Sotah 075

נושא: Sotah

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

How [are we to understand] the blessings and the curses? When Israel crossed the Jordan and came to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal in Samaria, near Shechem, which is by Elonei Moreh (as it is said: "Are they not in cis-Jordan etc" and in another place it says: "And Abram passed through the land until [he reached] the place of Shechem, until Elon Moreh". Just as the latter reference to Elon Moreh [obviously] refers to Shechem so this reference [must also refer to Shechem].) Six tribes ascended to the top of Mount Gerizim, six tribes ascended to the top of Mount Ebal, while the priests, the levites and the ark stood below in the middle: the priests surrounded the ark and the levites surrounded the priests, with all Israel on either side, as it says: "And all Israel, with their elders, officers and judges stood on either side of the ark etc". The priests turned to face Mount Gerizim and started [intoning] the blessings: "Blessed be the man who does not make a molten statue", and both parties responded "Amen". [Then] they turned to face Mount Ebal and started [intoning] the curses: "Cursed be the man who makes a molten statue", and both parties responded "Amen". [And thus] until they complete the blessings and curses. Then they brought the stones and erected the altar and whitewashed it and inscribed on it all the words of the Torah in seventy languages; for it says: "very plainly". Then they dismantled the stones and went for the night to their place.

1:
We have reached the third item detailed in the first mishnah of this chapter. In order to understand this rather long mishnah we must first reference its biblical origin. The Torah [Deuteronomy 27:1-26] requires a ceremony to be observed by the whole people upon their entry into the Land of Israel. It will be much easier for us to understand our present mishnah if we first present the whole of that requirement of the Torah, even though it is very long.

Moses … commanded the people, saying: … When you have crossed the Jordan you shall set up these stones … on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with whitewash. There you shall build an altar to God, an altar of stones … and you shall offer burnt offerings thereon to God… You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly. Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and listen, Israel: this day you are become the people of God. You shall therefore obey God's voice and observe His commandments and statutes, which I command you this day." Moses charged the people that same day, saying, "These [tribes] shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you are passed over the Jordan: Shim'on, Levi, Yehudah, Issachar, Yosef and Benjamin. These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Re'uven, Gad, Asher, Zevulun, Dan, and Naftali. The Levites shall speak up and say to all the men of Israel in a loud voice: Cursed be the man who makes a molten statue, an abomination to God, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who swears at his father or his mother; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who removes his neighbour's landmark, and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who misdirects the blind, and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who does an injustice to the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who lies with his father's wife … and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who lies with any manner of animal; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who lies with his sister… and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who strikes down his neighbour secretly; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who takes a bribe to condemn an innocent person to death; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen. Cursed be he who doesn't confirm the words of this law to do them; and all the people shall speak up and say, Amen.

2:
The city of Shechem became renamed under the Roman occupation as Neapolis. Many towns all over the Roman world were called Neapolis (New Town). The most famous is in Italy where the name become corrupted into Italian as Napoli and in English as Naples. In Eretz-Israel the name was corrupted into Arabic as Nablus, so what the Arabs now call Nablus is in fact the biblical town of Shechem. As in the past so today it is the main town of the area known as Samaria. Shechem nestles in a valley created by two high hills on either side that are still named Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.

3:
In order to avoid confusion let us interject here a brief note concerning the Samaritans. They are a much discussed people and there is a difference between the rabbinic understanding of the provenance of the Samaritans and the understanding of modern historians and other scholars. The term refers to the people who lived in the area in the centre of the country known as Samaria. According to the Biblical record [2Kings 17], after the Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BCE and a major proportion of the population was forcibly resettled elsewhere in the Assyrian empire, other peoples were settled in their stead to avoid a population vacuum. These peoples adopted some of the Israelite customs but continued to maintain their idolatrous customs as well. The scholarly view is that the Samaritans were the remnants of the population of the former Kingdom of Israel; these continued to celebrate their religious customs which were somewhat different from those that developed in the Kingdom of Judah (from which later normative rabbinic Judaism was to spring forth). After the return of the Babylonian exiles of Judah to Eretz-Israel (after 539 BCE) a complete dichotomy between the two populations was established. During the 4th century BCE the Samaritans established a Bet Mikdash on Mount Ebal, just outside Shechem, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Israel. This Bet Mikdash was to rival that of Judah in Jerusalem – and the break was final and enmity and distrust ensued. The Samaritan community still survives – a few hundred in number. The Samaritans hold as sacred only the first six books of the bible and their text of the passage from Deuteronomy quoted above reverses the mountains: the blessings were uttered on Mount Ebal (where they had built their Temple) and the curses on Mount Gerizim.

To be continued.

The following additions have been made to the web Archive: Sotah, Chapter 6 and Rosh ha-Shanah Chapter 1.
It is some time since I have received queries or comments from participants. Is this material really that straightforward?

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