In many parts of the torah, When it talks about a jew it says, בני ישראל or עברי etc. However in Parashat Emor when talking about the son of Shlomit the daughter of divri from the tribe of Dan who cursed Hashem's name, it says ישראלית. What is the difference?
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1I believe that this is mainly historical. Avraham was the first person in Tanac"h to be called an Ivri. Obviously, since Jacob hadn't been born, he couldn't be called Yisraeli. When relaying to Pharaoh, Moses says "The G-d of the Ivrim", so there's another reference. Ivri isn't used that often. The only other place I can think of is that Jonah also calls himself an Ivri, but I have to investigate why.– DanFMay 6, 2018 at 2:14
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@DanF Yonah probably used the word Ivri to make the distinction that he was from the Kingdom of Judah, and not from the Kingdom of Israel. But since he wasn't from the Tribe of Judah he didn't use "Yehudi". (The commentators say he was either from Asher or Zebulun.)– ezraOct 11, 2018 at 15:32
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@ezra Your reasoning might be faulty. Compare the reference to Mordechai who is called both a Yehudi and Yemini. Despite the fact that he was from tribe of Benjamin, he was still called a Yehudi. The question is at what point, historically did all Jews become called Yehudim? Offhand, I think Jonah precedes this change, but, I'm mentioning the possibility that the term Yehudi might have been used at Jonah's time as well as a generic term, despite that Jonah didn't use it. Certainly, all people would be called Ivrim.– DanFOct 11, 2018 at 16:50
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@DanF Except that there is a special connection between Benjamin and Judah, because Judah promised Benjamin's safety on his life.– ezraOct 12, 2018 at 3:37
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@ezra Yes, I hear you about both that as well as the notion that Bet Hamikdash was partially in Yehuda, partially in Binyamin. But, I don't know if those criteria explain the usage of the terms and why Mordechai was referred to as both.– DanFOct 12, 2018 at 17:42
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