Tanach Thoughts

I just came across this wonderous midrash. The midrash came to explain why Izevel (Jezebel)'s skull, feet and palms remained after her corpse was devoured by dogs ( Melachim 2:9:35 ). According to the midrash, which appears in multiple sources, including Pirkei De'Rabbi Eliezer and Yalkut Shimoni , "Whence do we learn (the duty of) showing loving-kindness to mourners? From Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal. The palace of Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, was near the market-place. When any corpse was carried through the market-place, she would go forth from her palace, and she clapped with the palms of her hands and praised with her mouth, and she followed the corpse ten steps. Concerning her, Elijah, be he remembered for good, prophesied (and said): "In the portion of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel" (2 Kings 9:36). But over the limbs which were (employed in) showing loving-kindness, the dogs had no power, as it is said, "And they went || to bur...

So, very exciting news that I got just a last night - I was informed by the editors of the journal Megadim that my article has been accepted for publication. They just recommended a few small corrections. Once I send in the final draft they'll start preparing it for publication, presumably for the next volume (64). Don't remember if I've shared in the past, but I can sure share now that the article suggests a new interpretation for the difficultly-phrased verse in Melachim 2:15:25: " וַיִּקְשֹׁר עָלָיו פֶּקַח בֶּן רְמַלְיָהוּ שָׁלִישׁוֹ וַיַּכֵּהוּ בְשֹׁמְרוֹן בְּאַרְמוֹן בֵּית  מלך  [הַמֶּלֶךְ] אֶת אַרְגֹּב וְאֶת הָאַרְיֵה וְעִמּוֹ חֲמִשִּׁים אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי גִלְעָדִים וַיְמִיתֵהוּ וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו." "His aide, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him and struck him down in the royal palace in Samaria; with (?) Argob and the Arieh, and with him were fifty Gileadites; and he killed him and succeeded him as king. The verse describes the assassination ...

Something interesting I noticed today while reading Rashi on Vayishlach. While discussing the wives of Esav, Rashi noted  that the wife called Ohalivamah (אהליבמה) bat Anah ( Beresheet 36:2 ) is the same as Yehudit (יהודית) bat Be'rei ( Beresheet 26:34 ). And that led me to wonder: In the Tanach (e.g. Yechezkel 23:4 ), and in later sources, especially piyyutim lamenting the destruction and exile ( some examples ), Judah is often called "Ohalivah", which is very similar to Ohalivamah, who is supposedly Yehudit (Judith, same root as Judah). It begs the questions: Why would Ohalivah/Judah be called after one of the wives of Esav, and is Ohalah (Israel in the same sources) also named after someone? (image taken from here )

A short explanation on the blog's hiatus: I have been extremely busy lately and that's why I haven't updated in a long time. I actually started making this post over a month ago. Then I had to work on other things, and this post was put on the backburner. I'll try to make a few more posts in coming weeks. I don't want this blog to die down. Some time ago, it suddenly occurred to me that we know very little about the territory of the Tribe of Dan after they moved north. We know they built the City of Dan, and...that's it... But one city can't support an entire tribe. Even the Levites, despite being a small tribe, received 48 cities. So where are all of Dan's other cities and towns? What were the borders of "New Dan"? I'm hoping to make this mapping out of their territory an on-going side-project. From what I know, we have next to no knowledge of their territory, so this will be very speculative. But I thought it would be a fun thing to try o...

As a continuation of my recent post on the rise of Omri and the special trait of his house, I noticed that this is how Yehu killed the descendants of Achav: Divide and conquer. In Kings 2:9:21-24 , Yehu approaches both King Yehoram, son of Achav and King Achazyah, son of Atlayah, daughter or sister of Achav and Yehoram, son of Yehoshafat. It may be understood from the verses that Yehu first barged towards Yehoram, cursing him, as though he did not notice Achazyah. This makes Yehoram conclude that Achazyah was betraying him and shouts at him "Treason, Achazyah!" before he is slaughtered by Yehu. Yehu then gives chase to Achazyah and slaughters him as well ( ibid. 27 ). Next he slays the 70 other sons of Achav ( ibid. 10:1-11 ). Finally, he kills the 42 kinsmen of Achazyah ( ibid. 10:13-14 ). All of this spilling of blood was appranetly caused by one man. The various branches of the House of Achav could have taken him on, but they were ill-prepared and divided (in some cases, g...

A short idea I thought of now: Ephraim Ha'Reuveni was a famous Jewish botanist in Israel. In an essay he wrote on Tanachic names that come from plants and animals, he pointed out that both Omri and Tivni (as well as some other names) are plant names: Omri comes from Omer (עומר), which means 'sheaf of grain' and Tivni comes from Teven (תבן) which means 'hay' (see here , p. 388, n. 36). Now, Omri was a famous king of Israel. Before that he had been a general in the Israelite army, and when the Israelites heard that Zimri had killed King Elah and the House of Ba'asha, they followed Omri to do battle against Zimri, eventually killing him. After this had happened, a challenger rose: Tivni ben Ginat. This caused the splitting of the Israelites into two factions: Followers of Omri and followers of Tivni, as it says in Kings 1:16:12-13: "Then the people of Israel split into two factions: a part of the people followed Tibni son of Ginath to make him king, and the ot...

I've been quite busy lately and still am. I've started a number of posts but haven't gotten around to finishing them. However, yesterday I realized something interesting while reading a book, and it's short, so I'm sharing it. So Purim has come and gone...several months ago. But when you think about it, maybe Purim should be year-round because the whole build up to the grand finale of Esther was years in the making. Anyway, Daryavesh, or Darius, the one under whom the Second Temple was completed, was, according to Jewish tradition, the son of Queen Esther and King Achashverosh (see for example Midrash Yalkut Shimoni on the Torah 536 ). However, this is never openly acknowledged in Tanach. There might be any number of reasons for this, including that we have misunderstood our sources and they are not referring to the same Daryavesh under whom the Temple was completed; that Daryavesh was so far gone from Judaism that there was no point; IT'S A THEOLOGICAL CONSPIRA...

לעילוי נשמת אברהם בן ישראל יצחק Post in memory of Avraham ben Yisrael Yitzchak Last night, my grandmother's brother died. This comes in the wake of the passing of my grandfather less than two years ago and the passing of one of my aunts less than a year ago. All very sudden and health-related, but nothing due to corona. This post is dedicated in his memory. Some time ago, I noticed that there was a typical sort of eulogy or lament in Tanach. It is referred as "הוי אחי" - "Oh, my brother". It's only mentioned twice in Tanach - in Kings and Yirmiyahu, but there's also a sort of - offshoot, I guess? that appears later in Yirmiyahu as well, which is a eulogy that seems to have been reserved for royalty, and that's the "הוי אדון" - "Oh, [my] lord" eulogy. Here are the verses (this translation uses the variants "alas" and "ah" instead of "oh"): "He laid the corpse in his own burial place; and they lame...

 Yes, I'm aware a few weeks have passed since Chanukah. Yes, I'm aware Chanukah is not (explicitly) mentioned anywhere in Tanach. Yes, I'm aware The Books of Maccabees aren't in Tanach. Nonetheless, an idea for a Chanukah-and-Tanach-related post came to mind over Shabbat, so here it is. Last Thursday, we toured several different sites in the Land of Menashe - well, what was the area of the Tribe of Menashe in Tanachic times. One of the places we visited is called Al-Makhruch. It's thought to have been a fortified site that was manned by soldiers of the Kingdom of Yisrael, after the split of the United Kingdom. Its original Hebrew name is unknown. Near Al-Makhruch there are two other fortified sites, thought to similarly having belonged to the Kingdom of Yisrael. I'm not really sure what the Arabic names of these two little tels are, just know that both are walking distance from the first site and one in particular is connected to Chanukah. Fortified wall ruins E...