I’m in the process of uploading my podcasts to YouTube.
This is the latest upload.
A discussion of scriptural references to Arameans in the Passover Seder and their connection to Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Esau.
I focus specifically on the verse in Deuteronomy דברים 26:10 :
Either:
“My father was a wandering Aramean”
Or
“An Aramean oppressed my father”.
Which translation do you favor?
Leave a comment and tell me.
Bibliography
Hittite Treaties and Letters, D. Luckenbill
The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
Vol. 37, No. 3 (Apr., 1921), pp. 161-211
Reflections on The Mitanni Emergence, G. Schwartz
Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 17
The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, A Zornberg
Image Books 1996
Studies in Bereishit, Nechama Leibowitz
Jerusalem, WZO, 1976
Pseudo Translation of Yonatan ben Uzziel:
http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/
Please see the main Bibliography for more.
Welcome to my first podcast in the series: “The History of Judaism”. I shall be telling the History and story of the Jews from an educated Jewish Perspective. the first podcast focuses on Abraham and my decision to place this as the start of my narrative about Jewish History.
Here is a Map of Abraham’s Journeys:
Next time: A Journey to the Other Side: Abraham’s historical narrative
(The music in this podcast is “By Way of Haran” by Pharoah’s Daughter recreated under the following creative commons license “Live on WFMU’s Transpacific Sound Paradise 12/12/2009 byPharaoh’s Daughter is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.” Check out the band at www.pharaohsdaughter.com/music.html )
When I used to think of the word ‘Negev’, I would think of it meaning ‘South’ or ‘Desert’. I never used to think of it as being something that one ‘goes up to’. In fact from my vantage point in Jerusalem today, I very much descend in altitude to the Negev.
However if we look at the topographic map pictured above, we can clearly see (as indicated by the orange and red colours signifying altitude) that if I was coming from Paran, which is part of the central valley system (running down the centre of the map in green and blue signifying a lower area) I would certainly be rising in altitude. In fact the whole Negev system, which is the southern part of the map from Beersheva to the Jordan and Arava valley running down the middle, is a highland.
But this phrase is not just talking about a rise in altitude, but also a ride in spirituality. A rise in the spiritual depths of wandering the Desert to the heights of the Holy Land. This phrase was also used by Ben Gurion in his attempts to settle the Negev, he told the people;
‘Go up to this Negev!’
‘And this was the deed of the Menorah beaten out of Gold, from its base to its flowering it was beaten out, just as the Eternal revealed to Moses in a vision’. (Bamidbar / Numbers 8:4)
Why did Moses need to be illustrated the method of building the Menorah or Candelabra in a vision, why could n’t he just have it shown to him?
The making of the Menorah is described earlier in the Bible, it was supposed to be made of pure Gold and beaten out of one piece of metal. This involves two impossibilities:
Firstly if the Menorah was made of pure gold, it would not keep its shape. Most gold is mixed with an impurity so that it will keep its shape, gold is normally fairly soft. This is why we have the karat system, which is a system of grading the impurities in the gold.
Secondly, how could it be beaten out of one piece of gold, this is metallurgically impossible. It can be molded out of one piece, or many pieces could be beaten and then stuck together, but to get one massive lump of gold and beat out an intricate item would be impossible.
This is why Moses required a vision, because the making of the Candelabra or Menorah was a miracle and only the Eternal could show him how to do it. The Menorah in the picture above is the Menorah that belongs to the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, it stands next to the steps to the Western Wall Plaza. To illustrate this point, it was made of a high quality of gold (but not pure gold) and was formed by a chemical / electrical process called electrolysis.
Portion of the Week: Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26)
‘ואם מין העוף עולה קרבנו לה”
“והקריב מן התורים ומין בני יונה את קרבנו
“If he is to bring an offering that is to be eaten to the Eternal then he shall bring it from the ‘Torim’ Doves and from the Doves”
This week’s portion fits in very well with the official start of my blog, for it is the official start of a new reading of a book of the Pentateuch; ‘Vayikra’ (Leviticus: the Laws of Priesthood or in Hebrew ‘He Called’). It also contains a very important concept to Jews; Peace.
The quote above is dealing with the laws concerning a person who wishes to offer a bird as an offering to the Eternal one. According to this verse, one can only offer either a Dove or a Rock pigeon. But this is very confusing as any decent bird watcher will instantly tell you; Rock pigeons (the Grand Daddy of our City Pigeons) are a type of Dove.
Why can’t you just say; ‘bring me your Doves !’ or some thing like that?
Also, why Doves? Why can’t you bring chicken? Most good Jews eat chicken (apart from vegetarians, I’m a veggie too, I was upset by the lack of a tofu sacrifice, but that’s a discussion for another time). There is a special significance to this choice of bird.
Most commandments are connected to the reality of the situation of the Children of Israel or the reality that they would face in the Holyland. There are 4 main kinds of Dove that visit Israel, the first was captured on camera by a friend:
The Rock Dove / Pigeon
(picture courtesy of Remi Rauh)
The Collared Dove
The Turtle Dove
Laughing Dove
All of the four fit into the general category ‘Dove’ or ‘Yonah’, the first three, according to scripture, can be categorised as ‘Tor’ in Hebrew, what I have called “‘Torim’ Doves”, the last is part of the Global Category of Doves and Pigeons (see ‘Daat Mikra’ published by Mosad HaRav Kook on this verse who names the first three categories). The first of the three the Rock Dove or Columbia Livia in Latin were commonly used in the ancient Middle East as farmed edible foul. It was very common to have a Columbarium (an underground cave with niches for the housing of doves, now means a mausoleum but originally came from the word ‘Columba’ in Latin meaning Dove) attached to a house as part of the family’s food supply. The picture below was taken in the ruins of a large settlement outside Jerusalem called Maresha, which contains a vast number of underground Columbaria including this massive one which also became a Church and later on a Mosque.
(Columbarium of Beit Guvrin courtesy of Remi Rauh)
It is even suggested that before their domestication it was fairly easy to catch a dove and these are the kind that frequented Israel. So the text is telling us, ‘bring an offering from the ‘Torim’ these are the easiest to find, if not buy a ‘Dove’, it gives us the easiest option first as the more preferable one. This sacrifice is to do with Hesed ; loving-kindness to the person bringing the sacrifice, that it should be a service to the Eternal which is easy to accomplish.
There is a much deeper reason why the Dove is used at all. The Dove is first mentioned in connection with Noah, it is the Dove that heralded the end of the flood and became for eternity the international symbol of Peace. The Great Rabbis said;
‘It is better to be one of the pursuers than one of the pursued and there is none pursued more than the ‘Torim’ Dove and the Dove’ (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Baba Kama 93 side A, quoting Rabbi Abahu).
This has a dual meaning, firstly it is a message to be essentially a peaceful person (I do n’t think it means get yourself killed, anybody who has tried to trap birds knows that they certainly struggle and if you want proof I’ll happily take you to a Dove ringing at one of the many Bird Survey centres in Israel and prove this to you). Secondly it means to be a person who is at peace with the service of the eternal, it is evident from the many columbarium in the environs of Jerusalem that they were the most common thing to be sacrificed at the temple, the easiest thing for a person to get hold of to serve the Holy One. The message we are given is that we should ourselves be resigned in peace to divine service both with ourselves and with others.