And Moshe renamed Hoshea the son of Nun “Yehoshua”. (13:16) Rashi comments: ...: He prayed on his behalf, ‘May Hashem save you from the conspiracy of the spies.’’ We see further in the chapter: They [Yehoshua and Calev] went up in, the south, and he [Calev] came to Chevron. In Chevron there was the Mearas Hamachpela where the Avos Hakdoshim are buried. There is a difficulty which is asked by all the mefarshim: Why is it that Yehoshua and Calev went together to the south, yet to Chevron only Calev went to pray to the Avos, as the Posuk uses a singular tense? The answer may be that the prayer of Moshe for Yehoshua, was also a blessing for the success of Yehushua, not to fall prey to the conspiracy of the spies. Why did Moshe bless Yehoshua and not Calev? Hashem commanded Moshe to hand over his divine holiness to Yehoshua.
You shall bestow some of your majesty upon him. Yehushua was a very close student to Moshe as we see. Yehoshua the son of Nun, Moshes' servant from his youth (11:28). It is known that a person should always have a mentor to be a guide in Avodas Hashem and to follow strictly the mentor. It can be a Rav, a Rosh Yeshiva or a Rebbe. Yehoshua had a great mentor in Moshe, and when Moshe gave him the blessing, this was enough for Yehushua to gather strength to be saved from the spies.
Yehoshua had a deeper reasoning that if he goes to Chevron to pray, it will be an embarrassment to his Rebbe, that his blessing was not sufficient. Hence, he relied on Moshe. However, Calev did not consider Moshe as his close mentor, and did not receive the blessing of Moshe, therefore, he went to Chevron to pray to the Avos for his success.
This is a valuable lesson, as not to degrade the honor of your mentor, even when he doesn’t realize it. Later on in the Parshas we find that Calev defended the honor of Moshe too. The Posuk states: And Calev quieted the people toward Moshe, and said: 'We should go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.' (13:30) Calev did not respond with rebuttals. He just stated, "listen to Moshe and do as he says”. When we have a leader we have to follow his leadership and it is not for us to respond with counterclaims and objections.
Yehuda Z. Klitnick
