Why only Calev went to pray in Hevron

Rava says: …Caleb separated himself from the counsel of the other spies and went and prostrated himself on the graves of the forefathers in Hebron. He said to them: My forefathers, pray for mercy for me so that I will be saved from the counsel of the spies.

(Sotah 34b)

Here we might ask: why did Joshua not also go to the Hebron, to the cave of his ancestors to pray?

There may be several possible answers to this question: for example – perhaps each spy was allocated to spy out a different area and Joshua was occupied in doing that. However, I want to suggest that perhaps Joshua did not go because he did not feel the burning necessity for it in the same way as Calev did.

The midrash asks:

“Why was Calev called Shovav? (I Chronicles 2:18)” and answers: “Because he broke (shivev) his evil inclination” (Soth 12a).

Meaning, he had to struggle against the influence of the ten other spies – he found himself impacted by their negative views.

Joshua – who had spent much time with Moshe and even perhaps partially ascended Mt Sinai (Shemot 24:13) – did not. Additionally, Moses had given Joshua, who had till now been called Hoshea, the extra letter yud at the beginning of his name, which as Rashi explains was meant to protect him as “May G-d (Yah) save you from the evil counsel of the spies” (Rashi Bamidbar 13:16).

Though a good man, Calev did not have Joshua’s merit or his spiritual level. Seeing himself pulled into the spies’ groupthink and urgently needing spiritual reinforcement, Calev made the journey to the cave of Machpelah and prostrated himself on the graves, praying for help.

Furthermore, perhaps, while the ancestors of all Jews are buried at Machpelah (Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, and Jacob), Calev had a stronger connection to this gravesite, as his ancestress Leah was buried there, while Rachel, ancestress of Joshua who hailed from the tribe of Ephraim, had been buried elsewhere, along the way.

Calev was able connect there to the energy of Leah, who withstood the test of not winning her husband’s love, and remained in gratitude to G-d, as seen in the name of Calev’s ancestor Judah (Leah’s fourth son).

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This trip had an important ramification, differentiating between Calev and Joshua. When the spies return and give their report, at first we see only Calev stand up to rebuff it and rally the people (Bamidbar 13:30). Where is Joshua, why is he silent? Again, several answers are possible. But perhaps what happened was that Calev had indeed, after praying at Hebron, received spiritual fortitude, a divine blessing, and had the strength to stand up against the people. Joshua was a tzaddik, undoubtedly, but he had not had that spiritual vitamin boost.

So we see from here that being flawed, needing to seek spiritual aid and effortfully rise from a low place, can ultimately bring a person to places that the saint may not achieve. “In the place where penitents stand, even the full-fledged righteous do not stand” (Brachot 34b)