Parashat Shelah- Balanced Humility
Balanced Humility
Parashat Shelah tells the tragic story of the Meragelim, the scouts, who were sent to explore the Land of Israel and returned with a negative report. We read that before Moshe sent the scouts, he made a name change: Yehoshua, who until this point had been called Hoshea, was now renamed Yehoshua (13:16). Moshe added the letter "Yod" to the beginning of the name "Hoshea," which yielded the name "Yehoshua."
Rashi explains that this name change served as a form of prayer on Yehoshua's behalf, asking God to protect him from the scheme of the other spies. Already at this point, Moshe suspected that the scouts might report negatively about Eretz Yisrael in an effort dissuade the people from entering the land, and he therefore prayed that at least Yehoshua would be protected from their influence.
The obvious question arises, why did Moshe not pray on behalf of all the scouts? If, indeed, he was fearful of the consequences of this mission, why not offer a prayer that all twelve Meragelim be saved from this trap?
The answer, perhaps, emerges from the translation of Targum Onkelos (an ancient Aramaic translation of the Torah) to this verse, which interprets it to mean that Moshe changed Hoshea's name "upon seeing his humility." Moshe's prayer for Yehoshua's was prompted by Yehoshua's unique humility. Generally speaking, humility is, of course, among the most admirable qualities. In fact, the Torah describes Moshe in Parashat Beha'alotecha (12:3) as the most humble man on earth, and it was thus only natural that his closest disciple, Yehoshua, would follow this example.
However, excessive humility poses the risk of undermining one's ability to oppose evil. In Yehoshua's case, ten of the scouts – all of whom were initially noble and righteous men – adamantly insisted on reporting negatively about the Land of Israel and advising the people against attempting to capture it. A modest man in Yehoshua's position would likely ask himself, "Who am I to oppose them? If these ten great men think this is what should be done, how can I argue? I am no better than them!"
This was Moshe's concern. Well aware of his disciple's unparalleled humility, Moshe feared that Yehoshua would be unable or unwilling to stand up to the majority, to exclude himself from their scheme and speak positively and encouragingly about the conquest of the Land of Israel.
Moshe therefore added the letter "Yod" to Hoshea's name. The Rabbis explain that this letter was taken from the name of our matriarch Sara, who was originally named "Sarai," which ends with "Yod." The "Yod" that was dropped when God changed her name to Sara was now added to Hoshea's name to form Yehoshua. Sara exemplified the strength, courage and confidence to insist upon doing the right thing. We read in the Book of Bereshit (21:10-11) that when Sara noted the dangerous influences exerted by her stepson, Yishmael, on her son Yishak, she demanded that Yishmael be sent away from the home. Avraham refused, but Sara insisted, and God instructed Avraham to listen to Sara. Sara had the courage to insist upon the correct mode of action even in opposition to Avraham, and it was this courage and strength that Moshe sought to bestow upon his otherwise humble student, Yehoshua.
Humility is a critically important trait, the quality for which Moshe Rabbenu himself is most famously known. However, humility must never cause a person to surrender his ideals and values in deference to other who seek to undermine those values; one must always have the inner strength, courage and resolve to oppose evil and, when necessary, stand up to the majority and assert his position.
