Parshas Shelach - righteous heresy?

The spies, sent to explore the Land of Canaan before the Children of Israel conquer the area, return from their mission and deliver a discouraging report about prospects of taking over the land (13:27-29). Sensing that the nation has lost the will to take part in the conquest, Calev - one of two spies who disagreed with the majority’s dour report - attempts to rally the peoples’ spirits: “Calev silenced the people about Moshe and said: We can surely go up to the land and we shall possess it, for we are surely able to overcome it.” (13:30).

Rashi explains what Calev did to silence the people, so they would listen – he started his speech with a provocative question: “Is this all the son of Amram [Moshe’s father] did to us?” Thinking Calev was going to skewer Moshe, the people got quiet. Calev went on: “Didn’t he split the sea for us? Didn’t he bring down manna for us? Didn’t he cause the quail to be blown to us? We can succeed at whatever he says.”

Ultimately, Calev’s ruse didn’t work. The people allowed their fears to overtake them, they rebelled against Moshe and God, and God sentenced them to wander the desert for 40 years. The tactic was clever but in this setting, it failed.

It’s interesting, however, that one other noted Jewish leader apparently took up Calev’s tactic. In a commentary on the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), Harold Leiman explains that King Solomon earned the nickname Kohelet because, in his discourses, he would echo back to the people (the Kehal) some of their more heretical thoughts, so as to articulate them and then to defuse them. This is why the Book of Kohelet starts with the phrase: “Vanity of vanities, said Kohelet, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Solomon starts with a pessimistic statement, so as to engage his listeners, but then leads them (and us) into a more constructive approach to life and faith. In this circumstance, it appears that the tactic succeeds.