If one analyzes the back and forth between the ten spies, on the one hand, and Yehoshua and Kalev, on the other hand, a remarkable - if easily overlooked - insight emerges.

The spies' negative report about Eretz Yisroel contained a number of points: The inhabitants of the land are giants, they are powerful, and their cities are large and fortified. In other words, we cannot conquer them because they are too powerful (Bamidbar 13:28).

Yehoshua and Kalev famously rejected this assertion, but upon careful examination it is not clear what about the report they disputed.

"Aloh na'aleh ve'yarashnu osah," we will surely go up and conquer it, Kalev declares, "ki yachol nuchal lah," for we can surely do it (13:30). Impressive, no doubt; inspirational, certainly; but what substantive argument is made? "We can do it" is a slogan not a response.

The spies made a number of observations about why they thought it was impossible to enter the land and none of them are contradicted or even debated. All we seem to have is "pie in sky" optimism. How are we to understand this response? Wasn't there a rationale that Yehoshua and Kalev could have given for why they thought the Jews should and could enter the land? And more significantly, in light of this "non-response response" how can the Jewish people be blamed or punished for following the advice of the ten spies?

Rabbi Kalonymous Kalmish Shapiro was the last Chassidic Rebbe in the Warsaw Ghetto. His leadership - until his murder by the Nazis - was the stuff of legend and many of his teachings from that period have come down to us through a notebook of collected speeches, entitled Esh Kodesh, which remained buried until it was discovered years after the Holocaust.

One such teaching is a dershah,delivered on Shabbos Parsha Shelach, June 22, 1940, in which R. Shapiro discussed the questions that we asked above. Rather than seeing Kalev's reply as evasive, he suggested that it contained not only an answer to the spies but, more importantly, also a timeless expression of emunah.

R. Shapiro explained that while there were arguments Kalev could have made - a point-by-point rebuttal of sorts - he chose, rather, to appeal to the reservoir of faith that the Jewish people should have possessed. Even assuming the validity of everything the spies said there was still no reason for the people to doubt their ability to conquer the Land of Israel.

After all, continued R. Shapiro, "This is the faith that is required of Jew. Even when we don't see any logical or natural avenue for salvation, we must believe that God, who is above the limits of nature, will save us."

In other words, The Jews weren't being asked to go at it alone; they were being asked to trust in Hashem's promise that He would deliver the land to them. And nothing the spies said contradicted that reality, as neither the size nor the strength of the land's inhabitants would pose a challenge to God's might.

That was the crux of Kalev's response to the spies. "Aloh na'aleh" - we will surely go up and we will surely triumph so long as we maintain our faith in Hashem. Rather than being evasive, this was an appropriate and perfectly calibrated response to the charge of the spies. Hashem had promised that they would conquer Eretz Yisroel and the spies' arguments, therefore, clearly expressed a flawed and limited faith in Hashem. If God says that the Jewish people will conquer the land than why does it matter how strong or how many soldiers the other nations have? Given that the underlying source of their argument was a lack of emunah Kalev responded by calling on the people to recall and affirm their faith.

Even more striking than this insight into the biblical text are the circumstances under which it was said. It's one thing to reflect this level of emunah in a calm and safe environment, it's quite another to demonstrate it in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940!

A little over a year after this sermon was delivered, Winston Churchill famously demanded: "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in. We must always have faith and we must never give in or give up.

R. Shapiro would undoubtedly agree.