Author: Ben Zion
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Levanon – lecture 12
Both King David and King Solomon had good relations with Hiram, King of Tyre. How did they make a covenant with Hiram, contrary to the strict prohibition of making covenants with the people of Canaan? And why do the prophets describe a future destruction and a special punishment that will befall Tyre? What is the…
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Levanon – lecture 11
In this lecture we will explore 2 major cities in Levanon – Tyre and Sidon. They are mentioned again and again in the Tanach, and according to the Midrash, even Avraham visited there. Why is Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan, never mentioned among the nations of Canaan along with his younger brothers? And what…
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Levanon – lecture 10
In the Tanach, the cedar is a symbol of strength and power and the reed symbolizes weakness and lowliness. But in the writings of the sages (Chazal) we receive a completely opposite message: “A person should always be soft as a reed and not hard as a cedar”. What is the reason for this change…
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Levanon – lecture 9
What is so special about the “Cedars of Levanon” and what do they symbolize? We will look at prayers and verses in the Bible where the Cedars of Levanon are mentioned, and we will examine the interesting relationship between the cedar and the hyssop. Why did Bilaam bless Israel to be like “cedars on water”?…
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Yam Hamelach – lecture 12
The connection between Yam Hamelach and Beit Ha-Mikdash The final meaning of Yam Hamelach Israel is a land without superlatives. Except, in the case of, Yam Hamelach. This symbolizes the connection between the highest spiritual place and the lowest place in the world. Yam Hamelach expresses the great destruction expected when we leave the covenant,…
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Yam Hamelach – lecture 11
The Dead Sea: A Prophecy of Re-Creation. The prophets’ descriptions of the transformation of the wilderness into a blooming garden. According to the prophets, the water will come from the Temple after an earthquake, in accordance with ancient evidence that there is much groundwater under the Temple Mount, and recent research that an earthquake is…
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Yam Hamelach – lecture 10
Yam Hamelach symbolizes the physical transformation of the land in accordance with the spiritual state of the people. Mark Twain describes the destruction of the land (exactly in accordance with the prophecy in Parshat Haazinu: “The foreigner who will come from a far country”) as a punishment for leaving the covenant. And we will see…
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Yam Hamelach – lecture 9
Where is “Goren Ha-Atad”, where Jacob was eulogized? And how is this related to “Beit Hogla” and the size of Yam Hamelach at that time? Where is “Gey Melach” (Salt Ravine), which is mentioned as a battlefield in the days of King David and how does this place once again prove the exact correspondence between…
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Yam Hamelach – lecture 8
“And the border went north to the tongue of Yam Hamelach” – what is this “tongue”? When you read in Tanach about the borders of the tribes near Yam Hamelach, according to today’s Yam Hamelach, many questions arise. The geological findings on the Yam Hamelach sea level in the days of Joshua, shed a different…
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Yam Hamelach – lecture 7
In this lecture we will see how all the findings fit together: The geological findings on Yam Hamelach sea level, the archaeological findings from the city of “Numera”, and the Tanach itself. Everything leads to the fact that what was called “Yam Hamelach” at the time of Matan Torah, was called “Emek Ha-Sidim” in the…