תּוֹלָע בֶּן-פּוּאָה was the shofet from Yissachar (Shoftim 10:1-2). I have not been able to find any information on him anywhere. Do chazal or any later commentators mention anything about him?
asked Sep 23, 2012 at 3:29
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2 Answers
See Seder Hadoros (2719) for some information. He quotes Gilgulie Neshamos by R' Menachem Azarya Mipano) that he was a gilgul of Binayhu ben Yehuyada who brought the Shamir worm to Shlomo Hamelech (see Gittin 58a); thus the name תולע (lit. worm), and his location being Shamir. There is a bit more discussion about him here, here, and on wikipedia.
R' Chaim Vital in Sha'ar HaGilgulim writes that Tola's soul was an incarnation of Haran's soul, as was Aharon HaKohen and Shmuel HaNavi (Hakdama 36).
The Yalkut Shimoni notes that we can learn a lesson from the list of shoftim: all of the tribes except Shimon had a representative among the shoftim or kings. This was a consequence for the tribe's involvement in the debauchery at Pe'or (Yalkut Shimoni, Shoftim, 42).
