Glory Days

What a whirlwind these last few weeks have been beloved. As we read in this weeks parsha HaShem has been doing a lot of shaking, and we have been doing a little shaking ourselves. Shaking out old habits and clutter, shaking with awe and fear at the kindness and mercy of our Father and King and lastly shaking our lulavs with joy and trembling. I was blessed to spend Sukkot this year with friends who are as adventurous as I am. I heard that a rainy week was foretold so we prepared our sukkah with shower curtain walls, and a roof of branches entwined with twinkle lights. HaShem blessed our effort. For the next week we prayed, we studied, we danced in the rain, we ate, saw a shooting star, talked until the wee hours not wanting to miss a minute, we even slept in our sukkah, our home away from home. HsShem blessed us with water libations and droplets of water that sparkled like millions of diamonds and enrobed the walls of our sukkah. He blessed us with a moon so bright we got moonburn that has now deepened to a nice tan. He has also deepened our faith, our faith in Him who loves us and meets us where ever we are, even in a wet, wind blown hut at the top of a mountain.

Refreshed, it's time to begin anew. HaShem is creating and recreating us all over again, He has done all the work we just need to follow the blueprint. I had a conversation with someone near and dear the other day. It went something like, "do you really need to spend so much time involved with all this religious stuff". I let them talk and just listened because some things can't be explained. I don't usually listen to the radio but it plays at work and I catch the tunes sometimes. I like to rearrange the words to fit my frame of thinking. A song by Adele is getting a lot of airplay these days, it is called Someone Like You, I'll leave you with my rearrangement.

I heard that you settled down
That you found your life and you're married now.
I heard that your dreams came true.
Guess you have fleeting things that surround you.

Old friend, why are you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold back or hide from My Light.

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, please don't fight it.
I had hoped you'd see My Face and that you'd be reminded
That for Me it's never over.

You know I'll never create another one like you
I wish nothing but the best for you
Don't forget Me, I beg
And remember I said,
"Life hurts sometimes, but My Love will be your stead".

You know how the time flies
Only yesterday was the time of your life
You were born and raised
In a summer haze
Bound by the surprise of My Glory Days

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, please don't fight it.
I had hoped you'd see My Face and that you'd be reminded
That for Me it's never over.

You know I'll never create another one like you
I wish nothing but the best for you
Don't forget Me, I beg
And remember I said,
"Life hurts sometimes, but My Love will be your stead".

Nothing compares
No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes
They are memories that fade
You should have known how bittersweet this would taste

You know I'll never create another one like you
I wish nothing but the best for you
Don't forget Me, I beg
And remember I said,
"Life hurts sometimes, but My Love will be your stead".

Below you will find the new Bible-in-a-year study cycle, you can sign up at the link below if you want to join in.
Shalom, Emunah and Ahavah, Elisheva
www.azamra.org

SHALOM!!! WELCOME!!! Today, 25 Tishri 5772 (23 October 2011) we begin the SIXTH ANNUAL KNOW YOUR BIBLE STUDY CYCLE, and with G-d's help we will each weekday throughout the coming year study 2 chapters of the Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Holy Writings), thereby completing the entire NaCh in one year, concluding on Simchat Torah, 22 Tishri 5773 (8 October 2012). (Please note that our study cycle does not include Psalms.)

It is fitting to begin the BIBLE-IN-A-YEAR study cycle now since we are fresh from Simchat Torah, when we concluded the annual reading of the Five Books of Moses and immediately started over with Bereishis (Genesis 1). Likewise on Simchas Torah we read Joshua 1 as the Haftara – the supplementary reading from the prophets – thereby taking the first step in studying the NaCh (Nevi'im, "The Prophets" and Ketuvim, "The Writings). Today we embark on our regular daily study of 2 chapters of NaCh with Joshua Chapters 1-2.

The practice of studying 2 chapters of NaCh daily starting immediately after Simchat Torah and finishing the following Simchat Torah is recommended in "Yesod VeShoresh HaAvodah" ("Foundation and Root of Service") by Rabbi Alexander Ziskind of Horodna (d. 1794), a guide to devotion endorsed by all streams of Torah Jewry (see Gate 6 Chapter 2, The Order of Study).

Just as we are today commencing this study cycle, so may we pursue it daily until we complete it with G-d's help. "Let no error befall us and let us not stumble in any matter of law. Let us not call that which is impure pure or that which is pure impure, nor that which is permitted forbidden, nor that which is forbidden permitted. Let none of us stumble: may we only rejoice in one another. For HaShem will give wisdom: from His mouth are knowledge and understanding. Open our eyes and let us behold wonders from Your Torah!"

JOSHUA CHAPTER 1
"MOSES MY SERVANT IS DEAD"
The Book of Joshua is the direct continuation from the end of Deuteronomy which narrates the death of Moses. Prior to his death, Moses had already said to Israel: "For I know that after my death you will surely go to ruin and depart from the path that I have commanded you, and evil will befall you at the end of days because you have done evil in the eyes of HaShem to anger Him with the work of your hands" (Deut. 31:29).

The entire NaCh will narrate the story and draw out the moral of this departure from the path with its terrible consequences, tracing the history of Israel in their time of glory (the conquest of the land and the building of Solomon's Temple) and their time of decline (destruction of the Temple and exile).

Our rabbis taught that "the face of Moses was like the face of the sun, while the face of Joshua was like the face of the moon" (Bava Basra 75a). Now that the sun had gone down with the death of Moses, it was time for the moon to shine. As long as the moon is aligned with the sun, the entire face of the moon is lit up and perfectly reflects the light of the sun. As long as Joshua reflected Moses' Torah, the people succeeded. Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim (son of Joseph, son of Rachel, Jacob's beloved). The task of Ephraim is to actualize the keeping of the Torah in this real, material world (and thus Rachel signifies the Shechinah, the Indwelling Presence in this world). Keeping the Torah to perfection in this world had to be accomplished in God's chosen land, the Land of Israel, and thus Joshua's task was to lead the people in and conquer the land. But when the moon is not aligned with the sun, its face becomes successively darkened. Thus it was Ephraim under the leadership of Jeraboam – Yeravam ben Nevat – who led the people away from the path, which brought about the exile, as we will see later. The people of Israel today must study and ponder the story of the NaCh and its moral in order to gain possession of the Land of Israel forever and shine its light to the whole world.

Joshua ch. 1 vv. 3-4 reiterates the boundaries of the Promised Land as already laid down in Numbers 34, 1-15. Here in verse 4 we simply have a brief depiction of the "breadth" of the land (from the Wilderness of Zin up to the Euphrates), and it's "length" (from those two points until the Great Sea, the Mediterranean). From verse 3 we learn that AFTER Israel have conquered the entire Promised Land, then "any place where the sole of your foot steps I will give to you", thereby incorporating other territories (see Rashi on vv.3-4).

The condition upon which Israel is able to conquer and retain the Land is made completely clear here at the beginning of the Prophets: "Be strong and very firm to guard and practice according to all the Torah that Moses my servant commanded you…" (v. 7). "And the book of this Torah shall not depart from your mouth…" (v. 8). Everything depends on KEEPING THE TORAH, and this depends upon CONSTANT STUDY OF THE TORAH BY DAY AND BY NIGHT. For then HaShem your God will be with you.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE ENTRY INTO THE LAND
Rashi proves from the text that it was on 7 Nissan that Joshua gave orders to prepare the people to cross the Jordan "in another three days". 7 Nissan was the conclusion of the 30 day period of mourning for Moses, who died on 7 Adar (just as he had been born on that day, 3 months exactly before 7 Sivan, the day he was cast into the river and the date of the giving of the Torah 80 years later.) 10 Nissan would be an appropriate day for the supernatural miracle of the parting of the Jordan, as it was the anniversary of the day when the Children of Israel took the Paschal Lamb in Egypt just prior to the Exodus. Taking the lamb for sacrifice indicates submitting the power of nature, symbolized in the constellation of Aries, the "Ram", to the higher power of God. God controls nature and can bend it at will. God has the power to give a tiny nation dominion. If the people of Israel would keep to God's covenant they would always be above nature.

Joshua reminds the tribes of Reuven, Gad and the half of Menashe who had taken their territories east of the Jordan of their commitment to help their brothers conquer the land of Canaan. Today this can be taken as a message to the Jews living in the Diaspora of their responsibility to identify with and help their brothers and sisters living in Israel in their struggle to settle the land in the proper way.

JOSHUA CHAPTER 2
Rashi proves from the text that Joshua sent the two spies to Jericho two days before he commanded the people to prepare to cross the Jordan. According to tradition the spies were Caleb (Joshua's only faithful companion among the 12 Spies sent by Moses) and Pinchas. Thus Joshua (Ephraim) works together with Caleb (the royal tribe of Judah) and Pinchas (the Priest). Why were they sent to Jericho specifically? Because Jericho "was as hard as all the rest of the country put together because it was on the border" (Rashi v. 1) – it was the "lock" of the land of Israel (which was why in the days of Oslo the slogan was "Jericho first").

RAHAV– A GREAT HEROINE
Rahav is celebrated as one of the outstanding converts of all time (together with Hagar, Osnath, Tzipora, Shifra, Puah, Pharaoh's daughter Batya, Ruth and Yael). This is because Rahav acknowledged that "Hashem your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below" – she alone among the Canaanites was willing to join Israel instead of fighting them, because she recognized the divine hand in their Exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and their complete victory over the kings of the Emorites (vv.9-11). Her above-quoted declaration of faith is incorporated in the first paragraph of the Oleinu prayer recited at the end of each of the 3 daily prayer services.

Why did Rahab alone draw the right concluson? Was it because she was lowly and therefore humble? According to Targum Yonasan, Rahab was an innkeeper, but the Midrash Mechilta is less delicate. "She was 10 when the Children of Israel went out of Egypt and practiced prostitution for all of the forty years that they were in the wilderness… There was not a minister or dignitary that had not been with Rahab." That was how she knew so intimately that "no more spirit stands up in any man in face of you".

Rahav was obviously a woman of profound understanding as she drew the right conclusion. More than that, she showed the trait that is the hallmark of Israel: CHESSED, kindness. She did not HAVE to save the two spies – she could quite easily have handed them over to the authorities. It was because she showed them pure CHESSED by saving them without expecting a reward that she felt able to ask them for pure CHESSED when the children of Israel would conquer Jericho: that they should save her life and that of her family. There was a great TIKKUN (repair) in her letting the spies out through her window in the city wall and later using the sign of the scarlet thread: her clients used to use a rope to climb in and out of her window unseen. According to the rabbis, Rahav prayed that the three elements of the wall, the window and the thread should atone for her neglect of the 3 commandments incumbent upon an Israelite woman: lighting the Shabbat lights, separating Challah and observing the laws of Niddah (family purity). The rabbis said that no less than eight prophets and priests were descended from Rahav, including Jeremiah and Hilkiah and the prophetess Hulda. In their later history, Israel were frequently compared to a whore. Rahav is the outstanding example of such a woman who repented with all her heart and attained the greatest heights.

* * * Joshua 2:1-24 is read as the Haftara of Parshas Shelach Lecha, Numbers 13:1-15:41
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