Tag Archives: Karaite Judaism

Who Was the Reish Galuta?

In this week’s parasha, Ki Tetze, we learn about the mitzvah of bal tashchit, the prohibition on wasting good products. This is derived from the Torah’s command not to chop down fruit trees in the midst of war (Deuteronomy 20:19-20). The Talmud (Bava Kamma 58b) presents a related case, where a man chopped down a date palm belonging to his neighbour, and had to pay damages for it. The two went for litigation to the reish galuta, or “exilarch”, also known as rosh hagolah, “head of the exile”, who was something like the “chief rabbi” of Babylon. Now, the date palm in question was actually three palms coming out of one root, with a total value of 100 dinars. Since the man only chopped down one of three palms, the reish galuta ruled he was liable to pay 33.3 dinars.

The perpetrator did not like this ruling, exclaiming: “Why should I follow the reish galuta, who rules according to Persian law?” So he went to Rav Nahman instead who ruled a smaller fine, based on the average value of sixty date palms. The Talmud goes on to discuss the nuances of this issue. It concludes on the following page by saying that the halakhah does indeed follow the reish galuta, but only with regards to Persian date palms, since they are more expensive than regular ones. A couple of interesting questions emerge here: First, why did the perpetrator accuse the reish galuta of following Persian law, instead of Jewish law? And second, who was the reish galuta anyway, and what was the origin, history, and function of that office? Continue reading →

Tribes of Israel Today

A rough outline of the ancient tribal boundaries of Israel

One of the highlights of this week’s parasha, Ki Tavo, is the instruction for the Twelve Tribes of Israel to split up on two opposing mountains—Gerizim and Eival—to hear a series of curses and blessings. Six of the tribes (Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Issachar, Yosef, and Binyamin) were on Mount Gerizim, the “mountain of blessing”, and the remaining six (Reuven, Gad, Asher, Zevulun, Dan, and Naphtali) on Mount Eival, the “mountain of curse”. The tribes would later cross the Jordan River and settle across the Holy Land in their allotted territories—with the exception of Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe, who stayed on the east side of the Jordan.

Centuries later, the tribes split up into two kingdoms: the northern “Kingdom of Israel” or “Kingdom of Ephraim” with ten of the tribes (or more accurately, eleven), and the southern “Kingdom of Judah” that was dominated by the tribe of Yehudah (and its Davidic kings) but also contained a sizeable portion of Binyamin and Shimon. After falling to the Assyrians and Babylonians, the tribal boundaries were erased, and soon tribal affiliations and identities were lost, too. Everyone coalesced into the dominant tribe of Yehudah, and so everyone became a Yehudi. Even Mordechai, who came from the tribe of Benjamin, is identified as a Yehudi in the Purim story.

So, what will happen in the forthcoming Messianic Age when all of Israel will return to their Promised Land and presumably re-establish the ancient tribal borders? How will we see the “return” of all the tribes, when there are no clear tribal affiliations anymore? One possibility is that we actually won’t have tribal borders again, a case one can make based on Ezekiel 37 where God describes fusing together the branches of Yosef and Yehudah and making them one branch. Hashem declares: “I am going to take the children of Israel from among the nations they have gone to, and gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them a single nation in the land, on the hills of Israel, and one king shall be king of them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.” (v. 21-22) The implication is that Israel will be a singular nation, with no internal divisions or boundaries, ruled by one king.

Another intriguing possibility is to apply the ancient tribal divisions to the various “tribes” within the house of Israel today. We might be able to associate each of the tribes with the modern-day communities that we find within the Jewish people. If we explore the history, culture, and symbolism of the various groups among us today, we find striking similarities to the ancient tribes. What I would like to suggest in the following is a modern-day recreation of the Twelve Tribes of Israel—not genealogical or biological, but spiritual and symbolic. This would be similar to the way we refer to other peoples of the world:

For example, we refer to all Christians as being part of “Edom”, even though the vast majority of them are not literal descendants of Esau. We refer to all Muslims as “Ishmael”, even though the vast majority of them are not direct descendants of Ishmael, and many are not even Arab at all, including major Muslim communities in Iran, Pakistan, and Indonesia (the world’s most populous Muslim nation). We find Amalek manifest in different peoples of the world who seek the destruction of Israel, even though they are not direct descendants of the ancient Amalek himself. We recognize that the physical aspect is secondary to the spiritual anyway, and entities of times past continue to exist today even without a clear genealogical or biological link. The same can be said for the Twelve Tribes. So, who might the Twelve Tribes be today?

[Warning: what follows is admittedly speculative, and mostly based on symbolic meaning. We live in a generation where identity is a very sensitive topic, so I hope no one is offended or feels “miscategorized”!] Continue reading →

Understanding Names of God #3: Ain Sof

Where did the mystical term “Ain Sof” come from? What does it actually mean? Can a Torah scroll be written in Greek? And who were the mysterious Bythosim (or Boethusians) that the Sages considered heretics and sectarians? Find out in this eye-opening class as we continue our journey into exploring the divine names of God. Plus: How did Noah’s blessing to Shem and Japheth become realized in Israel and Greece, and what effect did Plato and Aristotle have on sacred Jewish texts?