| | Parashat Beshalach (A)
Yehoshua Bin-nun: A Life (I)
I
"THAT THE TORAH OF HASHEM SHOULD BE IN YOUR MOUTH"
Parashat Bo (last week's reading) is the first to introduce Mitzvot which are an expression of the unique and exclusive relationship between God and the B'nei Yisra'el (note the comments of Rashi on B'resheet 1:1). Along with the many details regarding the Korban Pesach (which we hope to revisit in anticipation of Pesach later this year), the commemoration of the Exodus is marked with the obligation to sanctify the first-born (people and animals), celebrate the anniversary of the Exodus by feasting for seven days, avoiding Hametz and relating the story to our children - and by wearing T'fillin. (all found in Sh'mot 13:1-16). It is the reason given for this final Mitzvah that I'd like to address this week as a springboard for entering into a discussion which properly belongs to next week's Parashah. Since it is, however, a two-part essay, we will begin our analysis this week in order to complete it in a timely fashion.
In defining the purpose of T'fillin, the Torah states:
In order that the Torah of Hashem shall be in your mouth (13:9).
Although the most straightforward understanding of this phrase relates to the following phrase:
"that Hashem your God took you out of Egypt with a strong hand",
nonetheless, it is Halakhically understood as relating to the entire Torah.
Thus, for instance, the Midrash Halakhah states:
"...in order that the Torah of Hashem should be in your mouth" - based on this text, the Rabbis stated that anyone who puts on T'fillin is considered as if he studied the Torah and anyone who studies the Torah is exempt from T'fillin. (Mekhilta Bo #17 - see Shulhan Arukh OC 38:10).
Note that the Mekhilta did not limit this Halakhah to someone studying about the Exodus - any study of Torah exempts one from wearing T'fillin. Regardless of how this Halakhah is practically understood and applied, the Halakhah understands that the verse is referring to the overall study of Torah and engagement in God's law.
Although there are a few mentions of the importance of engagement in Torah study in the Torah itself, the clearest and most powerful expression in T'nakh is found in the opening section of Sefer Yehoshua:
This Book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth; but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written on it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. (1:8)
This command, given to Yehoshua, sets an important tone for this Sefer - one to which we will return in next week's essay.
In the meantime, since we first meet Yehoshua in this week's Parashah, let's take this opportunity to analyze - if only briefly - this first post-Toraic Navi and hero of the conquest of Eretz K'na'an.
II
ENTER YEHOSHUA
When we are first introduced to Yehoshua, we are given neither biographical background nor a resume which would explain his qualifications for being appointed by Mosheh to defend the B'nei Yisra'el against the attack of the nomadic Amalekites:
Then came Amalek, and fought with Yisra'el in Rephidim. And Mosheh said to Yehoshua, Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Yehoshua did as Mosheh had said to him, and fought with Amalek; and Mosheh, Aharon, and Hur went up to the top of the hill... (Sh'mot 17:8-10)
Note that we do not even know his patronym nor his tribal affiliation - he is just "Yehoshua".
Although we later find out that he had a shorter name (Hoshea - Bamidbar 13:16), that his father's name is "Nun" (Sh'mot 33:11)and that he is an Ephraimite (Bamidbar 13:8), we learn very little else about him until Mosheh is told that Yehoshua will be the next "shepherd" of the B'nei Yisra'el and some of his leadership qualities (Bamidbar 27:18-20). It is only through the unfolding of Sefer Yehoshua itself that we get a complete picture of the son of Nun, Mosheh's disciple and the man who leads the B'nei Yisra'el through what is arguably the pinnacle of their military strength.
III
YEHOSHUA 24:
TWO QUESTIONS
We will frame this essay by raising two questions about Yehoshua (both the man and the Sefer)which arise from the final chapter of that book. In Chapter 24 (best known for its historiosophy [vv. 2-13], a section of which [vv. 2-4]is incorporated into the Haggadah shel Pessach), set in Sh'khem, Yehoshua brings the B'nei Yisra'el into a covenant with God just before his death. We are then told:
And Yehoshua wrote these words B'sefer Torat Elokim (in the Book of the Torah of God)... (v. 26)
What could this phrase possibly mean? Does it mean that "Sefer Torat Elokim" is a reference to some other book, besides the Five Books of Mosheh (so Y. Kil in Da'at Mikra among other contemporary scholars)? Does the prefix "B" indicate that Yehoshua wrote the conditions of the covenant on a scroll and rolled it inside of the Torah of Mosheh (so Rashi, quoting the Targum)?
In any case, this text needs clarification.
There is a more enigmatic verse near the conclusion of the Sefer. After the death and burial of Yehoshua, we are told that:
And the bones of Yoseph, which the B'nei Yisr'ael brought out of Egypt, buried they in Sh'khem, in a parcel of ground which Ya'akov bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Sh'khem for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Yoseph.
We know that the B'nei Yisra'el carried Yoseph's bones through the desert (see Sh'mot 13:19) in order to inter them in K'na'an (see B'resheet 50:25) - but why did they wait until after the death of Yehoshua to do so?
From all of the information we can glean from the text, Yehoshua was approximately 80 years old at the time of the conquest (see Yehoshua 14:6-10, especially v. 7) - and he died at the age of 110 (24:29). Why did the B'nei Yisra'el keep Yoseph's bones "on ice" for those thirty years and only inter him in Sh'khem after the death and burial of Yehoshua? This question is exacerbated by the fact that the B'nei Yisra'el held a major covenant ceremony upon their arrival in the land - again at Sh'khem. Even if Yoseph's final resting place was pre-determined as Sh'khem, they had been there fairly soon after crossing the Yarden - why wait until Yehoshuah's career was over before interring Yoseph?
IV
BACK TO YOSEPH AND HIS DREAMS
In order to answer these questions - and, thereby, gain a greater understanding of the role of Yehoshua within Israelite history - we need to go back to the first significant interaction between Yoseph (Yehoshua's ancestor) and his brothers:
As we know (and have discussed in an earlier essay), Yoseph was involved in three sets of dreams - each set consisting of two dreams:
1) His own dreams, presented below (B'resheet 37)
2) His successful interpretation of the dreams of the butler and baker (B'resheet 40)
3) His successful interpretation of the two dreams of Pharaoh (B'resheet 41)
Even a cursory look at these three sets reveals that the first two dreams bear little in common with the two latter sets. Each of the latter sets was clearly understood by all involved as a form of prophecy - and each of the details was meticulously interpreted by Yoseph - and each of those interpretive details came to pass. Note, for instance, Ramban's comments at the beginning of Ch. 41, (v. 4) where he points out that even Yoseph's "advice" to Pharaoh was part of the dream interpretation.
The three days, the seven years, the "fat" and "emaciated" stalks and cows, the basket on the baker's head - all of this is accounted for in the interpretation - and every detail comes to pass exactly "as Yoseph had interpreted to them".
This clear and direct interpretive process stands in clear contradistinction to the two dreams dreamt by Yoseph himself:
And Yoseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. And he said to them:
Hear, I beg you, this dream which I have dreamed;
For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood around, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? or shall you indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him even more for his dreams, and for his words.
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brothers, and said,
Behold, I have again dreamed a dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
And he told it to his father, and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to you to the earth?
And his brothers envied him; but his father kept the matter in mind.
(B'resheet 37:5-11)
Besides the painful questions that must be addressed regarding the wisdom of Yoseph's revealing these dreams to his brothers - which will be assessed in a later study - the simplest question to ask here is - when are these dreams ever realized? Do the brothers ever bow to Yoseph? Certainly the second dream seems to "fall flat" - for mother isn't even alive (see Rashi ad loc., quoting BT Berakhot) and father certainly never "bows down [himself] to the earth".
Besides the issue of the fulfillment of the dream, there is another question to ask here. It is clear why the prisoners had two dreams - each had his own dream, relating to his own future - and the import of each dream was diametrically opposite. It is also explicitly stated why Pharaoh had two dreams -
And for that the dream was doubled to Pharaoh twice; it is because the matter is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. (41:32)
Why, however, did Yoseph have two dreams - two dreams with essentially the same message? If we are to focus on the addition of father and mother (the sun and moon) in the second dream, why not just grant Yoseph that one dream, which includes the subjugation of his brothers?
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| Mikra, Copyright © 2012 by Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom and Torah.org. The author is Educational Coordinator of the Jewish Studies Institute of the Yeshiva of Los Angeles. |
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