Brit-Am Hebrew Sources
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(8 August, 2019, 7 Av, 5779)
Contents:
1. The Future of the Ten Tribes in Talmudic Sources
2. Climate Change in Prophecy? The Desert Shall Bloom!
3. Borders of the Holy Land and their Relative Holiness
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1. The Future of the Ten Tribes in Talmudic Sources
Extract:
Talmud, Tractate "Avot de Rabbi Natan" [i.e. "Ethics of the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan"] 36;4:
# The Ten Tribes are not destined to live (in the Future World of the Resurrection of the Dead) but nether will they be condemned.
As it says (Deuteronomy 29:28),"In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as of this day."
Rabbi Shimeon ben Yochai said:
"Just like the day goes and does not come back so too they will not return."
Rabbi Akiva said:
"Just as the day begins with darkness and then becomes light [The Biblical Day begins in the evening and last from one evening to the other] as it became darkness for them so too will there be light for them." #
The above is similar to another passage in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 110b) but the same sayings are attributed to different protagonists and the opinion of rabbi Akiva is the reverse:
[The version given in the Tractate of Sanhedrin (quoted below) is the best known and the most widely accepted].
cf.
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Are the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel Ever Coming Back?
The saga of the ten lost tribes of Israel - part 2 By Yehuda Shurpin
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1701071/jewish/Are-the-Ten-Lost-Tribes-of-Israel-Ever-Coming-Back.htm
Extract:
Rabbi Akiva says, 'The ten tribes will not return, as the verse says (Deuteronomy 29:27), 'And the LORD uprooted them from upon their land, with fury, anger and great wrath, and He cast them to another land, as it is this day.' Just as a day passes and it will never return, so too, they will be exiled never to return.'
Rabbi Eliezer says, 'Just like a day is followed by darkness, and the light later returns, so too, although it will become 'dark' for the ten tribes, G d will ultimately take them out of their darkness.'
The Talmud then goes on to cite a third opinion:
Rabbi Shimon ben Yehudah, of the town of Acco, says in the name of Rabbi Shimon: 'If their deeds are as this day's, they will not return; otherwise they shall. not."
So, in short, there seem to be three opinions on the matter. Rabbi Akiva holds that the ten tribes are not coming back; Rabbi Eliezer holds that they are; and Rabbi Shimon says that it depends on whether they repent.
... Alternatively, some explain that Rabbi Akiva was referring not to whether they will return at the time of the ultimate redemption, but to whether they have a share in the World to Come. According to this opinion, Rabbi Akiva's view was that those people who were exiled do not have a share in the World to Come; however, their offspring will repent and do have a share in the World to Come, and those offspring will return at the time of the final redemption (see commentaries of Rabbeinu Nissim and Rabbeinu David to Sanhedrin loc. cit.).
.. There is a general rule that in a disagreement between Rabbi Akiva and another individual scholar, the final ruling follows Rabbi Akiva's view. However, here this rule is not applied, because: 1) Here there are several sages who disagree with Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehudah; 2) When Rabbi Yehudah the Prince said that 'the ten tribes are destined for the World to Come,' he was declaring the conclusion of the Talmud (see Rabbi Yitzchak Lampronti [1679-1756], Pachad Yitzchak, p. 172).
Additionally, the Talmud itself seems to reprimand Rabbi Akiva for his view...
[In addition we have the quote from "Avot de Rabbi Natan, 36:4" according to which it is not that clear who really said what!]
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Brit-Am Comment:
The great Commentator Rashi and others on Sanhedrin 110b says that Rabbi Akiva was referring to that very generation of the Ten Tribes who were exiled by the Assyrians and not to their descendants.
Rashi:
#...Nevertheless, their children and their descendants after them will be deserving and will give merit to others... #
Rashi also says that the Prophet Jeremiah in the reign of King Josiah caused a small portion of them to return.
[Even these according to Nachmanides later went back to their Place of Exile.]
Rashi says that the Ten Tribes were exiled to one place whereas the Jews (of Judah) were later scattered all over the world.
Rashi also says (here) that the Ten tribes were exiled to "Africa." Commentators say that by "Africa" is intended "Afrikey" which was an area in Media (cf. de Gobineau). The Ten Tribes were exiled to the "Cities of the Medes" and other places.
2-Kings 17:
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.
At the time in question the Medes were no longer living in these places but the Scythians were.
See:
Zevi Chasdoi. "The Tribes of Jacob and the Preserved of Israel" (Hebrew), Haifa 1928.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITTANICA, London, 1955, "Assyria and Babylon."
The area is referred to as "Syro-Media" by Ptolemy meaning that area of Media in which peoples from Syria (including Israel) were settled.
The Shottenstein Edition of the Talmud (also available in English translation] gives further commentary on these passages and gives references of value.
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2. Climate Change in Prophecy? The Desert Shall Bloom!
Midrash, BaMidbar Rabar, "Masai," 23;24:
# "These are the journeys of the Children of Israel." Why was it necessary for the Torah to write all these places of journeying?
They accomodated the Children of Israel. God is destined to reward them, as it says,
Isaiah (NIV) 35:
1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus,
2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
... the Wilderness is destined to be a settled area and the areas of settlement a wasteland, as it says,
Malachi (NIV) 1:
3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.
From where do we know that the Wilderness will be settled?
As it says,
Isaiah (NIV) 41:
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.
Now one finds the Desert bare of trees. In the future it will have trees, as it says,
Isaiah (NIV) 41:
19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together.
There is no pathway in the Desert since it is all covered by sand. In the future a thoroughfare and river-way will exist as it says,
Isaiah (NIV) 43:
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams [Hebrew: "nahrot" i.e. rivers] in the wasteland.
So too, it says,
Isaiah (NIV) 43:
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
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3. Borders of the Holy Land and their Relative Holiness
The Promised Land given to Israel stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Genesis 15:
18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants I give this land, from the River of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.'
Exodus (NIV) 23:
31 I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.
Deuteronomy (NIV) 1:
7 Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates.
Deuteronomy (NIV) 11:
24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Joshua 1:
4 From the desert and from this area of Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. This will be your border.
Different passages and the Biblical narrative in general however give precedence to the area west of the Jordan (cf. Joshua 22:19).
A proper understanding of this matter requires quite a bit of study.
In general we may say:
The Land of Israel may be divided mainly into the area west of the Jordan and that east of it.
There are also extensive regions to the north and south.
When all the Tribes dwelt in the Land it had a High level of holiness.
After the Tribes were exiled it had another.
Some of the Commandments (e.g. Jubilees years) are only applicable when all the Tribes are in the Land.
The Rabbis however reintroduced certain enactments (such as Sabbatical Years) to a limited degree. They deliberately did this (mainly for economic reasons) over only a small part of the Holy Land.
Certain Laws however, according to the Torah, remained applicable over all the Promised Areas. Examples include actively eliminating idolatry everywhere it is found; living in the Land of Israel; appointing ("Semichah) Sages to Sanhedrin level, even when there is no Sanhedrin.
From a spiritual point of view the situation was best explained by two scholars known as the "Alshich" (Rabbi Moshe Ashich, 1508-1593) and the "Avnei Nezer" (Rabbi Avrohom Bornsztain, 1838 - 1910). They explained that the Land of Israel west of the Jordan is the main part of the Holy Land. Divine Providence is directly over it whether large numbers of Israelites live in it or not.
The other areas are at almost the same level when they are inhabited by Hebrews. When Israelites are not in those areas the level of Divine Providence over them is lessened. It is as if in such cases that they are ruled over by an angel rather than directly by the Almighty.
