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(Are you looking for our Twebrew School Treats about the Hebrew alphabet or our Hebrew Instructional videos? Click here for a directory!) Click here to hear Ye'ho'shoo'ah pronounced Joshua is the anglicized form of the Hebrew name Ye’ho’shua. The only real biographical information given about Joshua in the Torah is that he was from the tribe of Ephraim and was originally named Hoshea. According to the Midrash, a yud was added to the beginning of his name by Moses before he went to scout out the land of Israel in order to give him Divine protection from the nefarious plans of the 10 rebellious spies (Numbers 13:16). One can deduce from the text, that Joshua was around 42 years old when the Israelites left Egypt. (The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years, then Joshua them for 28 years. He was 110 when he died.) Joshua was a proven military leader who had led the Israelites in their successful defense when they were attacked by Amalek (Exodus 17:8-14), and could ...

This tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is distinctive for its petite size. The yud dangles in the air, half the size of the other letters. Perhaps the letter looks like this to remind us to look up toward the Heavens in order to understand what is important in life. Yud , along with the letters hey and vav , is one of the letters that form the name of God. Indeed, yud in a name may indicate a special relationship with the divine (as in Yehoshua / Joshua). Like many of the letters previously discussed, the numeric value of yud is significant. Yud represents ten. Ten is the first of the two digit numbers and represents a completeness in the process of counting. The wholeness of the number ten, and thus the letter yud , is exemplified by the Ten Commandments, the Ten Sephirot , and numerous other groupings of ten in Jewish tradition. Since ten represents the next interval in counting, it can also be seen as symbolic of the future. From that vantage point it is not surprising that ...

Click here to hear Ye'ho'shoo'ah pronounced Joshua is the anglicized form of the Hebrew name Ye’ho’shua. The only real biographical information given about Joshua in the Torah is that he was from the tribe of Ephraim and was originally named Hoshea. According to the Midrash, a yud was added to the beginning of his name by Moses before he went to scout out the land of Israel in order to give him Divine protection from the nefarious plans of the 10 rebellious spies (Numbers 13:16). One can deduce from the text, that Joshua was around 42 years old when the Israelites left Egypt. (The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years, then Joshua them for 28 years. He was 110 when he died.) Joshua was a proven military leader who had led the Israelites in their successful defense when they were attacked by Amalek (Exodus 17:8-14), and could thus be relied upon to successfully lead the conquest of Canaan. He was also Moses’ most devoted disciple. He learned the entire Torah from...