Welcoming Demolition
In this week’s parsha, Shlach, the spies sent by Moshe to scout the land of Canaan returned with a slanderous report, designed to dissuade the Jewish people from entering and conquering the Land. One detail they emphasized was that the cities were betzuros — a word typically translated as “fortified.”
Rashi, citing the Aramaic translation of Onkelos, interprets betzuros as “circular fortified structures,” implying that the cities — or at least the homes within them — were round.
Commentators ask: why would the shape of the cities matter? Why highlight the fact that the homes were round?
Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, a 19th-century sage, explains this based on a Mishnah that states a round house is not subject to the laws of tzara’as — a spiritual affliction that could affect the walls of a home. When a house developed blotches of discoloration due to tzara’as, it had to be demolished. But round houses were exempt from this law.
Why was this significant to the spies?
Our Sages explain that the affliction of tzara’as on a house could actually be a blessing. The Canaanites, anticipating the arrival of the Israelites, had hidden their treasures within the walls of their homes. When tzara’as appeared, the Jew who was forced to tear down his home would discover these hidden treasures.
Thus, when the spies reported that the houses were round—and therefore exempt from demolition — they were suggesting that the Jews would be denied this miraculous access to hidden wealth. By minimizing the likelihood of discovering treasure, they were downplaying the blessing of material prosperity that would come with conquering the land. In doing so, they hoped to dampen the people’s enthusiasm for entering Eretz Yisrael.
The Spiritual Treasures
On a deeper level, this episode connects with the Kabbalistic understanding of the treasures the Jews took from Egypt. Hashem had promised Avraham that when his descendants would leave bondage, they would do so with great wealth. This referred not only to material wealth, but also to profound spiritual wealth — the sparks of holiness embedded in the physical possessions of Egypt.
Kabbalah teaches that 288 divine sparks fell into the physical world as a result of the primordial shattering of vessels (Shevirat HaKelim) in the spiritual realm of Tohu. These sparks, intensely powerful, could not be contained in their original spiritual vessels, which shattered — comparable to a short — circuit caused by an overwhelming energy surge. The fragments of that explosion scattered into the material realm, where the sparks became trapped in physical objects.
These sparks can only be elevated through human interaction with the physical world — using food, possessions, and life itself for spiritual purposes. For example, when a person eats kosher food, recites a blessing, and uses the energy to study Torah or do mitzvos, they release that spark and return it to its divine source. Through this cumulative process, the world is spiritually repaired, culminating in the Messianic Age.
Of the original 288 sparks, 202 were elevated during the Exodus from Egypt. The remaining 86 sparks were left for future generations to redeem — beginning with the conquest of Canaan. Unlike the desert, where all their needs were divinely provided, life in the Land would require physical labor and engagement with the material world — precisely where those remaining sparks were hidden.
The Spies' Fatal Error
The spies believed that the people were not capable of redeeming those final 86 sparks. They saw the materialism of the Land as too dense, too impenetrable. In their view, the only justification for leaving the spiritual oasis of the desert was to uplift the hidden holiness in the Land. But if those sparks were unreachable, then entering the Land was pointless.
This is the deeper meaning behind their claim: “We cannot ascend to that people, for it is stronger than us.” Rashi notes that this can be read as: “It is stronger than Him” — as if saying that even G-d cannot extract the sparks. The Talmud adds: “Even the Owner of the house (G-d) cannot remove His vessels from there.”
How could men handpicked by Moshe deny G-d’s power after witnessing the miracles of Egypt and Sinai?
The answer is: they didn’t deny His power to perform miracles. They understood, however, that G-d’s intention was for the Jewish people to live within nature — not dependent on open miracles. And within the framework of natural existence, they felt unprepared and unqualified to liberate the sparks hidden in the deeply entrenched materialism of Canaan.
Hence, their report that the structures were round was not merely architectural — it was symbolic. Round homes, being exempt from tzara’as, suggested that the hidden treasures — both material and spiritual — would remain forever out of reach.
Squares and Circles: Piercing Through Nature
We can take this even deeper.
The Jerusalem Talmud observes that in nature, nothing is perfectly square or rectangular; such shapes are the result of human design. Thus, circular structures symbolize the natural order, while squares and rectangles represent human intervention and refinement.
By reporting that the houses were round, the spies were implying that the forces of nature in Canaan were too dominant. The sparks of holiness were locked deep within natural reality, inaccessible to human effort. The roundness represented a world governed entirely by nature, resistant to spiritual transformation.
But this was precisely their error. Yes, nature is powerful. But the Jewish soul, empowered by Torah and mitzvos, is more powerful still. Mitzvos are the tools that give us the strength to break through the surface of material reality and release the divine energy within.
It is no coincidence that mitzvos are often associated with square or rectangular shapes:
1. Tefillin must be square.
2. Tzitzis are tied to the four corners of a rectangular tallis.
3. The vessels of the Beis HaMikdash — the Ark, the Altar, the Table — were all rectangular.
4. According to Kabbalah, an ideal mikveh should also be rectangular.
These shapes represent structure, discipline, and the capacity to shape nature rather than be shaped by it.
The Final Stage of Redemption
The spies misunderstood the mission. They assumed that if the world was too "round" — too governed by natural resistance — the sparks would remain forever trapped. But G-d entrusted us with the tools to liberate even the deepest sparks, no matter how hidden.
And so we did. For over 3,300 years, especially during the 2,000 years of exile, we have slowly, persistently, and faithfully elevated those last remaining sparks.
According to the Rebbe, that mission has now been fulfilled. The work of refining the world has been completed. The final step is not to search for more sparks but to open the door and welcome Moshiach.
We have brought the world to the very threshold of Redemption. As the Rebbe put it: “Now we must seize the Redemption and bring it into our homes.” The round structures of nature are no longer barriers; they are vessels waiting to be filled with the light of Moshiach.