Reb Ginsbourg: "Come and Possess the Land"

Instead of trusting G-d, they sent the spies and the rest is history.

Our Parasha opens with Moshe rebuking Bnei Israel for all their misdeeds against Hashem, by alluding to the places of their misdeeds, then saying(1:2): ’It is eleven days journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea’, which Rashi elucidates: ’See what you caused..You traversed this journey of eleven days, in three days..To such an extent did the Shechina exert itself to hasten your arrival in the Land of Canaan, but because you sinned, he made you travel around Mount Seir for forty years.

The Torah then relates, that(1:3-7) ’In the fortieth year, Moshe spoke to Bnei Israel, according to all that Hashem commanded him..saying, ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and journey… See, I have set the land before you, come and possess it’.

The Netziv comments::’You have dwelt long enough at this mountain’:’It was difficult before Hashem, this tarrying even at the chosen and elevated mountain, , so desirous was He to hasten their entry into the Land.

‘See, I have set the land before you, come and possess it’:You do not have to inherit it, by the inhabitants dying out, so that it becomes unoccupied and ownerless - which would require an act of acquisition - but, it is a gift to you, so that your coming into it, and settling in one place in it, you will have acquired all of the Land.’

Rashi comments (1:8)::’See, I have set the land before you:’With your own eyes, you can see this;;I do not tell you this from guessing or hearsay’.

‘Go in and possess it ’No one will contest the matter, and you will not need to go to war. If they had not sent the spies, they would not have needed weapons of war.

Alas, as the Torah relates, the people, instead of trusting in G-d, (1:22) ‘Approached Moshe..) leading to the sending of the meraglim, and, as we read in Ps 93 - which we say in our Kabbalat Shabbat prayers - angering Hashem, so that: ‘For forty years I strove with that generation.. So I swore in My anger, ‘They shall not enter My place of rest.’

Abarbanel expounds:’The Torah, in naming the places in our Parasha, where Bnei Israel travelled, after leaving the mountain where they had dwelt, was to inform us, that the Divine Intention was that we should conquer all of these places - however, Bnei Israel did not merit to conquer all of these lands, due to their own fault and slackness; therefore, the fault lay with them, and not Hashem.

‘This, too, is the purport of saying:’See, I have given before you, the Land’, as it was His Will that they should immediately inherit the Land, as in His eyes, it was already given to them. By saying ראה::’See ‘, in the singular - instead of saying ראו: the seemingly more apt, plural - Hashem was, as it were, saying to Moshe:’You, Moshe see, and witness, that I have already given the. Land before them, and fulfilled My oath, to the Avot’.

‘So said Hashem to Moshe: ‘Open your eyes and see. , that I have given before them , the Land ready to be conquered, and that I say to them: Come and inherit the Land, as I swore to their forefathers’ - all of this indicating that no part of any delay, was the fault of Hashem.

‘In the words:’Enough of your dwelling by this mountain’, Moshe alluded to them, that it was due to their fault they were delayed there for some time , this being due to the sin of the. Golden calf, this event necessarily taking time - also by Moshe ascending the mount twice, to atone fot their transgression, and also to be granted the second Luchot, all of this leading them to be in disfavor, and the Mishkan was therefore delayed till Rosh Chodesh Nissan, and the whole month of Nissan and till the 20th Iyar, when the Mishkan was consecrated, and the whole order of the flags, and only then did they journey - as if saying: you were long delayed at this mount, make sure that you are not further delayed, but come immediately to the Mount of Emor, as if you do not misbehave, you will not be delayed in the conquest of the Land, as it is already given to you, as it says: ’See, I have given before you..’.

‘After expounding that the delay of the people in the desert was in no way due to Hashem, he further expounded that it was also not due to him, as he hurried the people in whatever was required for a speedy journey, to enter the Land, and to settle it.

As the appointment of judges, and those in charge of the legions, was also related to wars, Moshe added:’So close in my eyes was the inheritance of the Land, he took care to immediately appoint officers and judges, who would go before them, and come before the people, and who would judge the people in their cities - all this, due to his being confident that the inheritance of the Land and its conquest, would very shortly take place.

Moshe therefore recalled (1:19-21), that after he appointed the judges and officers that he mentioned, they journeyed from Har Sinai, as Hashem commanded him, through the great desert, and came by the way of the Emori to Kadesh Barnea, all this miraculously, in three days.

When Moshe saw that Hashem had said to them: (1:7)’Turn yourselves around and journey, and come to the Amorite mountain’ - and when they arrived there, he said to them: ’’You have come to the Amorite mountain’, as Hashem had commanded and set for us, therefore equally believe, that just as He fulfilled this, so too, He will fulfill all of His good words, and give you the Land, as He said, and make haste and proceed without delay, as the Land is laid out before you, (1:21):’Do not fear and do not lose resolve’.

‘From all of this, Moshe expounded that the delay of Bnei Israel in the desert, just as it was not because of Hashem, was also due to him - Moshe -as he hurried them, and appointed officers who would go before them, in the ways of warriors - but that the sins and transgressions, in sending the meraglim, as we read.

‘To elucidate this - that the delay in the desert was solely due to the people - and that they brought this bad thing, as, when they were on the Emorite mountain - and on many other occasions - he adjured them:’Go up and possess..Do not fear and do not lose resolve’.

‘Yet, they did not want to ascend, and (1:22):’All of you approached me and said:’Let us send men ahead of us and let them spy out the Land, and bring word back to us’ - meaning: Let Moshe not think to send them himself, so that they bring back word to him alone, as they wanted only that the report come to them, as they said:’Let us send men.. and bring back word to us’.

The Malbim comments:’See’ - he said to them, that they would not need to go to war, and to conquer, because:’See, I have given before you the Land ‘, as if it was your poseession, and you do not have to fight, only to ‘come and inherit the Land’ - as Rashi brought, from our Sages, that had they not sinned in the matter of sending them himself spies, they would have had no need for weapons..

‘And I ‘ - Moshe - said to you at that time’ - now he comes to prove that there was no delay on his account, as the Abarbanel expounded, that the appointment of the judges and of the officers was, to lead the army in the time of battle for Canaan.

‘As I said to you’ (1:20-21), meaning: I said to you then that nothing is lacking from inheriting the Land - not the great journey which had separated you till now, because ‘you came to the Mountain of Emor’ and not that you would need to fight battles, as ‘Hashem gave before you the Land’, and you only need to ascend and inherit it, and you should therefore have neither fear nor be dismayed’.

‘You approached me - all of you’: After informing them that there was no delay either on account of Hashem, or of his’ - Moshe - to then immediately entering the Land, Moshe came to announce to the generation that they themselves were the cause for their forty years wanderings in the desert, this due to the sin of the spies.’

The Kli Yakar, comments that the words: ‘You have dwelt long enough’ at this mountain, ‘were the first rebuke that the people hated the Land, and settled at this mountain as their permanent settlement, and did not have the Land in their minds - though it was the special place for the performance of Mitzvot.

‘Instead ‘turn’ , towards the Land, ‘and סעו לכם: to your source.

‘Later, (1:19) this rebuke is elucidated, when Moshe said:’And we journeyed from Horeb and went through all that great and fearful desert’ - it should have said ’and we turned and journeyed from Horeb’, in the way that he said:’1:7):’Turn and journey’.

‘However, this is the purport of hid words: You are continuing in your ways - I said: ’Turn and journey’, that when you leave Mount Horeb, on which you learned Torah, turn to the Land, the place of performance of the Torah, as it is not the learning that is the main thing, but the deeds.

‘You, however, when you left Horeb, had a different outlook: to go from the place that was special for learning Torah - but you did not turn to the place where the Mitzvot were kept, as you remain in your hatred of the Land.

‘It therefore says:(1:19):’And we journeyed from Horeb and went through all that great and fearful desert’: each one of you, set his face to the desert, and not to the Land.’

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin brings a new insight, as to why Moshe Rabbeinu saw the need, at this time, to appoint judges: ’’At that time (1:16): Moshe sought a Mitzvah, in the merit of which Bnei Israel would inherit the Land, without offering up themselves in battle.

‘He found the teaching of our Sages: ( Sanhedrin 32 ), that ‘the appointment of righteous judges was כדאי: worthwhile keep all the warriors alive - so that none of them perished in battle, whilst the Land was being conquered - and for them to merit to settle the Land.’.

‘Therefore, Moshe commanded Bnei Israel ‘at that time’ : as they were about to go out to conquer the Land, to appoint proper judges.’

Rav Chaim MiChernowitz, introduces his commentary, by noting: ’There is a great distance between a person who himself merits Hashem’s blessings, and one who is not himself worthy of them, and only receives them as a legacy from his ancestors.

‘The latter’s blessings are limited by measure, to his inheritance.

‘Thisis why Moshe opened his words to Bnei Israel, by saying:’(1:6) ’The Lord our G-d spoke to us in Horeb, saying..’: He spoke to us, He being ‘our G-d’ alone, and not as ‘the G-d of our fathers’, as saying, that from ourselves, we merited that He is our G-d - and, as He is with us, everything is open to us, in our own merit.

‘Thus, He told us that we ourselves merit to inherit the Land.

‘What, then, is the meaning of the following word: לאמר: ‘to say’? To say to whom?

‘Let us note that - in this passuk - He said דבר, which is ‘harsh’ language, and we ask::What required ‘harsh’ language, as it is to the good of Bnei Israel, that they are to go to the Land!

‘The answer might be that perhaps Bnei Israel would not wish to leave the mountain, - after all they had witnessed there, receiving the Torah there, and meriting the residence of the Shechina in their midst - even the conquest of the seven lands, be they lands of milk and honey, cannot compare to sitting on this mountain - more pleasant than any earthly pleasure.

‘This is the reason Hashem spoke ‘harshly’ to them, as, because of His love for them, He wanted to give them the Land, that day - אמירה, ‘saying’ indicating, as our Sages teach: expressing love and affection.

‘This is why both ‘languages’ - דבר, a language of ‘harshness’, and לאמר, a language of affection - appear in the one passuk - to show that both were present here, the ‘harsh’ language being to cause us - out of His love for us - to leave the mountain, where they had become ensconced, where seemingly nothing had been lacking - in their eyes - as this was not the Will of Hashem, but that they ‘turn and journey’ from there, to the Land.

‘See, I have given before you the Land, come and possess the Land which the Lord swore to your forefathers..to give them and their descendants after them’.

‘As you have lost the merit of yourselves as soon as you journeyed from the mount of Hashem - and also in the incidents and places mentioned at the beginning of the Parsha- you only merit to inherit the Land because of the oath made to the Avot, which is limited by measure and boundaries - therefore, ‘come and inherit the Land of the oath to the Avot, and no more.

‘We find that even the whole of the Land was not conquered - because of their sins - and even David Hamelech did not venture to conquer the whole of the Land of Israel, before conquering the rest of the lands, to sanctify them with the sanctity of the Land of Israel, knowing that this was only possible if Bnei Israel themselves had the merit to do so, and he did not see them having this merit.’

Let us conclude, by savoring the Torah wisdom of the Alshich haKadosh:’Enough of you dwelling by this mountain’: True, I know that it is a great thing for you to dwell by this mountain, as it is the place where the Torah was given twice, and also the place where the Shechina hovered above you.

‘But know that greater than this will be yours in the Land, as now you are far from your roots, but there the Shechina is above, against the Land of Israel.

‘Therefore, when a Jew is outside the Land, he is separated from his roots - but when he comes to the Land, he nears his roots.

‘When he goes towards the Land, he is as one who comes nearer to himself and to his roots and to his essence - which is not the case whilst he is outside the Land, as he is as if separated from part of himself.

‘This is why Hashem said to Avraham: לך לך, saying: go to yourself, and near your being, as here - outside the Land of- you are far from yourself.

‘This is what Hashem is saying here: ’Enough for you to dwell here, turn and journey to you’ - meaning:’to you’: to you, you are journeying, as there are your roots.

‘He therefore did not say: ’and go’, but ‘and come’ - like one who comes to his home.

‘Further, by saying ‘turn and journey and come’ - when it would have sufficed to say: ’turn and come’ - and also in saying: ’See, I have given before you..’, as saying: Behold this I will do for you: before you arrive at the Emorite Mountain, all of you will miraculously, as one, see a sign that you will come to the Land, and you will recognize now as if the Land is already conquered before you - this is why the singular: ראה: see, is written, and not the plural: ראו.

‘Till now, Moshe related the great desire of Hashem, to bring them to the Land, but, alas, now he relates that they despised the Land, as the psukim relate.

‘This, as would it enter our hearts, that even if, a King would say to some of his servants: ‘I give you a goodly gift, come and take it for yourselves’, that they would not hasten to take it, or at least express their thanks to him.

‘Clearly, if they do not do so, it can only be because of the wickedness of their hearts, and that they are not happy with their king.

‘How much more so, when the King of Kings says to them: ’Enough of you sitting at this mountain, turn and journey from here..see, I have given the Land before you’ - and they not only did not journey there, nor in any way thank the King - indeed, they did not even say: ’We will do so’, but stood, and were silent.

‘This is the implied rebuke, of Moshe saying - later in our parsha - ‘Hashem spoke to us in Horeb, saying’: meaning, so that we should answer him - but they did not say a word, proving that they despised the Land.

‘Instead, they provided an ‘indirect’ answer, by theiir request that spies be sent - as we read, with the awesome results that ensued.’

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/412569

Mayim Achronim: Encoded Journeys from Parshas Maasei

 The Encoded Journeys of Israel

This essay was meant to be for last week’s parasha, Massei, but the insight only came to me on Shabbat as I was reading the parasha and wandering, once again, what is the deeper significance of the Torah listing all 42 stops of the Israelites in the Wilderness? As I was going over the list, a few of the location names jumped out at me for being of great historical significance. What if, I thought, the 42 stops represent a historical timeline for all the major events in Jewish history, from the Exodus to the End of Days? 

Could it be that the Torah was encoding all the key national “journeys” of Israel in the future? As I went through them, it made more and more sense, and a neat picture of Jewish history emerged. I decided to write about it this week instead of saving it for next year because some of the “stops” on the Israelite journey are particularly relevant now, both in light of what is happening around the world and in the Holy Land, and as we get ready to commemorate Tisha b’Av this Sunday. Let’s take a deeper look at the 42 stops of the Israelite journey.

We are first told that the Israelites “set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after Passover…” (Numbers 33:3) They made their first stop in a place called Sukkot. This, of course, signifies how they initially dwelt in temporary huts in the Wilderness (although they were later dwelling in proper tents for most of the time). The Sukkot stop, therefore, represents the forty-year period before entering the Holy Land.

The next stop is called Eitam, which is described as being “on the edge of the Wilderness”. I believe this signifies the next phase in their journey, when the Israelites crossed into the Holy Land from the “edge of the Wilderness” and began to liberate their territory. Moses had told them to be “strong and courageous” during this period, and not to lose resolve, get lazy, or draw close to the idolaters that lived there. They needed to be eitan, strong and bold, but as we know from the ensuing passages in Tanakh, they did not do the job all the way. Maybe that’s why the stop was called eitam, coming up one short of eitan!

The next stop was Migdol, which literally means to “build up”. This is the era of settling and building up the land after the conquest. The Torah describes this stop as being both near Pi-Hahiroth, which can be read as “mouth of freedom”, and also near Ba’al Tzfon, an idolatrous deity. I believe this accurately represents the early period of Judges, where Israel was able to experience both national freedom for the first time, but also occasionally succumbed to idolatry and Ba’al worship, as we read in Tanakh.

The Torah then tells us that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. This is significant because at the Splitting of the Sea, we read that 600 chariots drowned, while in the era of Judges, we read that 900 chariots of Sisera drowned in the battle against Deborah and Barak. The Talmud (Pesachim 118b) explains that God had the Red Sea spit out the 600 drowned chariots so that Israel could see the great miracle and overcome their fear of the Egyptians. The Red Sea protested (“Does a Master give a gift to His servant and then take it back?”) so God promised that He will give the waters one-and-a-half times more in the future. This was fulfilled in the 900 drowned chariots of Sisera!

Following Deborah, we read how the quality of the judges started to decline, with most of them no longer prophets and generally just military leaders. The Israelites started to go wayward as well, and the Book of Judges notes multiple times that people did all kinds of wicked things then, “before there was a king in Israel” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). The second half of the Book of Judges clearly describes the decline in Israel that necessitated a strong monarchy. This corresponds to the next stop in the Wilderness, called Marah, “bitter”. The late Judges period was indeed a bitter time for Israel.

It came to an end with the first great kings of Israel: Saul, David, and Solomon. They were able to reunite all the Twelve Tribes under one banner, and David established the everlasting holy dynasty with its capital in the eternal city of Jerusalem. He also established a proper Sanhedrin of seventy elders. This is beautifully illustrated by the next stop, Elim, where there were “twelve springs and seventy palm trees”. The twelve springs represent the unification of the Twelve Tribes, and the seventy palms the establishment of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.

The next stop is called Yam Suf, reminding us of the Splitting of the Sea again. In the historical context, it represents the splitting of the kingdom following the reign of Solomon. The northern tribes separated to establish the northern Kingdom of Ephraim, under the rule of King Jeroboam. He was a direct descendant of Yosef, and recall that our Sages say Yam Suf is an anagram of mi’Yosef, because it split in the merit of the sarcophagus of Joseph that the Israelites brought out with them! Jacob’s blessing to Joseph that his son Ephraim would one day attain great heights (Genesis 48) was fulfilled with Jeroboam, although he tragically later fell to sin and idolatry.

The next era of Israelite history is possibly the most difficult, as both kingdoms succumbed to sin and idolatry. Sabbaticals and Jubilees were not observed, and sacrifices were offered to all sorts of false gods on “high places” across the land. This corresponds to the next stop in the Israelite journey, back to the emptiness, wilderness, and lack of faith in Midbar Sin. That era ended first with the Assyrian conquest that crushed the northern kingdom, and then the Babylonian conquest not long after that crushed the southern kingdom and destroyed the Jerusalem Temple. This is alluded to by the next stop, Dofka, which can also mean to be “struck” and harmed. The difficult “Babylonian Exile” of seventy years ensued.

Then, the Babylonians were taken over by the Persians. Originally, the Persians were good to the Jews, but with the rise of Haman, the Persian oppression began. This is alluded to by the place called Alush. There is something really amazing hidden here: The commentaries all point out that it was in Alush when manna began to fall for Israel. Among others, the Chomat Anakh, Ba’al haTurim, and Pa’aneach Raza all say that haman (literally, “the manna”, but spelled and pronounced the exact same way as Haman!) began to fall for Israel in Alush. And all three commentators add that the manna fell in the merit of Sarah, who had once diligently made cakes for the visiting angels (where the Torah says  lushi v’asi ugot). The Torah tells us that Sarah died at age 127, and Rabbi Akiva pointed out the connection between Sarah’s 127 years and the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire that Haman got control over (see Beresheet Rabbah 58:3).

The end of the Persian oppression is marked by the Purim victory, when the Jews rose up and defeated the Amalekites. Prior to this, the first time in history that the Israelites had defeated the Amalekites in battle was following the Exodus, in a place called Rephidim. Perfectly, the next stop listed in the Israelite journeys is Rephidim! As described in detail before (See ‘Purim: The First Jewish Holiday’ in Garments of Light, Volume One), the Purim story marks the official “birth” of Judaism as we know it, and the first time we hear of people being mityahadim, converting to Judaism en masse (Esther 8:17). It is therefore fitting that the next stop in the Wilderness was Midbar Sinai, where the Torah was first given. Purim represents a mini-replay of the Sinai Revelation.

Following the Purim story, we find more Jews returning to the Holy Land, and the subsequent establishment of the Knesset haGedolah, the “Great Assembly”, of which Mordechai was a member. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 64a) famously recounts how the Knesset members got together and prayed for Hashem to remove the desire for idolatry so that Israel would no longer succumb to those temptations. God granted the request. 

The Sages then decided to also ask God to get rid of the desire for sexual sin. God agreed once more, but the next day the chickens laid no eggs! Without that fundamental lustful drive, no organisms reproduced, and the Sages realized the world could not endure. So, they had no choice but to reverse the second request. In perfect fashion yet again, the next stop in the journeys is a place called Kivrot haTa’avah, literally “graves of desire”. I believe this is a clear allusion to the Knesset haGedolah and their most well-known act of attempting to bury sinful human desires.

Around this same time, the Second Temple was finally completed (as its construction went through many delays, mishaps, and even sabotage). This is alluded to by the next stop, Hatzerot, literally “courtyards”, signifying the restoration of all the Temple courtyard. Shortly after came the rise of Alexander the Great and his conquest of the Holy Land. As he was approaching Israel, various foreign saboteurs went to him and relayed all kinds of false reports about the Jews. He was set on destroying Israel, but a recurring vision of Shimon haTzadik (or, in other sources, a different kohen gadol named Yaddua) saved the day. Alexander was grateful for the high priest, who had spiritually helped him in battle. Israel was spared. This episode is alluded to by the stop called Ritmah. The commentators all say that the term Ritmah alludes to the delivery of false reports, the first being that of the Spies in the Wilderness.

Alexander treated his Jewish subjects relatively well. When he died, his empire was split up by his generals. The Holy Land was taken by Ptolemy, who ruled from Egypt. The Ptolemaic dynasty was generally kind to the Jews, too, but lost the Holy Land to the Seleucid Greeks at the start of the 2nd century BCE. It was Antiochus IV Epiphanes who began the cruel Greek oppression of Israel when he came to power in 175 BCE. He would be the one to breach the Temple walls and profane God’s holy house. This is symbolized by the next stop in the Israelite list, called Rimon Paretz, literally “the pomegranate breach”. The next five stops are all related, and signify events in the Chanukah wars that lasted several decades. (It is worth reading the Books of Maccabees to fill in the details!)

Then came a place called Mak’helot, implying that here the Israelites divided up into various kehillot, distinct communities (as the Ba’al haTurim explains). I believe this signifies the major split between the Sadducees and Pharisees at this time in history. Later, more groups emerged, including the Essenes, and eventually there were 24 distinct sects of Jews at the end of the Second Temple era (as stated in the Talmud Yerushalmi,  Sanhedrin 53b). This led to a major low-point for Israel, and the next stop in the list is called Tachat, literally “low point”. There was a tremendous amount of in-fighting, and some of our Sages (including Shimon ben Shatach) even had to flee to Egypt. There was also in-fighting and power struggles within the Hasmonean dynasty. All of these intrigues are alluded to by the next three stops: Terach, Mitkah, and Hashmonah. Note how the last location is a clear and explicit reference to the Hashmonaim!

The Hasmonean dynasty ended with Pompey’s conquest of Israel for the Romans. This actually came as a result of Hasmonean contenders inviting Pompey to Israel to settle their struggle. But Pompey decided to keep it for himself. In Jewish law, one who turn to foreign governments and authorities to meddle in Jewish affairs is known as a mos’er. Fittingly, the next stop is called Moserot. As with previous oppressions, originally the Romans treated the Jews fairly well. In fact, the early Roman era was one that saw an explosion of Torah learning, and the “golden age” of the Zugot era. This is the time of Shmaya and Avtalion, and Hillel and Shammai. Perhaps these bnei Torah pairs are alluded to by the next stop, called Bnei Ya’akan.

 Coins minted by Herod Agripas I

The next stop is mysteriously called Chor haGidgad. The first word means a “hole”, while gad implies “good luck”. Was it a bad time, or a good one? Perhaps both, because the next era is that of Herod’s kingdom. Herod was a cruel dictator, but also a visionary builder. He persecuted the Sages, but then wanted to make up for it and decided to renovate the Second Temple. Our Sages would later say that one who has not seen Herod’s Temple has not seen a beautiful building! His last successor, Herod Agripas, was a righteous king that the Sages respected, and even read from the Torah publicly. The Talmud recounts how King Agripas cried because he came from Idumean converts and not Israelites, but the Sages told him: “Don’t fear, Agripas, you are our brother, you are our brother!” (Sotah 41a) Thus, the Herodian dynasty brought both good and bad.

Not long after the end of the Herodian dynasty came the Great Revolt. One of its most infamous events was the Battle of Jotapata, or Yodfat. The Romans laid a 47-day siege and then massacred much of the population, with many Jews choosing to commit suicide rather than surrender. One of the commanders of the Jewish forces was Josephus. He describes how he didn’t have the courage to martyr himself, and instead became advisor to the Romans. Although he betrayed Israel, he also did a lot to soften the Roman blow and ensure that Jerusalem’s destruction was not total. 

(In fact, the Jews were able to regroup and come back stronger just sixty years later in the Bar Kochva Revolt.) Josephus also went on to do a lot of hasbara for Israel at the time, and his works are among the most important historical texts we have today. When it comes to the next stop in the Israelite journey, we have another perfect “coincidence” in that the following location is Yotvata! And better yet, the one right after is called Avronah. This name sounds eerily similar to Aravnah, the Jebusite from whom King David purchased the Temple Mount. I believe the Avronah stop, therefore, represents the destruction of the Second Temple (returning this piece of land to the way it was back in the time of Aravnah) and the conclusion of the Great Revolt.

As is well-known, following the Temple destruction, the Sanhedrin operated from Yavneh, and the Sages of the day were able to rebuild and revive Judaism from there. This task was led by the students of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, among them Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (the Great) and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah; and their students, Rabbi Akiva and his contemporaries; as well as the next generation, which included Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. This was the “golden age” of Tannaim, and the vast majority of Mishnaic teachings are said in their names. This era is symbolized by the next two stops in the Israelite journey, Etzion Gaver and Kadesh, representing “greatness” and “holiness”.

The Golden Age came to an end with the devastating failure of the Bar Kochva Revolt. Originally, Shimon bar Kochva was quite successful, expelling the Romans from the Holy Land and even starting to rebuild the Temple. Rabbi Akiva proclaimed him to be the presumptive messiah! But it wasn’t meant to be, and the Romans soon returned stronger and quashed the revolt. The final battle was in Beitar, up in the mountains. After a long siege, the Romans breached the walls on Tisha b’Av (which we commemorate this Sunday) and carried out a terrible massacre. The Romans initially forbid the dead bodies from being buried, but a miracle occurred and the bodies did not decompose. Much later, the Romans eventually reversed their position and allowed burial, at which point the Sages in Yavneh instituted the hatov v’hametiv blessing to be added to birkat hamazon (see Berakhot 48b).

The Bar Kochva Revolt was a terrible catastrophe for many more reasons. One is the extermination of countless talmidei chakhamim, including Rabbi Akiva and his 24,000 students. Another is that, by this point (after three major rebellions), the Romans had enough of Judea, and formally dissolved the province. They renamed it “Palestine” (after the Biblical enemies of Israel, the Philistines) and attached it to the nearby province of Syria. This was the climax of Roman oppression, and I believe it is alluded to by the next stop in the Israelite journey, Hor haHar, or “Mount Hor”. 

The Torah specifically says that Hor haHar was “on the edge of the land of Edom” (bi’ktze eretz Edom), which can also be read as the “end” or “peak” of Edomite oppression. (Recall that Rome is always referred to in Jewish texts as “Edom”, and for why this is so, see the series of videos on ‘Understanding Edom’). Moreover, the Torah then tells us that Hor HaHar is the place where Aaron died, and we learned previously that the Israelites mourned greatly for him there. This mourning on Mount Hor may well be alluding to the terrible mourning over Mount Beitar that we continue to commemorate to this day on Tisha b’Av.

 

Remains of Beitar Fortress

Historically, after the Bar Kochva Revolt it was mostly downhill for the Roman Empire. Within about two centuries the empire split in half, and just over another century passed before Rome collapsed entirely. The centre of power shifted to the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines continued to persecute the Jews. They often fought with the neighbouring Sassanian Persians, who weren’t particularly kind to the Jews either. I believe the persecutions that Jews experienced post-Bar Kochva (after 135 CE) at the hands of Rome, Byzantium, and Sassanid Persia are represented by the next three stops: Tzalmonah, Funon, and Ovot. The latter term implies necromancy and wizardry (there is a mitzvah in the Torah not to engage in summoning Ovot or practicing Ov and Yidoni). And we know that Sassanid Persia was very much into the occult, with the Sages referring to their priests as “wizards”. This is true in English, too, where the term “magic” comes directly from the name of ancient Persian priests, the magi.

It was Islam that put an end to Sassanid Persia. The Muslims expanded rapidly out of Arabia and conquered Israel, too, from the Byzantines in 638 CE. This was possible because of another great Jewish revolt, led by Nehemiah ben Hushiel, shortly before the Arabs arrived. Like Bar Kochva before him, Nehemiah was able to expel the Byzantine forces temporarily, but ultimately failed to keep them away. His revolt did weaken the Byzantine position enough for the Muslims to conquer the Holy Land swiftly. 

The Muslims found the Temple Mount not only in ruins, but being used by the Byzantines as a garbage dump! This, too, is alluded to by the next stop in the Israelite journey—a place called Iyey ha’Avarim. Rashi explains that Iyey means “waste heaps and rubbish”, based on a verse in Psalms 79:1 that says “They have made Jerusalem into heaps [Iyeyim].” Better yet, the Torah adds that this place was “on the border with Moab”, which could well signify the lands of Arabia that border ancient Moab.

The next stop is called Divon Gad, similar to the previous stop in Chor haGidgad. Gad is an interesting term that implies both “good luck”, and treachery (as in the Hebrew word bagad, a “traitor”). This double meaning is highlighted in the Torah itself when describing the birth of Gad, son of Jacob (Genesis 30:11), where the Torah says bagad, but we read it as ba gad. I believe this is an accurate description of Jewish-Muslims relations, that were both positive and negative. 

It is perhaps best exemplified by the “Golden Age” of Sephardic Jewry in Spain under Muslim rule, though it also came with periods of terrible oppression and persecution. The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, 1138-1204) had to flee Muslim Spain, but was able to find prosperity in Muslim Egypt, and even work as the private physician of Saladin. Jewish scholarship generally flourished under Muslim rule, and many of the greatest rishonim and Jewish philosophers, poets, scientists, and thinkers lived in Muslim-ruled lands.

Chizkuni (Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoach, c. 1250-1310) points out that previously in the Book of Numbers, Divon Gad was referred to instead as Nachal Zered. The term nachal implies an “inheritance”. The Zohar (II, 32a) recounts that Abraham asked God why Ishmael could not inherit the Holy Land. After all, the Holy Land is tied to the covenant, brit, which is signified by circumcision—and Ishmael was circumcised as well! The Zohar states that, because of this, God did give Ishmael a period of time to rule over the Holy Land. And, because Ishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised (and that’s much more difficult to bear than being eight days old), there is a notion that Ishmael would rule over the Holy Land for 1300 years. Amazingly, this is precisely what happened, because Muslims lost the Holy Land to the British during World War I, at the end of 1917, after having held on to the land almost continuously since 638 CE, totalling just under 1300 years. And this is signified by the next stop in the Israelite journey: Almon Divlotaima.

Now, one might ask a big question here: why did the time between stop 38 and 39 (Divon Gad and Almon Divlotaima) span over a millennium? What about all the history in between? It’s important to note that it is during this time, in the early Muslim period, that Israel splits up into distinct cultural groups such as “Ashkenazi” and “Sephardi”—labels that did not exist previously. From this point on, there is no singular “Israelite” journey that applies to everyone in the House of Jacob. Ashkenazim have their own distinct journey, as do Sephardic Jews, Mizrachi Jews, Ethiopian Jews, and so on. 

Sephardic Jews experienced the Spanish Expulsion, whereas Ashkenazi Jew did not. Ashkenazi Jews experienced pogroms that Sephardic Jews didn’t. And each group develops their own unique customs, dialects, even halakhot. It isn’t until the late 19th and early 20th century that Jews from around the world start reuniting again, in the Holy Land, and speaking the Biblical language that unites them all. The different cultures intertwine as the State of Israel is formed. Today, there is an “Israeli” once more, like an ancient Israelite, speaking Hebrew—the Modern version of which has combined elements of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrachi pronunciation. The foods have mixed together, and the music has mixed together, and the communities are intermarrying, and we are now back on a common “Israelite” path.

I believe this is why the next stop comes a millennium later, when Israel is reunited in their Holy Land once more. The place is called Almon Divlotaima, and the Ibn Ezra says this is “a general term for many journeys”. I believe the many journeys here are referring to the many different journeys undertaken by Jews from around the world, each finding their way back to the Holy Land in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The next critical moment is 1917, when Ishmaelite rule over Israel officially ends, and the British proclaim the Balfour Declaration promising a Jewish state in the Holy Land. Many saw this, at the time, as a “gift” from the British. (Although the British would not have conquered the land without serious help from the Jewish Legion, and serious funding from the Rothschilds, to whom the Balfour Declaration was originally addressed!) Beautifully, the Chizkuni points out that the next stop listed, Arei ha’Avarim, was previously referred to as Matanah—literally a “gift”!

 Jewish Legion soldiers in 1919

Unfortunately, the gift wasn’t properly realized, because the British then turned around and gave two-thirds of the mandate originally promised to the Jews to another group instead: the Hashemites from Arabia. In so doing, the British conjured out of thin air a brand-new state: what is now called “Jordan”. This is perfectly alluded to by the next stop in the journey: “They set out from the hills of Avarim and encamped in the steppes of Moab, at Jordan near Jericho.” (33:48) Today’s Jordan is where ancient Moab and Ammon used to be (the capital of Jordan is still Amman). Chizkuni points out that the place was previously called Nachaliel, literally “God’s inheritance”. 

What should have been the inheritance of Israel was given away to an Arab clan that came from far away and had no connection to this piece of land at all. (Funny how people forget that there already is a Palestinian Arab state, sitting on two-thirds of Mandate Palestine!) Despite this setback, Jews were undeterred, and continued to migrate to the Holy Land, even when the British made it difficult with all sorts of restrictions. They continued to work hard and make the deserts bloom, while setting the infrastructure necessary for a vibrant and prosperous state.

 

That brings us to the last stop in the Israelite journey, Avel haShittim, a term that implies great mourning. This is World War II and the Holocaust, after which the State of Israel was finally born. And it is right after this final stop that God tells Moses:

“Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land; you shall destroy all their figured objects; you shall destroy all their molten images, and you shall demolish all their cult places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land to you to possess.” (Numbers 33:51-53)

God then warns the Israelites to make sure to finish the job, and not to lose resolve or give in, nor give up the land promised to them: “But if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those whom you allow to remain shall be stings in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live…” (v. 55) Is this not precisely what has happened in the recent history of Israel?

Finally, the next chapter begins with God delineating the exact borders of the Holy Land that He granted to Israel (as explored and clarified here.) The only way to avoid “harassment” by neighbouring peoples is to make it clear whose land it is, and to possess it in its entirety. Israel must project strength, and must never lose resolve, or give in, or give up, or trade “land for peace”. Recent history has shown that there is no such thing as “land for peace”. It has never worked, and never will. Thankfully, we are now at the end of this long historical journey. We have made it to the last stop. All that remains to be seen is the Final Redemption, and the forthcoming era of peace and prosperity for all.

May we merit to see it soon!

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