The Perfect Closing? | Rabbi Neil Winkler | May 14 2026

The 23rd chapter of Yehoshua is almost a perfect perfect ending, closing. As I have on page 22 in the source sheet, I call it a perfect ending because, as we'll see, it echoes, it reflects the beginning. The great A good um one who gives a good story, one who gives a good drasha. Of course, I wouldn't know about that. But, does that when he finishes having tied into something that he began with. All right. One of my ways I would give my drasha in my shul, I'll often start with a story, which is great cuz that way you keep them awake at least for the first 5 minutes. All right. It's a nice story, right? Anything. And um and then I go and I think it begins like what are you talking about? It's nothing to do with the parsha or anything. Then I go and say something. Then by the end, I tie together. By the end, I say, "Ah, now you know this and that." They like it when they say and I like doing it that way. It's a good way of doing it and it's a good way of ending a of a safer Yehoshua. And that's how it is. Safer Yehoshua begins in the 23rd chapter begins with the words, very simple, not the beginning of it. It says that that Yehoshua um Yehoshua Yeah. became old the babayamim. That it's not here. That what Avram also. You know who else it said was uh zakein babayamim? So, I could look at um uh ba ba ba ba boom Perek Aleph of Melachim Aleph bidavid hamel baba yamim David, Yehoshua, and Avraham called him Was David really 70 years? Well, you know, the whole thing is baba yamim doesn't mean he was old. It means he felt old, you know. >> [laughter] >> Baba yamim just like that. Exactly that. Baba yamim. The man was you know All his days were good. I mean he he He He And yeah, we have wonderful things that are fulfilled. Everything was very nice. Fact of the matter is he was a a military man who for the first 50 to 60 years he was fighting wars, you know. Little tired. Then when you have the kind of kids that he had, that's a lot to put on a lot of a lot of years to his life. Uh you know, I I talk about I David Hamelech nebach nebach You know, it's a We say it in in in Yiddish. You know, nachas from kinder. So, he had his oldest son um Amnon who was who was assassinated. He was killed. He was the after all the next in line for the throne. And he was a rapist also, but no, he was killed. Oh, he was killed by his brother, the other another son of David. Um because of that rape, um we don't know about the in between one man name that's mentioned, Kilab. We don't know what happened to him. He's never mentioned again. And Absalom, not only killed his uh brother, he assassinated his brother. He also tried to kill his um father to take over the throne. He started rebelling against him. Caused uh David to run away. I'm telling you a lot of a lot of nachas. And he finally gets back to the and the beginning of the Malachim. Um and his the next surviving child in effect is first surviving child to the um the wives of David. He had many 70 kids, you know, but this was the ones who who were who eldest of that wife. That makes him also next in line. And Adonijah, who also tried to rebel against him. It's okay. David said, "It's okay. I'll If you do this, you'll be good." took over and said to his brother, "No, we You're not going to put to death. Just make sure you don't try to rebel." He said, "Okay." But he does and he's put to death. Anyway, that's the Oh, what a lovely story. So, difficulty difficulty. Here we have the story of Yehoshua. You don't have something like that. You know the name of Yehoshua's son? Of course you don't. Nobody does. Not there. Did he have a son? You look in the Divrei Hayamim Aleph and you I don't believe there is this son is any son is mentioned. Um at any rate it begins with he's old. Doesn't say he's old That's when he first says that he is old. He's the elder of the Yehoshua. And he brings the people together. The leadership at least together, knowing that this is the final days or final months or whatever to his life. When I talk about the perfect ending, I do so because of this 23rd chapter. He wants 22 ends. This stops at 21. Not my fault. Your name is on it. I know, but you but you just gave it back. I gave you back what you gave me. Do you have the next batch? Yes, I do. Did you give it out? I did. Last time. That last time. >> Well, if I got it, I gave it back to you. You You did, but remember the time before that I told you not to give it back to me. It's only 21. For you, Rosanne, of course I have. So, that about So, that's it. Happy birthday. >> [clears throat] >> And now, and he gathers the leadership of Israel and takes them together, as I said, final words, it would seem, okay? And the basic story or the basic message he gives to them is that it's very simple. Do what God wants you to do, everything will be terrific. You don't listen to God, everybody out of the pool. That's it. And that's the That's the message the Torah has, especially in the Devarim, over and over and over again, you must remain faithful [snorts] to God. It's a very important message because once they left the midbar and once Moshe wasn't there and he finished having his daily conversations with God, you know, who do they [snorts] go to now? They have to remember what happened and therefore what they must do. Yeshua, being that first generation after yeah, the the death of Moshiach Avinu is the one to carry on the this message and he does. And that's why as I've mentioned before, there was never throughout the um book of Yeshua a complaint against Yeshua or against God. on heaven. Given the fact that that began that generation was a generation that was in the 40th year in the desert, too. And they complained about the man they said the taste I'm tired of the man and they had they they wanted water they complained very nicely lonely at the end of Balak and these several several battle with the um the Moabite and Ammonite and Midianite. Anyway, this once they had a new leader had a wonderful time. But he has now bring on pass on the story, the message of what God gave to Mosha and Mosha gave to him and he's giving to the next generation. You got to be careful. And if we go through the the specifics, I'm trying to see if I bought if I did include the um specifics in perek chaf gimmel, very interestingly, um Okay, no, I didn't. Uh the the words you'd think we're talking about what about the uh uh the Shema. Uh where it says there that uh that uh you shall not give if if you if you worship Avodah Zarah well, you know, God's going to close close the clo- the uh skies for you. There'll be drought and God will take away of it's exactly the words of Hayam Shama in perek Yud Aleph in the Torah in Devarim. This is almost exact same thing. Uh it's and uh the two perakim therefore are really perfect ending. The perfect ending because in effect what Yehoshua is doing is taking with him the one of the last words or last of months of Moshe's uh life about Hayam Shama and using it now for the next generation. But also because that this is in our first uh source, there it says that in the beginning of the book I'm sorry, yeah, Sefer Yehoshua, there it has in the seventh pasuk it says krieg rak khazak v'amatz. Remember I went over this when we started it's about how often these words are being told to Yehoshua at the very beginning. You have to be very strong, right? Lishmor la'asot kol haTorah, you have to be very strong and resolute to observe faithfully the teaching the Torah of Moshe enjoined upon you. Now, there's a word I'm sure you use every day, enjoined. Anyway, yes, upon you. Do not deviate from it to the right or left so that you may be successful wherever you go. That's what it says in the first chapter vo- verse seven. Look what it says here in the 23rd chapter in verse 6. Be most resolute resolute to observe faithfully all that's written in the teaching of Mosha without even ever deviating from it to the right or to the right left. It says exactly the same thing. So that's what I'm saying it's a perfect period finish. You you open up with something and you close it with something. It's book ends of a book. So it is to a certain degree a perfect perfect ending. And that's what it would be great. It says and you know It says after that he dies. It says Braysheet by Chayei Sarah. So there it says I think it's so it says I came by by a man and he dies in that paragraph. You know you look forward to that death cuz you know it says by by a man. And here though what do we find and he's still alive. Better than that there's another paragraph. It doesn't end in it doesn't end in what happened? And that's what's very important. It's it's >> [snorts] >> almost shocking because what else you should have to say these are final words. He was he was obviously warning the people telling them what they should do. What's more um He was he repeats he repeats the brief. They had a brief with these people not only with Mosha but do you remember how we gone through that Yehoshua also brought the people to one place and did a a brief with them that we call on how we do it and how we vow. Remember the two things and the curses and the blessings, right? And he And he has it here in Gimel. Uh And he took takes them all the way. I didn't tell you this, but I'm telling you this I'd like to give all the exciting stuff afterwards. Where was he gathering all of the leadership of Israel now? Shechem. Now, why is that importance? Very simple. Joshua is old. He's quite old now. Says that. But it also says that he can't gathers all of the leaders. Do you understand now if this is coming at the very end of his life? All of the tribes are now settled in their areas. So, then after the wars, after the division of the land to from tribe to tribe. Even as I mentioned this early, it is mentioned earlier in Joshua that there were one or two tribes who, you know, were Jewish. I didn't I tell you that? Because they complained. And they said, "We don't like where you gave me this land. It wasn't very nice and everything." And Joshua said, "You don't like it, go." And can't conquer something else. That's okay. It's much like in the two and a half tribes did also earlier in Joshua in Moses' time. But so they had their own places of their own tribal portions. They even have gone into other places that they prepared they, let's say, preferred. I told you that Dan and Zebulun and Naphtali we see that the the story of Shimshon uh from the from the um tribe of Dan. It's in the area of Beit Shemesh, you know, over there. But when you think about now when you say about me Dan by Beersheba, Dan is the most northern part. Then how could it be? They had two exceptions. The one that were given was the one the portion outside of Judah, but over there on the uh right near Beit uh as I said, Beit Shemesh, they weren't happy with the area. Uh I don't know, they probably had too many column, you know. So they went and they founded all the way up Laish and they took over that area also. Not only, also. So they had two two parts. So they they they're doing very nicely. What I'm getting to is this. Older Joshua, who's a came old, is gathering all of the leaders from every single place. Can you imagine how many flyers had to go out to let people know, "Hey, you know, next month we're coming to I got to come to the Shechem." And it's a schlepp and a half. If you're If you're living in the area, that's terrific. You If you live down in Beersheba, you schlepp all the way up there, it's not very good, not very easy. So it's very strange. So excuse me, how how many years separate the the very first chapter and the very last chapter? Well, that's a good question. We know at least 14 years cuz that's the uh it was. And since the we know that Joshua died when he was 110 years old. You know who else died at 110? I'm not talking about somebody who's around here. >> [laughter] >> You have me I I Yosef dies at 110. Joseph He had the special coat you know but yeah. He also died when he was 110. Um what? 14 years he he was So well that you know 14 years. Question is if he was 110 when he died how old was he when he takes over? Hm? So 86 90 96 You don't know if cuz you don't know how old was he when he when he was a a a a spy. You know when he was. So you don't know how how old he was when when Joshua when Moshe died. So you don't know how old he was when he started being a so it's hard to know. If we assume which is an assumption I'm not saying it's correct that he's about the same age as Caleb. Caleb said he was 40 years old when he was a spy and he was 85 years old when he spoke to Joshua when he had So if we say that Joshua was about 40 years old and this is now he's now 110. So we could say that he probably began when he was 80 and now so about 30 years we can imagine is about how long he was leading the people. So that was my you know my guess and my guess estimate. Okay? Um So again why would Joshua go through this I would call it a a logistical a logistical nightmare to actually move all of the people or at least all of the leaders schlepping them out from wherever they are to bring them to Shechem to merely tell them what he had told them before? It's it's a it's problematic difficult to understand. And um if you understand that we're not talking about like in the midbar where you had the 12 leaders. Not true. You had uh you know, you had the probably hundreds of thousands of leaders of all the different tribes. How are you going to get them there? So, different we have different before she okay. I just want to yeah, um This is again this is it did I say 26? Yeah, this is in paragraph kuf dalet. That's right. This is what the this is the extra thing that I wonder why why in the world there's a paragraph dalet that it's to the end in paragraph gimel. So, and that's him saying why would he do again paragraph dalet? He's repeating what you know, what they did it in paragraph gimel. Why and everything like that. Uh you see in that in the source over here uh that Joshua assembled all the tribes at Shechem, right? He summoned Israel's elders and commanders, magistrates, officers. They presented themselves before God. And then it goes on and it's and when when Joshua speaks to them and says, "Therefore, revere Hashem and serve him with undivided loyalty. Remove the gods that your ancestors served." You know, it could be by the way the gods that they may have picked up in the battles that they made with the um different uh foreign the people living in the Canaan and Canaan, right? Um and serve God. But he says, and I'm going to go into this. That's what I'm going to say. Listen to what he says. Scary. >> [snorts] >> "If you are those to serve God, so choose which ones you are going to serve. The gods of your ancestors, uh the ones that their God ancestors served, or those of the or those of the Amorite and those whose judge land you are settled. But I and my household, we will serve Hashem. It's a tremendous, you know, No, he's ask he's giving them a choice. Yeah, it's it's a multiple choice. Which god you want to be? Okay. But it's your choice to do this. It's You know how crucial that is? Anybody remember what Khazars say that when Bene Israel said Na'aseh v'Nishma that they say they weren't so they didn't choose it so much. Why not? What did they say? Kafah aleihem Har K'gigit. God uprooted the the the Sinai, put it over their heads, and said very clearly, "If you say Na'aseh v'Nishma, fine. If not, this is where you're going to be uh buried, you know." That isn't Sorry. That That is not a a choice. Let's face it. That's almost like spreading a religion like Islam, where the choice is you could be Islam or you could be dead. By the way, Christians did a lot of that, too. But anyway, um But that So, but here, it's an unbelievable thing. You know, Yeshua says, "You don't have to You don't have to serve God. I'm going to. You want to serve anybody else? Go ahead. And see how that's going to work out for you." But that in effect, what he was saying is it's your choice." So, therefore And anyway, why would this happen? Why is there a a Parshat Ki Tavo and Yehoshua when we had in Kaf Gimel everything that had to be done? So, the Radak says, "Yeah, it was it is a repetition. They heard it before and they were just left to get there, but it was so important, so they did it again." That's the Radak. Okay? The Abarbanel said very simple. He said, "When you look into Parshat Kaf Gimel and everything that Yehoshua said that you have to worship God and everything, they never said anything. They never said, 'Okay.'" So, he said, "They had to do it again so that they would then say, 'Okay.'" They had to agree and they hadn't agreed yet. I'm going to set a a share with you which I think is a very powerful and a I think a very full I say full you feel that that this makes sense. Uh it was given by Rabbi Rabbi Chaim Angel. Chaim Angel is a head of Tanakh in Yeshiva University. The other thing he's written a number of um um books. Um he's a brilliant fellow. And um he contends or let's say suggests that Parshat Kaf Dalet didn't happen after Parshat Kaf Gimel. That Parshat Dalet actually took place uh pic- took place actually earlier. It's in chapter 8, Parshat Chet. What's in Parshat chapter 8? Everybody came to Har Gerizim and Har Eval. Where are Har Gerizim and Har Eval? Anyone know geographically where they are like today, for example. Answer. It's, by the way, I didn't want to tell you, but it's it's written in the Torah, too, Parshat Re'eh. Shechem. It's in Shechem. That's where it is. So, in the eighth chapter, Rabbi >> [clears throat] >> Angel is saying, is where they were in Shechem and the two mountains of And they that's where they all gathered. And they heard the And they heard the Brits. The exact thing is the thing that he they talks about in in Kaf Dalet in the chapter 24, the last chapter, is actually what took place back when they were in Shechem in chapter eight. Now it makes more sense. They had not yet settled the land everywhere. Tribes weren't all over the place. They were still in the middle of or towards the end of the battles and the um conquest of the land. So, they were still in a camp and they were able to come together to Shechem with everybody. Joshua was a couple of decades younger, easier for him to slip up there, too. Um and this makes so much sense, right? Um and uh The proof he brings, by the way, is what I told you just now about the fact that he he brings them together and he tells them, "Choose whoever you want to. Choose whichever God you want." And it's a staggering thing because it is precisely a contrast to Muhammad Hussein. Remember I told you when this whole story about the two mountains and the book of is is basically it was the experience of higher Sinai that was done for the new generation. You're standing by the by mountain or two mountains. You are hearing the God's words but not from God. Because it's being told by the Kohanim and everything. Yeah, it's it's very much basically the same thing. They want to give him the experience of the higher Sinai to a generation who didn't hear it. And they want to impact the the laws and how you have to do to remember you have to do this and this and this and this and all the laws that have to be to all the the basic laws that he wants them to observe. Just like I know finish them out and the same that there are 10 Commandments there at higher Sinai. Here there were what a 14 15 blessings. So it was the almost the same thing. So um there at that moment when they're about to now go to their places and settle in their different places and no longer going to be together. Makes total sense that Joshua is going to tell them this and give them this message. And um that's what this is happening in half dollar. That's what's happening in half dollar. Um In fact, we have Rashi says this also. This statement or this agreement this bridge, this covenant, which is going on in Shechem, was even more important in a certain ways than the one at Har Sinai. Because as I've been telling you the whole time, and I was right, when Moshe is there and God's giving them the manna and giving them the water, and every time there's a problem, he the lightning bolts come down and fix things. That's the desert. What's happening when they enter Eretz Yisrael? Now, it is what you have to do. You have to now, you know, work the land. You have to get the produce out of the land. You have to do this. God won't speak to you from the mountains, but your Kohanim will speak God's word to the common. You are going to do it. God's not going to do it for you. You won't know it, but he's helping you. But, you must give the effort. So, that's why my master said, "This is much more important." Because here, it wasn't God saying, but rather they're they're quoting [clears throat] what God had said to Moshe and now it's saying to them. And and they say and they say, "We accept it." Now, it's you who are doing it. You are doing it not because God is talking to you, but because you know that God had spoken and given these laws. Um that free choice, as it were, was was given. And in fact, at the end of what we see, um you'll see that um Did I say it? I think at the end of what I quoted you before, um, the people responded in 22, the last paragraph, the people um declared, "Far be it from us to forsake the Hashem and serve other gods." It should be Hashem, but I forgot got it off. For it was our God who brought us out brought us and our our ancestors up from the land of Egypt and who brought those one wondrous signs before our very eyes and guarded us along way that we traveled and among all the peoples through whom we midst we passed. The uh that Yeshua uh leading the people had a lot of confidence in them. And and saying that, "Oh, you have the choice." Since he wanted them he wanted to hear from them. Mhm. The fact that Sorry. We're we're only going to uh choose the right way to go. >> That's very nice. Like the way if that he would say that, "You can do what you want. I'll be doing this." Almost it's very nice that he's almost saying, "Now, let's see what you're going to do." And they all say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to do that." But but but now as opposed to not having the smell when they heard God and they were shivering as you would say, "Oh my God, God just spoke and there's volcanoes and that's a pretty impressive thing." Yeah, and of course they're going to say that. Here, they don't have that. There was nothing coming out of there. There was no God here involved. And they still said, "We're going to do it." That's why it was a very powerful thing what they just did and very very very important. And then um So, this covenant takes place in Shechem. Interesting love, okay? Uh and um probably also that's where the the the this this the breath you know uh at I eval hard reason So in effect what we're saying is that they never came back to Shechem a second time. They went once but that one time as it says in ch- about the the curses and the blessings They were just and then they got the official brief also and we told in the last uh the perek when they were come came to Shechem I'm sorry gamel And uh if they were going to therefore look over what took place the whole book of Shechem of um Joshua um I [sighs] um the um the brief included as it's written there that only a bracha and a klala the curses and the blessings Also it says there that what was written down on stone just as God said to do just as the Torah was written down on stone at Har Sinai right um but they were only in Shechem that one time the sequence they is as follows Joshua the the I'm not going to go through every detail that's what we did over the last couple of months but I will tell you you know big a doll we would say generally what was happening the sequence of the events that was so important. Okay the people of Israel crossed the Ardan. You know remember it I'll tell you it was on the 10th of Nissan. I wasn't there but it says so. Um and uh when they came when they do that they have to camp on the uh western part of the uh Jordan. It wasn't I hate to call it the West Bank. But it was that's where they had Gilgal. That's where they had the Gilgal taken up there, right? That was there. And they but they remained there throughout both the conquest and the bulk I suppose of till they they actually well, the conquest means uh also when each tribe gets their por- portion also. Um they leave Gilgal as they go to their separate areas to live. Um and uh at that point before right before they do that, that's when Yeshua brings them to Shechem. To that la- and to that last wa- uh wa- warning. That's That's the the bracha and the klala. And then years later at the end of his life, Yeshua um reminds them of the of what happened there. And um And that's why they the perek chof gimmel is why it says in chof gimmel, not in chof dalet. In the 23rd chapter, it says, "And Joshua was very, very old babayamim." If the 24th chapter where the last thing was actually in chronological uh order, it would have said there that he was very old and these are his little final words. But that's not what happened. That was when says in chof gimmel that he was very old and when he tells them, that was actually the final words that he said. Do you know where Yeshua was buried? Uh ground. Oh, yeah. Uh it's uh in uh the very end of Yeshua, it says it's in his se- part in in It took Yeah, it's Sarah or Sarah would have two words right by Ephraim. Right by right by he was after all Ephraim. He was the head of Ephraim in the and therefore that's why I made a point that he was died at 110 like Joseph did cuz Joseph was the father of Ephraim. Yeah. Good genes in the family obviously. They did well, you know. Um um yeah, I it was It's Kever Rachel. Oh, yeah. Oh. Well, well, you'll have to ask the PA if it's okay. To Palestinian Authority? I believe it is there now. Yeah. Well, you know, it's near Shechem. You know, the near Shechem is also the the burial of Joseph is right there. That one that's one of the things that we should know that is as opposed to Kever Rachel as nobody really knows if that's the it was actually Rachel Rosenbloom or wasn't you know, but Kever Rachel, you have a good time go up to to Beria. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, it's Beria. You can go there you want to see the Rambam's right right. Go down there's a big sign there Kever Rachel. Wait a minute. Kever Rachel is Bayit Lechem, yeah. Yeah, it was Rachel the wife of Akiva Akiva who was up there and we don't know who's really there anyway either. But there are very few things that we know for sure. You know, that's why you don't need people who are the >> [sighs] >> capitalists who what I was I was it was the great uh Macubal, the very first Rabbi first, what should I say? Who lived in Safed. The Ariza. The Ariza lived in Safed, and he pointed out and found these they said, "This is where so-and-so died. This is where so-and-so died." They had no proof otherwise, but he's a Macubal. And therefore, people who are uh fulfilling the mitzvah of uh of uh I should say fulfilling, I should say, the prohibition of um of praying to the dead, all come down, whether in Meron or wherever, and they pray there because the God said, "Don't pray uh to dead people." But, at any rate, sometimes Halakha gets in the way of what we want to do. Uh the uh I'm sorry, I'm happy cause And Halakha is you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to. You're not allowed to. I'm going to say, "You're not allowed to do that." I don't understand why have people who are the finest, wonderful, from from Jews who live in Jerusalem in the holiest city in the holiest land, and on the holiest days, pick themselves up and they go to Uman to give money to the grandson of the people who killed their their grandparents in the Holocaust. Cuz they want to bury and they want to bury pray at at a grave. They should have done that. Do that. They should have taken his kavor and moved his bones here. Ah, see, you're smart. But, they're smarter than you. Don't you know? He said that you're not supposed to leave him. He has to remain there. They should have done that. That's why they don't do it. And anyway, you're not allowed to die into the dead people. I don't That's my point. I would make a big deal about it except for the fact that it was Reb Nachman. That's my name, so I don't want to say anything. Are you kidding me? I started giving classes when I was giving classes um before I finished the my punishment. I was giving classes here in I was in the front and I was also in one of these right next to the little things. It was a very big you know Reb Nachman place. I really knew that. They asked me to place them first or second second grade. I came in and I said, "Call him Reb Nachman." Big mistake. End of the class, they started dancing around and dancing around and I'm saying, "Oh yeah, I should have told them my name was Irving, you know." I had to You have a lot of experiences you didn't get in the States. [laughter] I'll tell you that. Not much. So um but anyway, um that So this is the order of how things happen and the I'll end up with something that Rashi says. Rashi says something in this in this thing in the perek kaf bet actually. And um He quotes a perek from from the the Yechezkel. And um Yechezkel lived in Bavel at this point. He never he never He was the navi who was outside of Israel. And he lives in a There was a place called Tel Aviv, by the way. And he um So he's prophesying there. But at the time that he was there while the temple was destroyed. And he And it was then. So, uh he has to talk to this generation who how whether they they weren't there, but they found out that their temple was not the most of the ministry destroyed. It's an unbelievable yet understand the thought that you spent hundreds of years saying, "This is God's thing and God is the most powerful and this is his temple and it'll never be destroyed cuz he's stronger than all the other gods." So, if his temple is destroyed, it means that the other gods are stronger. The Babylonian god, that's exactly what they were thinking. I can't blame them except they forgot everything that they have here. But, that that was the point. The point was if this temple, God's temple, was destroyed, that means he was. And therefore, the the the gods of Babylon of Babylonia, who after all, they did defeat and they did destroy the gods. That's more so have to we have to obviously now go and worship them. You know, Ezekiel knew what they were thinking about. And Ezekiel says something frighteningly correct. And he says the following. He says in the in the top of page 23, he says, uh "Now say to Israel." He says, "This is what God said to Ezekiel. Thus says the sovereign God, if you defile yourselves as your ancestors did and you go astray after their detestable things and if to this very day you defile yourselves in the presentation of your gifts by making your children pass through fire and all your fetishes, I shall respond to your inquiry, oh House of Israel. As I live, says Hashem, I will not dis- respond to you. And what you have in mind shall never come to pass. When you say, "We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, we're worshipping wood and stone." As I live, said God. Listen to this, he blessed the God. I will reign over you with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, with an overflowing fury. With a strong hand, and outstretched arm, and over- Oh, I said yeah. I will bring you out from the peoples, and gather you from the lands where you are scattered. You think you're going to have a Geulah because you'll be so good? I can't You can't stay there anymore. I've had it. You're going to have hell and times You're going to have the worst the worst things you could ever have imagined were going to happen to you. That's how I'm going to be over to make sure that you know I'm your God. No other gods are. And then I'm going to I'll take you back. If I have to, I'll take you back against your will. You have to live in Russia, and then suddenly have to run to get to Israel because you know what they're doing in the Soviet Union when you were there. And now, what do you think is happening now? It's a wonderful Everyone's coming into to Israel now because there's so much anti-Semitism. Why does it aid that they have to come to Israel because there's anti-Semitism? Why not come because we love Israel? This was my dream when I came. I didn't you know, and most of us didn't come because we were afraid of there. But now that's happening now. Why? Because God said so in Ezekiel. God said that's going to happen. He doesn't kid around. He knows what he's talking about. And therefore, I got to say Having heard that um and Rashi says "Idim Atem, you say your witnesses against yourselves. Yeshua foresaw that in the future they would undermine the covenant in the days of Yehezkel and say we want to be like other nations. And therefore, he was so hard on them now." And therefore, he said to them in the days of Yehezkel "I thought you entertained the thoughts you entertained will never come to pass." And he says "I will overwhelm you with this grand ham so and so forth. And why? You have already accepted upon yourselves the covenant in the days of Yehoshua, not in Har Sinai. And Yeshua, you did that by yourselves, not because you were threatened to, right? And therefore, you cannot say "We only accepted upon ourselves in the days of Moshe because we wanted God's help, you know." But no, since in the days of Yeshua you had already entered the land and you accepted the covenant. Wow. Pretty unbelievable. And then, I know I went above, I'm sorry, and I I really do apologize. I didn't think it would take me this long. Um that um Okay, I'll just finish with this one thing. One of the last the words of the book of of Yeshua is basically the most important message, perhaps. It says "Vaiyavod Yisrael, Israel served God during the throughout the the lifetime of Yeshua and the lifetime of the elders who lived on after him. Those who had experienced all the deeds of Hashem had wrought for Israel." That's what I was telling you. Everything was great in Yeshua. In the whole time of Yeshua, I'm sorry here. It was terrific. And that is if you recall when I began and I told you that although I don't know if you remember it. The fact that God said I'm sorry that I said that in the time of the life of Yeshua, it was great. I told in the beginning it was great. And that's why I told you and I'll say also there should have been not not all of these connections have been so long. It should be six It should be six books. Five books of Mosha and Yeshua. Cuz at that point everything was great. And next thing would happen, they settle here the right time to build the better make dash. Everything's gone. Finish this. Instead we have what we'll find out in a few weeks. Say for show team.