Goals:

1. The chanichim will see that in conquering the land of Israel, Hashem will provide us with miracles and help, but only if we take initiative first. All the battles fought at the beginning of Yehoshua (at the beginning of conquering the land) were a combination of miracles and teva - natural battles. Hashem, through Yehoshua, is teaching Am Israel how to fight in a natural way.

2. The chanichim will see Yehoshua’s role as a ruchani and religious leader, not just as a general in battle. In all the battles that he leads and in his speeches, Yehoshua always has the same message: G-d will only help us in battle if we keep His mitzvot and the Torah.

Written by- Sarah Gordon

sygordon@gmail.com

Machal Shiur #2:

Intro: Following on yesterday’s shiur, today’s shiur will focus on some of the battles and events that take place in Sefer Yehoshua in order to give the chanichim a sense of what Yehoshua’s ideology was as a leader. Yesterday, we focused backwards, comparing Yehoshua and the time of the Midbar. Tomorrow, we will look forward and start to focus on Sefer Shoftim and the difference between Shoftim and Yehoshua.

Goals:

1. The chanichim will see that in conquering the land of Israel, Hashem will provide us with miracles and help, but only if we take initiative first. All the battles fought at the beginning of Yehoshua (at the beginning of conquering the land) were a combination of miracles and teva - natural battles. Hashem, through Yehoshua, is teaching Am Israel how to fight in a natural way.

2. The chanichim will see Yehoshua’s role as a ruchani and religious leader, not just as a general in battle. In all the battles that he leads and in his speeches, Yehoshua always has the same message: G-d will only help us in battle if we keep His mitzvot and the Torah.

Trigger: Ask the chanichim: last time we spoke about how now that Bnei Israel are out of the midbar – everything will now be done naturally (no more man – have to work for food), and not through miracles. But wait a second… think about all the battles that happen in Yehoshua in order to conquer the land. Are these natural or miraculous?

Have the chanichim make a list (on the board or on a paper) of all the battles that they can remember from Yehoshua (feel free to bribe the kids who get the most). Try to jog their memory by giving them clues about some of the battles.

-Hashem splits the Yarden river

-Yericho – miracle: wall falls down, shofar, etc.

-Shemesh b’Givon Dom – the Sun stands still

-Battle against the Ai – G-d tells us to do an ambush – half the army lures out the Ai while the rest sneaks in and burns their city.

In all these battles it seems like major miracles are taking place! What’s going on – aren’t we supposed to be fighting on our own now?

This is where we see Yehoshua’s attitude towards how Bnei Israel need to act when conquering the land:

• Theme #1: Yehoshua knows that G-d will help them fight in conquering the land, and will even provide them will miracles, but only if they take the human initiative first. We have to be active now, unlike in the Midbar where the Jews were passive and Hashem took care of us. Now we have to take the 1^st step and then Hashem will respond.

• Theme #2: Yehoshua tells the people that Hashem will help them take conquer the land, but that this will only last if they listen to G-d and follow in His ways. Once they stop following the Torah, Hashem will no longer help them. This shows us Yehoshua’s ruchani side (which he got from being Moshe’s #1 student), Bnei Israel have to keep the Torah, or they will not succeed in conquering the land. Yehoshua is just passing on what Hashem commanded him in Perek 1 to the people.

Let’s look at these ideas inside the text.

1.       Theme #1: Bnei Israel taking initiative in war and G-d responds

Let’s look at the story of Yericho.

Check out Yehoshua Perek 6. Hashem has this super plan on how Yehoshua and Am Israel will conquer Yericho. But is this completely miraculous? No, because then Hashem would just destroy Yericho Himself. But He is telling Yehoshua how to do it.

Which parts of this plan are miraculous and Hashem is doing it, and which are Bnei Israel doing? (The wall falling down vs all the circles and the shofars).

What is the point of the shofars and circling it?

1. Fear, strike terror into the hearts of the city

2. Yigal Yadin (Israeli Archeologist): This is how people fought wars in the time of Tanakh. Because every time you circled, the city thought you were going to attack, but then you pulled back. So basically then they never knew when you were really going to attack and when it was a fake out. It’s psychologically terrifying and allows you to attack head on without the ppl in the city knowing whether this is a real attack and whether they need to fight back now, or whether this time is also a fake out attack.

So on one hand, there are miracles that will happen but Bnei Israel have to actually fight a war.

Also – what did Yehoshua do to prepare for this battle in Perek 2? He sent spies! What does this tell us about Yehoshua’s leadership abilities? Why send spies if Hashem will fight for us? Because it’s now a team effort. We put in our hishtadlut and fight like a normal natural war, and Hashem will help us win.

Hashem is teaching us how to fight in a teva, natural way.

**Yericho is also a “big bang”, Hashem helping us to conquer the 1^st city in a battle that people will talk about in years to come. To scare the other nations and help set the stage for an easy kivush (conquering) of the land by Am Israel. We will conquer it by fighting, but G-d is helping us out.

Even in our own lives, it’s the same thing. We have to make our own decisions but G-d is there in the background helping us out.

Leadership Training:

-Which leadership skills does Yehoshua need here? He needs to be able to lead a people who grew up in desert and who never fought before, how to fight naturally and conquer their land.

-What’s so important about taking initiative in leadership? Or in taking initiative as a nation? Isn’t it better if G-d does everything for us?

2.     Theme #2: Yehoshua as a Ruchani (religious) leader

Look at the following examples (either all, some, or pick one) with the chanichim: How does each of these cases show Yehoshua as not just a super strong brilliant general/army man, but also as a religious leader?

1. Yehoshua’s instructions to the people before the battle at Yericho: Perek 6: 16-19. What is Yehoshua commanding here? Here’s how to fight – but don’t break Hashem’s command! Don’t steal stuff, destroy the whole city (put it in cherem – like an ir nidachat – an idol worshipping city- see Devarim 13:14-19).Also, don’t kill Rachav because she was nice to us.

2. Acan steals from Yericho and then Am Israel loses their next battle. What do you see from how Yehoshua deals with the situation and the language that he uses in urging Acan to confess (Perek 7: 19-25).

3. Perek 8: 30-35 (esp. 35): What do we see from Yehoshua’s actions here? What is important to him? He builds a mizbeach, and writes down the Torah for everyone, makes sure everyone hears it. For Yehoshua it’s not just about fighting battles, it’s about reminding the nation under his command that they have a covenant with G-d and a religious mission to fulfill.

4. Yehoshua’s last will and testament: He gives a speech right before he dies (like Moshe in Devarim). Skim Perek 23 and 24. Note how he tells Am Israel that they have to finish conquering the rest of the land and kicking out the rest of the 7 nations, and to make sure that they keep G-d’s commands and the Torah and are not influenced by the nations that they left among them.

Leadership Training:

Ask the chanichim: Is it important that there be a leader who is both a politically strong leader (army/powerful….etc) and also ruchani (spreads religious teachings)? Or is one more important then the other? Meaning either to have a secular king or president or just have a chief rabbi. Could either of those run the country effectively by themselves? What if you had both but they were separate people running the country together? Do you think the fact the Yehoshua was both gave him any advantages as a leader? Why or Why not?

Note: We will see in Shoftim how all the Shoftim fail, largely because even though they save the people physically, they are not able to inspire them religiously. It’s important to have both aspects; the religious aspect and the secular aspect.

Conclusion: We see from Sefer Yehoshua that Bnei Israel as a nation now must fight in a natural way to conquer the land, but that Hashem will help them and even provide them with miracles if they take initiative. We also saw that Yehoshua was not just a brilliant military leader, but he also had a strong ruchani side and was also encouraging Am Israel to follow in Hashem’s ways and to keep the Torah.s

Machal Shiur #2: