Man Made Kedusha

Most of the מתנות כהונה are enumerated and elaborated on in Parshas Korach.  A notable exception is challah which is spelled out in our parsha, והדבר אומר דרשוני?  In the intro. to the שיעורי הרב על חלה ועניני מצוות התלויות בארץ he says that there is a great distinction between the other מצוות התלויות בארץ and חלה.  Regarding terumot, maaserot etc. the obligation starts from when the grain is still attached to the ground, when it’s a third grown.  That is because the obligation stems from the innate kedusha of the land.  The obligation of terumot etc. is an outgrowth of the kedusha of the land, the kedusha ruchoniot has an affect on the grain that grows from the land.  The obligation of challah on the other hand starts when a person does an action of rolling the dough.  The chiuv is because of the holiness that is an outgrowth from the persons work on the land.  It demonstrates the persons work on the land of Eretz Yisroel is also a work that brings about kedusha.

What was wrong with the report of the meraglim, they were sent to give a report of the land and they did their job?  The Ramban says the error lies in the word אפס (13:28) אפס כי אז העם: אבל רשעם במלת: אפס (במדבר י״ג:כ״ח) שהיא מורה על דבר אפס ונמנע מן האדם שאי אפשר בשום ענין, כלשון: האפס לנצח חסדו (תהלים ע״ז:ט׳), ואין עוד אפס אלהים (ישעיהו מ״ה:י״ד). והנה אמרו לו: הארץ שמנה וגם זבת חלב ודבש והפרי טוב, אבל אי אפשר לבא אליהם כי עז העם, והערים בצורות גדולות מאד, וגם ילידי הענק ראינו שם.  The meraglim didn’t doubt the greatness of the land, they doubted the ability of man to live up to the standards of kedusha that were required to live in it.  They questioned their ability to bring out the kedusha of the land. 

According to the Sforno and Targum Yonason the command of Moshe (13:20) וְהִ֨תְחַזַּקְתֶּ֔ם וּלְקַחְתֶּ֖ם מִפְּרִ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ was to make a קנין חזקה on the land of Eretz Yisroel, to start the process of conquest themselves.  It was this command that the meraglim balked at.  They cut down the fruit yes, but not for the sake of making a chazakah, rather to bolster their claims that conquest of such large fruit is impossible.  

Based upon what the previous post about the kedusha of the second Temple and the first Temple, we can understand this idea.  The meraglim understood the kedusha of the second Temple, a God given kedusha that comes about because of the presence of Hashem.  However, they didn’t feel ready for the task of conquering the land, of bringing about kedusha through man’s actions, of the kedusha of the first Temple. However, they were wrong, it was their job to conquer the land.  (See what my uncle wrote about the importance of conquest here.)  Hashem wants kedusha not just to be imposed upon the world from above, but for man to bring out the container for kedusha as well.  When man makes the container, then God will fill it with kedusha from above.  The Third Beis Hamikdash will ultimately be a combination of both the kedusha from the presence of the Shechina combined wich will fill the vessels we made through the years of work in the exile (see Machshavos Hachassidus volume 1 by Rav Yoel Kahn pg. 135-127.)