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On the third day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz in the year 1273 BCE, Joshua was leading the Jewish army in the battle to conquer the Land of Israel. Victory was on the horizon but darkness was about to fall. In order to preserve their sure defeat of the enemy, Joshua proclaimed: "Sun, be still at Giv'on; moon, at the Ayalon Valley". The heavenly bodies acquiesced, halting their progress through the sky until Israel's armies brought the battle to its successful conclusion. This incredible occurrence could only occur by the Hand of God who our sages say "does not perform a miracle in vain". But why did God simply not illuminate the battle site or perform some other, more limited miracle by supra-natural means? The engineering of "artificial light" would have meant that the laws of nature were merely superseded, not completely transformed. To inspire the people of Israel to not only transcend their natural self but also to transform and sublimate it, G‑d insisted that the miraculous light provided them should be natural sunlight—even if this meant creating a new natural order in the heavens. With special gifts from the Holy Land, you can cherish God's miracles by bringing Israel into your home and into your heart.
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