Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach ztz’l
Imagine I take upon myself to keep Shabbos. I’m working really hard on it but it just doesn’t go. What happens to me then? There are two ways before me. I might end up hating myself, and come to the conclusion that this is not for me. Or I make myself stronger, and I say to myself “I got to try again.” If I tried and I end up being disappointed in myself, I’ll end up dropping Shabbos altogether, since I cannot walk around hating myself. So I have to make an excuse saying “it is what it is, I’m just not up to Shabbos.” But if I am strong enough, I say 'okay, take a deep breath. It didn’t work the first few times, but I will try again.”
So the Alexanderer Rebbe says that this is essentially the difference between Moshe Rabbeinu and the spies. Moshe Rabbeinu’s anava was was that in a very deep and holy way, he realized that he hasn’t served G-d the way he should, but he was a savlan about it, he could bear it. The spies were very holy but they were not on this level. For them, if they felt that they couldn't overcome that which they were working on, they understood that it’s not for them. Here they are coming into Israel, they see it’s a totally different story from that which they were used to. In the desert with Moshe Rabbeinu, we had no problems. Food was coming down from heaven, we had water from the well of Miriam. A cloud would come down every Friday afternoon, washing you clean. Your garments would grow with you, everything was absolutely miraculous. When the spies came to Israel, they realized that Israel is a different story. In Israel G-d wants you to plow your field, food doesn’t fall down from heaven. But you see what it is, to feel high in Israel takes more than whatever you thought. Eretz Yisrael is a different kind of high.
The question is, after you tried once and you couldn’t do it, why don’t you try again? The Alexanderer says that this stems from utmost arrogance, it's the biggest chutzpah in the world. What makes you think that if you tried and it didn’t go, it means you can't do it, or that it cannot be done? Who are you? Try again.
Now imagine a mathematical problem is placed in front of me, and I really don’t know anything about mathematics. If I'm a mentsch I say “I don't know, maybe you can help me.” But if I think I am the greatest mathematician in the world and I can't solve it, I would say that it’s simply impossible. So since the mergalim thought that they were so great, they assumed that Israel is a country where you can't be high. But if they would been real students of Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbeinu's level, they would have been tuned in to the midda of savlanut.
Yehoshua was mamesh Moshe Rabbeinu's pupil, and Moshe Rabbeinu’s pupil knows that you always have to try again.
This is our whole connection to the land of Israel, we always try again. The closer you are to the holiness, the more you have to keep on trying.
All of yiddishkeit, our mission to the world is ‘try again, but really… be humble and bear it’.
