Author: Ben Zion

We have established the message of Be`er Sheva – reaching out to other nations and the encounter with the material world. We still need to clarify: Whose approach was right – Avraham or Isaac? And does this message of Be`er Sheva appear later on in the Bible? Through Jacob’s encounter with Be`er Sheva, the Torah…

Did Isaac improve on Avraham’s actions also in what happened in Be`er Sheva? A careful analysis of the two parallel stories about the covenant with Avimelech in Be`er Sheva will show us the important difference between them: Isaac learned a lesson from Avimelech’s breach of the covenant, and therefore he does not call the city…

Back to Abraham and Isaac… We began to explain how Isaac surpasses Abraham in all life events that both of them experienced in a similar way: in the way he treats his wife’s infertility, in the way he treats his wife when they are in a foreign land because of famine, in the way he…

A special lesson in honor of the 100th anniversary of the great battle of the Australian Cavalry in World War I, in order to conquer Be`er Sheva. In light of everything we`ve learned, we now understand why it was so important for them to conquer the city. The British army under the command of General…

The divine command to Isaac uses exactly the same phrase that was said to Abraham at the end of the Akedah: “And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” The message to Isaac is clear: the goal should be – all the nations of the earth. Not isolation. Looking further…

An analysis of the references in the Torah to “Be`er Lahai Roi” teaches us that it was a place that served as a place of solitude and meditation for Isaac, and that Isaac would come and go (“ba mibo”) there until his father died. Then he settled there permanently, as an expression of his solitary…

When you analyze the stories of Abraham and Isaac, you see that not only did they both call the city Be`er sheva, but they both went through exactly the same experiences. Everything that happened to Abraham happened to Isaac. This emphasizes the fact that there is one place their paths parted. After the Akedah, each…

Some interesting ideas in the context of Beersheba and the encounter with the nations: 1. It is implied from the Torah that if not for “Akedat Yitzchak”, Beersheba would have been the holiest place for the people of Israel! 2. In 1979, Egyptian President Sadat specifically requested to visit Beersheba, as the first place where…