יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן יְהוֹצָדָק

Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak was a figure of the era of the Neviim, the Kohen Gadol of the generation that returned to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash. He appears in the vision of the prophet Zechariah, where he stands among the angels and is told, “And I will give you free access among those standing here” (Zechariah 3:7). Rabbeinu Bachya, in Shaar HaBitachon, draws on this scene to discuss reward in this world, noting that Yehoshua dwelt in the realm of the angels.

The midrash brings him in connection with the return to Eretz Yisrael and the renewal of the avodah. Shir HaShirim Rabbah links the rising up of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Yehudah and Binyamin, together with the Kohanim and the Leviim (Ezra 1:5), to his role among those who stirred to rebuild, and he is likewise recalled in the aggadic teachings preserved in Bereshit Rabbah.