This past week’s Torah portion concerned one of the darkest hours in Jewish History: the incident of the spies. Representatives from each of the twelve tribes were sent into the land of Canaan, which was the land Hashem (or G-d) promised them, to see how they should go about conquering it. The spies returned with an utterly pessimistic report. They spoke of the giants that lived there, saying that they felt like grasshoppers in their eyes. Some spies carried back gigantic grapes and other fruit from the land. Instead of praising the land for its abundance, they used the large fruit as evidence of the existence of these terrible giants and said that the land swallows up its inhabitants. Only two spies recommended Hashem’s plan to go conquer the land of Canaan: Joshua (who would lead the Jewish People to victory after Moses’ death) and Caleb. It was because of this negative report that G-d became angry with the Jewish People and decreed that they would spend 40 more years in the desert; everyone over the age of 20 would die in that time, and only their children would be privileged to enter the Holy Land.
G-d was upset by the negative comments of the spies because their attitude showed a lack of faith and they seemed to be questioning His plan. After having been delivered from Egypt, witnessing the miracles at the Red Sea, eating manna which fell from Heaven every day, they had the audacity to question’s G-d ability to help them defeat their enemies? And how could the leaders of each tribe, who were said to be righteous men, make such an error? Weren’t they wise enough to see that Hashem, the master of the Universe, could get a few giants out of their way?
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that it wasn’t the spies’ lack of faith that caused them to give a negative report. Rather, it was because they really didn’t want to go into the Promised Land, and preferred to stay in the desert. In the Promised land, they would have to work the land and build. No more manna would fall from Heaven, and no more water would appear magically in the wells. In the desert, all of their needs were provided (Hashem even made sure that the clothes on their bodies were laundered automatically!) and they could spend all of their days and night engrossed in the study of the Torah.
This demonstrates that, while learning Torah and being absorbed in spiritual matters is important, Hashem’s intention is that we should also be involved in the world, and to bring holiness to our daily activities, such as our jobs and raising children. The main mistake the spies made was to believe that the highest achievement is to be above the world, whereas we were created to live in the world.