“Alu Zeh BaNegev (Go Up this Way into the Negev), and you shall ascend the mountains.” (Numbers 13:17)

Rashi explains: This was the inferior part of the Land of Israel.

As a rule, the words of Torah or prayer that the tzaddik speaks are called “the Land of Israel.” “Land” corresponds to the soul, as it is written (Psalms 143:6), “my soul, like a [thirsty] land.” And the soul is the aspect of speech, as it is written (Song of Songs 5:6), “my soul came forth when he spoke.”

Whereas the tzaddik’s words of Torah or prayer are called “the Land of Israel,” the words he utters in ordinary conversation with the unlearned public are called “the inferior part of the Land of Israel.”

Why does he speak of mundane matters? It is so that he might bind the unlearned to daat. [Daat] is synonymous with a mountain, for we find in the Talmud that “mountain” {this should say “Lebanon”} refers to nothing other than the Holy Temple (Gittin 56b), as [Scripture] states: “this good mountain and the Lebanon” (Deuteronomy 3:25). And the Holy Temple corresponds to daat, as we find in the Talmud: When someone has daat, it is as if the Holy Temple was built in his lifetime. For both the Holy Temple and daat are positioned between two Divine Names (Berakhot 33a) .

By means of Torah and prayer it is not possible to bind them to their Source, since [most people] are far from the truth. We find this in regard to King Ptolemy. When he assembled seventy-two elders and had them write out the Torah, they all wrote “God created the beginning” (Megillah 9a). For [Ptolemy] was far from the truth, and so it was necessary for them to rearrange the word order.

The same is true of the tzaddik when he wants to bind unlearned people, who are far from the true Torah. He has to speak with them of mundane matters and enclothe in these [conversations his teachings of] Torah. But since he [re]arranges his words, they are called “the inferior part of the Land of Israel.” For although they are the “inferior part of the Land,” they contain Torah, which is the aspect of “Israel.”

2. This is the explanation of the [opening] verse: {“Go up zeh (this way) into the Negev, and you shall ascend the mountains.”}

**Go up—**That is, you, the unlearned public, ascend.

**zeh into the Negev—**Zeh alludes to the tzaddik. This is as it is written (Ecclesiastes 12:13), “for zeh (this) is all mankind,” and our Sages, of blessed memory, expounded (Berakhot 6b): The entire world was created only as an accompaniment for zeh (this one). In other words, the tzaddik is “into the Negev”—i.e., “the inferior part of the Land of Israel,” ordinary conversations—and this enables him to bind you.

**and you shall ascend the mountains—**This refers to daat, as explained above.

3. Additionally, it sometimes happens that the tzaddik falls from his level. When one of the unlearned people then engages him in conversation about worldly matters and the tzaddik has pleasure from this, he revives the tzaddik who returns to his level. The tzaddik can then elevate [the unlearned] to daat .

This is the meaning of: **Go up zeh—**That is, when the tzaddik needs to ascend to his level, you must be into the Negev. You must engage him in everyday conversation in order to revive him. And as a result,

**you shall ascend the mountains—**the tzaddik will then be able to bind you to daat, which is called a “mountain.”