BATR-7.

Brit-Am Tribal Researches

1. A Source on Asher.
2. Notes on Dan.
3. Notes on Benjamin.
(a) Were Some of the English Puritans from Benjamin?
(b) The Left-Handed Right-Hander?
(c) French Canadians and Benjamin. Left-Handed Quebecois Sportsmen are the Modern Warriors!

1. A Source on Asher.
Tribe of Asher Inripedia.

Asher was blessed with a Land producing much olive oil.
This is associated with the power to reveal and understand the secrets of the Torah.
Asher used the olive oil to anoint the feet of travellers as was once the custom.
The feet represent trhe power of doing, of action, and practical application.
Asher knew that the main point is to do things rather than theorize.
Asher was part of the Camp of Dan who is the ingathering force of all the Tribal Community in its Travels.
The Camp of Dan also represents the End-Time scenario.
The Powers of the camp of Dan including that of Asher will be fully revealed in the End-Times.

2. Notes on Dan.

Source: S.Y. Aharon, "Dan Yadin Amo" (Tosofot le-Gilion HaModia 6 Elul 5772, p. 10 ff.).

Acher = Dan
HaMalbim quotes opinions that Dan was also known as Acher (Aher) meaning After since he would travel after all the other Tribes.

Badan = Samson
In 1-Samuel 12 someone called Badan is listed amongst the Judges and Prophets who saved Israel.

1-Samuel 12:
11 And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you dwelt in safety.

The Talmud (Rosh HaShana 25;a) says that Badan is another name for Samson from the Tribe of Dan. It says that "Ba-Dan" means "From Dan".

Mother of the Messiah from Dan.

Midrash (Breishit Raba, VaYechi, 97:
# Judah is a lion cub - said Rabbi Chama bar Rabbi Chanina, this refers to the Messiah son of David, who will emerge from two Tribes. His father is from Judah and his mother from Dan. Both of them are described as lions, "Judah is a lionï's whelp" (Genesis 49:9), 'Dan is a lion's whelp' (Deuteronomy 33:22). #

A Messiah son of Dan
The Zohar (Balak) says that in the future there will arise a Messiah [i.e. Annointed Leader] from Dan named Sariyah.

Genesis 49:
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way,
A viper by the path,
That bites the horse's heels
So that its rider shall fall backward.
# This is Sariyah who will come together with the Messiah our of Ephraim. He will be from the Tribe of Dan. He will take vengeance and fight battles against the Gentiles. #

The Midrash "Yalkut Reubeni" quotes Kanfei Yonah that the mother of the Messiah will be from Dan: In the name Hushim (Genesis 46:43) son of Dan, there is a hint to the Messiah.

Moshe Lev Shachor, "Avnei Shoham", understands the Talmud (Shabat 67;b) as saying that Dan became a name given to an idolatrous deity invented by Israelites.
[The Gentiles later named the site of Dan, "Banias", in honor of the Greek satyr god Pan.]

Hushim son of Dan beheaded Esau.

3. Notes on Benjamin.
Re
Are you from Benjamin? Possible Traits of the Tribe of Benjamin

(a) Were Some of the English Puritans from Benjamin?

We identify the puritans who were important in the early colonization of America with Manasseh. An input from Benjamin is also possible.

Military Proficiency, Zeal, anti-Monarchists, Sexual Prudes with Potential for Profligacy,
Spiritual Depth but anti-Intellectual, mainly from Belgae areas in the south and east of England.
"The Puritans" by Thomas Babington Macaulay

Extracts:

The ostentatious simplicity of their dress, their sour aspect, their nasal twang, their stiff posture, their long graces, their Hebrew nanes, the Scriptural phrases which they introduced on every occasion, their contempt of human learning, their detestation of polite amusements, were indeed fair game for the laughers. ...
Those who roused the people to resistance - who directed their measures through a long series of eventful years - who formed, out of the most unpromising materials, the finest army that Europe had ever seen - who trampled down king, church, and aristocracy - who, in the short intervals of domestic sedition and rebellion, made the name of England terrible to every nation on the face of the earth, were no vulgar fanatics. ...
Not content with acknowledging, in general terms, an overruling Providence, they habitually ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being, for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too minute. To know him, to serve him, to enjoy him, was with them the great end of existence.
...Thus the Puritan was made up of two different men, the one all self-abasement, penitence, gratitude, passion; the other proud, calm, inflexible, sagacious. He prostrated himself in the dusk before his Maker; but he set his foot on the neck of his king....

(b) The Left-Handed Right-Hander?

Benjamin is known for the large number of left-handed warriors in its ranks,

Judges 3:15 (Ehud),

Judges 20:15 (Left-Handed Sling-Throwing Marksmen).

1-Chronicles 12:1 (Ambidextrous Sling-Shot Marksmen and Archers).

What exactly this means we are not sure.

It is interesting to note however that one explanation of the name Benjamin is Right-Handed!

Genesis 35:16-19.
Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel travailed in childbirth, and she had hard labor. Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, "Do not fear; you will have this son also." And it was so, as her soul was in departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

The name Benjamin is often explained to mean "Son of the South".
Benjamin in Hebrew is "Binyamin," i.e. Ben-Yamin, Ben means 'son of,' and Yamin means 'right.'
The Hebrews imagined themselves as facing eastwards towards the rising sun.
Kedem i.e. "in Front of" was east.
Yamin i.e. Right was south. Another word for south is 'derom.'
Yam literally "sea" (in Hebrew "yam") meant the west, also called 'maariv' from the root 'erev' meaning 'evening' since that is where the sun went down.
'Smal' i.e. left was north. Another word for north is 'Tsafon' connoting hidden.

The name Binyamin therefore literally means "Son of the Right" or the Right-Handed One!

(c) French Canadians and Benjamin. Left-Handed Quebecois Sportsmen are the Modern Warriors!

We are preparing an article on a possible Benjamin connection to French Canadians.
Many French Canadians are descended from Frenchmen who came from Normandy and Brittany. We have traced Benjamin to Normandy.
The French Canadians as a group fit the Benjaminite profile.
It also coincides with a Benjamin-Joseph sons of Rachel association and an ambiguous attitude to Judah.

In 1759 the British under General James Wolfe captured Quebec from French forces. This battle was a determinative factor in ensuring the inclusion of French Canada in the British Province.
Wolfe is a name itself is of French origin. Wolfe is another way of writing wolf, i.e. the symbol of Benjamin.
Did it take someone from Benjamin to ensure the bringing of the Benjaminite enclave into the fold of Ephraim?

Left-Handed Aptitudes?
Benjamin was known for his left-handed warriors, Judges 3:15, Judges 20:15, 1-Chronicles 12:1.

Modern Sports in some ways parallels ancient warfare.

French Canadian sportsmen who have reached prominence are know for being left-handed or for using the left-hand even when they are not.

Compare the extracts below that discuss this fact:

It's Not Political, but More Canadians Are Lefties by JEFF Z. KLEIN
Published: February 15, 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia. What is the difference between a Canadian and an American? The old question is coming up again here at the Olympics, with answers involving eagerness for war, ketchup, the pronunciation of toque or the ability to identify poutine and the Tragically Hip.

But none may be so simple as how one holds a hockey stick. According to sales figures from stick manufacturers, a majority of Canadian hockey players shoot left-handed, and a majority of American players shoot right-handed. No reason is known for this disparity, which cuts across all age groups and has persisted for decades.

Most Canadians, like most Americans, are naturally right-handed, so the discrepancy has nothing to do with national brain-wiring. And how you hold a pencil, say, has little or no bearing on how you hold a stick. A left-handed shooter puts his right hand on top; a right-hander puts the left hand there.

For years, how a hockey player picked up his stick was of little importance. The blades were straight and a player could swing the sticks from either side. Two Hockey Hall of Famers from the mid-20th century wing Gordie Howe and goalie Bill Durnan actually played ambidextrously.

But the advent of curved blades in the '60s not only spelled the end of the classic backhand shot, it also meant that manufacturers had to label sticks L and R, and inventory personnel had to ship more left-handed sticks (with the blade curving to the right) to Canada and more right-handed ones to the United States.

'I have no idea why this is so,' said Mike Mountain, who is in charge of hockey sticks for Easton, a sporting goods manufacturer based in Van Nuys, Calif. 'But it has been true for years, and it doesn't change; it stays consistent over time.'

Roughly 60 percent of the Easton hockey sticks sold in Canada are for left-handed shots, Mountain said. In the United States, he said, about 60 percent of sticks sold are for right-handed shots. Figures over the years from other manufacturers have put the ratio discrepancy between the two countries as high as 70 to 30.

The difference even trickles over into golf, where the swing is not unlike that of a slap shot. According to the Professional Golfers Association, 7 percent of Canadian golfers play left-handed, which is proportionally more than any other nationality. ..

Oddly, British Columbia , sometimes said to be the most American-like of the Canadian provinces, skews the other way. 'The rest of the country goes 2 to 1 in favor of left sticks, but it's reversed in B.C.,' said Marc Poirier, a customer service representative who handles Canadian orders for Warrior Sticks.

On the women's 2010 Olympic teams, which feature 21-player rosters, 15 members of Team Canada shoot left-handed compared with 10 on Team U.S.A. On the men's rosters, the difference is less pronounced, with 15 left-handers on Team Canada and 13 on Team U.S.A. out of 23 players on the roster.