Parshas Shelach
We are told that the spies were all G-d-fearing individuals. They understood that G-d would assist the people of Israel in conquering the fortified cities of Canaan and in overcoming the giants who inhabited them only if they kept their part of the bargain and remained faithful to the 613 commandments that they had just received at Sinai.
But like Avraham before them who asked G-d “how do I know that they will keep the land” (Bereishis 15:8), the spies were worried that the people would fall short of keeping all the mitzvot and would lose the land. So, they reasoned, why go through the trouble of fighting wars when eventually the land will be lost anyway?
This was a question that neither they nor Avraham before them should ever have asked. Although Avraham got an answer to his question, namely that atonement through the korbanot would guarantee their hold on the land, according to Chazal, Avraham was punished for even asking the question in that his descendants would be enslaved for 400 years. The spies too were punished for raising that question by being detained in the desert for 40 years.
When the spies returned with a bunch of grapes so big it could only be carried by ten people and one fig which could hardly be carried by one person, instead of praising the land which grew such produce, they became concerned that the price of such opulence was too expensive and that they would not be able to afford to pay for it with mitzvot. They preferred to live a less miraculous life and eat ordinary food like they did in Egypt free of mitzvot.
They complained that the hearty land they saw, the giants they met and the fortified cities they witnessed were all worth “efes,” nothing (13:28), because there was no way on earth that they could prevail against the Canaanites and capture the land for themselves. They could not even do this with G-d’s help, because “they are stronger than him” (13:31). Chazal tell us that by using the word “him” they were referring to G-d Himself. It’s not that they believed that G-d could not defeat the Canaanites. Of course He could. After all, He defeated the Egyptians with ten miracles, and he could do the same to the Canaanites. But they realized that G-d’s strength comes from us, in the spirit of “everything emanates from G-d, except the fear of G-d.” Fear of G-d, yirat Shamayim, is something we must work on ourselves. He cannot do it for us. By keeping the mitzvot, we strengthen His hand. But if there is one thing G-d cannot do, they thought, it is to force us to keep the mitzvot. If we don’t keep them, He is helpless to help us.
But that concern showed a lack of trust. Although G-d cannot force us to choose good over bad, He can create conditions that incentivize us to choose the right path. One who shows initiative to do good, will be helped by G-d, like Avraham who asked the right question, “Did the world create itself?” and received the answer, “I am G-d.” As we say each Yom Kippur, we are like clay in the hands of G-d and he can shape us to His will. This does not mean that G-d takes away our freedom of choice. But He can lead us to experiences in life that help us make the right choice. This is how the spies should have viewed it and not given up on the people of Israel before G-d did.
Chazal attribute great importance to names. The name of a person is not given to him randomly but tells us a lot about that person’s attributes. One of the spies was called Setur ben Michael. Setur means to break, one who breaks the mold of nature because he relies on G-d. And the name Michael means that the person so named worships G-d by saying “Mi ka’Kel,” nobody is like G-d. But the name Setur can also signify one who contradicts G-d and his commandments. And Michael can also mean that by doing so, he renders G-d as moch, which means week, because, like we said, G-d derives His strength (so to speak) to fight the enemies of the Jews from their adherence to his mitzvot. So a name can go in either direction of good or bad. It all depends on where the bearer of the name takes it. All of the spies had names which might indicate allegiance to G-d and trust in His promise that we would never lose the land or might indicate the opposite. Even Yehoshua, who was originally called Hoshea, which means “help!” a name which suggests he was about to give up, had another side to him, a side which put his faith in G-d. Moshe called him Yehoshua which included the name of G-d to help him resist the agenda of the spies.
It was not easy for Yehoshua and Kalev to go against the tide of criticism that the spies leveled against the land of Israel. They almost paid for it with their lives (14:10). That is why Kalev, whose name, unlike Yehoshua’s, did not insulate him from teaming up with the spies, was the only one to make a trek up north to Hebron where he prayed at the graveside of the patriarchs and matriarchs for strength to be able to resist them.
After all, trust takes courage. The courage to risk failure. Even though the odds were against conquering the land, Kalev, like Nachshon before him, who leapt into the sea, trusting that it would split, took the plunge and was ready to face the daunting enemies because he believed that when G-d said “I will give the land to the Jews” (13:2), this was a guarantee he could rely on.
Often the road to success begins with action. We don’t know for sure what will be, but we summon up the courage to take the first step and then things will work out for themselves, with the help of G-d. This was the message of Yehoshua and Kalev who said “Aloh na’aleh – we shall surely go up” and conquer the land. The word aloh is in the present tense whereas the word na’aleh is in the future tense. The key to success is to act now without fear of what the future might bring, because at least one thing is certain: if we don’t do it, it will not be done. The na’aleh part, the future, we must leave to G-d.
