To Ch. "Shlakh" Why did such a strange phrase escape from the lips of the scouts: "The earth devouring those who live on it" ...


Philosophical concept of food.


To eat is to include in oneself, to deprive oneself of one's own form, and to make one part of the whole. This is what the land of Israel does. Now imagine what this means: in the land of Israel, a person cannot remain private - he is included in the orbit of the general, the whole people, their problems, depends on their successes and failures, on the economy, army, politics, education of all people living in the country . Moreover, in the spiritual sphere, he cannot remain at the level of the private problems of his soul - he is drawn in, sucked in by the common soul of Israel, which makes him see the world differently, from the point of view of the whole picture, from the point of view of the past, present and future. Can everyone bear it? Not all. Many prefer to remain in a private circle of problems, concepts, aspirations. They have a conflict with the general, because at the subconscious level they have a feeling that the general eats and chews them. But for the sons of Israel, the real "I" is manifested only through the common. Just as when giving the Torah: the “I” of the Almighty does not absorb the “I” of a person, but makes him fuller, so in the land of Israel, the proximity of the Almighty to a person allows him to more fully reveal his “I.” And it was not by chance that Abraham was told: “Go to myself ... to the land that I will show you." Return to the holy land is a return to God, this is a return to oneself. Such is the law of the spiritual world, which differs from the law of the material world, where the law of Archimedes operates: one replaces the other. No, in in the spiritual world it does not repress - it reveals. But people attached to matter cannot understand this. So they feel that the earth is devouring them. And they deny the common: the people, the prophecy, the Temple. Some do not deny it - they push it away from themselves. But this is almost one and also.