Parsha weekly and the requests keep coming in.
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This week's YouParsha Shlach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHojRBB8dtk. Tsitsits and Egypt
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This week's featured Parsha is Shlach, Numbers 13-15. More than half of the Parsha deals with the 12 spies that Moshe sent to perform reconnaissance in Israel. Before their departure, Moshe changed the name of his personal aid, Hoshea to Yehoshua, Joshua. This was done in an attempt to protect him from participating in the bad report that the other spies would eventually bring. The question begs itself. If Moshe realized that the spies were going to bring back a bad report, which led to the eventual punishment of wandering in the desert for 40 years, why did he send them? A second question, how would changing Joshua's name help?
The Hebrew word or name of everything describes what that thing is or does. This is especially true with the name given to a child. People think they are naming their baby after great uncle Max, but in reality, parents are privileged to a certain prophecy which lets them in on the name of the soul of their child. (There is a joke flying around the net: In the year 2075 two Jewish businessmen shake hands and introduce themselves. One says, "My name is Shlomo." The other inquires, "Where did you ever get such a name as Shlomo?" The first one replies, "I was named after my grandfather Scot.") By analyzing the names of the spies, we can determine the origin of their souls and what their motivations may have been.
From the tribe of Reuven, Shamua ben Zakur. Shamua means he listens, Zakur he remembers. Moshe thought with such a name he would listen and remember that the Jews had been promised to enter the land. He didn't. He listened and remembered to his own devices.
Shimon: Shaphat ben Chori. Shaphat, judge, Chori, my nobleman. With a name like that, how could you go wrong? Everyone has two judges, an inclination towards good, the yetzer tov and one towards unholy, the yetzer hora. Moshe thought that he would be inclined to his good inclination and show strength in following his convictions. Chori also means pale or sick. You get the picture.
Yehuda: Caleb, dog or lion, ben Yefuna, he turned. Caleb brought back a good report. He could have been a dog and turned the wrong way, but he was a lion and turned the right way.
Issachar: Yigal, he will redeem or exile, ben Yosef, he will add. It is good if he adds in redemption, bad if he adds in exile.
Ephraim: Yehoshua, He will save, ben Nun. The Hebrew letter nun is an abbreviation for the word Nais. miracle.
Benjamin: Palti, He escaped, ben Rafu, was soft. One can escape the demands of their Yetzer hora and be soft meaning follow the example of their good inclination, or vice versa.
Zebulun: Gaddiel, G’d's troop, ben Sodi, my secret. Moshe would only expect the best of such a person. Gaddiel can also mean bitter of G’d. Secrets can go either way.
Menashe: Gaddi, same as Gaddiel, ben Susi, my gladness, my horse.
Dan: Amiel, Nation of G’d, ben Gamali, causes good things. The word nation also connotes separateness as the expression, "There is no king without a nation." The king is only a king when the people are not members of his family or immediate entourage. Gamali could also mean causes bad things.
Asher: Setur, he turned (See Yehuda above), ben Michael. Michael is an expression of kindness. As the Zohar relates that the Angel Michael stands to G’d's right and is the conduit of kindness. Unbridled kindness is not a good thing. The patriarch Abraham was referred to as a man of kindness. When Hashem told him that he was to have a son, the progenitor of the Jewish people, his response was, "It should only be that Yishmoel (A wild ox of a man) should be worthy." Unchecked, kindness can lead to an undesirable effect.
Naftali: Nachbi, shy, ben Vofsi, removed. One may be humble before Hashem and be removed from sin, or one may be shy before others and be removed from Hashem.
Gad: Geuail, He uplifted himself before Hashem, ben Machi, my softness or my poverty.
Relying solely on name analysis, it is easy to see how Moshe could have chosen these people. They are referred to in the Parsha as prominent men of stature, leader of the congregation. Their mistake was that they believed that it would be better to be left in the desert; they ate Manna and had all of their needs provided, than to be in Israel where it was possible for a person to become engulfed with the physical and forget the spiritual.
The following story elucidates the point further:
As a student in the Mezritcher Magid's court, the Alter Rebbe, first Lubavitcher Rebbe, heard some people discussing the wondrous miracles that certain Tzadikim had performed. The Rebbe commented that there are two types of Tzadikim: Those who are one handbreadth above nature and those that are more than 2000 cubits above nature. Those that are so close to nature work in a way to break nature and show how nature is nothing. Those that are more than 2000 cubits work within nature and show how nature is the product of a miraculous creation.
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The Rebbe's yartzeit is Tamuz 3, this year June 15. The following is a taken from a private audience of the Rebbe that took place in the winter of 1969.
Question: The Rebbe's energy is so instrumental in helping us serve G'd properly, how is it possible that we still have free will?
The Rebbe: The Torah says, regarding Moses: "I stand between G'd and the Jewish people," because connecting directly with G'd is a challenge. The Jews pleaded with G'd to place an intermediary between the Jews and G'd. Each generation has its own Moses.
To understand this from a worldly perspective: when a regular person has an appointment to speak with the king, it is such a momentous occasion that in preparation for even a brief audience, the person dons brand new clothes and buys new shoes. He will need to know in advance what to speak about and, more importantly, how to speak to a king. How does such a person prepare himself? He contacts an official or a lawmaker who is intricately familiar with the laws and customs of speaking to a king, and who will advise him on how to get a message across to a king.
The same applies spiritually: G'd intended for you to get involved in a specific type of business through which you became, thank G'd, very wealthy. Now your job is also to give charity. There are times during the year, like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when it is relatively easy for a Jew to communicate directly with G'd. However, reaching G'd on your own on a regular basis is a very difficult task. You go to a tzadik (righteous person), who knows how to speak to G'd, and this tzadik communicates on your behalf.
Regarding your question of free will: A wealthy and respectable person who wants to build a house still needs to find a contractor who will actually do the work, an architect to make the blueprints etc.; he will have to find someone specific for each detail of the house. In building a house, it is impossible for one person to do everything. It is true that there may be some people who are wealthy and they are also contractors themselves and this person can build a house on his own, but only a select few individuals can do all things involved in building a house. When this wealthy person builds a house, the fact that he relies on various different people, with different professions, does not mean that his image as a wealthy and respectful person is diminished. Rather, he needs money to pay other professionals to do the various tasks, and without money, he indeed would not get anywhere.
The same in spirituality: a Jew who is occupied with business and with giving charity still needs a tzadik for help. On his own, a Jew does not have sufficient merits; he therefore needs the tzadik to elevate him closer to G'd.
For example: how do you connect a Jew here in Brooklyn who gives money in order to help free a Jew in Russia? How can a Jew in Russia give someone a part in a mitzvah? The same thing regarding a Jew from here who gives money, enabling a Jew in Tel Aviv to don tefillin - how are those two people connected? The fact that the Jew from here is connected to me and the Jew who is in Russia is also connected to me, and I know how to speak to the Above, I connect both of these Jews together. I am a physical human being like you. It is just that G'd gave me the strength to help out Jews.
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