by Rabbanit Shani Taragin
קוּם הִתְהַלֵּךְ בָּאָרֶץ, לְאָרְכָּהּ וּלְרָחְבָּהּ; כִּי לְךָ, אֶתְּנֶנָּה:: (בראשית יג,יז)
With these words, Hashem directed Avraham Avinu to traverse the Land of Israel from North to South, and West to East to explore the scope of the Land that would be given to his descendants. Today we have the miraculous privilege to walk in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu and to once again fulfill this divine directive – with a Tanakh in hand. It is a true zechut to live, learn, teach, and tour in the Land of Israel today where the stories of our patriarchs and matriarchs come to life, and where the pesukim and parshanut are understood with greater clarity as we explore geographical locale firsthand.
Teaching the stories of Yehoshua atop of Har Gerizim, and the prophecies of Amos from Tekoa while standing in eastern Gush Etzion and Bet-El, inspire by the mere connection of content with context. The Land of Israel has become the classroom and setting, providing accurate scenery, with the Biblical narratives serving as “screen directions” and commentary to picture the events. Inasmuch as I enjoy every moment of sharing the beauty of the scope and depth of the Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings) regardless of location, I feel spiritually energized and religiously reinvigorated when the shiur is taught “on site”. I thank MaTaN (Machon Torani l’Nashim, flagship midrasha for women in Jerusalem) for providing me the opportunity to teach an annual “Learn and Tour” series with esteemed colleagues – teaching students the books of Nevi’im and Ketuvim in the Beit Midrash, followed by shiurim and siyurim “ba’shetach” – encountering and exploring the respective geographical locations of the scenes in the text.
A few years ago, while preparing shiurim for the MaTaN Learn and Tour course, entitled “Yehoshua-Shoftim: Tribes, Traits and Territories,” I recalled an invaluable resource – Tamar Weissman’s Tribal Lands. In previous cycles of teaching the prophecies of Yehoshua and Shoftim, I focused on the narrative and the religious messages extrapolated from the prophet’s textual devices. The prophetic themes accompanying the stories of national and then tribal conquest and settlement in Sefer Yehoshua, through the religious, cultural and political anarchy presented in the book of Shoftim, were taught within the historical and textual context of the respective sefarim. For the new series, however, I decided to employ a different methodology. As I charted the development of the tribes from their initial entrance and conquest of Eretz Yisrael through the challenges of battles and leadership in the period of the Judges, each tribe’s unique “personality” emerged, matured, and ultimately expressed itself within the fabric of national unity. The tribal division of nation and land described in Sefer Yehoshua and revisited in Sefer Shoftim was an essential component to appreciating the complexity and trajectory of forming a nation comprised of multiple traits, strengths and resources. I began to notice patterns of tribal characteristics repeating themselves in the stories spanning hundreds of years, and recognized various allusions to Torah narratives – from the birth stories through the formative development and blessings of the twelve sons of Yaakov Avinu. The interplay between the personal traits evident in Sefer Bereishit and the tribal characteristics manifest throughout Sifrei Shemot, Bamidbar and Devarim, underscored the significance of teaching Yehoshua and Shoftim with particular emphasis placed on the tribal traits and their destined territories in the People and Land of Israel.
As I pursued the study of the personal and tribal distinctive attributes, I found an indispensable resource in Tamar Weissman’s Tribal Lands. Tamar has collected and carefully collated hundreds of sources, incorporating biblical and rabbinic texts into the body of the book, as well as providing copious footnotes that I found invaluable while preparing shiurim. She deftly weaves pshat with midrashic explanation as she traces the emergent identity of the tribal character, meticulously documenting her source material. This sefer provides a framework for appreciating the development of our unique national structure – from tribes with disparate characteristics to a unified nation; I found it a requisite accompanying guide to learning Sifrei Yehoshua and Shoftim from a new perspective.
Tamar introduces her study of connecting the tribes with their respective nachalot in the Land of Israel with a quote from Erich Fromm describing maternal love through the metaphor of our inherent attachment to “mother earth.” I was immediately impressed with this acute analogy and incorporation of semiotics as an expression of Torat Imecha with its dual connotation and significance. Through evoking maternal imagery of a Land flowing with milk and honey, we are sensitively drawn to female characters connected to the Land. We are simultaneously conditioned to appreciate the bond of each of Yaakov’s sons to his respective mother, and subsequently to his respective portion of Land.
The powerful and repetitive description of Eretz Yisrael as zavat chalav u’devash – flowing with milk and honey (appearing sixteen times in the Torah and five times in Nevi’im), is an image we associate with our mothers, who nourish us with their milk, and provide balm for our wounds with the sweetness and therapeutic benefits of honey. The Torah and Nevi’im portray particular women with these qualities; women who restore us as a family and nation to the Land of Israel. The “twinned” Devorahs of Tanach – Devorah the nursemaid of Rivka who appears upon Yaakov’s return to his homeland, and Devorah the prophetess and judge who restores unity and settlement after Canaanite oppression - link these dual elements of milk and honey. Devorah, whose very name means honeybee, is found in both stories under a tree in Bet-El. Devorah the prophetess sits under a date palm associated with the honey of the fruit (thereby reflective of both opinions in the Mekhilta of Rashbi (13,5) regarding the interpretation of “Land of Milk and Honey”. Rabbi Eliezer maintains that both the milk and honey are referring to fruit nectar – the honey from dates. Rabbi Akiva posits that the blessing of milk is from animals and the honey from bees). Devorah meineket Rivka, the nursemaid who provides for milk, is buried under a tree in Bet-El, and Devorah the prophetess sits under the milk/nectar of the date palm and sings the praises of Yael’s heroic assassination of the Canaanite general, Sisera, through her offering of milk. These women remind us of the blessings of Eretz Yisrael as they provide for peaceful settlement in the Land through their feminine qualities and strength.
Though all the shevatim share the same father, Yaakov Avinu, they are conceived, named and nurtured by different mothers. Leah and Rachel fundamentally impacted the individual natures of each child of the Bnei Yisrael, including those sons born by surrogate. Beyond that, they connect us to the Land of Israel, already intimating through their lives and actions the proper regions suited to each of their children. Rachel Immeinu in her life and death, through her beauty, yearnings and disappointments, teaches us the uniqueness of the tribes and territories (nachalot) of Yosef and Binyamin. Rav Yitzchak Arama (in his Commentary Akeidat Yitzchak, Bereishit 9) highlights the dual role of women – as wives and mothers. Rachel epitomizes the wife who yearns to be the mother, and is ultimately remembered as the matriarch who cries for her children (Yirmiyahu 31). Leah’s role in the house of Yaakov, though she mothered multiple sons, is as Yaakov’s wife, and in fact she merits to be buried with her husband in Hevron. Leah’s children are divided on the borders of the Land, protecting the North and South, whereas Rachel’s children are in the center. Rachel, who dies upon entering the Land of Canaan, merits to have her descendant Yehoshua (from the tribe of Ephraim) begin initial conquest of the land. David Hamelekh, a descendant of Yehudah ben Leah who is responsible for selling Rachel’s son Yosef to Egypt, merits to restore and reunite the children of Rachel with the children of Leah through the conquest of Yerushalayim in Nachalat Binyamin, thereby completing the stages initiated by Yehoshua.
Recurring themes, allusions and personality traits manifest through the challenges of unifying the Bnei Yaakov/ Yisrael as tribes to form a nation, drew me towards a renewed understanding and presentation of the messages of Sefer Yehoshua. Teaching the chapters of Yehoshua as the stories of tribal conquest unfold, and continuing through Shoftim, which presents a tribal-based military and judicial system, behooves one to revisit the unique character of every shevet and the qualities of their respective nachalot. To properly appreciate the narratives and messages of Sifrei Tanach, one must learn to explore beyond the developments of the immediate text and consider their broader context. This means approaching a specific parshia (biblical unit) within the context of the particular sefer and then revisit the story/law as it appears throughout Tanakh. The broader context, however, includes the historical and geographical setting; only through the Land may the narrative truly come to life. There was a need for a sefer that would present both of these contexts for the novice and experienced student of Tanakh.
Tamar Weissman masterfully presents all the above throughout the chapters of Tribal Lands. She comprehensively and elegantly traces each tribal character from his genesis through emergence into family clan and tribe, uncovering patterns and revealing undercurrents of personality which are rooted in the earliest musings of our history. One of the more compelling and insightful aspects of each chapter is the suggestion as to why each shevet was granted his particular nachalah. From the outset of the divine promises and covenants of Brit ben Habetarim and Brit Milah, the Land and Nation of Israel are inseparable (see Sefer Hakuzari , 2:3–32). As such, every nachalah in Eretz Yisrael must be appreciated with all of its facets – geographical, topographical, geological, and botanical – for each is an essential expression of tribal identity. The Land is evocative, Tamar writes, and this is very true; the different regions of Eretz Yisrael affect and influence the development of personality, and certain personalities are drawn to specific landscapes. This was certainly the case with the tribes, and it is fascinating to explore how a landscape’s particular attributes, advantages and drawbacks impact the tribal character throughout history.
Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook elaborates upon the symbiotic connection between Land and Tribe as first evident by unique tribal flags in the desert encampment; as with each tribe, he writes, so too with each individual member of Knesset Yisrael. “The Land of Israel is suitable for the Knesset as a whole, throughout the generations, forever and forever, and yet it is also suited to the lives of all individuals, to every single individual in Israel, according to his or her value. And the adaptation is so precise that even the amazingness and proportion of the Land of Israel . . . is all fitting in the supreme direction from the hand of God to His holy people.” (Olat HaRAY”H 1, p.203)
Tribes, composed of family clans and members, feel a draw and attachment to a particular piece of Land. Moshe Rabbeinu sent representatives of each tribe who were experts in geography and geology (Seforno Bamidbar 13:2) to scout the Land of Israel and choose the location most befitting their tribe. Subsequently each family and individual would choose their plot of land, as Calev ben Yefuneh chose the city of Hevron and Yosef’s descendants initiated conquest surrounding their namesake’s burial plot and inheritance in Shechem. I remember my first trip to Eretz Yisrael at twelve years old, when I encountered the remarkable countryside that I would eventually call home. My family’s visit to Alon Shvut, Gush Etzion was on a particularly foggy day in Tishrei (not uncommon in the Judean hills), and all I could see was the top of the “eagle’s head” of Yeshivat Har Etzion as we made our way from Yerushalayim in the direction of Hevron. For the first time, I could literally picture the path of Avraham as he made his way from Bet-El to Hevron and Be’er Sheva. I could feel Yaakov’s anxiety trying to find his way along the rocky path escaping from his bloodthirsty brother, Esav. There was an immediate attraction and a connection to “Derech ha’Avot” (the path of our Patriarchs) already then, and I instinctively knew that I belonged in the hills of Yehudah.
Six years later I returned to study in Yerushalayim, but spent many hours learning with my husbandto-be in Yeshivat Har Etzion, hosted by families who are today among my closest friends. The women’s section in Yeshiva was my Beit Midrash, and the parks of Alon Shvut became my backyard. Together with my husband Reuven, we raised our family and built our home overlooking the same breathtaking panoramas that inspired David as he composed his Tehillim. Our favorite tiyulim include swimming /immersing in the same nearby springs as our ancestors did on their way to Yerushalayim for Aliyah La’regel.
One can feel the depth of Am Yisrael’s roots here in Nachalat Yehudah, and a particular connection as a descendant of Yehudah who was gifted by his father Yaakov with the ancestral homes of Hevron and Beer Sheva. Yaakov informed Yehudah that he will inherit a region saturated with vineyards and pastureland:
חַכְלִילִי עֵינַיִם, מִיָּיִן; וּלְבֶן־שִׁנַּיִם, מֵחָלָב:: (בראשית מט, כא)
Yehudah’s eyes shall be colored as wine, and his teeth whitened with milk.
Nachmanides explains that Yehudah’s eyes will not be red with intoxication (see Rashi, Ibn Ezra, RaDaK), but rather colored with wine; just as others paint (their eyes) with eye paint, which in Arabic is el kachul, Yehudah paints them with wine; others whiten their teeth with ointments, Yehudah whitens them with milk – this is to highlight the abundance of wine and milk in Yehudah’s nachalah (Ramban Bereishit 49:12). Yehudah is blessed with two divergent topographies and colors – the steep hills perfect for terraced vineyards depicting the blue of oxidized wine, and the Judean wilderness, a rock desert for grazing animals who will produce white milk.
Rav Ya’akov Medan, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, notes via this commentary of Ramban that Yehudah’s beracha contains the first reference to the central colors of Eretz Yisrael; he is granted the blessings of a landscape that features both “kachol/techelet” (blue of the mountain wine) and lavan (white of the goat milk). The dialectic between concrete clarity (symbolized by white), and the abstract metaphysical (symbolized by techelet), is everpresent in my world, and resonates deeply here in the Judean hills. The colors of Yehudah’s nachalah are the colors of the tzitzit, reminding us after the sin of the meraglim not to veer from our promised homeland and destiny. They are the colors of the miraculous return of Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael in our present day, boldly displayed like a tallit on our national flag proudly waving over the citadels and hilltops of Gush Etzion, resettled immediately after the Six Day War.
This tension propels the endless passionate relationship between Am Yisrael and Hashem. Shir haShirim, the paradigmatic love song between God and His people, unfolds in the landscape of Nachalat Yehudah; the female persona – Ra’ayah (Yisrael) resides in the hills of Yerushalayim, and her Beloved/ Dod (God) is described as emerging from the vineyards of Ein Gedi, an oasis in Midbar Yehudah. The hills of Judea and the Judean desert evoke an intensity which drew the Avot, David HaMelech, generations of scholars and poets, and hundreds of leaders in our own time to this region. Avraham Avinu envisioned Mt. Moriah as he was climbing the hills of my home – וירא את המקום מרחוק. Here in Nachalat Yehudah we wake up in the mountain clouds, wrap ourselves in kachol v’lavan, and strive to glimpse HaMakom, yearning to draw close to Him. We feel the everpresent vicissitudes of the love relationship between God and Am Yisrael, and a topographical romance between Nation and Land. Perhaps this is why the three oaths of Shir HaShirim serve as the basis of debate between Rav Yehudah and his student Rabbi Zeira regarding the permissibility of return to Eretz Yisrael. This discussion and the continued explanations of ChaZal regarding the physical and spiritual beauty of the Land of Israel are compiled in the Talmudic tractate of Ketubot – which discusses the laws of the marriage contract given by a groom to his bride. This is indicative of our “marriage” with God – the Land of Israel serves as the Ketuba – the “marriage contract” between God and His beautiful nation.
The chuppah (bridal canopy) is the Mikdash in Yerushalayim – bringing the Dod and Ra’ayah of Nachalat Yehudah together while simultaneously bridging the children of Leah (i.e. Yehudah) with the children of Rachel (Yosef and Binyamin – see Tamar’s insights in the respective chapters). Yehudah is the vanguard of Yisrael, and his nachalah represents the transition in development from one stage of leadership and nationhood to the next. The era of our Avot began here with Avraham’s purchase of the first realestate of the Machpela field, and concluded here as Yaakov left Hevron to reunite with Yosef in Egypt; Calev ben Yefuneh, prince of Yehudah, charted the land and sought patriarchal inspiration from Hevron encouraging us – against the dismissive reports of the spies – to conquer and settle the Land promised by Hashem:
עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה וְיָרַשְׁנוּ אֹתָהּ; כִּי־יָכוֹל נוּכַל, לָהּ:: (במדבר יג, ל)
We should go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it.
Hashem responds to the nation’s request for a leader in battle with an echo of Calev’s cry – “Yehudah ya’aleh!,” imbuing this shevet with a tradition of leadership that is realized within the contours of this nachalah – bayamim ha’hem, bazman hazeh (in those days, and in ours). This nachalah is and always was the place of Yisrael’s transition to malchut, with Yehudah at the helm. David ruled as king in Hevron for seven years before his coronation over all of Israel in Yerushalayim. R’ Amital z”l saw the revival of Gush Etzion as a catalyst for future growth and expansion. He, together with Rav Aharon Lichtenstein z”l, believed in and built institutions of Torah scholarship for both men and women, a contemporary manifestation of the tent of Otniel ben Kenaz and his wife Achsa, the pioneering daughter of Calev. Indeed, there is a remarkable concentration today of yeshivot, ulpanot and midrashot between Hevron and Yerushalayim, batei midrash resonating with enthusiastic Torah learning, where characteristics central to leadership and royalty are cultivated.
This is my nachalah – my space, my place, my home founded on the Torah and values of Tanakh, that defines my religious-national relationship with Hashem, within Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael, through the past and toward the future; this is why Tamar Weissman’s Tribal Lands resonated so strongly with me. Studying the nature of the shevatim in Tanakh opens one’s mind and heart to the broader religious messages, history and trajectory of our nation. Today’s Yehudi/Yisraeli can and should deeply appreciate the very natural, organic relationship of the Jew to his land. It is imperative that every Jew, whether he is living and resettling our ancestral land, or whether he does not yet have that opportunity, nurture and deepen his own particular connection to Eretz Yisrael in text and context. Tamar has shared her scholarship, insight and experience in linking tribal character to nachalah character. She has equipped us with the pesukim, midrashim and parshanut to traverse the Land with Tankah in hand, mind and heart, and then has illustratively taken us to virtually tour the nachalot of past and present. This exceptional sefer helps the reader to discover narratives and landscapes anew, opening our eyes to inspiring new encounters with the tapestry of Torat Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael.
B’virkat tefillat haderech – ותגיענו למחוז חפצנו לחיים, לשמחה ולשלום
Hoping you enjoy every pasuk, page and step of Tribal Lands as much as I do,
Shani Taragin
Alon Shvut, Nachalat Yehudah