לקוטי שיחות חלק יג - מסעי א

Regarding the inheritance of the land discussed in our parsha, we must understand the meaning of the lottery after the division was already based on reason and logic: “To the larger tribe you shall increase its inheritance, and to the smaller tribe you shall decrease its inheritance.”

This can be understood by first explaining that regarding Torah we find three expressions: inheritance, sale, and gift. These correspond to three levels in Torah.

First, inheritance means that Torah is connected with every Jew by virtue of his very being.

Second, sale refers to the Torah that a person receives according to the measure of his toil and effort.

These two levels are connected either with the person’s essential identity or with his personal work.

Third, the level of gift refers to Torah as it is beyond the person’s own reach. It comes from above after the person has completed his own service.

This also explains why the Jewish people heard the first two commandments directly from Hashem. This represents the level of gift within Torah. The remaining commandments, however, they heard from Moshe, which represents Torah as it is connected to the framework and limitations of the person.

At the same time, even these commandments were first heard from Hashem, but the Jewish people did not understand them, and Moshe explained them to them. This means that Hashem’s speech caused their faith to extend even into the fulfillment of the specific mitzvos.

The same applies to the inheritance of Eretz Yisroel. In Eretz Yisroel there is a revelation of Hashem. For such a thing — that there should be a revelation of Hashem in this physical world — can come only as a gift from above, beyond the person’s own reach. This is the meaning of the lottery.