Twelve men were selected by Moshe Rabbeinu to spy out Eretz Kena’an before Am Yisrael was to enter. Before they leave, the Torah tells us how, “Moshe called Hoshea the son of Nun, Yehoshua,” and Rashi adds that: “He [Moshe] prayed on his [Yehoshua’s] behalf: May Hashem save you from the counsel of the spies.” The Gemara in Sotah (34b) notes that the name Yehoshua is a condensation of the words, “May God save you.”
Why did only Yehoshua merit this special brachah? The Imrei Emes explains that Moshe knew Yehoshua was a great anav and he feared that his humility could make him vulnerable to the influence exerted by the other spies, given that all were great men.
The Imrei Emes adds that this was not just a concern with regard to Yehoshua, but affects all of us. Whenever we are faced with a question of whether to stand up for a matter of Yiddishkeit or to give way, we need to know whether to choose the path of humility or of azus de’kedushah. Just as Yehoshua needed a special brachah to know which path was appropriate and when, so do we need immense siyatta diShmaya to know how to act.
Often, parents face disobedience from children young or old, and have to decide whether and when to hold their ground and when to overlook the incident. While parents are obligated to be mechanech their children, not all parent-child conflicts involve questions of right or wrong. Many are a matter of a parent’s preference, or, worse, the results of an overly controlling nature in a parent clashing with an independent spirit in a child.
Knowing which approach to take involves honest contemplation, but the parshah teaches us that this is not enough — we also need to ask for siyatta diShmaya, as only Hashem can give us the necessary wisdom to know how to act, as well as the strength to do so correctly.
