13 Jun PARSHAS SHLACH: BORROWING FROM THE STRENGTH OF SARAH

This week the Torah
recounts the mission of
the spies. The verse lists
the names of the various
spies. We all know that
one of the spies was
Yehoshua. The verse
makes a point of telling us that his name had
been Hoshea bin Nun and Moshe — at this
point in time — changes his name to Yehoshua.
Many of us are familiar with the teaching of
our Rabbis that the letter Yud that was added
to the name Hoshea came from the name of
our first Matriarch. Sarah originally was called
Sarai. Moshe took the Yud that was dropped
from her name and gave it to Hoshea.
There is an interesting Medrash in the book
of Bereishis: The Yud was upset at being
dropped from the name of our Matriarch and
complained before the Heavenly Throne. The
Yud protested, “Because I am the smallest
letter, You took me away from the righteous
woman? That’s not fair!”
G-d responded, “Before you were at the end
of a name, now I am going to put you at the
beginning of a name… (You are not being
discriminated against, on the contrary — it is a
promotion!).”

This is the type of Medrash that begs for
explanation.
In previous years, we mentioned an
interesting Targum Yonasan ben Uziel. He
explains that
Moshe added an extra letter to Hoshea’s
name after witnessing Hoshea’s humility.
Moshe anticipated that Yehoshua would need
tremendous strength and assertiveness to stand
up against the other spies in defending the
Land and the plan to inhabit it. Moshe felt that
because of his personality traits, Hoshea did
not have the resolve necessary to stand up and
fight. That is why he had to give him the new
name including the letter Yud.
But still, what does the Yud from Sarai have
to do with protecting Hoshea? The Menachem
Zion says a wonderful interpretation:
If there was one personality in Tanach who
had this inner fortitude, to stand up to adversity
and know how to fight ill influences, that was
our Matriarch Sarah. When she saw that there
was a Yishmael growing up with her son
Yitzchak and she saw that this person would
provide the wrong type of influence for her
son, she knew what type of action was
necessary.

She insisted, “Send this lady out of my
house with her son, into the desert!”
When Avraham questioned her how he could
act so cruelly, G-d told him, “All that Sarai
tells you, listen to her” [Bereishis 21:12].
That took a tremendous strength. But a
mother knew what was right for her child.
She knew that so-called compassion now
would end in cruelty. What was required over
here was to say emphatically, “I am sorry. I
will not have my son ruined!”
Yehoshua also required that. There were 10
people, great and worthy leaders. It would be
necessary to stand-up to the Gedolei HaDor,
in effect. Where does one get that strength?
One gets it from what Sarah our Matriarch
had.
Sarah was the Torah prototype when it came
to standing up to the wrong crowd. That is
what G-d told the ‘Yud’. “I need you, Yud.
You represent the strength of personality that
will be needed by Yehoshua.”
There is a powerful Medrash in Mishlei. In
the chapter of the Woman of Valor (Chapter
31) we read, “…she seeks out wool and
linen…” The Medrash Tanchuma says, “This

refers to Sara who told Avraham ‘Send out
this hand-maiden and her son.’”
What is the interpretation of the Medrash?
We know that wool and linen is Sha’tnez —
they cannot be mixed together. Wool by itself
may be fine. Linen by itself may be fine. But
together they are no good. The woman who
“expounded concerning wool and linen” —
who knew that certain combinations are no
good — was Sarah, who insisted that Hagar
and Yishmael be sent away.
Yehoshua needs this ability to recognize
when to take action and this strength of
personality to persevere and stand up for
what is right. That is why it was the Yud from
Sarai that was given to Yehoshua.