Shelach: That Time the Letter Yod Pleaded Before Hashem

I never know where an article will end up once I begin writing. This one began as an analysis of a midrash about Yehoshua's name, but ended up being a humbling lesson in the methodology of midrash.

This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Meir, l'zeicher nishmas Zelda bas Ziesel, his grandmother, on the occasion of her yahrzeit.

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Shelach: That Time the Letter Yod Pleaded Before Hashem

At a recent Q&A, one of my students asked me for guidelines on how to approach aggadic (i.e. non-halachic) midrashim. I answered that the only strategy I know is to learn from the masters: the Rishonim, Achronim, and contemporary thinkers who know how to decipher this cryptic genre. The more examples we see of their analyses and the more methodology we learn from their writings, the more we will develop our midrashic intuition. Without this foundation, we run the risk of coming to regard our own imaginative speculations as authentic Torah.

Here's an example from Parashas Shelach. After listing the names of the twelve spies that were sent to scout out the Land, the Torah informs us that “Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun ‘Yehoshua’” (Bamidbar 13:16). The Talmud Yerushalmi (Sanhedrin 2:6:8) expounds on the origin of the added letter yod in Yehoshua’s name:

R’ Huna in the name of R’ Acha said: The yod which Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu lifted from our mother Sarah [whose name was originally Sarai] was given half to Sarah and half to Avraham (i.e. the numerical value of yod is 10, which was split into two letter heys, valued at 5 apiece, each given to Avraham and Sarah). R’ Hoshaiah said: The yod ascended, prostrated itself before HKBH, and said to Him: “Master of the Universe, you uprooted me from this righteous woman!” HKBH responded: “Leave. In the past you were the last letter of a woman’s name. [I solemnly swear] by your life that I shall make you the first letter of a man’s name.” This is what is written: “Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun ‘Yehoshua.’”

I assumed that R’ Acha and R’ Hoshaiah intended to teach us insights into the name-changes of tzadikim, or a lesson about gender equality or inequality, or an idea about a trait shared by Sarah and Yehoshua. Something like that. The Torah Temimah (Bamidbar 13:16), however, takes a radically different and unexpected approach:

This drasha [was said] in a general manner, by way of parable and allegory, to establish the perfection of the Torah, [namely,] that even a single letter will not be negated from it. [The author] brings an allusion to the principle that even though Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu, Himself, uprooted a single letter from the Torah, He did not uproot it completely; rather, He returned it to another place with greater honor and status. In the midrashim they expound on this matter at length.

In other words, the Torah Temimah maintains that this midrash has nothing to do with ANY of the particulars mentioned therein, nor is it meant to shed light on ANYTHING in the narrative. Rather, the midrash aims to bolster our conviction in the Torah’s perfection by underscoring the notion that every letter in the Torah is significant – even those letters which were “deleted” or “modified.” Such changes are not made willy-nilly.

While the Rambam doesn’t extend this idea quite as far, he does consider the core principle elucidated by the Torah Temimah to be an essential component of Torah min ha’Shamayim (Torah from Heaven), the eighth of his thirteen fundamentals of Judaism, as formulated in his introduction to Perek Chelek. Here is the relevant excerpt:

This is the meaning of the term “[one who says that] the Torah is not from heaven” which the Sages understand to refer to one who asserts that the whole Torah in its entirety is from Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu, except for a particular verse which [he maintains] was not uttered by HKBH, but by Moshe himself. Concerning such a person it is said, “for he has despised the word of Hashem” (Bamidbar 15:31), may He be exalted over the speech of the heretics; rather, within every letter of the Torah there are wisdoms and wonders for him to whom God has given understanding. And its ultimate wisdom cannot be grasped: “the measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea” (Iyov 11:9).

Why did the author of the midrash choose to express this principle by depicting the letter yod as pleading before Hashem? Perhaps this personification of the yod drives home the point that every letter is assigned a special role by Hashem for an esteemed purpose. Or not. I don’t know. That’s just my best guess for now.

Regardless, the takeaway lesson here is simple: when it comes to learning midrashim, our intuition is woefully off base. The only way to remedy this deficiency is to learn from those who came before us. We must take baby steps.

Do YOU have a different interpretation of the Yerushalmi cited above? Or a question about my treatment of the Torah Temimah’s approach here? Or maybe even a question about midrashim in general? Feel free to leave a comment!

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