At the request of the Jewish People, this week’s Parsha, Shlach, recounts how Moses selected one leader from each of the twelve tribes and sent them to scout the Land of Canaan. The narrative continues with the account of how ten of the twelve spies returned with a scandalous report of the Land. They also concluded that it would be futile to try to conquer it.
This led to one of the most tragic consequences for that generation. For forty years, the Jews — who blindly accepted their negative account — were condemned to wander in the desert, never to see the Promised Land.
Before Moses sent these twelve spies, he renamed his beloved disciple and eventual successor from his original name, Hoshea, to Joshua. Moses added the letter yud as a prefix to his name, which now translated as “May G-d save you.” By doing this, Moses was beseeching G-d to save Joshua from the conspiracy of the spies.
The question has been raised. If Moses was fearful fear that the other spies would stray from their mission, why did he only pray for Joshua? Why was Joshua more vulnerable than the other eleven spies?
Targum Yonatan, a Talmudic era Aramaic translation of the Torah, provides us with one answer: “When Moses saw the humility of Joshua, he prayed for him.” This answer, however, just begs a new question. What does humility have to do with being swayed by the other spies. One can argue that, on the contrary, it is arrogance and an independent mind that can easily sway one to go against G-d’s will. A humble person, by contrast, is much more submissive and can withstand the pressure to reject
G-d’s will. Why then, should Moses have ben concerned for his faithful and humble student Joshua?
In truth, the Hebrew word for humility, anava, can actually be translated two ways: Humility or tolerance. Hillel, the great Sage, was described as a person who exhibited unusual levels of patience and tolerance. This was reflected in his acceptance of a would-be convert who demanded being taught the whole Torah while standing on one foot. While Shammai, Hillel’s colleague, chased him out of his house, Hillel, was tolerant and accepted him as a convert.
On the surface it seems strange that Hillel would accept a person who ridiculed Judaism, by making the preposterous demand that he should be taught all of it one one foot. Why did Hillel accept him?
The answer is that Hillel was able to see beneath the surface. He saw that underlying the uncouth and irreverent demand, that he be taught all of Judaism standing on one foot, was a sincere desire to embrace all of Judaism. Hillel’s tolerance was not a relaxation of the standards of conversion.
It was rather his ability to dig beneath the surface of a person’s crassness to find their positive energy. With this form of tolerance, coupled with love and patience, one can help others cultivate their inner goodness and sincerity.
Both Shammai’s and Hillel’s approach, however, can lead to certain unintended, but negative side effects. Shammai’s stern approach can “turn-off” those who are sincere, but because of their lack of sophistication, might have expressed themselves poorly. Conversely, Hillel’s tolerant approach — if adopted by one who is not properly guided — can cause people to lose respect for the standards of Judaism and tolerate everything.
This is why Moses was concerned with Joshua’s anava. His anava (read: tolerance) might cause him to not summarily dismiss the conspiracy of the other spies as evil. Perhaps, he might reason, they had a deeper motive that was really positive. Moses was thus concerned that Joshua would bend over backwards to justify and defend the other spies, which could have led to disastrous results. Only Divine assistance could provide Joshua with the ability to “temper” his tolerance and not be influenced by them.
Only when Moshiach will come, will we be able to exhibit the tolerance of Hillel, without any negative side effects. As long as we are in exile, punctuated with and characterized by its imperfection, can tolerance be both a blessing and a curse. The Messianic Age, however, is when all good will be unadulterated good, and our tolerance for others will only lead to the discovery of their inner goodness and holiness.
Once that is discovered, the good will prevail over the negative. As we wait for Moshiach, we must increase our efforts at exposing the good in everyone, but taking the necessary precautions not to lend support and comfort to the forces of evil that still exist. We must embrace tolerance, but simultaneously firmly disavow the breakdown of moral and spiritual standards.