Midrash Raba,”BeShalach“: The spies reached the region of Hebron where the cave of Machpelah is found, but they were afraid to go there and pray, since it was common knowledge that giants lived there. Only Caleb ignored the danger and decided to visit the holy place where our forefathers are buried because he thought to himself: How can I not be involved in conspiring with the spies? Moses’ prayers protect Joshua, while I need to ask the Creator for help. This is the reason that he went into the cave to pray. The Shechina also entered the cave with him in order to let the forefathers know that the time has come for their descendants to conquer the land. Caleb fell on the ground next to the graves of the forefathers and prayed for their mercy and for being saved from conspiring with the spies.
A person is always overcome by weakness and fear of the growing ego [1] inside him, and so he asks for powers in order to resist it. Then the Pharaoh [2] in him begins to awaken more strongly and therefore the spies are right when they are afraid and say that they don’t have to power to stand against it. Their only sin is that they don’t understand, don’t feel, don’t perceive, and don’t believe that they can gain power to overcome their internal interruptions [3] from above.
Question: What kind of power does the “cave of Machpelah” give Caleb who enters it?
Answer: The word “Machpelah” stems from the Hebrew word “Kaful” (double). There is a connection between Malchut and Bina in this cave. This is the reason that all our forefathers are buried there, since they have fully corrected their souls. They buried themselves egoistically by ascending to the altruistic level. A cave is a very special, closed place in the earth. The word “earth” in Hebrew (eretz) stems from the word “Ratzon” (desire), which means all of person’s desires are in a state where the attributes to receive and to bestow totally complement one another. Such souls reach the end of correction.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/8/15
Related Material:
From The Desert To The Land Of Israel [4]
Don’t Stop In The Middle Of The Way Towards The Goal [5]
The Cave Of Machpelah: The Place Of Spiritual Life [6]