yehoshua: the sefiros turned upside down
sholem aleichem
Hello again! I have to (once again) apologize for the erratic posting schedule. Without the parsha schedule to keep me honest, it is harder to get these out regularly. But I've sketched out the rest of Yehoshua, so we should make it thru to the end!
Right now, my plan is to finish Yehoshua before we reach Vayakhel in the parsha cycle. Then I'll hop back to the parsha to finish off Shemos (I missed Vayakhel and Pekudei last year.) Depending how I feel after that, I may continue writing parsha commentary to catch the Vayikra parshos I missed last year. Either way, after doing at least a little parsha commentary I'll move back to Shoftim and keep learning Nevi'im.
Please let me know if there are any improvements you'd like to see made to how the newsletter functions! I'm definitely finding being off the parsha schedule a bit of a struggle.
Also, Happy Chanukah! I'm writing this just before Chanukah begins -- just after picking up my latke-gredients at the PriceChopper (well-loved by local Jews here as a place that has one set of kosher shelves with e.g. grape juice etc.) I have two more work days and then the rest of the secular year off, so I'm really looking forward to some rest and some serious text study!
This week: Yehoshua 10
Summary: Adoni-Tzedek, the king of Yerushalayim, hears about how Yehoshua has taken Ai and Yerikho and how the Giv'onites made peace with Yisrael (from last time.) So Adoni-Tzedek organizes an alliance of kings (Hevron, Yarmut, Yafia, Lakhish, Eglon) to rise against Giv'on. HaShem tells Yehoshua to not fear them, and assists Yehoshua in their slaughter. Yehoshua commands the sun and moon to stand still until the vengeance was complete and they do. Yehoshua goes on to kill the five kings who came against him and smite many cities.
I want to start by talking about this king Adoni-Tzedek. The name means "my lord is justice", or something similar, and I think it is interesting that this is the name of the king organizing against Yehoshua.
His name is reminiscent of a character from Bereishis, Malki-tzedek (my king is justice). But Malki-tzedek's role in the story is quite different. In Bereishis 14, a group of Canaanite kings are at war. After a battle, Avram's nephew Lot is kidnapped. Avram goes after Lot, and after he successfully brings Lot back, Malki-tzedek, the king of Shalem and a priest of the god most high, blesses Avram: "Blessed be Avram of god most high, creator of heaven and earth."
In this story, the emphasis throughout is on the power of haShem: Avram is blessed in that he belongs to אל אליון. In Yehoshua, the emphasis is on the power of Yehoshua, as it states -- after Yehoshua stops the sun in the sky:
and there was nothing like this day, before it or after it: haShem obeyed a man's voice when haShem fought for Yisrael
There's a lot to be disturbed by in Yehoshua, but at least this week the instrumentalization of haShem is really getting to me: the role of haShem in this narrative is as (chas v'sholem) an incredibly restricted character who is only there to kill Canaanites with hail and arrange the universe for Yehoshua.
It is worth emphasizing one point from the quote above: this will not happen ever again.
I'm always sort of intrigued by the mysticism around the sun and the moon. Rebbe Nachman teaches that the light of the sun is connected to chochmah, the initial spark of wisdom, which gives life to those who have it.
However, Rebbe Nachman teaches, it is only possible to reach this light through malkhus, which corresponds to the moon: it has no light of its own, only what is reflects from chochmah.
Let's take a closer look at the verse in Yehoshua when the sun is stopped:
וַיִּדֹּם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְיָרֵחַ עָמָד עַד־יִקֹּם גּוֹי אֹיְבָיו
and the sun was silent and the moon remained, until the nation will take vengeance [upon] its enemy
This is usually translated "the sun was still", but the implications of "the sun was silent" intrigue me. In this moment, at the height of Yehoshua's vengeance, the light of chochmah was silent and the moon remained (traditionally: stayed/stood.)
In a way, this is a moment when the entire structure of the sefiros was turned upside down: no light from chochmah, but malchus somehow remains.
It feels more of a divine warning than a divine endorsement, but then I am a bit biased.
Any thoughts?
happy chanukah!!
ada