What was the reason that the spies, who were leaders of Israel and men of lofty stature, did not want to enter the Land?

The explanation of the matter is as follows:

A great majority of the physical mitzvot can be implemented only in the Land of Israel, especially the agricultural laws and the laws of the offerings brought to the Holy Temple. . . . The spies, who were on a most lofty spiritual level, did not wish to lower themselves to the level of physical action, preferring to remain in the desert, where they received all their needs from above, and related to G‑d by means of the loftier levels of thought and speech (i.e., study of Torah and prayer). They desired to draw down all the divine emanations into the “Land of Israel” that exists in the realm of Malchut, the world of divine speech, where there also is a “Jerusalem” and a “Holy Temple.” Regarding the physical Land of Israel, they said: “It is a land that consumes its inhabitants”—if the divine light were to be drawn down into the physical world, our entire existence would be nullified.

But Joshua and Caleb said, “The Land is very, very good.” It is specifically in the Land of Israel down below, and specifically by means of the mitzvot implemented by physical action, that the truly infinite light of G‑d is drawn down—a light that includes both the spiritual and the material, which is why it is “very, very” good.

The descendants of Shamchazai and Azael, who fell from heaven in the generation of Enosh.

When the generation of the Flood took to worshipping idols, and G‑d was saddened, there arose two angels, Shamchazai and Azael, who said to Him: “Master of the Universe! Did we not say to You, when You created Your world, ‘What is man that You make mention of him?’”

Said G‑d: “And the world—what shall become of it?”

Said they: “Master of the Universe! We would suffice for it.”

Said G‑d: “It is known and revealed to Me that if you dwelled upon earth, the Evil Inclination would dominate you, and you would be worse than the sons of man.”

Said they: “Allow us to dwell among the humans, and You shall see that we will sanctify Your name!”

Said G‑d: “Descend and dwell amongst them.”

Immediately they were corrupted.

Such is the way of defamers: they start off by saying something good, and conclude by saying evil.

Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Meir: Any piece of slander which has not some truth in the beginning, will not endure in the end.

On the ninth of Av it was decreed that our fathers would not enter the Promised Land.

For we know that the children of Israel decamped from Mount Sinai on the 20th of Iyar (Numbers 10:11), and set forth on a three days’ journey (ibid. 10:33), following which they ate the quail for thirty days (ibid. 11:20). That brings us up to the 22nd of Sivan. Then Miriam was secluded outside of the camp for seven days (ibid. 12:15), following which Moses sent the spies (ibid. 13:1). Thus, the spies went out on the 29th of Sivan. And it is written, “They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.” The month of Tammuz was a “full” month (of 30 days) that year, meaning that they returned on the 8th of Av. And it is further written, “All the congregation lifted up their voice and cried; and the people wept that night.” Said G‑d to them: “You have wept without cause; therefore I will set aside this day for a weeping throughout the generations to come.”

His intention was for the sake of heaven. For the people of Israel were saying that since it had been decreed that they will not enter the Land because of the incident of the spies, they are no longer obligated to keep the mitzvot. So he went and violated the Shabbat, so that he should be killed and others should see.

Thus he did not truly sin, since “work that is not needed for itself” (as in the case of one who digs a pit but has use only for its earth but not for the pit) does not constitute “work” (_melachah_) that is in violation of the Shabbat.

Our Rabbis taught: The chillazon resembles the sea in its color, and in shape it resembles a fish; it comes up from the sea once in seventy years, and with its blood one dyes the blue thread. Therefore it is so expensive . . .

If one cannot obtain blue threads, he should insert all white threads.

Why is blue singled out from all the varieties of colors? Because blue resembles the sea, and the sea resembles heaven, and heaven resembles the divine throne, as it is written (Exodus 24:10): “They saw the G‑d of Israel, and at His feet was as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness."

It does not say “and you shall see them,” but “and you shall see Him” (the Hebrew oto also translates as “him”). This teaches that everyone who fulfils the mitzvah of tzitzit, it is as if he has greeted the face of the Divine Presence. For the blue thread resembles the sea, the sea resembles grasses, grasses resemble the sky, and the sky resembles the divine throne.

There was once a man who was very scrupulous about the precept of tzitzit. One day he heard of a certain harlot overseas who took four hundred gold dinars for her hire. He sent her four hundred gold dinars and appointed a day with her.

When the day arrived, he came and waited at her door, and her maid came and told her, “That man who sent you four hundred gold dinars is here and waiting at the door”; to which she replied, “Let him come in.”

When he came in, she prepared for him seven beds, six of silver and one of gold; and between one bed and the other there were steps of silver, but the last were of gold. She then went up to the top bed and lay down upon it naked. He too went up after her in his desire to sit naked with her, when all of a sudden the four fringes of his garment struck him across the face, whereupon he slipped off and sat upon the ground. She also slipped off and sat upon the ground and said, “By the Roman Capitol, I will not let you go until you tell me what blemish you saw in me.”

“I swear,” he replied, “that never have I seen a woman as beautiful as you. But there is one precept which our G‑d has commanded us, called tzitzit, and with regard to it the expression ‘I am the L‑rd your G‑d’ is twice written, signifying: I am He who will exact punishment in the future, and I am He who will give reward in the future. Now the tzitzit appeared to me as four witnesses.”

Said she: “I will not leave you until you tell me your name, the name of your town, the name of your teacher and the name of your school in which you study the Torah.” He wrote all this down and handed it to her. Thereupon she arose and divided her wealth into three parts: one-third for the government, one-third to be distributed among the poor, and one-third she took with her in her hand; the bedclothes, however, she retained. She then came to the study hall of Rabbi Chiya, and said to him: “Master, give instructions about me that they make me a proselyte.” . . . Those very bedclothes which she had spread for him for an illicit purpose she now spread out for him lawfully.

As long as you adhere to the commandments, then “you who cleave unto the L‑rd your G‑d are alive, every one of you, this day" .