Tanach Thoughts

 One of the names that has long puzzled me is Ivtzan. You know, short-time judge from the Book of Shoftim, comes from Beit Lechem. According to the gemara, Ivtzan was Boaz. But that's another story. Perhaps worthy of a post around Shavuot-time. I first began pondering Ivtzan's name around the summer of my fifth year in Yeshiva. For a while I thought it might come from the mineral name Avatz (אבץ) - zinc, but I couldn't find any evidence that Avatz is an old word. Also, why name a person after zinc? A few months ago, I noticed that there was a place in Israel called Tevetz (תבץ). That still doesn't explain the etymology, but it is  a plausible direction. It would work with multiple other names of people that are merely taken from place-names; evidence of early Zionism. However, a couple of weeks ago, while reading Ben-Tzion Luria's Shaul and Binyamin, I came across a paragraph where he pointed out that the meaning of Gilad comes from the treaty between Yaakov and Lav...

 Been awhile. But I thought I would put forward this idea suggested by my (new) Tanach chavruta: We started learning Ezra and Nechemiah Wednesday before last. When we reached ch. 2 he suggested that the list of the leadership of Shivat Tzion - Zerubavel, Yeshua, Nechemiah, S'rayah, Ra'alyah, Mordechai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rechum, Ba'anah - corresponds to the sub-groups that came with them to Eretz Yisrael: Families from Yehudah, Binyamin, Levi, Kohanim and the Bnei Netinim - descendants of the slaves of Shlomo who converted. Very interesting theory, but does it hold water? Zerubavel - Yehudah. Yeshua - Kohen Nechemiah - unknown (whether or not this is Nechemiah Hatirshata, author of Nechemiah is unknown, but either way, his tribal identity is, at least according to p'shat, unknown. S'rayah - unknown, some believe this may be S'rayah Hakohen, last KG of the First Temple. Ra'alyah - unknown. Mordechai - likely the  Mordechai, so Binyamin. Bilshan - unknow...