JUNE 3 • 2021 | 33

What’s In A Name?
I

magine the scene at the 
beginning of this week’s por-
tion: 12 leaders in Israel are 
preparing for their 40-day trip to 
spy out the Holy Land.
As they complete prepara-
tions, Moses approaches the 
group and pulls aside 
the leader from the 
tribe of Ephraim. 
They have a brief, but 
important conver-
sation; during those 
few moments, Moses 
changes this man’s 
name. Though the 
Ephraimite was given 
the name Hoshea at 
birth, Moses adds 
the small letter yud, 
changing his name to 
Yehoshua, or Joshua in 
English.
As readers of the Torah, we 
are not unfamiliar with name 
changes. Even Sarah underwent 
a name change. Genesis 17:15 
tells us that though she was born 
Sarai, “her name will be Sarah.
” 
This change, like Joshua’s, is 
subtle. God simply replaced the 
letter yud in Sarai with the letter 
hey.
Though the Torah gives no 
explanation for this, the com-
mentator Rashi offers a sug-
gestion: “You shall not call her 
name Sarai which means “my 
princess” — a princess to me but 
not to others — but Sarah, in a 
more general sense, shall be her 
name: She shall be princess over 
all.
” Rashi suggests that Sarah’s 
birthname, Sarai, has a partic-
ularistic connotation. Her new 
name, Sarah, is universalistic.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik 
notes the connection here. If 
removing the letter yud made 
Sarah more universalistic and 
less particularistic, then assign-
ing the letter yud to Joshua must 

have made him more particu-
laristic and less universalistic. 
He notes this in Nefesh Harav 
(306-307),
Initially, Joshua was a very 
public individual. He was 
involved in the world; he inter-
acted with everyone. He was 
very integrated with the life 
of the average person. For 
this reason, Moses prayed 
that Joshua would distance 
from them and that he 
would be his own person. 
And so, Moshe appended 
the yud because that let-
ter reflects particularism, 
against universalism.
Anticipating the nega-
tive peer pressure of the 11 
other spies, Moses changed 
Joshua’s name to emphasize 
that Joshua must not be a 
universalist at this juncture. 
Now, Joshua needed to be an 
individual. He needed to have 
confidence in what is right and 
commit, unwaveringly, to it. 
While his 11 other comrades 
give a terrible report of the land, 
Joshua needs to be steadfast in 
his opinion.
Ultimately, there is no “right 
way” to interact with the world. 
The best path for us is to find 
the middle path, in which we 
successfully balance the worlds 
of Joshua (the yud) and particu-
larism with Sarah (the hey) and 
universalism.
It is a difficult balance to 
strike and perhaps, at times, it 
can be an especially lonely path, 
But, when we are able to live 
with the yud and hey, we end up 
living with yud-hey, the two-let-
ter name of God. 

Rabbi Jared Anstandig formerly served 

as the rabbi of the Orthodox community 

in Ann Arbor; now he will be a Sgan Rosh 

Beit Midrash of Beit Midrash Zichron Dov 

in Toronto, Canada.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Jared 
Anstandig

Parshat 

Shelach 

Lecha: 

Numbers 

13;1-15:41; 

Joshua 

2;1-24.

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3325 ORCHARD LAKE RD, KEEGO HARBOR, MI

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& Changing Hands handle your Estate Sale needs.

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Hands handle your Estate Sale needs. Your items can 
be valued and consigned or auctioned at our store. 
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changinghandsestates.com

3325 ORCHARD LAKE RD, KEEGO HARBOR, MI

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