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Parshat Naso
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

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Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

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“For Your salvation I hope, O HaShem!”

This prayer was first prayed by Yakov our father on his son Dan, and according to our Sages specifically upon Samson the famous descendant of Dan. Last week we discussed the city of Yafo in context of the tribe Dan and the figure Samson, and this week we shall continue to discuss yet another city of the tribe of Dan, the hometown of Samson, Tzorah, as mentioned in this week’s Haftorah.

The famous Amoraic master R. Yohanan teaches that all Scripture is hinted to in the Humash (Pentateuch). Indeed, the exact same letters of Tzorah appear in the Humash in context of the “wasp” (tzirah) that God will send to destroy Israel’s enemies. According to Midrashic literature this “wasp” had a special ability to enter hiding places of the enemy and enact God’s retribution upon them there, as hinted to in the Torah’s words that this “wasp” will destroy “those that hide from you”. This ability of this “wasp” fascinatingly fits exactly the warring methods of Samson who emerged from the city Tzorah. Unlike all the great warriors of Israel, who battled the enemy externally, Samson is unique in the sense that he literally entered within the “hidden” and internal fabric of the Philistine community through association with their women, and then battled this enemy from within.  Actually, not only Samson but also his entire tribe at large, Dan which means ‘judgment’, has special potential in enacting retribution and judgment upon Israel’s enemies, as Yakov blesses this tribe to be similar to a snake which bites its foes.

In a similar way we find that according to the Midrash it was Hushim the son of Dan who severed the head Esau when he tried to oppose Yakov’s right of being buried at Maaras HaMachpela. Not only in protecting the true rights towards Maaras HaMachpela does Dan (Hushim) have a special connection to Hebron, but also in regard to the origins of Dan, even before he was born. According to numbers of sources the first time a word is mentioned in the Torah carries special significance. The first time “Dan” is mentioned in the Torah is in Avraham’s famous battle to save Lot, this battle originating in no other than Hebron. Indeed, it is through the courageous spirit, the “different wind” imbued unto Kaleb in Hebron, that Dan receives his courageous fighting spirit to fight for Israel.  

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #174

“As I was writing the line here about Hushim’s severing the head of Esau, suddenly a friend of mine who sat next to me and no idea what I was writing about proclaimed in a totally different context: ‘take off his head...” (M.G)

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