Kalev, the Hero

Parshat Shlach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

One of the most admirable characters in all of the Torah is Kalev ben Yefuneh. What makes Kalev so special? He was a true mentsch, a quiet leader, a family man. He was a silent hero who spoke when he needed to. He was honest, and committed to the Jewish people and the land of Israel. He knew a good thing when he saw it and wasn’t afraid to stand up for the truth. 

Divrei HaYamim I 2:19 tells us he was the father of Hur, making him the great-grandfather of Bezalel, the main artist behind the craftsmanship of the Mishkan. 

An entire study can be made of the different names and identities the Talmud and Midrashic literature ascribe to Kalev. Similarly, the Tanakh mentions his wife a few times, and the midrash says each wife (Azuvah, Efrat, etc) were all additional names for his wife Miriam, the sister of Moshe and Aharon. 

If it is true that all of these names really identify the same individuals, it is fascinating that the Tanakh would mention them. The commentaries like to explain that some of the names were given or taken on account of events that took place or the impact the individual had on the society. 

For example, Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 2:18 quotes the Yalkut Shimoni who explains that the person listed as Kalev son of Chetzron was the same Kalev that we know as the son of Yefuneh. He is listed as “ben Yefuneh” because “pinnah atzmo me’atzat meraglim” - he distanced himself from the negative report of the spies. The play on words linking “Yefuneh” to “pinnah” is the source of his name being listed differently. 

In this explanation, Yefuneh does not refer to his father, but to his own behavior and character. 

Kalev’s most admirable characteristic was his ability to not fall prey to the tide of “what everyone else was doing” because he knew his cause to be just. He never lost his positive outlook, he knew what his mission was, and he was a tremendous believer in God and in the cause of his mission. He understood intuitively that the Land of Canaan was the “promised land” for a reason. 

While Kalev is generally linked with Yehoshua as one of the pair of “spies” who stood up against the others, ultimately Kalev is the real hero of the story, because he was able to stand up for his convictions alone, against the mob. Only later was he joined by Yehoshua. 

Rashi quotes the midrash in 13:16 when he explains why Hoshea’s name was changed by Moshe to Yehoshua: so that his name would mean “God will save you” from the negativity of the spies. Netziv notes that Moshe’s prayer was more general than that - Moshe was praying for Yehoshua to be able to overcome the battle of his own convictions, as Moshe did not know which way the spies might swing. This comes in the aftermath of the challenge Yehoshua faced in not knowing the proper way to respond to the prophecies of Eldad and Meidad – Yehoshua wanted them to suffer a repercussion, while Moshe embraced their having been gifted prophesy. 

The reality is that after the spies gave their initial negative report, only Kalev reacted to say “Let us go up, for we can defeat them!” (13:30) Clearly Kalev did not experience a battle of conviction. Where was Yehoshua? Possibly contemplating which way to go. The others respond that there is no hope, for the land is self destructive and the inhabitants are giants. (13:31-33). 

The night passes, the nation cries, and in the morning they complain to Moshe and Aharon. Only after Yehoshua sees how distraught Moshe is, does he finally join Kalev’s side and claim the land is good. (14:6-7) 

God singles out Kalev in 14:24 to say only he will inherit the land, and in 14:30, God says only Kalev and Yehoshua will get to see the land, of all the people of this generation. (see also 26:65, 32:12) 

In Devarim 1:36 we see again that Kalev inherits part of the land because of his unique role, while Yehoshua goes unmentioned in that context. Two verses later (1:38) and later on (Devarim 3:28 and in chapter 31), we see the main reason Yehoshua has a role is because he replaces Moshe as leader, a role it seemed he would take on even before the spy incident, one of the possible outcomes of the prophesy of Eldad and Meidad. 

Ramban notes that Kalev and Yehoshua’s merits are listed separately, as outlined here, because they were very different people. Yehoshua, Ramban suggests, was much wiser than Kalev, which is why he is listed first in 14:38 – out of respect for his wisdom. But it is not always the wisest who is the bravest – which is why Kalev is singled out, without Yehoshua, for having a “different spirit about him.” (14:24) 

We live in a world which is stifling debates and conversations. Sometimes the mob is too overwhelming, and the information that is sent our way is too overpowering, that no different from the experience of the Bnei Yisrael, the ten overpowered the two, causing devastation to an entire generation. 

The people only learned how wrong the ten were when it was too late. 

But this is our challenge – to weed through the noise to get to the truth. We all know that Kalev, and ultimately alongside him, Yehoshua stood for the truth. Recall that the spies didn’t lie in their actual reports. Moshe had asked them to find information, and they mostly provided that information. But it was their analysis PLUS their slander of the land (it’s a land that consumes its inhabitants) which destroyed them and the people because they demonstrated a lack of faith in God, and a lack of belief that the land God had promised was a good one, and that He would never have led them astray or to a place not good for them. 

Kalev reminds us that standing for what is right, not folding to peer pressure, even when everyone is against you, is one of the greatest characteristics a person can have, when you stand for truth. 

There is an element of irony even in that, because God’s 13 attributes of Mercy are repeated by Moshe in his prayer on behalf of the people, but even in repeating them, Moshe leaves out some of them. One of the words absent in Moshe’s recall is אמת – truth. He didn’t ask God to utilize אמת in His judgment of the situation, because if God were to use “Truth” in His judgment, He would have had to destroy everyone involved in accepting the report. Instead, God chose to bide His time, have that generation die over a 40 year period, and give the land to the next generation, those who were not responsible for accepting the lies of the spies. 

The next generation were to inherit the land, led by Yehoshua, and one additional man from that original generation lived to inherit the land: Kalev, who stayed true to himself and did not let a mob of spies or a mob of the people get in the way of his relationship with God and אמת.