Tanach Thoughts

This is part 4 of a series of posts I made shortly after starting the blog (nos. 1 , 2 , 3 ). Back then, I noticed that there were many ties between the Tribe of Yehudah in particular and Egypt. This was most particularly apparent in their personal names, though there were a couple of other connections. I am now in the midst of conducting research for my latest seminar paper, in which I will attempt to propose a link between the Samaria Ostraca and the LMLK handles (more on that in a later post). As researching one fascinating topic goes, my search led me to many other fascinating topics, one being the subject of Egyptian icons in Judahite (i.e., of the Kingdom of Yehudah) material culture. For example, all LMLK handles feature variants of two main Egyptian symbols: A winged disk (many identify it with the Egyptian winged sun disk) or a winged scarab, a sacred Egyptian symbol. Another example are Judahite seals, many of which feature blatant Egyptian symbols, including idolatrous symbo

In memory of Gavriel ben David Blum z"l, killed in Gaza last week. Yesterday I paid a shiva call to the Blum family whose son Gavriel, whom I knew in high school, was sadly killed last week in Gaza. They recounted a story that I think his friends told them when they visited the night before. It's the sort of story that makes me uncomfortable (and his father did hesitate for a moment before telling it to the crowd, but his mother okayed it). Today I thought about it again and found a kernel of connection to Torah, with an emphasis on the story of the Exodus, now being read in shuls around the world, so I think it's worth getting over the uncomfortable bit. As our sages taught: תורה היא, וללמוד אני צריך! (This is Torah, and I must learn!) One day, a group of higher-ups visited the area in Gaza where Gavriel's unit was staying. The soldiers were tending to various military assignments, and the higher-ups, including several very high-ranking officers and a member of the so

Nearly a year ago I posted about a topic that I had been thinking about, which is the boundaries of the northern territory of Dan, the one they conquered after leaving their original coastal territory. Last Shabbat (yesterday), I started thinking about how mapping out something like this would work, given that the Tanach doesn't give us any explicit information regarding their new territory, save for their central city, Laish/Leshem/Dan. It occurred to me that the next best thing would be to mark the boundaries of all countries and tribal territories around them- and the middle space will be that of Dan. I don't know if it's entirely possible, though. But we could probably mark up well the boundaries of Naftali and the Transjordanian half of Menashe. That would give us Dan's western and southern borders. In the east we have the Aramean petty kingdoms (new term I heard...): Geshur, Tov, Ma'achah, Aram Tzovah, Aram Damascus (I hope I didn't forget anyone). Archeol

Sadly my Levitical Cities paper was rejected once again from the first journal it was sent to. To recap, I first sent it during winter of last year. It was summarily rejected but I was given the option of improving it and sending it in again. It took an entire year, but I finally managed to send it in a little over a month ago. But it has now been rejected once again. Still, largely it went better than last time. Last time it was rejected on the doorstep by the editor. This time it was at least passed along to peer reviewers, so I received a copy of their reviews. Probably mistakenly the editor also passed along a slightly corrected copy of the paper which showed who one of the reviewers was. I always blow out some air with a "pssshh" when I recognize a name. And yes, I recognized the name of the reviewer. He actually complemented me, despite thinking that the paper wasn't a good fit for that particular journal. He thought it should be sent to a different journal, which i

...I've decided to get back to posting on my other blog . I'll still be posting here Tanach-related stuff, but if you're interested in reading my thoughts on other subjects (everything from personal going-ons to the trials of academia to thoughts on other fields of Torah to whatever else may come to mind), you're welcome to check it out.

May this post be in merit of our soldiers, a swift return of the hostages and a speedy recovery for Dror Yisrael ben Rut Miriam (דרור ישראל בן רות מרים). I noticed something interesting while reading last week's parasha. After Yosef claims that his brothers came to Egypt to spy on the land, the brothers are forced to leave behind Shimon and go back home to bring Binyamin. Yaakov, naturally, is against this idea. Reuven says the following ( Beresheet 42:37 ): " וַיֹּאמֶר רְאוּבֵן אֶל אָבִיו לֵאמֹר אֶת שְׁנֵי בָנַי תָּמִית אִם לֹא אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֵלֶיךָ תְּנָה אֹתוֹ עַל יָדִי וַאֲנִי אֲשִׁיבֶנּוּ אֵלֶיךָ" " Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you.”" What's interesting here that in this week's parasha it says that Reuven had four sons (and that was the case for later mentions of Reuven's sons). But Reuven doesn't say "You may kill two of  my sons&