"And he called it the "Tent of Appointed Time ". Was it not a "Tent of Appointed Time" from the start? What is "of appointed time"? At first it was called only a "tent", connoting a house of study. Now it was called Tent of Appointed Time. Rabbi Elazar (considered this distinction between Tent and Tent of Appointed Time) as having good connotations. Rabbi Aba said: it has bad connotations. Rabbi Elazar said: it has good connotations; just as every appointed time [i.e. the Holidays of Pesach and Sukkot] is a day of joy for the moon [the Shechinah, represented by a full moon on those days], for Holiness is increased. No blemish rules over the moon when it is full, so here too he gave it this name to show that although [the Shechinah] was now distanced from them [from the Mixed Multitude], it was not blemished. Therefore, it is written: "And he called it the Tent of Appointed Time."

Rabbi Aba said: it has bad connotations, because originally [before the sin of the Golden Calf] it was called a tent, about which is written: "A tent that shall not be taken down; its pegs shall not be removed for ever" (Isaiah 33:20). [representing the continuous revealed connection between the physical and spiritual realms]. But now it is the Tent [only] of appointed times [not forever, as previously]. Originally the tent gave long life to the world, so that death [a lower form of consciousness of the Divine is regarded like death compared to a higher level] should not rule over them. From then on, it is the Tent of Appointed Time [and death will rule over them because the higher connection called “life” only comes at specific times], as in the verse "And to the house, an appointed time for all living" (Job 30:23). For now it has been given a set time and life for the world.

Before, there was no blemish in it, but now it has been blemished. Before there was a connection and union of the moon [Shechinah/malchut] and the sun [tiferet] that is never interrupted. Now their union is from time to time [like our union with the spiritual that is now from time of prayer to time of prayer, from Shabbat to Shabbat or Festival to Festival]. Therefore, he called it the 'Tent of Appointed Time,' which was not the case before.

Therefore, he called it the 'Tent of Appointed Time,' for everyone has an appointed [limited] time to dwell in this world.

Therefore, the secret of the matter is that there is a right side above [chesed of holiness -– altruistic kindness ] and a right side below [chesed of the kelipa — self motivated kindness]; there is a left side above [gevura of holiness to unite opposites] and a left side below [gevura of the kelipa causing separation]. There is right above, namely in supernal Holiness and there is right below, which is in the Other Side. There is left above, in supernal Holiness, to awaken love so that the moon [malchut] shall be connected to the holy place above [with tiferet] in order to illuminate. There also a left side below that separates the supernal love and separates Her [malchut] from being illuminated by the sun [tiferet] and from drawing closer to it. This is the side of the Evil Serpent, because when the lower left is awakened, it draws the moon to itself, and separates it from above so its light becomes darkened, and it is connected to the Serpent. Then it draws death below, to all those that became connected to the Serpent and became distanced from the Tree of Life. Therefore, he brought death to the whole world. And this is what defiled the Tabernacle, until the set time when the moon [malchut] will be mended and shine again. And this is 'the Tent of Appointed Time'.

Therefore Joshua died only because of the scheming of the Serpent who approached and blemished the Tabernacle [malchut], at first [when the Serpent caused Adam to sin; Joshua himself never sinned, that he should deserve death]. This is the secret of the words, "Joshua the son of Nun, a young man..." (Ex. 33:11). Even though he is a young man below, who receives light [in the secret of the angel Mem-Tet who is below malchut and receives light from it], he "did not depart from the Tent" . And just as [the tent and malchut] was blemished, so he [the angel Mem-Tet, that Joshua grasped onto] was blemished. And although he [still] had the holy armored belt [that had been given to all Israelites to ward off the Outside Forces upon receiving the Torah; the rest of the nation relinquished theirs following the sin of the Golden Calf; since Joshua hadn't sinned, he retained his]; since the moon was blemished, it follows that he [Joshua] could not have been alone spared from it [from death] and from that actual blemish. And we have learned this principal.

Blessed are the righteous, who know the secrets of the Torah, cleave to the Torah, and fulfill the passage which says, "And you shall meditate on it day and night" (Joshua 1:8). And for its sake they shall merit the life of the World to Come, as it is written: "for He is your life and the length of your days" (Deut. 30:20). Blessed be G‑d forever, Amen.

BeRahamim LeHayyim: Here is the reason why Joshua died—simply because of the plan of the Serpent who blemished malchut in Adam's time. No other reason, simply because of a supernatural force that was part of the plan. And if this was of Joshua—considered the moon reflecting the sun-type light of Moses—what of us? How can we fix our blemishes in this World—not to have never ending physical life—but to merit being a Ben Olam Haba, having a portion in the next World?

A big thing to do is to admit and repent our own mistakes that are similar to those that caused the building of the golden calf. And we do it yearly. It has been said that while other nations perhaps say their weakness is due to other conquering nations — Armenian's claim against Turkey, for example — whereas we say that we our weakness is caused by what we did with the calf some 3000 years ago. This we mourn yearly. And this is what we need to do to fix, over and over again. And to meditate on it day and night: do Teshuva one day before you die.

What does the above mean, and why is it revealed to you now?

[Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries]