Shelach

The time had come for the Jewish people to enter the land of Israel. Instead of placing complete trust in Hashem, they asked to send spies out to canvas the land. Hashem agreed to their request and handpicked one man from each tribe to go spy out the land. The Torah calls them כולם אנשים ראשי בני ישראל המה, they were all distinguished men; heads of the Jewish people. Rashi reiterates that at that time they were all honorable men.

What happened? We need to understand how leaders, honorable men that were hand- picked by Hashem, could come to distort the truth and turn the nation against Hashem and against the land of Israel!

The Chidushei Harim explains that the spies had lofty intentions​. In the desert, they had lived a completely spiritual life. They were totally dependent on Hashem for their everyday life. They were fed by the manna; their water came from a rolling rock that travelled with them. They had clothes that didn't wear out and a constant, perfect climate enabling them to spend all their time in spiritual pursuits with no worries at all. The spies feared that once the people would be in the land living an agricultural lifestyle, having to work the land and having all the worries that come with regular, natural life they would regress from their lofty spiritual status. Although their intentions were good, what they failed to realize was that Hashem knows what He's​ doing and what's most conducive for spiritual growth.

The Sfas Emes elaborates on this and says that the supernatural existence of the Jews in the desert was meant to infuse the Jewish people with the spiritual resources to live a Torah life. However, their true mission is to take the natural, everyday existence and make it holy. To live supernaturally with everything handed to you on a silver platter takes away the challenge and that's not what Hashem intended.

After Moshe gains forgiveness for the Jews, Hashem, instead of destroying the nation, says that only those that sinned against him will perish slowly over a forty-year period in the desert. The posuk excluded one person from this punishment, "ועבדי כלב עקב היתה רוח אחרת עמו." But my servant Caleb, because a different spirit was with him and he followed me wholeheartedly, I shall bring him into the land.” 

Now we know that there were two spies that didn't join in the dismal report, Yehoshua and Caleb. Why was only Caleb praised? Why was he singled out, implying that he was more praiseworthy than Yehoshua?

The אור החיים explains, the Torah, by its choice of words, teaches us that: ועבדי כלב, my servant Caleb, he is called “my servant” affording him the same title as Moshe;  עקב, because היתה רוח אחרת עמו , he had a different spirit in him, meaning that he, unlike Yehoshua, who was good from the start, had to fight to be good. He was torn; he really wanted to join the other spies but overcame his natural inclination. As the posuk concludes, וימלא אחרי, he followed after Me, to do the will of Hashem. That's why the Torah only mentioned Caleb, for here in the story of the spies, the Torah is teaching us that the goal in life isn't to have everything come easy.  Unlike the spies, who thought that let's stay in this supernatural existence, the purpose of life is to have challenges and overcome them, to live in the normal world with everyday struggles.

The Haftora tells us the story of Rachav, the harlot, who, when Yehoshua approached the land and sent spies whose mission was a success, hid these spies and told them the fears of the people. She also made a deal with them to save her family when they would capture the city. The Gemara tells us that, after they left, she had a change of heart, changed her ways and converted to Judaism. She then married Yehoshua with whom she had seven prophets. This shows us that, the greater our challenge, the greater we can become. It's up to us to meet the challenge, overcome and thrive!