torah

Power of prayer, with the added umph of ‘yud’

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believe a potentially life-changing message emerges from Rav Eliyahu Mizrahi’s profound analysis of Rashi’s comment, namely, the nearly unlimited power of tefilah. Moses’ prayer consisted of but one letter added to Hoshea’s name, yet, in this instance, it changed Jewish history for evermore, for now Joshua would become the one to lead the Jewish people to their life and destiny in Eretz Yisrael. If the letter yud, alone had this awesome ability, imagine what we can do, as individuals and as a nation, if we encounter the Almighty in heartfelt and considered prayer.

Our parasha, Sh’lach, contains a pasuk with a puzzling phrase: “These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout the Land, and Moses called (vayikra Moshe) Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua (Yehoshua).” (Bamidbar 13:16)

At first glance, the concluding part of this verse seems to indicate that something new has taken place; namely, Moses has now renamed Hoshea, “Joshua (Yehoshua).” Yet, this name is hardly new, as it’s already appeared eight times in both sefer Shemot and sefer Bamidbar. Moreover, the name Hoshea is not supplanted by the appellation Joshua, since it appears, once again, in Devarim 32:44 — “And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song into the ears of the people, he and Hoshea the son of Nun.” What, then, is the Torah teaching us when it states in our parasha, “and Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua (Yehoshua)?”

The classic answer is found both in Talmud Bavli, Sotah 34b and Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah. According to these sources, Moses was afraid the meraglim (scouts) could have a negative influence on Hoshea, and therefore sought to protect him by renaming him Yehoshua: “May the L-rd save you from the counsel of the Scouts.” This is the case, since the Hebrew etymology of this name is a contraction of “Y-ah” (represented by the letter yud) and “Hoshea,” and denotes the idea that “Hashem should save you.” My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal, the Rav, expanded upon the underlying meaning of the addition of the yud to Hoshea’s name in the following midrashically-infused analysis:

“Prior to sending the spies to scout the land, Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Joshua, signifying that G-d should save him from the evil designs of the other spies (Rashi). The midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 47:1) indicates that Moses effected this change by transferring the letter yud from Sarah’s former name (Sarai) to Joshua’s.”

At this point, the Rav examines the meaning of the letter yud and explains that it represents privacy and separation. Thus, when Sarah was initially Sarai (her name ended in a yud), she was “the matriarch of her family alone.” Building upon this concept, the Rav notes that Hoshea needed to be keenly aware that he was completely different from the negatively predisposed scouts, so that he could remain steadfast in his commitment to the Promised Land:

“Moses added the letter yud so Joshua would attain the sense of separation and withdrawal that was taken from Sarah [when she became “the matriarch of a family of nations”]… Moses changed Joshua’s name so that he would have the strength to separate himself from…[the] collective entity [of the spies], enabling him to take a principled stand against the prevailing sentiment.”

Based on our new understanding of the yud added to Hoshea’s name, we are in a better position to understand Rashi’s explication of the name Yehoshua, and how this differs from the above-cited Talmudic statement. Crucially, Rashi’s commentary adds the word, “prayed:” — “He [Moses] prayed (hitpalel) concerning him [Joshua] that Hashem should protect him from the counsel of the scouts.” In other words, vayikra Moshe (and Moses called) connotes much more than the idea of renaming, instead, it actually means, “and Moses prayed.” This notion is expanded upon in the thought of Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrahi, author of one of the most celebrated supercommentaries on Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah:

“The explanation of the term vayikra in our pasuk is that of tefilah, as we find in the verse, ‘and Abram called there in the name of the L-rd.’ (Bereishit 13:4) Therefore, the explanation of the name, Yehoshua, is: ‘Hashem should save you’ … as if it actually said, ‘And he [Moses] prayed regarding Hoshea that Hashem should save you, that Hashem, may He be blessed, should save you from the advice of the spies.’ Moreover, it is essential to explain ‘vayikra Moshe’ in this fashion, rather than in the normative sense [of “he called”], since there is no [other] reason for literally changing Hoshea’s name at this juncture.” (Mizrahi, Bamidbar 13:16)

I believe a potentially life-changing message emerges from Rav Eliyahu Mizrahi’s profound analysis of Rashi’s comment, namely, the nearly unlimited power of tefilah. Moses’ prayer consisted of but one letter added to Hoshea’s name, yet, in this instance, it changed Jewish history for evermore, for now Joshua would become the one to lead the Jewish people to their life and destiny in Eretz Yisrael. If the letter yud, alone had this awesome ability, imagine what we can do, as individuals and as a nation, if we encounter the Almighty in heartfelt and considered prayer.