#732: Joshua's Name Change

A Hasidic story relevant to Parashat Shelah, Bamidbar/Numbers 13:16

The Conquest of Jericho, by Jean Fouquet (1420-1481)

Bamidbar/Numbers 13:16

אֵ֚לֶּה שְׁמ֣וֹת הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַ֥ח מֹשֶׁ֖ה לָת֣וּר אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיִּקְרָ֥א מֹשֶׁ֛ה לְהוֹשֵׁ֥עַ בִּן־נ֖וּן יְהוֹשֻֽׁעַ׃

Those were the names of the participants whom Moses sent to scout the land; but Moses changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Joshua.

Gimme Some Torah #732

People who attend synagogue regularly are entitled to choose a particular seat. That seat becomes their מקום קבוע (makom kavu’a), their established place. We become fondly attached to our places, as it constitutes part of our prayer experience. Praying at another spot in the sanctuary simply won’t do! (We do change our seats when we are in mourning to emphasize that we are suffering.)

This story about seats in a synagogue is relevant to Joshua’s name change, which takes place in this week’s Torah portion:

During the tenure of Rabbi Yaakov Shimshon Shapira in Shapitovka, the gabbaim (sextons) expanded the Great Synagogue, in order to add places for the many worshippers on Shabbat and holidays. However, as a result of the expansion work, the places of some of those sitting on the Eastern Wall were slightly displaced to the sides.

The anger of these congregants did not subside until they sued the gabbaim in the Rabbi’s court and aggressively demanded that they return their places in the synagogue exactly as they were before the expansion. In contrast, the gabbaim claimed that no one had taken the men’s places, that they were the same places they always had.

After Rabbi Yaakov Shimshon heard the arguments of the parties in the dispute before him, he ruled in favor of the synagogue officials, and added the following reasoning to his ruling:

Regarding the scripture, “Moses was called Joshua the son of Nun” (13:16), our sages said that the letter yud (י) added to הושע (Hosea) was taken from the name of our mother Sarah, who was previously called שרי (Sarai, Genesis 17:15). And now, her yud (י) was added to Hosea to make the new name יהושע (Joshua).

Then the letter hay (ה) in the name יהושע (Joshua) came before the Creator and said, “Lord of the Universe! What have you done to me? Before that, I was the first letter in the name הושע (Hosea); and now I have been pushed out of my place and am the second letter of the name יהושע (Joshua).

But, the Rabbi added in a raised voice, we have never heard such a claim in our sources! From this we learn that in determining the name יהושע (Joshua) there was no replacement of a letter, but rather the addition of a letter.

And so it is in the case before us: The fact of the matter is that you all still have your previously established seats in the synagogue, very close to the Eastern Wall, except that the seats were slightly moved to the sides out of necessity. I therefore advise you not to be petty about making room for additional Jews in this holy place. As we learn in Proverbs (14:28) “a glory of the King is in the multitudes of people.”

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I am the rabbi of Temple Beth El in Somerset, New Jersey, and the author of The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary.