Rav Yerucham Levovitz—the legendary mashgiach of the Mir Yeshiva—was a unique scion of the mussar tradition of deep self-analysis, inner work and moral refinement. A close disciple of both the Alter of Slabodka, Reb Nosson Tzvi Finkel, as well as the Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, the Alter of Kelm, he embodied the essence of mussar. Rav Yerucham was renowned for his shmuessen, lectures which expressed his awe-inspiring intensity for spiritual elevation. Over four generations, hundreds of talmidim received guidance under the personal supervision of “the Mashgiach.” Many of these, in turn, became leaders and builders of Torah study across the globe.

One of Reb Yerucham’s great talmidim was Rav Mottel Rabinowitz, zt”l. After escaping with refugees from the Mir Yeshiva, and reaching Shanghai, Rav Mottel was imprisoned for more than three years in a Japanese internment camp while attempting to make his way to the United States, braving disease and near starvation with mesirus nefesh. Ultimately, Reb Mottel dedicated himself to rebuilding Torah and passing on the mesorah at Yeshivas Mercaz HaTorah in Montreal, and became a beloved rebbe and role model for an entire generation of bnei Torah.

More than two decades ago, Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, met Reb Mottel, one of the last living great “alter Mirrers,” a title given to a person who had studied in the old Mir Yeshiva in Poland. Rav Weinberger asked the elderly talmid chacham: “Can you please share something about learning with Reb Yerucham? A maaseh, a story, maybe?

Reb Mottel demurred. “I’m not a chasid,” he said, “I don’t tell stories.” After a few silent moments, however, the elderly disciple of Reb Yerucham spoke: “Did you ever see how pickles are made? Cucumbers are placed into a jar filled with water and brine, and after some time … they become pickled! I don’t know how, but after being in the presence of the Mashgiach, after a certain amount of time, I could not look at the world the same way. Something took place, like we were sealed in a jar and pickled. After that—no matter what—we can’t be the same way we were before … ”

“(The meraglim, the ‘spies’ who were sent by Moshe to scout out Eretz Yisrael)… spread an evil report about the land which they had scouted, telling Bnei Yisrael, ‘The land we passed through to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of stature!’” (13:32)

Chazal understood that wherever the spies passed, the Canaanites were preoccupied with burials and mourning, and וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עָשָׂה לְטוֹבָה, כְּדֵי לְטָרְדָם בְּאֶבְלָם וְלֹא יִתְּנוּ לֵב לָאֵלּוּ—“Hashem intended this for good, so that the Canaanites would not notice the meraglim,” (Sotah, 35a).

Instead of recognizing, appreciating and reporting on this miraculous divine kindness, the meraglim implied negativity and fear, saying that “the land devours its residents.” This dibat haAretz became the root cause of tremendous long-standing troubles for the whole nation.

Rebbe Nachman (Likutei Moharan, 129) explains the inner-working of אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ, “A land that consumes its inhabitants … ”

“The nature of eating is that the nourishment is transformed into the nourished. For example, if an animal consumes vegetation—such as grass—the grass, when it enters its stomach, they are transformed into the animal. The same applies from animal to human being; when a human consumes an animal, the animal is transformed into a human.”

“Moreover, wherever the food that is divided among the limbs enters, it is literally transformed into the substance of that limb. For example, the part of the food that enters the brain is transformed into brain, and that which enters the heart is transformed into heart. The same is true of the other limbs.”

“And this is the meaning of, ‘A land that consumes its inhabitants.’ ‘Land’ corresponds to faith, as it is written (Psalms, 37:3), ‘Dwell in the land and cultivate faith.’”

“And this is the implication in ‘consumes its inhabitants’—for when one enters the land, which is the concept of faith, he is consumed by it—i.e., he is transformed into its substance.”

Rebbe Nachman explains that this transformation takes place through cleaving to a righteous person—being in the close presence of tzadik and believing in their power. One is “pickled” in the tzaddik’s presence, “consumed” and transformed into their substance.

When we eat, the food nourishes us and is transformed and elevated, absorbed into the cells, blood, sinew and bones of our bodies, literally becoming part of us. In this way, Eretz Yisrael is ארץ אוכלת יושביה—“a land that eats its inhabitants.” When a Jew comes to this “good land,” we are devoured by its goodness, transformed, elevated and subsumed into its holy atmosphere.

Our physical presence and connection to the land “nourishes” Artzeinu HaKedoshah, satisfying its hunger for us, and as a miracle of divine kindness, we reach higher and higher states of actualization and faith. We are not just affected and shaped by our surroundings; on some level we become them. This is why, when we “go up” to the land—something takes place in its presence—and “no matter what, we can’t be the same way we were before … ”

Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the mashpiah of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi and the author of “Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva.” Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife Ora and their family.