Joshua

 

Boqer Tov!

    I know Yehoshua probably didn't have blue eyes, but this was the best depiction of him I could find.

    He was both a warrior and the spiritual leader of Israel. It was he who God chose to bring the Israelites into the Land of Israel.

    In reading/studying the book of Joshua - who, by the way, shares a name with our Saviour - it was a bit disheartening to hear the Sages say that if a person lives outside the land of Israel, it is as though he has no God, that there could be no emunah outside the Land of Israel. I asked the Father how this could be, since I have lived in South Africa all my life and have known His loving and protecting hand over my life.

    Then I remembered what Zera Shimshon said in his commentary on this Torah portion: That God had given his people the exile as a means of being able to forgive them, even for intentional sins. How?

    Zera Shimshon says that at some point, Israel began to sin without any intention of doing teshuva, and He had to find another way to forgive His people. So He sent them into exile. But how does that help Him to forgive them?

    Zera Shimshon says that due to the hardships and pain of the long exile, God is able to have mercy on them and forgive them for their misdeeds.

    I have been to Israel, once, and that was the happiest time I can remember. Israel is definitely the Holy Land, the place of God's Presence, even today, after the Shechinah has left, His Presence still permeates the land, especially Jerusalem. I know and fully acknowledge that there is no other place like Israel and Jerusalem. Definitely not. 

    However, what about the mass of humanity that does not live in Eretz Yisrael? Has God forgotten us and given us over to whatever will await us? Surely, as the Sovereign Lord of All, He has decided, in His mercy and wisdom, to put each and every one of us where we are, to endure the exile and help to bring His Kingdom to earth, until the day He takes us all back there, for those of us who can't afford to go any other way?

    I would like to think so. I think perhaps the Sages were talking about people who are born Jewish and who the government of Israel will allow to live there. They certainly won't let me!

    I was talking to HaShem about this the other day and He gave me a sentence that really comforted and still comforts me: "Your papers are in Shammayim". I like that. Because even though I can't prove my Jewish ancestry - it was one of my paternal grandparents who are now both deceased, may their memories be a blessing - I have a deep consciousness of being attached to Judaism, as my Saviour was and is. Therefore, I hope to be one of those whom He will take with Him to Jerusalem when He returns. I say hope because, even though I am doing my best to live my life in the way He has laid out, Pirkei Avot does say that we should never be sure of ourselves until the day we die. It's only by His mercy and grace.

    May we be comforted and strengthened in the Exile as we strive to live holy and godly lives, as Rabbi Kepha (the apostle Peter) says in his second letter to the congregations, as a way to combat the dark and evil of the days we live in.

    May we find common ground with each other and work to create the unity that will help to hasten the coming of the Messiah.