Tanach Thoughts

In Yechezkel it's stated a number of times that the only branch of kohanim that remained loyal to Hashem were the sons of Tzaddok. It has been interpreted by some to mean that from that point on, only the sons of Tzaddok can be Kohanim Gedolim (High Priests). The cult in the Dead Sea were big fans of the sons of Tzaddok, and apparently were very much against the House of Chashmonai for taking the High Priesthood for themselves, apparently stealing the sons of Tzaddok's right to the post. So who was Tzaddok? Most believe that Tzaddok refers to the KG in the time of Shlomo. After the KG Evyatar sided with Adoniyah, Shlomo fired him and sent him to Anatot ( Melachim 1:2:26-27 ), and Tzaddok stepped in his stead ( ibid. 35 ). Another option is Tzaddok II, a descendant of the first ( Divrei Hayamim 1:5:38 ). A third option was suggested by Rabbi Tanchum Hayerushalmi in his commentary on Chaggai 1:1: "עם אותו יהושע בן יהוצדק הכהן, מפני שהוא יורש הכהונה, שהרי יהוצדק אביו היה כהן ...

 I started this blog for, among other things, tracking my family tree project, but haven't actually made an update on that in awhile. So here's the update: I've finished Yehudah, Binyamin and almost all of the tribeless, except for people I noticed I had forgotten while working on other tribes. All that's left for V1, which is in Hebrew, is Levi and the last of the tribeless. About a 1/3 of Levi is already complete. Now to the main subject of the post: There's an interesting gemara in Temurah 16a: "תנא הוא עתניאל הוא יעבץ ומה שמו יהודה אחי שמעון שמו עתניאל שענאו אל יעבץ שיעץ וריבץ תורה בישראל" "A tanna taught in a baraita : The same person is known as Othniel and he is also known as Jabez. And what is his actual name? Judah, brother of Simeon, is his name. He was known as Othniel, as God answered [ ana’o El ] his prayer. He was also known as Jabez [ yabetz ] because he advised and spread [ ya’atz veribetz ] Torah among the Jewish people." I...

 This is a continuation of this post , which is merely my translation into English of an excellent list of different sorts of commentators on Tanach, provided by the website of the late Nechama Leibowitz. Just putting this out there for anyone's use. Professor Shlomo Dov Goitine Henry George (not Jewish) Rabbi Mordechai Gimpel Yaffe (Techelet Mordechai) Rabbi Shlomo Dubno Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (Michtav Me'Eliyahu) Rabbi Hertz Naftali Homberg (Hakorem) Rabbi David Tzvi Hoffman Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Horwitz (Be'er Yitzchak) Rabbi Yeshiayah Halevi Horwitz (the Shl"ah) Chaim Hazaz Rabbi Wolf (Binyamin Ze'ev) Heidenheim) (RaVe"h) Rabbi Eliezer Halevi Heilperin (Bi'urei Mohara"l) Rabbi Efraim ben Shimshon (Rabbeinu Efraim) Rabbeinu Asher ben Yechiel (Ro"sh) Professor Yosef Heinman Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn (Nimukei Rashi) Rabbi Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dwinsk (Meshech-Chochmah) Rabbi David Halevi Segal (Divrei David)...

 As it turns out, Gidon had a sidekick. Well, not quite a sidekick. He's called a "na'ar" in Hebrew. A young assistant. Kind of like an intern, except with stealth and fighting capabilities. Like a spy plane. Okay, I'll stop. His name was Purah, which is exceedingly interesting. The word Purah will be familiar to some of us from Anim Zemirot: "Purah Bedorcho Be'vo'oh Me'edom". Purah means "winepress" in old Hebrew. Why is this interesting? Because Gidon's story opens up with him beating wheat in... a winepress ! As I heard from Rabbi Uzi Bienenfeld, Gidon did this because he didn't want the Midianites to discover him and take what precious little food his family had.  In that part of the story, the more well-known word for winepress was used - "Gat". But the two words mean the same thing. Gidon's story begins in a winepress, and then he has an assistant named "winepress" sneaking with him to spy on th...

Note: I started writing this review shortly after the end of the third lockdown, but never got around to finishing it (translating the section below), so the result is that this is being published over a month after I first started writing this.  Yes! After five weeks (the duration of the third lockdown here in Israel) of chipping away at the book named in the title, I've finished it and can now share with the world all of my very important thoughts on a book that I'm not sure very many people in the world are even aware exists...but I take what I can find (and yes, I found it next to the neighborhood's genizah can)... Introduction To The Holy Scriptures is my translation of the title which is מבוא לכתבי הקודש - Mevo Lekitvei Hakodesh. It was originally written by Shmuel Shrira in Russian, according to Zalman Shazar , who wrote the introduction to the Hebrew edition. Apparently the two were among a group of scholars funded by Baron  Günzburg , which is how they met. My tho...

 Wow is the only way I can describe this cool find from earlier this evening: A list of Tanachic commentators , many I've never heard of. It's from Nechama Leibowitz z"l's site and I'm translating it into English (on the site each name leads to a short bio about that person, so recommnded you check out the original, if you can). As it's long, I'll only post part of it now (letters א-ב), and the rest further posts. Also, I've had another post in the oven for a while now, but been busy... R' Aharon abu Alrabi R' Yonah ibn Janach R' Yosef ibn Caspi R' Avraham ibn Ezra Dr. Yehudah Even Shmuel R' Don Yitzchak Abravanel R' Natan Marcus Hakohen Adler Arnold Bogomil Ehrlich R' Yosef Chaim Azulai (the Chida) R' Yonatan Eibschutz R' Yissachar Ber Eilenburg R' Ze'ev Wolf Einhorn (Maharzu) R' Yisrael Isserlein R' Yosef Albo Prof. Chanoch Albeck R' Avraham Aligeri R' Eliezer of Beaugancy R' Eliyahu Krem...

 "Pride Rock! So majestic, so mysterious, so...bizarrely named. Pumbaa, how can a rock be proud?" "Well, actually, I think it's a metaphor--" These words come to mind with the twin names Reuel and Deuel. Reuel is actually a name that belongs to multiple people in Tanach: There's of course Yitro, AKA Reuel, and then there's Esav's son Reuel, and Reuel ben Yevanyah of the Tribe of Binyamin, and of course, Reuel, father of Elyasaf, the Nasi of Gad in the desert. That's quite a quartet: Two Israelites, a Midianite and an Edomite. All descendants of Avraham, of course. Then there's Deuel, father of Elyasaf, the Nasi of Gad in the desert. Wait, what? Yup. Elyasaf's father is at time called Reuel and at time Deuel. What's going on? Well, people with double names aren't that rare in Tanach. In fact, I think that a great many mysteries in Tanach could be solved with properly identifying certain people with other people. But that's of c...