Mitzvah d'var

My Torah portion which I just read, Shelach Lecha, is about Moses sending twelve emissaries or spies out to scout the land of Canaan. He asked them to tell him what the land was like there. He wanted to know if the land  had good farming and to see if it had friendly people. 

The spies  came back after 40 days and brought  Moses fruit from the land. Two of the scouts, Caleb and Hosea told him that the land had lots of milk, honey, and fruit. The other ten spies reported that the people there were very powerful, and the cities were large and fortified implying that it would not be safe to enter into the land of Canaan. . 

Caleb and Hosea—who eventually has his name changed to Joshua—told the people not to worry because they could surely overcome any adversaries.  After hearing these conflicting reports the Israeites  began to lose faith and cried all night long:

“If only we had died in Egypt!” the Israelites shouted to Moses and Aaron.  “It would be better if we went back to Egypt!” 

Joshua and Caleb told the people not to lose faith and to trust in God’s will. They told the people that  God took them to the promised land  for a reason and that they should not “rebel” against God. 

Because of this lack of faith, God was tempted to destroy the Israelites. Instead God spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them that because the Israelites had lost faith  they would be forced to wander in the desert for a total of 40 years.  Those who lacked faith eventually died out before reaching the promised land. 

In the midst of all of this story, I was especially interested in how  Moses changed Hosea’s name to Joshua.  Why did he do that?  What significance does it play and what does it teach us for our own lives?

I found that  Hosea means salvation, When Moses changes Hosea’s name to Joshua, by adding the Hebrew letter yud - which stands for “Yah”, another name for God the meaning of the name changes from salvation to G-d is salvation.   

The Rabbis also thought  about the purpose and meaning of changing his name:

• Sforno suggested that “Moses changed his name to make it be more like the  form of a prayer as if asking him to be the instrument of his own salvation and that of others.” Joshua is meant to help himself and others be more faithful versions of themselves.

• Rabbeinu Bahya stated that : “Our rabbis comment that Moses added the latter י to Hoshea’s name so that the letters י-ה at the beginning of his name would represent  a prayer - one that would save him from aligning himself  with the majority of the spies” who lacked faith in God’s plan for the Israelites.  His name would be a protection for him against agreeing with those spies.

I think Moses changed Hosea’s name to “God is our salvation” as a way to remind all the Israelites that God was always there for them and is there for us,  and because of that we should never lose faith in God. 

I also thought about why Moses  thought Josua  was the best person for that name and  why he chose him to eventually lead the Israeilites into the promised land.   I think it is because Joshua  showed the traits of a really good leader.  He was a faithful man who made promises and fulfilled those promises.  Joshua’s name represents his leadership style and his most pronounced personal trait - faith- , because faith can get us through hard times. He taught his community this important quality in their time of need.  This is a lesson for today and what we are going through: we need to have faith.

How Joshua was as a leader also ties into how I am a leader today. I do my best to show others how to take care of the environment and give others things they need- having faith that doing so will make a big difference to the world.

For my Mitzvah Project I raised money for a non profit organization 4Ocean that helps clean the ocean from all of the plastic that is being put into it. This is just like how Joshua led his people. 

To conclude, you should never give up even if odds are low. You should always try to overcome anything that gets in your way, and try to be a leader like Joshua. 

Shabbat Shalom.