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Byline: Binyamin Kagedan JNS.org

Fathers of biblical greats

The great epic poet Homer once said, “For rarely are sons similar to their fathers; most are worse, and a few are better.” In honor of Father’s Day, here are some quick facts about some rather unfamous (though not all infamous) fathers of famous biblical characters.

Terah, father of Abraham. The biblical verse is mostly silent on Terah’s life and times, its brief description of his family and travels serving only to set the stage for the story of Abraham. But various ancient interpretive traditions grew around the character of Terah in the imagination of the rabbis, especially as they pertain to the spiritual evolution of Abraham. Terah is portrayed in the Midrash as a typical worshipper of Mesopotamian gods, perhaps even a priest, who kept a sizable collection of stone idols. His precocious son Abraham, so the familiar tale goes, having become convinced of the powerlessness of these images, smashed all but the biggest one to pieces, then left his hammer in the remaining statue’s hands. When a furious Terah later demanded an explanation for the disaster, Abraham cleverly blamed the one idol he’d left standing, claiming that a fight had erupted in which it was the sole victor!

Elkanah, father of Samuel. Elkanah had two wives, like many men of his day, but had only been able to have children with one of them. The biblical narrator tells us that it was his other wife, Hannah, who was his favorite of the two. Hannah was greatly depressed by her infertility and Elkanah, in what is perhaps one of the earliest accounts of male insensitivity, responds: “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why does your heart grieve? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?” (I Samuel 1:8) In fact, having a son was so important to Hannah that she made a deal with God: if granted a son, she offered to permanently lend him to the service of the divine. Thus, Samuel, when he came of age, became the servant of the High Priest Eli, and grew to be one of the great prophets of Israel.

Jesse, father of David. The importance of the genealogy of David to both Jewish and Christian messianic thought has helped make Jesse a more familiar name than some of the other dads on our list. Jesse is said to have descended from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, who in Jewish lore was given the rightful kingship of Israel. The book of I Samuel contains the dramatic account of Samuel visiting the house of Jesse in Bethlehem, having been instructed by God that one of the man’s sons has been chosen to replace the weakened King Saul. Jesse innocently offers Samuel his oldest, tallest son Eliab, assuming him to be the best man for the job, but he and Jesse’s next six sons are all rejected by God until the youth David is called in from the sheep pastures. Jesse later has a hand in David’s fate, when he sends the lad to bring bread and cheese to his older brothers, who are stationed at an Israelite military base preparing for war with the Philistines. It is there that David hears the taunts of the enemy champion Goliath, and launches the bold challenge that would propel him to becoming one of the most celebrated monarchs in history.

Manoah, father of Samson. Manoah was descended from the tribe of Dan, and also had a wife with whom he could not conceive. He and his wife were eventually visited by an angel, who told them that they would soon have a son, but commanded them to raise him as a nazir, a consecrated individual who cannot drink wine or have their hair cut, according to biblical law. This they did, and the result was the super-strong and highly temperamental Samson. As a young man, Samson became interested in taking a Philistine woman as a wife, to which his parents protested, “What, there’s not enough Israelite girls around here?” (See Judges 14:3 for the exact quote.) Nonetheless, despite his disappointment, Manoah makes the trip to meet the woman and negotiate her marriage to his son, perhaps to be a supportive dad, but perhaps because there was simply no arguing with Samson.

Binyamin Kagedan has a master’s in Jewish thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. To read more from Kagedan, visit jns.org.

 

Posted on June 19, 2015June 17, 2015Author Binyamin Kagedan JNS.orgCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags Elkanah, Father’s Day, Jesse, Manoah, Terah
Some fun facts about dreidels

Some fun facts about dreidels

Major League Dreidel attracts many competitors. (photo from facebook.com/majorleaguedreidel)

The word dreidel is Yiddish, and comes from the German verb dreihen, meaning “to spin.” Dreidel literally means “little spinner.” The first dreidel players were Yiddish-speaking Jews in medieval Europe. In fact, playing with tops has been a popular pastime across Western Europe since at least the 16th century!

Many believe that the four letters on the dreidel – nun, gimel, hay and shin – were taken from the Hebrew expression “Nes gadol hayah sham,” meaning “a great miracle happened there,” referring to the miraculous events of the Chanukah story in ancient Israel. Really, this meaning was added later on. The letters originally represented the Yiddish instructions for what to do when you land on each one (Yiddish and Hebrew use the same alphabet): gimel for gantz, whole, take the whole pot; hay for halb, half, take half the pot; nun for nisht, nothing, don’t take out or put in; and shin for shtehl einl, put in, i.e. put some of your coins into the pot.

As the dreidel became a symbol associated with Chanukah, many legends began to stem from it. For example, the following one: When Antiochus decreed that Jewish law may no longer be studied in public, righteous Jews defied him and continued to teach Torah to their children. When they saw the king’s henchman coming, groups of students would quickly hide their books and bring out their dreidels, pretending that they had merely gathered for a bit of fun and gambling.

From those times to nowadays, dreidel spinning has even become a competitive sport. The group Major League Dreidel hosts tournaments each year in New York City and crowns a champion for the longest-lasting continuous spin.

Binyamin Kagedan has a master’s in Jewish thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

 

Posted on December 12, 2014December 10, 2014Author Binyamin Kagedan JNS.orgCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags Chanukah, dreidel
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