15
votes
Accepted
Where were Yaakov's sons buried?
Yerushalmi Sota 8b Chapter 1 Halacha 10 says that all the 12 Shevatim were taken to Eretz Yisrael by their Shevet.
תלמוד ירושלמי סוטה דף ח' ע"ב, פרק א' הלכה י' – ככתוב בראשית מו אנכי ארד עמך מצרים ...
- 140k
10
votes
Accepted
Was Dan born out of wedlock?
You're possibly referring to the Maharsha to Shabbos 55b.
To explain how Reuven didn't sin with Bilhah, he explains based on the gemarra in Yevamos that Avaraham's children couldn't marry a shifchah. ...
- 20k
9
votes
What is the significance of the Choshen stones assigned to each tribe?
To answer the last part of the question that wasn't addressed yet.
Is there any significance as to why a specific stone was assigned to a specific tribe? Was it something within the color, or the ...
- 1,743
8
votes
What tribe were Eldad and Medad from?
According to Bamidbar Rabba 15 19, Eldad was Alidad ben Kislon and Meidad was Kemuel ben Shaftan.
That would put Eldad as the Nasi of Binyamin and Meidad as the Nasi of Ephraim as found in Parshas ...
- 34k
7
votes
Did Prof. Rabbi Umberto Cassuto have any insight behind the biblical character Yehudah?
Nechama Leibowitz used Rabbi Cassuto as a source for his view of the story of Yehudah and Tamar as a punishment for the sale of Yoseph.
3) Measure for Measure
Cassuto also believes that ...
- 43.4k
7
votes
Burial sites of the Shevatim
The Sefer Hayashar (anonymous) on Sefer Yehoshua brings down where the Shevatim were buried:
שנים עשר בני יעקב אשר העלו בני ישראל ממצרים : ויקברו את ראובן ואת גד בעבר הירדן ברומיא אשר נתן להם משה ...
- 42.5k
7
votes
Accepted
How could they call Yaakov by name?
Ohr HaYashar to Hilkhot Mamrim (6:3) points this out, but doesn't seem to answer.
Daf Al Hadaf to Pesahim (56a) quotes several answers: the Sefer Merafsin Igra (page 233) is cited as suggesting that ...
- 35.9k
7
votes
Was Dan born out of wedlock?
You are probably thinking of the son of an Egyptian man and an Israelite woman, who cursed God's name (Leviticus 24:10). His mother was Shlomit the daughter of Divri from the tribe of Dan (24:11). ...
- 25.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Tribal affiliation through the father
In the Talmud-GemaraTractate Bava Bathra 109b
משפחת אב קרויה משפחה אמשפחת אם אינה קרויה משפחה דכתיב (במדבר א, ב) למשפחותם לבית אבותם
The Family of the Father are family the family of the mother ...
- 11.5k
7
votes
Accepted
What tribe is Avner from?
Samuel 1:14:51-52 indicates Avner's father Ner was the brother of King Saul's father Kish, both sons of Aviel. Chronicles 1:8:33 indicates Ner was Kish's father. Either way he was presumably a ...
- 100k
6
votes
Accepted
Canaanite wives of the Bnei Ya'akov (Sefer HaYashar)
According to Pesahim 50a, the very premise of the question; that Jacob's sons married Canaanite women is wrong. Indeed, the very notion is so inconceivable that that the Talmud interprets Genesis (38:...
- 35.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Reuben, Simeon, Levi...But what about the other tribes?
Rav Hirsch says that it starts with Reuven and Shimon to show that Moshe was definitively not of "godly" origin as the mythologies of the goyim will have their heroes. However he and Aharon were in ...
- 43.4k
6
votes
Was Dan born out of wedlock?
From the simple reading of the Torah it seems that it was in wedlock
Beraishis 30:3-6 or here
She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Consort with her, that she may bear on my knees and that through ...
- 7,596
6
votes
Accepted
Giyur l'chumrah + tribal/family affiliation
Giyur lechumra by definition, is a giyur that may or may not be necessary. It is performed when someone's lineage is questionable, or if they underwent a questionable giyur in the past.
As such, the ...
- 1,199
6
votes
Accepted
Order of Reuven and Gad
Bamidbar 32:2
וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ בְנֵֽי־גָ֖ד וּבְנֵ֣י רְאוּבֵ֑ן וַיֹּאמְר֤וּ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֙
וְאֶל־אֶלְעָזָ֣ר הַכֹּהֵ֔ן וְאֶל־נְשִׂיאֵ֥י הָעֵדָ֖ה לֵאמֹֽר׃
2 The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben ...
- 43.4k
5
votes
Asara Haruge Malchut (Ten Martyrs), why were 10 Rabbis killed?
Yalkut Reuveini brings several answers. Here (end of the first full paragraph) he says Reuven was actually punished for moving the beds by Bilhah.
Here he says that Yishmael Kohen Gadol (who was very ...
- 5,465
5
votes
Reuben, Simeon, Levi...But what about the other tribes?
Rashbam to Shemos 6:14 explains that (according to Mehilta) this posuk provides only the genealogies of those three tribes that Yaacov had censured before he died in order to teach us that those ...
- 7,064
5
votes
Why didn't Binyamin die?
Excellent question. Note that R' Yosef Ibn Caspi makes the connection between these two Pesukim as well (although he doesn't mention the same idea as Rashi, nor does he generally subscribe to similar ...
- 21.2k
5
votes
Accepted
What families constituted 1/2 tribe of Menashe?
Joshua 17:1-2
וַיְהִי הַגּוֹרָל לְמַטֵּה מְנַשֶּׁה, כִּי-הוּא בְּכוֹר יוֹסֵף--לְמָכִיר בְּכוֹר מְנַשֶּׁה אֲבִי הַגִּלְעָד, כִּי הוּא הָיָה אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה, וַיְהִי-לוֹ, הַגִּלְעָד וְהַבָּשָׁן. ...
- 100k
5
votes
Why did the two tribes have significantly more livestock than others?
Mechilta d'Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, 12:38
ומקנה רב היה לבני (גד) [ראובן] ולבני (ראובן) [גד] יכול לבני ראובן ולבני גד היה לשאר שבטים לא היה? אלא מלמד שאלו פשטו ידיהם בו
How could it be that Reuven and ...
- 12.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Was Gad Strong or weak?
See Rashi to Bereishit 47:2, who notes that this is a matter of debate between Bereishit Rabbah, which believes Gad was strong, and Talmud Bavli and Sifrei which believe that Gad was weak.
Rashi to ...
- 45.2k
5
votes
Would those of the lost tribes lose their status of Israelites after converting?
Unfortunately, we do not need to speculate widely about the application, as this type of scenario does occur in our day.
R. Dov Lior addressed the following question (דיני גר בן לוי):
האם אדם שנולד ...
- 9,320
5
votes
Wives of the Shevatim
The Torah Shleima to Number 26:59 brings an interesting manuscript midrash that says Levi's wife was named Otah, literally "Her." This is based on the apparently ungrammatical structure of ...
- 1,660
4
votes
Why does the Torah specify only that Le'ah's children were born in Paddan Aram?
הרב איתן שנדורפי suggests that it is to give praise to those Shevatim, that despite all being born in Padan Aram, they were still tzadikim, based on Rashi Bereishis 25:20. He shows that this is a ...
- 21.2k
4
votes
How many sons of Benjamin were there?
The Hizkuni to Bereishis 46:21 says that actually (according to Divrei Hayamin I 8:1-5) Binyamin had 11 sons (the 11th son had not yet been born at the time he descended to Mitzraym), making the list ...
- 7,064
4
votes
Should the Ten Tribes observe Chanuka and Purim?
It seems that it is generally agreed that they would have to celebrate Chanukah and Purim (as is the case nowadays with Ethiopian Jews and Bnei Menashe and other groups).
The Chida wrote in Devarim ...
- 26.8k
4
votes
Where were Yaakov's sons buried?
As stated by @Gershon Gold, the locations are disputed. The following is the version from Sefer Seder Ha'dorot:
ויקברו את ארונות מטות אבותיהם בנחלת בניהם, את ראובן וגד בעבר הירדן ברומא, ושמעון ולוי ...
- 26.8k
4
votes
Would those of the lost tribes lose their status of Israelites after converting?
The Gemara in Yevamot 17a states that the 10 lost tribes have the status of non Jews and therefore must convert
- 2,602
4
votes
Accepted
What happened to the genealogical records of the tribe of Judah and the house of David after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D
The genealogical records of Jerusalem were not destroyed when the Temple was destroyed. Genealogical records are cited in the Mishnah (for example Yevamot 4:13) and Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 98:8), from ...
- 25.3k
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