The Gemara says in Ta'anit, דף כ\"ט עמוד א', and it's also brought down in Rashi in the beginning of חומש דברים, that בעשרים ותשעה בסיון שלח משה מרגלים, that on the 29th day of Sivan, that's when Moshe Rabbeinu sent the מרגלים. ערב ראש חודש תמוז, that's when Moshe Rabbeinu sent the מרגלים. And since we know that הימים האלה נזכרים ונעשים, that every year, when a certain date comes when a certain thing happened years ago, it happens over again, and we have to, at that special date, take a lesson from what happened at that time, so lichora, in this case, when we're talking about the sending of the מרגלים, which ended up to be a negative thing, because this was the reason why the בני ישראל stayed in the מדבר for 40 years, and not only that, this was the reason why we have later on the חורבן בית המקדש and we have Tishah b'Av. As it says in Chazal, that when the Yidden cried, ויבכו בלילה ההוא, they cried that night, and they cried for no reason, because when the מרגלים came back and told them that they should be afraid to enter ארץ ישראל, and the Yidden cried, there was no reason to cry because they had nothing to be afraid of. So Hashem said, \"Now you are crying for no reason, but this will be turned into a בכיה לדורות, this will be turned into a crying that will go on for generations.\" Because they cried on Tishah b'Av, and years later, the בית המקדש, the first and the second, were both destroyed on Tishah b'Av, and we cry now on Tishah b'Av because of that. So we see that it turned out to be a very, very bad thing. So lichora, when כ\"ט סיון comes around, and we have to take a lesson from what happened then, which is the sending of the מרגלים, לכאורה, the lesson is a negative lesson. The lesson is that we have to be careful not to be like the מרגלים, that we have to follow everything that Hashem says, and not to turn away at all, not to speak לשון הרע, and the different lessons that we find in the מפרשים that we're supposed to take from the sending of the מרגלים in a negative way, which means we have to learn what not to do.

But be'emet, there is something positive that we could learn from the sending of the מרגלים. Certainly, from the maskana, from the outcome of what happened then, the only thing we can learn is that we should not act the way they did, but since we're talking about the day of the sending of the מרגלים, in the עצם sending of the מרגלים, there is a positive thing. And therefore, we should take a positive lesson from the ענין of the sending of the מרגלים. How do we see that there is something positive in the sending of the מרגלים? Because on the pasuk, \"שלח לך אנשים,\" the Chazal say in Sotah דף ל\"א עמוד ב', and brought down in Rashi, that Hashem said to him, \"שלח לך, לדעתך,\" \"Send if you want,\" which means that the sending of the meraglim was dependent on the da'at of Moshe Rabbeinu, and as He said, \"אני איני מצוך,\" \"I am not telling you what to do. I am not commanding you to send, but send on your own.\" So l'chorah, we have to understand: Moshe Rabbeinu was definitely an eved ne'eman of Hashem, as the pasuk says in בהעלותך, קפיטל י\"ב, פסוק ז', \"בכל ביתי נאמן הוא,\" that he is trustworthy, he is a complete, trusted eved, servant of Hashem. So from that we understand that since the da'at of Moshe Rabbeinu was to send the meraglim, so this is definitely because this was the da'at of his Master, of Hashem. And as the pasuk clearly says, וישלח אותם משה, and the pasuk says, על פי השם, which means it was ברשותו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, it was with the permission of Hashem. So it comes out that the inyan of sending the meraglim in itself is really a good thing. And that's why Moshe agreed to it, knowing that this is probably what Hashem would want to do. As it is explained also in the Or HaChaim HaKadosh on the pasuk. And as the Ramban in the beginning of the parashah explains, that the normal way of conquering a land is by first sending spies to find out which is the best and easiest way to conquer the land. And since אין סומכין על הנס, the rule is that you're not allowed to rely on miracles, and you have to do everything בדרך הטבע, in a natural way, so בדרך הטבע you have to prepare yourself to war. So therefore, Moshe Rabbeinu agreed to send the meraglim. So we see that even in simple peshat, it was a right thing to do to send the meraglim. So l'chorah, if it's a right thing to send the meraglim, why did Hashem say that this depends on the da'at of Moshe Rabbeinu? Why didn't Hashem לכתחילה command Moshe and send the meraglim, if it's a right thing to do? We also have to understand: Concerning the meraglim, Rashi says, אותה שעה כשרים היו, that when he sent them, they were kasher, they were good people. And it's self-understood that if Moshe Rabbeinu himself chose them, so definitely they were not just kesherim, but they were the best people fit for this shlichut, for this mission. So lichorah, how did it happen that such a change took place, min haketze el haketze, from one extreme to the other, that not only didn't they do the shlichut not properly, but they also brought this בכיה לדורות, as I said before, as the Gemara says in Ta'anit דף כ״ט עמוד א׳, that from then on we have the tzarot every year on Tishah B'Av.

But to explain that, let's first look into what was the mission of the meraglim. It was generally two parts. One was to find out details concerning the conquering of the land, as he said, וראיתם, you should see, החזק הוא, is it strong, המעט, is it a little, הבמחנים, does it have a wall around it or not, etc., etc. A second thing was to find out the details about the land itself: הטובה היא, is it a good land or not, השמנה היא, is it fertile, and etc., etc. And the second part, to find out the details of Eretz Yisrael itself, was so important to their mission that Moshe Rabbeinu told them, והתחזקתם ולקחתם מפרי הארץ. Make yourself strong, strengthen yourself, and you should take from the fruit of the land, even though by taking from the fruit of the land they put themselves in danger, because by doing that, it would be seen, people could tell that they are meraglim, that they are spies. Nevertheless, Moshe Rabbeinu told them strengthen yourself, go beyond all the hardships, and bring מפרי הארץ, from the fruit of the land. So lichorah, it's not so simple. Why did he want them to bring from the fruit of the land? Pashut, the reason is because אינה דומה ראיה לשמיעה, as it says in Mechilta Yitro י״ט:ט׳ and many different places. That means that if something that you hear, and you know it's true, nevertheless, if you see it, it's much stronger. And therefore, even though Hashem told them that Eretz Yisrael is an ארץ טובה ורחבה, it's a good land, ארץ זבת חלב ודבש, and the yidden believed it because we know the yidden are מאמינים בני מאמינים, they are believers, children of believers, as the Gemara says in Shabbos דף צ״ז עמוד א׳. Nevertheless, if they would see the fruit, this would be even stronger, and this would bring them a stronger simchah. As the Ramban says, la'alot sham b'simcha, they would go up there with more simcha, with more happiness. But still, it's not so simple, because since, as we said before, this could put the lives of the meraglim in danger, was it that important, עד כדי כך, they have to go on mesirut nefesh, sacrifice their lives, put their lives in danger, in order to bring from the fruit of the land?

So, one of the explanations to this is, we know that the yesod, the foundation of קיום התורה, of keeping the Torah, is הקדמת נעשה לנשמע, is as the Gemara says in שבת דף פ״ח עמוד א׳, that the Yidden said נעשה before נשמע, which means that they said we will do and we will hear, which means we will understand, because the word ונשמע also means understand. That means that the Yidden said, before we even understand what the meaning of the mitzvot are, nevertheless we accept upon ourselves to do it. We will do it with קבלת עול מלכות שמים, with the acceptance of the yoke of Hashem. So, that is true that this is the way a Yid is supposed to fulfill, keep Torah u'mitzvot. But lichora, if so, why did they say נעשה ונשמע? They said we will do and then we will understand. Why didn't they say just נעשה? Why do you have to understand at all? But from that we see that even though it has to be in the order of נעשה before נשמע, but nevertheless נשמע has to be. Hashem wants that the Yidden should try to use their sechel to understand as much as possible. And the same is also concerning their entering Eretz Yisrael. Hashem said to the Yidden that this is an ארץ טובה ורחבה, it's a good land. Nevertheless, Hashem wanted that the Yidden should know the greatness and the goodness of Eretz Yisrael with their own sechel, not only because they believe in the words of Hashem, because then it would be just נעשה, but after that, you should have the נשמע if possible. Whenever it's impossible, so then you have to have just the נעשה and do the mitzvot anyway. But wherever it's possible, Hashem wanted that the Yidden should understand the importance of the mitzvot with their sechel, and the same here, Hashem wanted them to understand the greatness of Eretz Yisrael with their seichel. They should actually feel it that way. And therefore, Moshe Rabbeinu told them to bring from the fruit of the land, so that the ratzon of the Yidden, the will of the Yidden to enter Eretz Yisrael should be not only because Hashem said so, therefore they're listening, נעשה, but also מצד themselves they would understand with their own seichel that they should want to go to Eretz Yisrael because it is a real ארץ טובה ורחבה as they see it. So, this is the reason why in the second part of their שליחות, which was to see the details of what kind of land it is, it was so important to bring the fruit so that they should actually understand it. The same is concerning the first part: to see in which way it's easier to conquer Eretz Yisrael. The reason was because Hashem told them you're going to be able to conquer, but Hashem wanted that they should see with their own seichel that it is easy to conquer Eretz Yisrael, that יוכל נוכל לה, that we'll be able to conquer, because the truth was that even naturally they were able to conquer Eretz Yisrael. Because if naturally they wouldn't be able to conquer Eretz Yisrael, and the only way they should have conquered Eretz Yisrael was בדרך נס, through a miracle, then lechatchilah there is no use in sending מרגלים. מרגלים are to see which way it's easier to conquer, but they are going to rely on miracles anyway. The fact that they sent מרגלים, that shows that naturally they were able to conquer Eretz Yisrael. So what was expected here was that they should come back and give over in which way it's easier to conquer Eretz Yisrael. So then the Yidden will understand with their own seichel, without relying on emunah, that it's a good thing to enter Eretz Yisrael and they will be able to enter Eretz Yisrael. So in addition to the fact that they would have the emunah because Hashem said so, that would be the נעשה, but the נעשה would have penetrated into their own mind and it would have been נשמע, they would understand what Hashem wants them. That they would understand that they should enter Eretz Yisrael and that they could enter Eretz Yisrael as Hashem wants them to do.

Now since we're saying that the whole reason of sending the מרגלים was to bring out this idea of נשמע, that the ratzon of Hashem should penetrate also into the seichel of the person, of the people, that with their own seichel they should understand what Hashem wants them to do, in addition to the נעשה that they accept the yoke of Hashem, therefore Hashem did not command Moshe Rabbeinu to send the מרגלים, but he said to him, אני איני מצוה אותך, I don't command you, שלח לך לדעתך, send according to your own daas. Because this was the whole concept of sending the מרגלים. The whole concept of sending the מרגלים was that a person, a Yid with his own daas should understand the right thing. That the right thing should penetrate into the seichel of the people. And that's why Hashem said to him, לדעתך, your own daas, Moshe Rabbeinu's own daas should understand the ratzon of Hashem. And that's exactly what happened. Moshe Rabbeinu did understand the ratzon of Hashem. On the other hand, because it was based on their own daas, it led to a mistake. And it led to the מרגלים thinking that you cannot conquer Eretz Yisrael. But all this was because they made a mistake and they did not have the proper נעשה as a hakdamah to the נשמע. When a person has נעשה before נשמע, then you could expect that his seichel should reach the conclusion as Hashem wants. But if the נעשה is not so strong at the beginning, the kabbalas ol is not so strong, then if you use your seichel, then it might lead you to a wrong way. And that's how the מרגלים came to make a mistake. The question we asked before, how was it possible that the מרגלים, באותה שעה כשרים היו, when they left they were good, should come to such a mistake? The reason was because their shlichus was to use their seichel. But when you use your seichel, you have to be very careful. Because if your seichel is based on the נעשה, you know what Hashem wants and then you try to understand it, then you will come with your seichel to the conclusion that even with your seichel you understand that what Hashem wants is right. But if the קבלת עול לכתחילה is not so strong, so then when you use your seichel, you might go on the wrong track. And that's what happened by the meraglim. באותה שעה כשרים היו, they were ksheirim. But still when it came to use seichel, that's where they turned off, because since you're starting up with seichel, it's possible to make a mistake. And this is the lesson that we're supposed to take from the meraglim. On one hand, we're supposed to take the positive lesson, which is the idea that Hashem wants that we should not just rely on emunah, which means that we believe what Hashem tells us is true, but where our seichel we don't understand it, but we have to try to use our seichel to understand it also. And the reason for that is very simple, because if a person does not use his seichel to understand the mitzvot, which means as far as his seichel is concerned the mitzvot don't make sense and you don't have to keep it, so then what we're really saying is that the seichel of the person is against Hashem. He will not follow his seichel, because there's another koach within him which is stronger than the seichel, and he will follow that koach and not follow the seichel. But looking at the שכל מצד עצמו in itself, the seichel does not admit to the truth of Hashem, it does not admit to the truth of the mitzvot. So therefore Hashem wants na'aseh v'nishma. You should have the נעשה, the kabbalat ol, but they should also have the נשמע, which means you have to try to understand so that the kedushah, the truth of the mitzvot, the truth of Torah should penetrate to every part of the person, into his seichel too, and his seichel should admit to the truth of Torah. Otherwise there is a part of the person which not, does not admit to the truth of the Torah. But as we said, this has to be based on the נעשה. Which means in other words, it has to be based on the truth, not based on the person's own will. This is the whole idea of seichel. When a person wants to understand something with the seichel, it means that he wants to figure out the concept that he's trying to understand in its truth. And therefore, he has to look away, overlook all his personal things here, and he has to just put himself to understand what the thing is. When a person learns something because he likes that seichel and it makes him feel better, then his מציאות is involved. If his מציאות is involved, you are not sure that you're going to reach the right conclusion. But if you're doing it because you're looking for the truth, then you will reach the right conclusion. And that's the idea. If you have the נעשה, you know that this is the truth, the truth is the way Hashem wants, and that's what you're looking for, then you will reach the truth. Which is similar to what it says, השחד יעור עיני חכמים ויסלף דברי צדיקים. That bribery makes blind the eyes of the chachamim, and will twist the words of the tzaddikim. Lichora, since Torah, and Torah is emet, says that these people are chachamim and tzaddikim, so truthfully they are chachamim and tzaddikim. So how is it possible that they should take שוחד לכתחילה? But the answer is, we're not talking about שוחד of money only. But when a person thinks about himself and what's good for him, that already is called שוחד. Then, it is not sure that you will come to the right conclusion, because you're thinking about yourself, not about the truth of the seichel. But if a person thinks about the truth of the seichel, then he will come to the right conclusion. And this is the lesson that they're supposed to take from the meraglim. First they're supposed to take the positive lesson, that you're supposed to have the inyan of nishma. Just like by the meraglim, they were sent in order not only to have emunah that Eretz Yisrael is good and we'll be able to conquer it, but they should come and with their own seichel they should see it and they should explain to the Yidden, and the Yidden should understand with their seichel. So we too have to try to understand everything in our seichel as much as possible to understand. So our seichel will also be a servant of Hashem, so to speak. Our seichel will also fit to what Hashem wants. But the second part of this is that when can we succeed? Only if the nishma is based on the naaseh. Only if it's based on looking for the truth, and knowing the truth, and the truth is that we have to do what Hashem wants, and Hashem, whatever He says, is true. And therefore, we have to fulfill it, whether we understand it or not, whether we like it or not. If we have that foundation, then later on when we do the nishma, we will succeed. But if chas v'shalom not, then it could happen like by the meraglim, that they will turn off the right track. So when it comes כ״ט Sivan, Erev Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, this is the lesson that we are supposed to take, these two things. First of all, to know that we have to have the naaseh, the proper foundation. And after we have the proper foundation, then we're able to have the לדעתך, our own daas trying to understand what