929 (Tanakh) · Sephardi & Mizrahi Heritage · Standard
Joshua 24
Hook
The sun sinks low between the twin shoulders of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, casting long, amber shadows across the ancient valley of Shechem. Under the spreading boughs of a massive oak tree, an old man, his voice weathered by decades of desert sand and the din of battle, stands before a vast, silent assembly. This is Joshua, the son of Nun, delivering his final testament to a nation poised on the brink of its future. In his hand, he holds no sword, but a stylus; behind him stands a massive, upright stone—a silent, stony sentinel destined to hear and record the vows of an entire people.
For the Sephardi and Mizrahi soul, this scene is not a dry page of ancient history, but a living, breathing landscape. It is an echo of the Ziyara—the sacred pilgrimages to the tombs of the righteous that have defined the spiritual geography of Middle Eastern Jewry for millennia. To read this text through the eyes of the sages of Spain, North Africa, and the Levant is to step into a world where geography is liturgy, where the past is a tangible neighbor, and where the covenant is not merely a legal contract, but a passionate, musical love song sung in the key of our ancestors.
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Context
To understand the profound resonance of Joshua’s final gathering at Shechem, we must orient ourselves within the specific coordinates of history, geography, and the unique interpretive genius of the Sephardic and Mizrahi heritage.
Place: Shechem (Nablus)
Shechem is the geographical and spiritual spine of the Land of Israel. Situated in the fertile, narrow pass between Mount Gerizim (the mount of blessing) and Mount Ebal (the mount of curse), it is a place of deep, ancestral memory. It was here that Abraham first entered the land and built an altar Genesis 12:6-7; it was here that Jacob purchased a parcel of land from the sons of Hamor Genesis 33:19; and it is here that the bones of Joseph, carried lovingly through forty years of wilderness wandering, will finally find rest in the soil of his inheritance Joshua 24:32. For the Jews of the Levant—from the ancient communities of Damascus and Aleppo to the old families of Jerusalem—Shechem was not a distant, abstract name on a map, but a physical reality, a place of pilgrimage, and a site of continuous divine encounter.
Era: The Twilight of the Conquest (circa 12th Century BCE)
We find ourselves at the close of an era. The generation of the wilderness has passed, and the conquest of the land under Joshua’s military leadership is largely complete. Yet, Joshua knows that a physical conquest is meaningless without an internal, spiritual conquest of the heart. At one hundred and ten years old, standing at the threshold of his own death, he gathers the tribes not to organize a government or distribute land, but to demand a radical, conscious choice. This is the transition from a generation led by miracles to a generation that must choose faith in the quiet normalcy of agricultural life.
Community: The Guardians of the Levantine Landscape
The commentary and liturgical traditions we explore here are preserved by the Sephardi and Mizrahi communities who maintained an unbroken physical and spiritual connection to the lands of the Bible. These are the descendants of the Jews of Spain (Sepharad) who, after the expulsion of 1492, integrated into the existing Musta'arabi (indigenous Arabic-speaking) Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire. For these communities, the narrative of Joshua was read not through the lens of European alienation, but within the very climate, topography, and linguistic cadences in which it was born. Sages like Rabbi David Kimhi (Radak) of Provence, Rabbi Levi ben Gershon (Ralbag) of Spain, and Rabbi Moshe Alshich of Safed brought a brilliant blend of literal analysis (peshat), philosophical depth, and mystical devotion to this text, seeing it as a blueprint for communal survival in exile and return.
Text Snapshot
Let us look closely at the opening movement of this historic confrontation, as recorded in Joshua 24:1-5:
"Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned Israel’s elders and commanders, magistrates and officers; and they presented themselves before God. Then Joshua said to all the people, 'Thus said the Eternal, the God of Israel: In olden times, your ancestors—Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods. But I took your ancestor Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring...'"
The Rabbinic Exegesis: Gathering the Representatives
In analyzing the very first verse, the classical Sephardic commentators are quick to notice a double phrasing: Joshua gathers "all the tribes of Israel," yet immediately summons the "elders, commanders, magistrates, and officers."
The French-Spanish commentator Rabbi David Kimhi Radak on Joshua 24:1:1 addresses this dual gathering. He explains that Joshua had actually gathered the people once before, as recorded in the previous chapter. Why gather them again so quickly? Radak writes:
ויאסוף יהושע. פעם אחרת כי הנה כתב למעלה ויקרא יהושע לכל ישראל אלא אסף אותם פעם אחרת והוכיחם פעם ושתים כדי שיהיו נזהרים לשמור התורה "And Joshua gathered—a second time. For behold, it was written above 'And Joshua called to all Israel,' but he gathered them another time and rebuked them once and twice so that they would be double-guarded to watch and keep the Torah."
For Radak, covenant-making is not a single, historical event; it is an iterative process. It requires repetition, a constant returning to the source, a "once and twice" rebuking and inspiring to ensure that the message penetrates the deep recesses of the communal consciousness.
But how did this massive assembly actually function? The classical collection Metzudat David (compiled by the Altschuler family, drawing heavily on Sephardic linguistic and literal methodologies) on Metzudat David on Joshua 24:1:1 clarifies:
לזקני ישראל וכו׳. שיעמדו הם במקום כולם "To the elders of Israel, etc.—that they should stand in the place of all of them."
The leaders were not there to separate themselves from the nation, but to act as spiritual conduits, standing "in the place of all of them." This concept of collective representation is central to Sephardic communal organization, where the Parnas (communal leader) or the Chacham (sage) does not rule over the community, but embodies them, carrying their spiritual weight before the Divine.
Standing Before the Ark at Shechem
The text states that "they presented themselves before God" Joshua 24:1. But how did they stand "before God" in Shechem when the Tabernacle was located in Shiloh?
Here, the commentators reveal a fascinating detail. Metzudat David on Joshua 24:1:2 notes:
לפני הארון, שהביאו לשכם לכרות ברית לפניו "Before the Ark, which they brought to Shechem to cut a covenant before Him."
Radak Radak on Joshua 24:1:2 expands on this beautifully, explaining the profound historical and spiritual logic of choosing Shechem as the site for this final covenant, rather than Shiloh where the Tabernacle usually rested:
ונראה שהביאו ארון האלהים שם כדי לכרות הברית לפני הארון... ואספם יהושע שכם ולא שילה שהיה הארון שם אולי על פי הדבור עשה זה שיכרתו הברית בשכם כי בו נתעכב אברהם אבינו תחלה כשנכנס לארץ כמו שכתוב ויעבור אברם בארץ עד מקום שכם ועוד כי שם נעשה נס גדול ליעקב אבינו ושיזכרו אותו וידבקו בה' לבדו ועוד כי תחלת הנחלה אשר היה ליעקב בארץ ישראל בשכם היה שקנה חלקת השדה מיד בני חמור אבי שכם ושם אמר להם יהושע הסירו אלהי הנכר אשר בקרבכם כמו שאמר יעקב לבניו בשכם הסירו את אלהי הנכר אשר בתוככם "And it seems that they brought the Ark of God there in order to cut the covenant before the Ark... and Joshua gathered them at Shechem and not Shiloh, where the Ark normally was. Perhaps by divine word he did this, that they should cut the covenant in Shechem, because it was there that Abraham our father first stopped when he entered the land... and furthermore, because there a great miracle was done for Jacob our father, that they should remember it and cleave to Hashem alone. And furthermore, because the very beginning of the inheritance of Jacob in the Land of Israel was in Shechem... and there Joshua said to them, 'Remove the foreign gods that are in your midst,' just as Jacob had said to his sons in Shechem, 'Remove the foreign gods that are in your midst.'"
Look at how Radak weaves the tapestry of historical geography! Shechem is not an arbitrary meeting hall; it is a landscape saturated with memory. By bringing the Ark to Shechem, Joshua is aligning the present moment with the footsteps of Abraham and the struggles of Jacob. He is reminding them that their presence in the land is the fulfillment of an ancient promise, and that the very soil under their feet demands a purity of worship. When Joshua commands them to "put away the alien gods" Joshua 24:23, he is consciously echoing the exact words of Jacob to his family in that very same valley centuries earlier Genesis 35:2. The landscape itself becomes a teacher, whispering the words of the patriarchs to the ears of their descendants.
The Prophetic Urgency of Ralbag and Alshich
Why was Joshua so desperately insistent on making this covenant now, if the people had already bound themselves to God at Mount Sinai and in the plains of Moab?
The great philosopher and commentator Rabbi Levi ben Gershon Ralbag on Joshua 24:1:1 offers a profound psychological insight:
והנה עשו זה יהושע להוסיף להם אזהרה שלא יעבדו אלהים אחרים כי נגלה לו מצד הנבואה כי סופן ללקות בזה והנה יוסיף זה להם החזקה מהמשך אחר העון הזה כי הם בעצמם קבלו עליהם זה לפני האלהים ולולי זה לא היה צריך לזה כי במה שנקשרו ישראל במעמ' הר סיני נקשרו אלו הבאים אחריהם "And behold, Joshua did this to add an extra warning for them that they should not worship other gods, because it was revealed to him through prophecy that they were destined to stumble in this. And behold, this covenant would add strength to prevent them from being drawn after this sin, because they themselves accepted this upon themselves before God. Were it not for this, it would not have been necessary, for through that which Israel was bound at the standing of Mount Sinai, all who came after them were already bound."
Ralbag teaches us that while the covenant of Sinai is eternally binding, human nature requires personal, active re-engagement. Joshua, looking into the future with prophetic anxiety, knew that the temptation to assimilate into the local Canaanite cultures would be overwhelming. He did not rely on the historical memory of Sinai; he forced the people to make an active, conscious choice in their own day. They had to sign the contract with their own voices.
Rabbi Moshe Alshich, the great 16th-century homilist of Safed, known as the Alshich HaKadosh (The Holy Alshich), takes this further in his work Marot HaTzoveot Alshich on Marot HaTzoveot on Joshua 24:1:1. He asks a series of sharp, characteristically searching questions about Joshua’s historical retrospective:
ראוי לשים לב דרך כלל מה צור' אל כל הסיפור הזה... שנית אומרו בעבר הנה' ישבו אבותיכם כי הלא אם ישב אברהם שם לא ישב יצחק... ו' אומרו ויעבדו אלהים אחרים כי איך יכלול בזה את אברהם ומה גם לאומר שבן שלש שנים הכיר אברהם את בוראו "It is proper to pay attention to the overall form of this entire narrative... Secondly, his saying 'Your fathers dwelt beyond the river'—for if Abraham dwelt there, Isaac did not!... Sixthly, his saying 'And they served other gods'—how can he include Abraham in this, especially according to the opinion that at three years old Abraham already recognized his Creator?"
Alshich’s questions drive at the heart of the covenantal mystery. Why does Joshua begin this solemn covenant by digging up the pagan past of Abraham’s family? Why remind them of Terah’s idol worship?
The Alshich explains that Joshua is highlighting the radical nature of free will and divine grace. The covenant is not a matter of pure biological determinism; it is a story of radical disruption. God took Abraham out of a house of paganism. By reminding the people of their humble, idol-worshipping origins, Joshua is saying: "Your relationship with God is not an accident of birth. It is a choice. God chose Abraham, and Abraham chose God. Now, you must choose as well."
Minhag/Melody
In the Sephardi and Mizrahi world, Torah study is never divorced from song. The text of the Prophets is not merely read; it is chanted, using a highly sophisticated system of vocal ornamentation and modal scales known as the Maqamat. This musical tradition, particularly developed in the Syrian Jewish community of Aleppo (Aram Soba) and the Jerusalem-Sephardic school, treats the melody as an active, living commentary on the spiritual emotional state of the text.
[ COVENANTAL NARRATIVE ]
│
▼
Chanted in Maqams
│
┌────────────────┴────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[ MAQAM RAST ] [ MAQAM HIJAZ ]
(Scale of Truth) (Scale of Yearning)
│ │
▼ ▼
Used for Joshua's Used for the closing
firm, clear demand verses, marking the
to "choose this day" deaths of Joshua, Joseph,
whom to serve. and Eleazar.
The Maqam of Covenantal Choice: Maqam Rast
In the Syrian Jewish liturgical system, each Shabbat has a designated Maqam (a musical mode or scale in the Arabic classical tradition) assigned to the prayers, determined by the thematic content of the weekly Torah portion. When we read texts of covenant, historical retrospection, and the giving of the law, the liturgy is sung in Maqam Rast.
Rast is the "king" of the Maqamat. The word itself means "truth" or "straightness" in Persian. It is a majestic, stable, and deeply grounded scale, characterized by its clear, resonant intervals and its use of quarter-tones that create a sense of profound, ancient earnestness.
When a Sephardic Chazzan (cantor) chants the words of Joshua’s challenge in Joshua 24:15:
וְאִם רַע בְּעֵינֵיכֶם לַעֲבֹד אֶת־ה' בַּחֲרוּ לָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת־מִי תַעֲבֹדּוּן... וְאָנֹכִי וּבֵיתִי נַעֲבֹד אֶת־ה'׃ "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve Hashem, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... but as for me and my household, we will serve Hashem!"
The melody of Maqam Rast rises with a firm, unshakeable clarity. There is no hesitation in the notes. The microtones do not evoke doubt, but rather a deep, emotional complexity—the voice of an old leader who loves his people too much to let them live in a state of spiritual lukewarmness. The music forces the listener to feel the weight of the choice.
The Bittersweet Transition: Maqam Hijaz
As the chapter draws to a close, the mood of the narrative shifts dramatically. We read of the death of Joshua at the age of one hundred and ten, his burial in his inheritance at Timnath-serah, the burial of the bones of Joseph in Shechem, and the death of Eleazar the priest Joshua 24:29-33.
To mark this transition from the triumphant establishment of the covenant to the passing of the founding generation, the Chazzan shifts the musical mode to Maqam Hijaz.
Hijaz is a scale of profound yearning, nostalgia, and grief, characterized by its evocative, wide interval (the augmented second) between the second and third scale degrees. It is the scale used for the Hafṭarah of the minor fasts, for moments of communal loss, and for the deep, soul-stirring prayers of the High Holy Days.
When the congregation hears the verses detailing the burial of Joseph’s bones in Shechem, the melody of Hijaz wraps around the words like a warm shroud of memory:
וְאֶת־עַצְמוֹת יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר־הֶעֱלוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם קָבְרוּ בִשְׁכֶם... "And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up from Egypt, they buried in Shechem..." Joshua 24:32
The melody of Hijaz transforms what could be a dry report of a burial into a triumphant, tear-stained homecoming. The music carries the weight of the centuries—the long years of Egyptian slavery, the carrying of the coffin through the parting of the Red Sea, the battles in the desert, and finally, the quiet resting of the bones in the very soil Jacob bought for his favorite son. Through the microtonal sigh of Hijaz, the congregation does not merely hear the story; they weep with Joseph, and they celebrate his final, quiet rest.
The Ziyara: Pilgrimage to the Tombs of Ephraim
This textual and musical connection is not confined to the walls of the synagogue. For the Jews of the Middle East, the geography of Joshua 24 was a living map of pilgrimage.
For centuries, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews living in the Land of Israel, as well as those who traveled from Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, would perform the Ziyara (a term borrowed from Arabic, meaning a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Zaddikim or righteous sages). Two of the primary destinations for these pilgrimages were:
- The Tomb of Joshua in Kifl Haris (traditionally identified with Timnath-serah Joshua 24:30).
- The Tomb of Joseph in Shechem Joshua 24:32.
These pilgrimages were not somber, silent affairs. They were vibrant, sensory explosions of faith. Families would travel on donkeys and horses, and later in buses, carrying food, musical instruments, and large containers of olive oil. They would camp near the tombs for days, especially around the holiday of Shavuot (the festival of the giving of the Torah) or Lag BaOmer.
At the tomb of Joshua, pilgrims would light hundreds of small oil lamps, filling the night air with the scent of burning olive oil and jasmine. Men would form circles, clapping their hands and singing piyutim (liturgical poems) written in honor of Joshua and Joseph. One popular song sung during these pilgrimages was the classical Sephardic piyut honoring the righteous:
אָשִׁיר שִׁירָה לִכְבוֹד הַתּוֹרָה... וְלִכְבוֹד הַצַּדִּיקִים הַשּׁוֹכְנִים בֶּעָפָר "I will sing a song in honor of the Torah... and in honor of the righteous who dwell in the dust."
They would dance with the Torah scrolls, bringing the physical text of the covenant to the very graveside of the man who had recorded it on the stone of Shechem. In this way, the boundary between the biblical past and the lived present was completely dissolved. Joshua was not a figure from a Sunday school coloring book; he was Yehoshua Bin Nun, the faithful servant, a grandfather of the nation whose resting place was a source of active blessing, comfort, and communal joy.
Contrast
To fully appreciate the unique flavor of the Sephardi and Mizrahi engagement with Joshua 24, it is highly instructive to place it alongside the traditional Ashkenazi approach. This contrast is presented with the deepest respect for both traditions, recognizing that each represents a holy, vital path within the larger mosaic of the Jewish people.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ COMPARING THE TRADITIONS │
├───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SEPHARDI / MIZRAHI │ ASHKENAZI │
├───────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Interactive Geography │ • Textual & Conceptual │
│ (Tombs of Joshua/Joseph │ (Focus on historical/ethical lessons │
│ are active pilgrimage │ divorced from immediate physical space) │
│ sites of joy & song) │ │
│ │ │
│ • Liturgical Maqamat │ • Fixed Cantillation & Nusach │
│ (Improvisational modes │ (Consistent, haunting melodies focused │
│ reflecting narrative │ on a standardized lament or triumph) │
│ emotional shifts) │ │
│ │ │
│ • Covenant as Union │ • Covenant as Commitment │
│ (Sensory, relational, │ (Focus on legal obligation, duty, │
│ intimate, poetic) │ and the preservation of law) │
└───────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Living Geography vs. Textual Reconstruction
In the traditional Ashkenazi world, particularly as it developed in the cold climates of Eastern Europe, the physical geography of the Land of Israel was a beautiful, distant dream. Figures like Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar were encountered almost exclusively through the medium of the text. The tombs of these figures were theological concepts rather than physical destinations.
Consequently, the Ashkenazi approach to Joshua 24 tends to focus on the intellectual, historical, and ethical lessons of the text. Commentators like the Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leibush) analyze the political structure of the assembly and the legal definitions of the covenant. The text is studied in the beit midrash (study hall) with an eye toward abstract theology and ethical self-improvement.
For the Sephardi and Mizrahi Jew, however, the text is integrated with physical space. The tombs are not mythological; they are places where one’s grandfather went to pray for rain, where one’s mother shed tears for a sick child, and where the family celebrated a bar mitzvah. The covenant at Shechem is read with the awareness that the very mountains mentioned—Gerizim and Ebal—are visible from the hills of Samaria, just a short journey from Jerusalem. This creates a highly tactile, sensory relationship with the text. The Bible is not a book of history; it is a family photo album with the locations still intact.
Musical Philosophy: Maqamat vs. Fixed Nusach
The musical difference between the two traditions is profound. In the Ashkenazi tradition, the reading of the Hafṭarah (the weekly prophetic portion, which occasionally includes selections from Joshua) is governed by a beautiful, haunting, and highly standardized system of cantillation (Trop). While there are minor variations between Lithuanian, Polish, and German rites, the melody remains relatively consistent throughout the year. The focus is on a solemn, nostalgic delivery that evokes the ancient voice of the prophets in a standardized, recognizable key.
In contrast, the Sephardic Maqam system is highly dynamic and situational. The Chazzan does not merely chant the notes on the page; he chooses the musical mode based on the spiritual theme of the day, the calendar, or even the emotional tension of the specific chapter. When reading Joshua 24, a Sephardic cantor will consciously modulate his voice, moving from the steady, majestic truth of Maqam Rast as Joshua delivers his charge, to the weeping, yearning microtones of Maqam Hijaz as the deaths of the leaders are recounted.
This makes the synagogue service an improvisational, dramatic experience, where the cantor acts as a musical interpreter, guiding the congregation through the emotional peaks and valleys of the biblical narrative using the classical modal systems of the Mediterranean world.
The Theological Tone of Covenant-Making
There is also a subtle, beautiful difference in how the covenant itself is conceptualized. In many Ashkenazi ethical works (such as those of the Mussar movement), the covenant is often framed through the lens of duty, struggle, and the awe-inspiring responsibility of carrying the law. The focus is on the radical self-discipline required to resist the temptations of the surrounding world.
In the Sephardic tradition, heavily influenced by the warm, integrated philosophy of Spanish Jewry (such as Rabbi Yehuda Halevi’s Kuzari and the subsequent Kabbalistic developments of Safed), the covenant is often conceptualized as a natural, cosmic alignment of the soul. The Alshich and the Radak emphasize that when Israel chooses God at Shechem, they are not taking on an alien, crushing burden; they are returning to their true, natural state. The covenant is an act of spiritual homecoming, celebrated with joy, song, and sensory pleasure.
It is not a struggle against nature, but the ultimate fulfillment of nature. This is why the Sephardic celebration of covenants—whether a circumcision (Berit Milah), a wedding, or the public reading of the Torah—is characterized by a festive, relaxed warmth, where the holiness of the event is seamlessly integrated with the sharing of food, the drinking of arak, and the singing of joyous melodies.
Home Practice
The beauty of the Sephardic and Mizrahi approach to Torah is that it is designed to be lived, felt, and tasted within the walls of the home. Here is a beautiful, simple practice inspired by Joshua’s covenant at Shechem that anyone can adopt to bring this ancient heritage into their daily lives.
The Witness Stone (Even HaEdah)
In Joshua 24:26-27, we read of the dramatic physical anchor that Joshua created to seal the covenant:
"Joshua recorded all this in a book of divine instruction. He took a great stone and set it up at the foot of the oak in the sacred precinct of God; and Joshua said to all the people, 'See, this very stone shall be a witness against us, for it heard all the words that God spoke to us; it shall be a witness against you, lest you break faith with your God.'"
Joshua understood a profound truth about human psychology: words fade, but physical objects endure. He set up a stone to act as a silent, physical witness to the promises made by the community.
[ THE HOME WITNESS STONE ]
│
▼
Select a Beautiful Stone
(Place in a central home location, e.g.,
the Shabbat table or family altar)
│
┌───────────────────┴───────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[ COMMEMORATION ] [ CONSECRATION ]
Gather the family during Touch the stone and vocalize
moments of transition or a core value, commitment, or
gratitude (Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh). shared family promise.
To bring this practice into your home:
- Select a Stone: Go out into nature—a local park, a riverbed, or a mountain trail—and find a beautiful, smooth, substantial stone that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand.
- Establish a Sacred Space: Place this stone in a central, visible location in your home. It could be on your Shabbat dining table, on a bookshelf alongside your sacred books, or near the entrance of your home.
- Vocalize Your Vows: During moments of family transition, gratitude, or renewal—such as a Friday night dinner, a birthday, a Rosh Chodesh (new month) gathering, or a moment of recovery from illness—gather around the stone. Pass the stone from hand to hand. As each person holds the stone, have them vocalize one core value, promise, or expression of gratitude they wish to commit to the "witness of the stone."
- The Silent Sentinel: Leave the stone in its place. Let it serve as a physical anchor in your home. Whenever a member of the household looks at the stone, they will be reminded of the shared values, the words of love, and the commitments spoken in its presence.
In doing so, you are doing exactly what Joshua did under the oak tree at Shechem. You are sanctifying the physical world, turning a simple piece of earth into a sacred witness to the covenant of your household.
Takeaway
Joshua’s great gathering at Shechem is far more than a historical footnote or a dramatic conclusion to a biblical book. It is a timeless masterclass in the art of conscious spiritual alignment. Through the interpretive genius of the Sephardi and Mizrahi heritage, we learn that our relationship with the Divine cannot be lived on autopilot. It cannot be sustained by the momentum of our ancestors' experiences alone.
Every generation, every family, and every individual must stand in their own "Shechem"—their own place of decision—and answer the radical, loving challenge of Joshua: "Choose this day whom you will serve."
When we tune our ears to the microtonal beauty of Maqam Rast, when we walk the dusty paths of the Ziyara, and when we set up our own silent "witness stones" in our homes, we are not merely remembering the past. We are active participants in an unbroken, living chain of covenant. We are declaring, with the same passion and clarity that echoed through the valley of Shechem thousands of years ago:
אָנֹכִי וּבֵיתִי נַעֲבֹד אֶת־ה' "As for me and my household, we will serve the Eternal!"
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