91快播

This week鈥檚 parashah, Shelah Lekha, opens with the famous episode of twelve scouts going on a reconnaissance mission to the land of Israel. As most of us know the story, upon their return, ten of them recommend returning to Egypt, whereas just two, Joshua and Caleb, encourage the Israelites to continue their journey to the Promised Land. When we look at the verses of chapter 13, we discover that that is not exactly what they say.

According to Num. 13:27鈥�28, when the scouts returned from their trip, they said to Moshe: 鈥淸W]e came to the land you sent us to. It does indeed flow with milk and honey. However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful.鈥� The Torah continues and says that Caleb hushed the people before Moses, saying, 鈥淟et us by all means go up鈥� (v. 30). The other (eleven) scouts refused to be persuaded by Caleb and responded, 鈥淲e cannot attack that people for it is stronger than we鈥� (v. 31). The outcome is clear: the scouts praise the Land of Israel but fear its people. They will not press forward.

The surprising feature of these verses is that, according to them, it is Caleb alone who stands up to the crowd of nay-sayers. But weren鈥檛 most of us taught in Hebrew school that it was both Joshua and Caleb who stood up to the other ten? What are we to make of this inconsistency?

Let鈥檚 turn to the commentary on these verses in the Tosefta, a collection parallel to the Mishnah: 

The Rabbis of the Tosefta present their own understanding of these verses. They claim that it was not the eleven scouts who said, 鈥渨e came to the land you sent us to鈥� (v. 27), but Joshua alone who said those words. And it was the other ten scouts, not including Caleb, who went on to say, 鈥淗owever, the people there are powerful鈥� (v. 28). To which Caleb responded, 鈥淟et us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it鈥� (v. 30). According to this reading, not one but two scouts鈥擟aleb and also Joshua鈥攅ncouraged the people to continue the journey and overcome the obstacles.

It is evident that the Rabbis are not interpreting the text according to the simple meaning of the words. They claim that there are three speakers鈥擟aleb, the people, and Joshua鈥攁nd not just two, as the verses suggest. Why do they introduce Joshua into a text that makes absolutely no mention of him? Why do they allow him to act as bravely as Caleb?

To arrive at an answer, let鈥檚 read the continuation of the episode in chapter 14. After the people refuse to go up to the Land, both Caleb and Joshua try to quell the rebellion against Moshe (v. 6). They fail. God then says that whereas the rest of the Exodus generation will die in the desert, Caleb alone will survive and enter the Land because 鈥渉e was imbued with a different spirit and remained loyal to Me (v. 24).

Note that the verse does not mention that Joshua too will survive. Later in the chapter, however, God does say that Joshua, too, will enter the Land (v. 30). In addition, a verse in Deuteronomy (1:36) again says that God will allow only Caleb of the Exodus generation to reach the Promised Land. We thus see that three verses鈥擭um. 13:30 and 14:24 and Deut. 1:36鈥攕peak of Caleb alone resisting the scouts鈥� report and surviving the forty-year trek in the desert. The reason that he alone is mentioned is that only he took on all eleven scouts and tried to get them to change their minds. Joshua did not join him in that noble attempt. What we learned as children鈥攖hat both Joshua and Caleb opposed the other ten scouts鈥攊s not the literal meaning of the verses.

The Rabbis of the Tosefta wanted to shine a positive light on Moshe鈥檚 future successor. Joshua too, they held, must have believed that the people could triumph over the Land鈥檚 giant inhabitants. And so they interpolated Joshua into the story. It is also likely that the Rabbis wanted to make the episodes of chapters 13 and 14 align with each other. Since Joshua joined Caleb in trying to stop the rebellion in chapter 14, the Rabbis reasoned that he must have done the same in chapter 13, even though the Torah does not say so. They thus portray Joshua, like Caleb, as someone with great faith in God and no fear of the people.

To my mind, there is a downside to the Rabbis鈥� addition of Joshua to chapter 13: the aggrandizement of Joshua leads to the diminution of Caleb. He becomes merely a sidekick of Joshua, rather than the hero the verses suggest that he is. (Contemporary Bible scholars, in trying to solve the problem of the silent Joshua in chapter 13, claim that chapters 13 and 14 are two versions of the same story鈥攁 not uncommon occurrence in the Bible鈥攚ith one told from Caleb鈥檚 perspective [chapter 13] and the other from Joshua鈥檚 [chapter 14]. They view chapter 13 as the more reliable version, as I have been suggesting here.)

Were it not for the Tosefta, I don鈥檛 think I would have noticed the absence of Joshua in Numbers 13. Like so many others, I have always read that chapter through the eyes of the Rabbis. But by looking carefully at the verses themselves, I realized that the plain sense meaning of the Torah is that Caleb understood that the other scouts were misguided, foresaw the dire consequences of their stance, and bravely tried to change their minds. True he did not succeed. But he made a valiant attempt. I understand the quandary in which the Rabbis found themselves. I sympathize with their reading Joshua into the text of chapter 13. But for me the challenge is to return Caleb to his rightful place in Jewish history, for he grasped the 鈥減ower of one.鈥� No longer should he be an unsung hero, nor should the importance of standing up for what is right, even if you must do so alone, be forgotten.

The current popularity of the name Caleb, along with the fact that she has a grandson by that name, led Rabbi Hauptman to write this column.

The publication and distribution of the 91快播 Commentary are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee (锄鈥漧) and Harold Hassenfeld (锄鈥漧).