Kalev's Humble Spirit: Who May Lead in the King's Palace

1“But My servant Kalev, because there was another spirit with him.”¹ Notice the wording. Why does the verse say eikev for “because,” a word that also means “heel”? And what is meant by “spirit”? Rashi already raises this point.²

2The holy Zohar says that the spies spread an evil report about Eretz Yisrael because they saw that they would not remain princes of their tribes once Bnei Yisrael entered the land.³ But why, in fact, could they not have remained princes in Eretz Yisrael?

3We can explain this as follows. The verse says, “They were jealous of Moshe in the camp, of Aharon, the holy one of Hashem.”⁴ What do the words “in the camp” add? The same expression appears in the verse “Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp,”⁵ and it too needs explaining. The holy sefarim teach that tzaddikim are criticized precisely in their most perfected and most outstanding middos, their character traits.⁶ That is why Moshe Rabbeinu, of whom the Torah testified, “And the man Moshe was very humble, more than any man,”⁷ was slandered in this very trait, as we see with Korach and his company, who said, “Why do you raise yourselves up …?”⁸

4Of Eretz Yisrael the verse says, “The eyes of Hashem your God are upon it, from the beginning of the year …”⁹ So the land is, as it were, the King's palace. We know that in a king's palace even the most honored ministers have no authority or say at all: they all bow before the king and count as nothing in his presence. It follows that in Eretz Yisrael, the King's palace, only someone lowly of spirit before the King can lead.

5aThis lets us explain the verse “They were jealous of Moshe in the camp.” There were people among Bnei Yisrael who complained about Moshe because of the camp. After the sin of the Golden Calf, Moshe Rabbeinu pitched his tent outside the camp,¹⁰ and they claimed that he did so, Heaven forbid, out of arrogance. In their foolishness they argued that, if so, he could not lead in Eretz Yisrael and would not be the one to bring them there. This is “They were jealous of Moshe in the camp”: they stirred up jealousy and complaints against Moshe over the camp, because he had not stayed with them inside it.

5bThis is also the meaning of the verse “The young man ran and told Moshe, and said: Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp.”¹¹ They were prophesying, “Moshe will die and Yehoshua will bring Israel into the land.”¹² The young man's claim was that by prophesying this they were strengthening the complainers' charge about the camp. From now on people would say that this was why Moshe would die and Yehoshua would bring them in: Moshe Rabbeinu could not be a leader in Eretz Yisrael, because he did not conduct himself with humility. Only Yehoshua, who was humble, would be privileged to enter the land and lead the people. Yehoshua's humility is known from Chazal, who said that he earned his greatness because he used to arrange the benches of the beis midrash.¹³

6With this principle we can understand the words of the holy Zohar. In Eretz Yisrael, the King's palace, no one can lead the people unless he is lowly of spirit before the King. So the mere fact that the spies gave thought to whether their rank as princes would continue in the land was enough to disqualify them from leading. That is why the Zohar says they could not be princes in Eretz Yisrael.

7This lets us explain the wording of the verse “But My servant Kalev, because there was another spirit with him.” Eikev, which also means “heel,” alludes to the middah of humility. “Another spirit” also alludes to humility: there was not the slightest trace of a haughty spirit in him, only a lowly spirit. We see this in Kalev's journey to Chevron to pray at the graves of the Avos.¹⁴ That shows lowliness of spirit, for prayer in a time of trouble is rooted in lowliness and humility. That is why he was privileged to enter the land.

8May Hashem grant that we be among those who serve Him in lowliness of spirit, and so bring the redemption near. Amen, may it be His will.