Brit-Am Hebrew Sources (8 August 2016, 4 Av, 5776)
Contents:
1. Midrash: The Three Exiles of Israel and the Three Exiles of Judah
2. Esau the Dwarf? Does this explain the "Superman" Obsessions?
3. "Netivot Shalom" on Joseph, Unity, and the Ten Tribes, Part One.
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1. Midrash: The Three Exiles of Israel and the Three Exiles of Judah
What is a Midrash?
A Midrash is an explanation of the Sages of some point or other, connected to a Biblical text, but having less authority than parallel sources.
The Midrash below describes the three stages of Exile experienced by the northern Ten Tribes of Israel and after the additional Three stages of Exile that the Jews of Judah endured.
Bamidbar Rabah (Masai) 23;14:
... Sancherib exiled them in three exiles:
At first he exiled the Reubenites, Gadites and half Manasseh (1-Chronicles 5:26).
The second exile was the Tribe of Zebulon and the Tribe of Naphtali, as it says,
Isaiah 9:
9 "But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt..."
The Third Exile entailed the rest of the Tribes, as it says,
" but later on He shall make it glorious [Hebrew "Hikbid" also translatable as "sweep away,"] by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles " (Isaiah 9:9).
He swept them away entirely as if with a broom.
Nebuchadnessar also carried out three exiles when he exiled the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin:
At first he exiled Yehoyakim
Secondly Yehoyacin [i.e. King Jeconiah, his family and the others] (Jeremiah 29:1-2)....
So too [on'the Third Exile] did Nebuzaradan who exiled Zedekiah.
From here we see that Sancherib was a Kosmocrater [i.e. World Ruler] who would exile people from one place and others to another. He exiled Israel to Babylon and brought those who were in Babylon to here.
The Holy One Blessed by He says, in this world due to their sins they were exiled to the gates of the earth. In the future,
Deuteronomy 30:
4 If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.
Isaiah 11:
11 And He will lift up a standard for the nations
And assemble the banished ones of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
So too, Isaiah said:
Isaiah 51:
11 So the ransomed of the LORD will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
And everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
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2. Esau the Dwarf? Does this explain the "Superman" Obsessions?
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5846-esau
Quote:
The Rabbis emphasize the fact that Esau's "hairy" appearance marked him a sinner (Gen. R. lxv.) and his "red" ("edom") color indicated his bloodthirsty propensities ("dam" = "blood"; Gen. R. lxiii.); they make him out to have been a misshapen dwarf (Gen. R. lxv.; Cant. R. ii. 15; Agadat Bereshit xl.) and the type of a shameless robber, displaying his booty even on the holy "bimah" (Midr. Teh. to Ps. lxxx. 6); but his filial piety is nevertheless praised by them (Tan., Kedoshim, 15, where his tears are referred to; ib., Toledot, 24, where the fact that he married at forty, in imitation of his father, is mentioned approvingly).
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3. "Netivot Shalom" on Joseph, Unity, and the Ten Tribes, Part One.
"Netivot Shalom" (also pronounced as "Netivos Shalom") is the name of a multi-volume work authored by Rabbi Sholom Noach Berezovsky (1911-2000).
It is the custom among religious Jews to refer to Rabbis after the title of major works they have written.
The "Netivot Shalom," i.e. Rabbi Berezovsky, served as the Slonimer Rebbe (i.e. Leader from Slonim of Hasidim) from 1981 until his death.
Slonim is a Hassidic group that was originally centered in the town of Slonim in Belarus but during the Holocaust most of its European members were exterminated.
The "Netivot Shalom" is succeeded by his son, Rabbi Shmuel.
It should be emphasized that the "Netivot Shalom" intended his work for the Jewish community.
When he speaks of unity between Joseph and Judah or of aspects of Joseph etc he may have intended facets of existence amongst Jews as a people.
Nevertheless in the light of what we now know from other studies we may take the substance of what he says and apply it ALSO to questions concerning both Judah and the Ten Tribes.