בס”ד
Shlach (Numbers 13-15 )
Bamidbar, 13:22: “And they went up to the Negev and he came to Chevron…”
Rashi, 13:22: Dh: Vayavo: Kalev alone went to there, and he prayed upon the graves of the Forefathers, that he should not be enticed by his fellow [spies] to be in their counsel, and as it says, ‘to him [Kalev] I will give the land upon which he walked, and it says, ‘And they gave Chevron to Kalev’.”
The Torah relates how the spies traversed the Land of Israel, but when It refers to Chevron, the verse uses the singular, ‘he went’, rather than the plural ‘they went’. The Talmud1, cited by Rashi, teaches that indeed only one of the spies went to Chevron for a very specific reason. Kalev traveled there alone in order to pray to G-d at the graves of the Patriarchs, in order to be protected from being enticed to join with the other ten spies in the sin of slandering the land. As a reward for this, Kalev did indeed overcome this test and was rewarded by receiving Chevron – the very place where he prayed.
A number of questions arise on this Rabbinic teaching. Firstly, in the beginning of the Parsha, Rashi2, based on the Talmud in the same place, writes that Moshe prayed for his student Yehoshua to be spared from the prospective plans of the nefarious spies, yet there is no evidence that he prayed for Kalev as well. This explains why Yehoshua did not have the need to go to Chevron to pray, whereas Kalev did. Why didn’t Moshe also pray for Kalev?3
A number of answers are given to this question. One is that since Yehoshua was Moshe’s student, Moshe had a greater obligation to pray for his spiritual safety. Another possible answer is that Yehoshua was particularly humble, and Moshe feared that his great humility might prevent him from standing up to the spies. Alternatively, Yehoshua descended from Yosef who was guilty of speaking lashon hara, derogatory speech, hence there was a greater concern that Yehoshua would inherit the same trait and therefore be more prone to speaking lashon hara about the Land. Yet another answer is that Moshe was not as concerned about Kalev because Kalev was married to the righteous Miriam and as the Sages teach, a husband is greatly influenced by his wife. Hence, Moshe believed that there was no risk that Kalev would sin with the spies.
A new question arises based on many of these answers – they emphasize that Kalev was at far lesser risk of sinning with the spies than Yehoshua. Accordingly, why did Kalev feel the need to make the lone trip to Chevron to pray?
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, cited by Rabbi Yissachar Frand, asks another question on this point: In Rabbi Frand’s words: “Normally, when a person does not know what to do—should I or should I not?—He wants Heavenly assistance to help resolve his dilemma. In such a situation, it is understandable why someone would go to Kever Avos (the graves of the Patriarchs) to ask for Siyata D’Shmaya (Divine assistance) in helping resolve the matter: “Please, Grant me the good sense to make the right decision!” But here, Kalev already knows what the right decision is. He already knows that he is facing trouble. He must have already sensed that the others were planning to give a negative report about Eretz Yisrael. He knows that he does not want to join in with them. He knows what to do—there is no dilemma! When does someone go to a Rebbe, a wise person, a great man and ask for advice? That is when he does not know what to do. Here, Kalev knew full well what course of action he should take. What, then, was the purpose of this side trip to Chevron to pray at the Cave of Machpela?”4
A possible answer to this question is that even though a person knows with full conviction that a certain course of action is wrong, nevertheless he should not be complacent for one moment, because, ‘when push comes to shove’, there is always the risk that the person will experience a weakening in his resolve and could be prone to do that action even though he knows in his head that it is wrong. This is particularly the case when one is faced with significant peer pressure to act in a certain way. As many studies have shown, people often act in irrational or even cruel ways when many other people around them are acting in that same way. Consequently, Kalev knew that he needed Divine assistance to enable to him to stick to his convictions when the ten spies would proceed with their nefarious plan to slander the land.
If a man as great as Kalev felt the risk of sinning, all the more so all of us should be very vigilant of complacency and one of the main tools to fight this is to pray for Divine Assistance.
By Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen
Notes
- Sotah, 34b
- Bamidbar, 13:16, Dh: Vayikra.
- With regard to the other ten spies, it may be that Moshe realized there was no hope in praying for them, but that there was hope that Yehoshua could be saved. The events that played out, show that Kalev was also in the same situation as Yehoshua and it would be reasonable to assume that Moshe knew that Kalev was also not a lost cause, hence the question why Moshe didn’t pray for Kalev, in particular.
- I will suggest a slightly different answer than that given by Rabbi Wolbe.
WEEKLY TORAH PORTION,
The Guiding Light
by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen
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