Mussar sobre Êxodo 17:16

When G–d said to Moses שלח לך, send for you, it meant that just as G–d's intention had been constructive, so also Moses was guided by constructive ideas when he consented to arrange this mission. The meaning of וישלח אותם על פי ה', means with the consent of G–d, and not because of the demand of the spies or the people. Moses understood part of this allusion, and though he did not foresee how these spies would report individually, he did have a notion of how the horoscope they were born under might influence them. This is why the Torah reports Moses as studying the individual names of these people for clues to their character. This is why the Torah repeats in 13,17: "these are the names of the men whom Moses sent out, etc." The Talmud in Sotah 34, says that we have a tradition that their names reflected their deeds, however, according to Rabbi Yitzchak, only in the case of the prince of Asher סתור בן מיכאל, does the Talmud manage to elaborate. Rabbi Yochanan also provides such a rationale in the case of the prince of Naftali, נחבי בן ופסי, claiming that the name means he hid from G–d, or that he cleverly hid his true intentions. His father's name ופסי is an allusion to פסע, skipping, i.e. reporting G–d's words only out of context, not completely. When Moses began to suspect that possibly these people harbored unworthy thoughts, seeing their names could be so construed, he renamed Hoshea, calling him Joshua, the implication being that G–d should assist him not to adopt the counsel of the other spies (Bamidbar Rabbah 16,9, on 13,16). The reason Moses employed the two-lettered name of G–d in doing so was that it had been employed when describing G–d's struggle against Amalek, at which time Joshua's eventual role had first been hinted at. The reason Caleb was the one who silenced the spies in the middle of their report, was that Joshua was afraid to say עלה נעלה, we can certainly ascend," i.e. conquer the land (13,30), since this might be construed as Joshua's personal ambition to lead the people.

We must remember that though the redemption from Egypt was indeed a great redemption, it was not an ultimate redemption. Such a redemption will occur only in the future when the Messiah comes, at which time the impact of the remaining two letters in G–d's Ineffable Name will also be felt. The fact that during the episode of the Exodus only the first two letters of G–d's Ineffable Name had manifested themselves is alluded to in Exodus 17,16: כי יד על כס י-ה מלחמה לה' בעמלק, which alerts us to the fact that only the first two letters in G–d's Ineffable name carry on the war against Amalek. Our sages have confirmed this when they point to the שירה חדשה, song in the feminine gender, that the Jewish people sung in appreciation of G–d's salvation at that time. This song will be replaced by a שיר חדש, song in the masculine gender, which will be composed and sung by the Jewish people in the future when the final redemption will occur. The redemption from Egypt was rooted in the עולם הנקבות, the "female" world. We read in Jeremiah 31,21 (22) where the prophet speaks about the ultimate redemption, that: ברא השם חדשה בארץ נקבה תסובב גבר, "For the Lord has created something new on earth; a woman courts a man!" This is an allusion to the type of redemption that still awaits us. I have elaborated on this theme in my commentary on the הגדה של פסח. The time of the redemption is the time when all the letters in the Ineffable Name combine and form the dual-faced, male-female Name, i.e. the concept that prevailed at the time the prototype of אדם -who was created male and female combined- was conceived. The prevalent name then was masculine, as is clear from the word אדם as opposed to אדמה.

The word shofar hints at the admonition, “Improve [shapru] your deeds and abandon your evil ways!” The tekiyah [a long unbroken blast] is a form of prayer and the one who hears it should say, “Master of the Worlds! Insert [teka] Your name Y-ah [the last two letters of the word tekiyah] among Israel like a peg that is firmly imbedded [takua], as it is written, ‘His hand was upon the throne of Y-ah’ (Shemos 17:16). The shevarim [a blast broken into long segments] is a hint that the Holy One Blessed is He will shatter [yeshabeir], cast down and eradicate the throne of the Sitrah Acharah so that it no longer has any dominion over Israel.This is followed by a teruah [a blast broken into many short segments], indicating that at that time, “they will make a joyful sound [yisro’a’u] and sing together” (Tehillim 65:14). For the letters vav and heh of the word teruah (תרועה) represent the vav and heh [of Hashem’s name], which will join together [with the first two letters, i.e. the yud and heh alluded to above], in fear and love in the name of all Israel.