As we journey further along in Sefer Bamidbar, relevance to Am Yisrael’s current standing in the world is most keenly felt from the critical events detailed in this week’s Parshah, Parshat Shelach. Parshat Beha’alotcha ended with the unfortunate incident of Miriam failing to properly respect or comprehend her brother Moshe’s prophetic abilities, and therefore being punished with Tsa’arat for her saying of Lashon Hara to that effect; Parshat Shelach, on that note, continues with the terrible and doomed mission of the spies, who, despite being sent by Moshe to gain intelligence of Eretz Yisrael and its inhabitants, will instead focus on whatever negativity they saw, and then proceed to badmouth the Holy land. Unwilling to learn from Miriam’s Lashon Hara about Moshe, the spies’ diatribe against Eretz Yisrael resulted in an extremely harmful National demoralization, which, consequently, will serve as the root cause of the destruction of both the first and second Batei HaMikdash, consequences which we are still dealing with today. The spies returned and spread their libel on Tisha’a Ba’av-from then on, Tisha’a Ba’av was destined to become the day of National mourning that we still observe.
Of the 12 spies sent to gain an understanding of the lay of the land, 2 remained pure, and reported about the goodness of Eretz Yisrael-Moshe’s brother-in-law, Kaleiv, and his primary disciple, Yehoshua, both did not fall victim to the negative perspectives of the other 10 spies. When initially sending out the spies, the Possuk mentions what seems to be an irrelevant detail [Bamidbar 13’ 16’]:
“...These are the names of the men whom Moshe sent to scout the land, and Moshe called Hosheiah the son of Nun, Yehoshua…"
Moshe’s switching of the name of Hosheiah to Yehoshua does not have an apparent connection to what is taking place at this moment; Rashi, bothered by this question, explains, that Moshe understood that there was a dangerous element to this mission, and therefore wanted to pray for Yehoshua to have success and remain uninfluenced by the possible biases of the other spies. The addition of the letter “Yu"d" to the name “Hosheiah" was thus meant to allude to Moshe’s prayer- “Yehoshua" can be understood as “Y-ah Hosheiacha", which translates as “May G-d [Y-ah] save you [from the evil of the spies]." Ultimately, Moshe’s Tefillot are vindicated, and Yehoshua remains pure and does not fall victim to the slander of his companions.
Commentaries differ on the exact mechanics behind the name switch; however, it is understood that the letter “Yu"d" added to Yehoshua’s name needs to have its source in the Torah. Thus, some Midrashim state that this letter Yu’’d was initially the ending letter of the name of the first matriarch of the Jewish people, Sarai [שרי], whose name Hashem switched to Sarah [שרה]. This approach of course begs the question as to what exactly is the link between Sarah and Yehoshua [see further in the Sefer Talilei Orot Parshat Shelach].
Interestingly, the Sefer Gan Ravah [Shelach] quotes a different approach--namely, the great 2000 year old Midrashic commentary, Targum Yonasan, explains, that Moshe’s davening for Yehoshua was catalyzed by Moshe understanding the depths of the humility of Yehoshua. Thus, the Possuk that describes Moshe as being “the most humble of all of humanity" [see Bamidbar 12’ 3’], is written with a missing letter “Yu"d"---"והאיש משה ענו מכל האדם", rather than “והאיש משה עניו מכל האדם". This missing letter was the letter added to the name Hosheiah, creating the name Yehoshua!
Gan Ravah explains that in reality, Yehoshua had heard a prophecy that he was to take over as leader of the Jewish people, and lead them into Eretz Yisrael [see Bamidbar chapter 11 for the sequence of events surrounding this prophecy]. Yehoshua’s instinctive reaction to this news, rooted in his deep humility, was shock and dismay, and a request for Moshe to force those uttering this prophecy to cease. Moshe, understanding the reaction of his prized disciple, therefore suspected that Yehoshua would latch onto the scheme of the other spies in order to derail the prophecy detailing his leading of the Jews from ever happening! It is for this reason that Moshe felt the need to pray for Yehoshua to, despite his humility, understand the bigger picture, and remain loyal to the holiness of Eretz Yisrael, rather than succumb to the slander of the other spies.
May all leaders of Am Yisrael learn from this story, and understand the great humility needed to truly lead Hashem’s nation.
Dedicated in memory of all those who have perished and sacrificed for Am Yisrael.