The best identification of the Valley of Achor in the description of the northern boundary of Judah (Josh. 15.7) is the wādi system of wādi mukellik and wādi es-sidr. This valley was the (former) tribal area of Reuben. It was an enclave in the tribal area of Judah. Achan who sinned against the חרם was, therefore, claimed as a member of the tribe of Judah in Joshua 7, whereas his predecessors seem to be Reubenites. Achan and his family were stoned in their own tribal area, the Valley of Achor, thus becoming a setting of sin and retaliation.
The Valley of Achor is explicitly referred to in Hosea 2 and Isaiah 65. In both chapters, the valley functions within an eschatological setting. In Hos. 2.17, the Valley of Achor becomes a ‘door of hope’ leading to a ‘monogamous
matrimony’ between Yhwh and his ‘wife’ Israel. It even leads to peace between animals, a reminiscence of the ante-diluvian situation. In Isaiah 65 this allusion is even clearer. The Valley of Achor is the entrance into the land after the new Exodus from Babylon, and together with the Sharon it symbolizes the whole land of Israel; further,
it symbolizes fertility and animal peace, and it leads to Yhwh’s holy mountain in Jerusalem, the starting point of Yhwh’s new creation in which there will be no distress, but only peace and joy. In these last two chapters, the Valley of Achor is a herald of good tidings.

The article deals with the judaization of Muslim holy places in the state of Israel during the years 1948-1967. During this period, a few dozen Muslim pilgrimage sites were handed over to Israeli ownership and were judaized. The article indicates how extensive was the involvement of the Israeli Ministry of Religion in this process and describes the legal methods and various means that Israeli officials employed in order to appropriate Muslim holy sites. I will analyze a number of instances that exemplify this process: Nebi Daud (King David's tomb) in Mount Zion that was developed as the most important Jewish holy site in Israel; The Cave of Elijah in Haifa, a Muslim waqf before 1948, and a prime Jewish pilgrimage destination later; and the judaization of several Muslim holy sites in the Coastal plain, such as the tomb of Abu Huraira that was converted into the tomb of Raban Gamliel, one of the most important Jewish sages.

'emeq in BH never refers to a wadi or gorge. In addition there are a number of examples of 'emeq that refer to a plateau located in high areas. A linguist might offer some suggestions concerning the history of the word, but for the Bible student this is irrelevant. In this case as in other cases etymology could do more interfere than to assist.

Recent years have seen the flourishing of research on Lithuanian Kabbalists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the point that some scholars speak of a defined and delineated stream of Kabbalah, a school unto itself dubbed "Lithuanian Kabbalah." Such scholars include within this stream all those who saw the Vilna Gaon as their teacher in Kabbalah (parallel to the position of the Baal Shem Tov in Hasidism) and they ascribe to it such fixed categories as its "Articles of Faith." In their conception, this stream was part and parcel of the broader and well-known nationalist-messianic current that had its source, supposedly, in the Vilna Gaon himself; this current reached its full fruition in the twentieth century, and so too has the smaller stream within it, now a clearly defined "school," developed in various ways until the present. As if this were not enough, scholars have joined the later ideological trend which seeks to revise the history of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a decidedly messianic way, presenting it in a continuous line from the Vilna Gaon to the emergence of Zionism and then to the founding of the State of Israel. Again, the Vilna Gaon is not merely presented as a "herald" of Zionism but as one who encoded within his Torah the secret of redemption, the beginning of which, apparently, we are witnessing today. The article conducts a critical analysis of the concept of "Lithuanian Kabbalah," and uses as its case study the life and teachings of Rabbi Shimon Tsvi Horowitz.


בשנים האחרונות צומח ועולה מחקר סביב למקובלים בני ליטא במאות התשע עשרה והעשרים, עד שיש כאלו המדברים על זרם מוגדר ומובחן, אסכולה בפני עצמה, המכונה 'קבלה ליטאית'. בתוך זרם זה כוללים את כל אלו שראו בגר"א את מורם בקבלה, כמעין בעש"ט לחסידות, ומונים קטגוריות מקובעות של 'עיקרי אמונה' של אותו זרם הרוכב על מהלך משיחי ולאומי ידוע שמקורו כביכול בגר"א עצמו והגיע לגמר בישולו במאה העשרים. עד שנוצר בעיני כמה חוקרים מעין 'חוג' ברור ומוגדר שמתגלגל באופנים שונים עד לימינו. אם לא די בכך, הרי שהמדברים על אותו זרם קבלי רוכבים למעשה על קו אידיאולוגי מאוחר שבא לפרש מחדש את ההיסטוריה של היישוב היהודי בארץ ישראל במאה התשע עשרה ברוח משיחית וליצור מעין המשכיות מימי הגר"א עד להופעתה של הציונות ולמאורעות שהתרחשו עם הקמת מדינת ישראל. שוב אין הגר"א מצטייר רק כ'מבשר' הציונות אלא כמי שצפן בתורתו את סוד הגאולה שאנו עומדים לכאורה בפתחה. המאמר עוסק בניתוח ביקורתי של המשוג "קבלת ליטאית" וכמקרה מבחן יש כאן דיון בדרכו של ר' שמעון צבי הורביץ

נסיכה הולנדית עשירה שהקימה בעיר הקודש בית מידות למי שישרוד את סוף העולם, הרופא היהודי של סולטן זנזיבר שפירק בעצמו את אוהל המשיח, מנהל בית החולים היקֶה שדרש מעובדיו למלא את כל הטפסים בכתב רש״י – אלו רק מקצת הדמויות שחיים באר מעלה מנבכי ההיסטוריה של ירושלים ומדובב את סיפוריהם המרתקים.
לצד זאת הוא חושף פרקים פחות מוּכּרים בחיי אישים ידועים, שגורלם נקשר בגורל העיר, בהם אליעזר בן יהודה, י״ח ברנר ובני חבורת ״האחדוּת״ (רחל ינאית בן צבי, יצחק בן צבי, דוד בן גוריון ואחרים).
כך נוצרת תמונה ייחודית ומפתיעה של ירושלים, מתקופת ״היישוב הישן״ ועד זמננו, בדרך המשלבת את כישרון הסיפור של בן העיר עם יכולת מחקרית מרשימה המובילה לתגליות מעוררות השתאות ולבחינה מעמיקה של מהות העיר, על שלל ניגודיה, בגשמיותה וברוחניותה.
בַּספר כונסו לראשונה רשימות ומאמרים שחיים באר פרסם במשך למעלה מיובל שנים, לצד רשימות חדשות. הספר משיב אל קדַמת הבמה פן אחר בכתיבתו של באר, מחבר הרומנים 'נוצות', 'עת הזמיר', 'חבלים', 'לפני המקום', 'אל מקום שהרוח הולך' ו'חלומותיהם החדשים', וספרי העיון 'גם אהבתם גם שנאתם: ביאליק, ברנר עגנון - מערכות יחסים', 'מזיכרונותיה של תולעת ספרים: מסעות בעקבות סופרים וספרים' ו'חדרים מלאים ספרים'.

a v r a h a M f a u s t it used to be easy to identify the earliest Israelites. They are referred to in a well-known hieroglyphic stele known as the Merneptah Stele or, sometimes, the Israel Stele. The Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah, the son of Ramesses II, proclaims in this stele dated to the end of the 13th century B.C.E. that "Israel is laid waste, his seed is not."

The 7th century BCE in Philistia and Judah is characterized by economic prosperity, which is usually regarded as resulting from the “Assyrian Peace”, and from a policy of the Assyrian empire that aimed at maximizing production. The large center for the production of olive oil that was unearthed at Ekron in southern Israel is regarded as the best example of this policy. The present paper questions this scholarly consensus regarding the role of Assyria in the economy of the southern Levant, through a closer look at the olive oil industry in the region.

The kingdom of Judah and the Philistine cities along the coast had experienced un-paralleled economic prosperity during the seventh century BCE. This is evident from the surge of settlement in the fringe areas of the Negev and the Judean desert, and  from the large production and trade centres unearthed around Jerusalem and at Ekron and Ashkelon. The discovery of Judahite wheat in Ashkelon, together with other available archaeological evidence of trade and the local geographical conditions, enable us to reconstruct the well-integrated economy of the region in the seventh century, and to re-examine its role within the period's larger economic structures. After presenting the evidence regarding the economic system of Judah and Philistia in the seventh century BCE, the paper will reconstruct the function of this "local" system within the larger "world" system, and will re-examine the role of the Assyrians, Phoenicians and Egyptians in its creation.

In the following article we will examine at length some of the dynamics by which R. Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad—the renowned Ben Ish Hai (1834–1909) - integrated Kabbalah into daily life, and the complex way that he combined the teachings of the Rashash with simplified, esoteric practices meant for the general public. Needless to say, the relationship between the Kabbalists of Jerusalem and R. Yosef Hayyim illuminates a fascinating chapter in the history of Kabbalah in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century.

http://mj.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/2/148.short?rss=1

The Shephelah was densely settled in the Late Bronze Age, but most of the settlements were gradually abandoned during the transition to the Iron I period. Only a few Iron I settlements existed in the eastern part of the region (excluding the Philistine sites at the northwestern edge of the Shephelah), forming a small Canaanite enclave. During the Iron II period the region was gradually resettled, and it became part of Judah. This process lasted until the 8th century BCE, when the region reached an unparalleled demographic peak. Sennacherib’s campaign brought wide-scale destruction, and the region recovered only partially before being devastated by Nebuchadnezzar. After reconstructing the region’s settlement history, the article reassesses its political and demographic
history in comparison to the neighbouring regions of the Judean highlands and the southern coastal plain, it is concluded that the Shephelah had a lesser role in the history of Judah than some recent studies suggest.

Thesis submitted for the degree of
“Doctor of Philosophy”
by
Shlomo Tikochinski
Submitted to the Senate of the Hebrew University
December 2009

ישנם שינויים בין עבודת הדוקטור לבין הספר 'למדנות מוסר ואליטיזם'. ולטובת הדוקטורט - הממכיל עוד כמה דברים מעניינים על קלם, על ר' אברהם גרודזינסקי ועוד

This paper affirms the central thesis of the Progressive Covenantalist view of the land, namely, that the land promise expands to encompass all of the new creation and all of the redeemed. However, it asks Progressive Covenantalists to take more seriously the Scriptural theme of the nations and to allow this theme to come to full fruition in the biblical storyline. It also argues against pitting the expansion of the land promise and the specific land promise to Israel against each other. In making these arguments, it argues for a refinement in the way the land serves as a type of the new creation, for greater precision in the discussion of the conditionality/unconditionality of covenants, and for respect to be given to the nature of promises as speech acts.

This paper examines the changes in settlement patterns, internal trade relations and material culture that occurred in Philistia and the Shephelah during the Iron I–II transition. It appears that the Philistines were hegemonic during the Iron Age I. They lived in large fortified settlements, accompanied by smaller settlements
in the coastal areas. The Shephelah was only sparsely settled at the time, probably as a result of Philistine policy. Since it was to their advantage to maintain high boundaries with their neighbours, the Philistines increased their use of ‘foreign’ elements in their material culture. The Philistines were significantly weakened during the transition to the Iron Age IIA, with many sites becoming
significantly smaller and others abandoned. As the Philistines withdrew westward, the Shephelah was gradually filled with new Israelite/Judahite settlements. In tandem with their weakening, the Philistines changed their boundary maintenance strategy, and in a quick process of cultural change, abandoned many of the foreign traits that previously characterised them. Instead, they adopted a local material vocabulary, symbolising that they had become ‘one of the neighbours’. The city of Gath is an exception: Philistine identity was negotiated there differently than in other sites in  Philistia.

Following a relative prosperity during the Late Bronze Age, and despite significant demographic increase throughout most of the country at the time, settlement in the Shephelah reached an unparalleled nadir during the Iron Age I. The limited settlement in the region concentrated in a number of sites in the trough valley (in the eastern Shephelah). Triggered by the excavations at Tel 'Eton, a large mound in the southern trough valley, and on the basis of the information from additional sites, the paper discusses the changing relations between various groups that inhabited the region at the time – Canaanites, Philistines and Israelites. The article will assess the changing role of various material traits (Philistine bichrome pottery, collared rim jars, decoration on pottery, consumption of pork, and more) in the ethnic negotiations that took place at the time between the various groups, and the mechanisms that were operating in order to demarcate ethnic boundaries at the time. Special attention will be given to the processes the Canaanite population went through during the Iron Age I.

published without the knowledge of the author - . not proofread by the author. an updated and corrected version of the article will appear in my book - Wrestling with the Esoteric (2017)

הדברים נדפסו שלא בידיעתי וללא הגהה מצידי. אין אחריות המחבר על טיב התרגום ודיוקו. נוסח מעודכן, עם תיקונים רבים, יראה אור בספרי  - נפתולי סוד, 2017


Йо н а т а н Ме и р
Михаэль Лайтман и группа «Бней-Барух»
(фрагмент статьи «О последователях рабби
Й.-Л. Ашлага, полемике с ними и о распространении
еврейской каббалистической литературы»)

This is an excerpt from a much bigger article devoted to
several followers of Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag’s agenda who
are trying to disseminate Kabbalistic ideas and practices
outside of the borders of Judaism. This very excerpt analyzes
teachings of Michael Laitman, a Russian-speaking student of
Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, and his movement “Bnei Baruch”,which
try to present Kabbalah as science and lead it out of Orthodox
Judaism. Author considers Laitman’s methodology, his ideas
on correction of the world and salvation from anti-Semitism
through Kabbalah studies, his social ideal. In this excerpt one
can also find analysis of the social context of the movement,
Laitman’s competition with another representative of New Age
Kabbalah Shraga Feivel (Philip) Berg, strategies of gaining
popularity and complicated relations with Jewish Orthodoxy.

Contents

Preface pp. ix-xii

Introduction: The Imagined Decline of Kabbalah pp. 1-17

Chapter One: The Kabbalistic Yeshivot of Jerusalem  pp. 19-73

Chapter Two: Searching for the Lost Tribes  pp. 74-108

Chapter Three: The Renaissance of Print  pp. 109-140

Chapter Four: Prayers and Ritual Literature pp. 141-166

Chapter Five: Critique, Parody and Controversy pp. 167-175

Concluding Remarks p. 176

Appendix: List of Proclamations pp. 177-184

Bibliography pp. 185-230

Index pp. 231-243


"Reviews:
(1) Tomer Persiko, 2012, הרחובות ממריאים ‘The streets of Kabbalah’, Beit Avichai Journal, (Hebrew)
(2) Tomer Persiko, 2012, הרחובות ממריאים ‘The streets of Kabbalah’, Lula’at ha-El: The Varieties of Religious Experience, Blog (Hebrew)
(3) Avishai Elboim, 2011, חיפוש עשרת השבטים ‘Searching for the lost Tribes’, Shabat be-Shabato, no. 1405, p. 6 (Hebrew)
(4) Yaniv Mezuman, 2012, רחובות הנהר ‘Rehovot ha-Nahar’, Makor Rishon, Shabat, pp. 12-13 (Hebrew)
(5) Yehudah Mirsky, 2012, ‘Gershom Scholem, 30 Years On’, Jewish Ideas Daily.
(6) Eliezer Baumgarten, 2013,נהר שלום  ‘Nahar Shalom’, Pa'amim 133-134, 7 pages (Hebrew) http://www.ybz.org.il/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/Pea133_134eyunim.pdf


1) Evening book at the Ben Tsvi Jerusalem, with the guests: Moshe Idel, Ronit Maroz, Yoram Bilu Hanan Gafni, Zeev Griss, 10 March 2012
http://www.ybz.org.il/?CategoryID=141&ArticleID=849

2) Evening book at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, with the guests: Haim Beer, Elhanan Reiner, Zeev Griss, Boaz Huss 12 June 2012
http://in.bgu.ac.il/Pages/events/Streets-of-the-river.aspx





"""

In 1210, thanks to increased contacts between Jewish communities in western Europe and in the eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the crusades, Jonathan ha-Kohen, head of the yeshivah of Lunel and leading Jewish Provençal sage of his time, set sail for Alexandria, from where he proceeded on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A year later, a group of sages from northern France and England arrived in Marseille, en route to Palestine. A number of scholars have investigated the messianic aspects of this second wave of immigration, called the "'aliyah of the three hundred rabbis". This article, however, seeks to examine the messianic aspects of the earlier journey, undertaken by Jonathan ha-Kohen and his followers, within their local Provençal context.

The Word ‘Euphrates’ used in most translations of the Old Testament, stems from the Hebrew ‘perath’ meaning ‘to break forth’ or ‘rushing’ . This paper examines the context of the Biblical verses in which the name is used and shows that, in many instances, the translation to ‘Euphrates’ cannot be correct.

Gershom Scholem in Deutschland
Zwischen Seelenverwandtschaft und Sprachlosigkeit
Hrsg. v. Gerold Necker, Elke Morlok u. Matthias Morgenstern

Die Biographie des in Berlin geborenen und ab 1923 in Jerusalem lebenden Kabbala-Forschers Gershom Gerhard Scholem ist von den Katastrophen und Umbrüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts geprägt. Im Horizont des für Scholem ambivalenten deutsch-jüdischen Verhältnisses nehmen die Autoren des Bandes seinen Werdegang im Kaiserreich und in der Weimarer Republik in den Blick sowie die Bedeutung, die er als israelischer Gesprächspartner für die Zeitgeschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland hatte. Die Beziehungen zu Walter Benjamin und Hannah Arendt, zu dem Theologen Otto Michel und dem Verleger Siegfried Unseld dokumentieren auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen Scholems Verbindung zu Deutschland, die ihn auch bei persönlicher Lyrik und sogar bei seiner wissenschaftlichen Prosa zur jüdischen Mystik begleitete.

Welche Rolle spielt das Thema »Land«l in den jüdischen 2 Schriften der hellenistisch-römischen Zeit? Das ist die Frage, die im Folgenden aufgenommen wird. Dazu ist den Wandlungen des Themas »Land« sowohl hinsichtlich seiner Relevanz als auch seines konkreten Bezugs nachzugehen. Im Alten Testament 3 spielt das Land bekanntlich eine herausragende Rolle. Das zeigt sich zum einen in der Fülle der Texte, die das Land betreffen; man denke an die Texte zu Landverheißungen, Landnahme, Landverteilung und auch zum Verlust des Landes, zur Wegführung aus dem Land und Rückkehr dorthin. Zum anderen gibt es eine besondere, historisch und theologisch geprägte Beziehung zum Land, die mit der Trias »Gott -Volk -Land« zusammengefasst werden kann 4 . Doch wie gingen Juden mit diesem Erbe 1 Im Folgenden bezieht sich »Land«, wenn nicht anders erwähnt, immer auf das, was gemeinhin »Land Israel/Palästina« genannt wird. Diese Bezeichnungen wiederum sind ungenaue Wiedergaben einer Größe, deren politische und ideologische Grenzen wechselten und für deren Territorium es umgekehrt in unterschiedlichen Zeiten und aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven heraus viele Benennungen gab. 2 Das, was wir jetzt als »Judentum/jüdisch« beschreiben, gehörte für das damalige Verständnis zum z&VOC; -Begriff; für Religion gab es keinen Oberbegriff; vgl. dazu detailliert S. Mason, Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism. Problems of Categorization in Ancient History, in: JSJ 38 ,457-512. 3 Der Terminus »Altes Testament« ist bekanntlich nicht unproblematisch, aber das sind die Alternativen »Erstes Testament«, »Alter/Erster Bund« oder »die Schriften des Ersten Bundes« auch nicht. Der Terminus »Hebräische Bibel« träfe in diesem Aufsatz nicht immer zu, weil ich mich -wie man es auch in der untersuchten Zeit zu tun pflegte -meistens auf die LXX beziehe. »Jüdische Bibel« wäre zum Teil angemessen, doch diese Bibel war später gleichzeitig die Bibel der Christen, und der Begriff sollte für diese Zeit aus heuristischen Gründen nicht angewandt werden. Darum benutze ich den von meiner Tradition vorgegebenen Begriff »Altes Testament«, ohne dabei das Alte Testament gegenüber dem Neuen oder Juden gegenüber Christen disqualifizieren zu wollen. 4 Forscher wie William D. Davies und Walter Brueggemann betrachten »Land« sogar als das Hauptthema des Alten Testaments; vgl. W.D. Davies, The Gospel Jahrbuch für biblische Theologie 23 (2008), 73-99 ]. Cornelis de Vos Die Bedeutung des Landes Israel in den jüdischen Schriften ...

Klein E. and Zissu B., 2019, Excavations and Surveys of Underground Cavities at Horvat Husham, Judean Foothills.. in: A. Zhalov, V. Gyorev, P. Delchev (eds.). Hypogea 2019: Proceedings of International Congress of Speleology in Artificial Cavities, Dobrich, Bulgaria, May 20-23. 2019. Dobrich. pp. 51-56

The settlement of Judah in the Iron Age had received a great deal of scholarly attention, and it is commonly agreed that after "humble beginnings" in the Iron Age I, Judah reached an unparalleled demographic peak in the later part of the Iron Age II. The Shephelah, the low hilly region to the west of the Judean highlands, is commonly regarded as the demographic and settlement hub of Judah. The present paper reassesses the relative importance of the various regions of Judah, and especially that of the highlands versus that of the Shephelah, during the various stages of the Iron Age. A thorough examination of the data reveals that the highlands, while underrepresented in archaeological research, were the center of settlement of Judah throughout the Iron Age, although at times the demographic difference between the regions was smaller than in others.

The Assyrian empire ruled over the Southern Levant for about a century and had a profound impact on the region’s settlement, economy, demography, and even culture and religion. Despite this, however, there are very limited remains that clearly attest Assyrian administration in the region and, moreover, most of the finds are concentrated in a very limited area. The concentration of the existing evidence in
a small area on the southwestern periphery of these provinces is surprising, given the almost complete lack of evidence for Assyrian administrative activities in the central part of the provinces. The aims of the present paper are therefore to draw attention to this phenomenon, to articulate it, and to explain the significance of this small region for the Assyrian empire. Finally, we would like to discuss the implications of this peculiar pattern for our understanding of the Assyrian economic exploitation of the region at large.

Attributing a great deal of attention to global and local knowledge, this paper is focused on law and
society scholarship that has been published by Israelis, both Jewish and Arab-Palestinians. It
attempts to unveil and to map some of the major issues that have characterised the scholarly debates
and intellectual discourse, primarily critical questions on law and political power, the nation-state,
legal rights discourse and equality. More specifically, the paper analyses socio-legal research on
various local issues, such as multiculturalism and national rifts on the backdrop of the 1967
military occupation alongside the emergence of a neoliberal capitalist economy. The protracted Arab-
Palestinian–Israeli conflict and the fragmentation of the political partisan map in Israel have incited
more emphasis on the place of the Israeli Supreme Court, primarily sitting as a High Court of
Justice, in public life as an important regulatory institution. This focus on the judicial power of the
Court has resulted in an even more frantic controversy on whether the Court has become too
engaged in political affairs. In all the law and society debates, local concepts and global knowledge
have been intertwined. Hence, the paper enables scholars around the world to closely examine law
and society scholarship on the convergence of local and global knowledge.

This is a popular and slightly updated version of an article that discusses the rarity of Iron Age burials in ancient Israel. The title of the present article is slightly misleading, and the title on the cover of the journal - "Ancient Israel's Egalitarian Ethos" better describes the content.
The rarity of burials is accompanied by additional traits (rarity of decoration on pottery, when compared with other nearby societies, rarity of imported pottery, lack of royal inscriptions, etc.), which suggests that the ancient Israelites had an ethos of egalitarianism and simplicity (not reality of course).  The article presents the data and discusses it.
The original article appeared in 2004 as: Faust, A., 2004, "Mortuary Practices, Society and Ideology”: The Lack of Iron Age I Burials in Highlands in Context, Israel Exploration Journal 54: 174-190. An updated Hebrew version was published in 2011 as: Faust, A., 2011, How were the Israelites Buried? The Lack of Iron Age I Burials in the Highlands in Context, in A. Tavgar, Z. Amar and M. Billig (eds.), In the Highland's Depth: Ephraim Range and Binyamin Research Studies, pp. 13-32 (Hebrew). Both versions are posted on academia.edu.