Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
Franz Kafka
If Manasseh was Joseph’s right-hand man, the expression of his mature power, Ephraim represented the charm of his childhood, when he was the “na’ar,” most beloved by his father. Ephraim was the embodiment of boyhood – mischievous, forever innocent, whatever trouble he might cause. If Manasseh was the child of Joseph’s painful forgetting, Ephraim was the child of fertility. At the very core of Ephraim was the yeled sha’ashuim, the impish child in whom God delighted. A perpetual child, full of fresh dreams for the future, he was always ultimately forgiven. Ephraim was adored, and cherished.
Ephraim is My precious son, the child in whom I delight. When I speak of him, I remember him earnestly; My heart yearns for him! Therefore I will surely have compassion on him, oath of God.
Jeremiah 31:19
The childlike exuberance of Ephraim was both the source of his success and the source of his undoing. There was a danger to youth, to dreams; an overflow of desire for geulah (redemption) can lead to destruction. Yet it was also the only force that could get the job done.
The primacy of Ephraim, second son of Joseph, was first noticeable when Jacob called upon his two grandsons to bless them. Though Ephraim was the younger, Jacob placed him first. “Now, your two sons that were born to you in the land of Egypt – they are mine! Ephraim and Manasseh will belong to me like Reuben and Simeon” (Genesis 48:5).
Even after Joseph protested,1PR 3, 11b–12a; MHG I, 717 and 718–20; Tan. VeYeĥi 6. and placed the older Manasseh in position for the prime blessing, Jacob insisted on giving Ephraim the superior blessing:
Israel [Jacob] stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger…[Jacob] guided his hand deliberately.…When Joseph saw this, it seemed wrong to him.…But his father insisted and said, “I know it, my son, I know it. [Manasseh] too will become a tribe; he, too, will attain greatness. However, [Ephraim] will become greater than he, and his descendants will become the fullness of the tribes.”
Genesis 48:14–19
“The fullness of the tribes” – that’s a strange expression! Ephraim was so powerful that he towered over his brothers and they deferred to his name. He shone forth so strongly that the other luminaries of the nation bowed to his charisma – he was indeed a prism that reflected the glory of the whole nation.
As he blessed his grandsons, Jacob deliberately “[made] his hands wise”2Rashi, Genesis 48:14. and graced Ephraim with the bull’s share of the blessing.3Genesis 49:22. He must have seen the potential greatness of the lad, purposefully dimming his eyes to the convention of the firstborn receiving the more significant inheritance.4Genesis 48:10.
The latent potential of Ephraim lay in his fresh, unburdened promise. He was born after Manasseh, who was named for the necessity of letting go of the past, with all of the accompanying bitterness and pain. Ephraim, though, represented the vitality of Joseph, a perpetually fertile force that flourished in the adversity of galut. The sweet innocence (ĥen) of Ephraim was imbued in the character of Joshua, called a “youth” (na’ar) even in his maturity.5Exodus 33:11; Ramban, ibid. It was only he who had the enthusiasm and drive to lead Israel in the conquest of the land. And if other tribes dallied, and resented the need to fight for redemption, Ephraim hastened to conquer and claim his naĥalah.
Youth and beauty, innocence and exuberance can be perilous if unrestrained. Joseph’s brothers felt this acutely, and it angered and frightened them: “They saw him [Joseph] from afar, and before he came close to them they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Behold, the baal ĥalomot (dreamer) approaches!’” (Genesis 37:18–19). “They said: ‘This one will lead them all to the Baal idolatry’” (Genesis Rabbah 84:14).
The brothers’ jealousy of Joseph was rooted in a great fear of his innate power. His youthful capacity for passion and his craving for emotional response could have dragged the nation down to treacherous betrayal. Joseph, in his complete loyalty to relationships, proved that the brothers were not necessarily right. Relationship and passion need not lead to breakdown. Integrity can be maintained. Yet there was, indeed, cause for fear, as the later history of Joseph’s descendants attested:
[Jeroboam from Ephraim] made two golden calves, and placed one in Beth-el and one in Dan. He said to the people, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. These are your gods, O Israel, who delivered you from Egypt!”
I Kings 12:28–29
Until Jeroboam, the nation nursed from only one calf;6Reference here is to the Golden Calf fashioned by the nation in the wilderness of Sinai. from then on, from two and three.
Sanhedrin 102a
How fitting, then, was the imagery chosen by the prophet Hosea to describe the wayward Northern Kingdom: “Ephraim is an untrainable calf that loves to follow his own desires… ” (Hosea 10:11). In embodying Joseph’s youth and passion, Ephraim also represented his greatest danger. Here was the wayward calf, untrained and wandering, not yet grown into Joseph’s sovereign bull. This immature impetuousness got the tribe into trouble time and again. Ephraim, full of dreams of redemption, prematurely marched out of Egypt, and right into slaughter in Philistine territory.
Who were the dead resurrected by Ezekiel [in his prophecy of the resurrection of the dried bones (Ezekiel 37)]? Rav said, These were the sons of the tribe of Ephraim, who calculated the end [of the slavery in Egypt] and erred [in their count, and were killed after escaping Egypt].
Sanhedrin 92b7See extensive sources and comments in Ginzberg, Legends, 6:2, note 10.
Unlike much of the nation that had sunk to despair “from shortness of breath and hard work,” Ephraim was invested with the secrets of the end time, a treasure passed from Jacob to Joseph and then on to his prime son, Ephraim. But Ephraim’s calculations were off. In the very intensity of hope, he ignored his brethren’s urge to act cautiously, and sallied forth to be all but wiped out. Woe to the unrestrained calf!
The dream factory of Joseph was a dangerous enterprise, to be sure. But we needed the passionate visionary, the romantic pioneer who united the nation with the sheer appeal of his vision, the pulsing power of hope. Even in death, Ephraim retained the dream of life, for they were his bones that Ezekiel saw resurrected. Only after leadership emerged from Joseph – leadership that lay out the national mission and set it in motion – could Judah effectively guide Israel as monarch.8Joshua the Ephramite (and, by extension, Saul the Benjamite, also a descendant of Rachel) paved the way for David’s successes. The Mishkan spent hundreds of years in Shiloh (in Naĥalat Ephraim) before it eventually relocated to Jerusalem. We are taught that the Messiah from Joseph will precede the King Messiah from Judah.
This should be the very model guiding each individual’s development in this world. Each person must first be a Joseph, discovering and then nurturing his or her unique role within the nation. And then, each individual must of course contribute to the totality of the system of nationhood, understanding that he or she is not isolated, but an integral part of a larger whole. Relationships must develop to build a web of interactions, building connections, or the person becomes a manipulative idolater, worshipping his or her personal dreams.
This harmony, muses Rabbi Matis Weinberg, is the existential dualism of being alive:
Man in this world is the essence of klal and prat, totality and individuality.…The restoration of this world is the restoration of klal and prat (Zohar Ra’ayah Me’hemnah, Exodus 25a).…Each vision is wrong in isolation, because each projects only half the picture. For the visions of bnai Rachel and bnai Leah are complementary; malchus requires both.
Patterns in Time: Chanukah, 96, 112
Ephraim was eponymous with much of Israel, and was foremost among the tribes.9VR 2:3. In his youthful impetuosity, his dreams of greatness, he introduced much discord and strife. Yet this mischief was not unredeemable. At its core remained a longing for connection and openness to response. And God cannot help but answer:
I have surely heard Ephraim’s crying: “You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been chastened. Bring me back, and I will return, because You are the Lord my God. After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”
Ephraim is My precious son, the child in whom I delight. When I speak of him, I remember him earnestly; My heart yearns for him! Therefore I will surely have compassion on him, oath of God.
Jeremiah 31:17–19
Naĥalat Ephraim
Ephraim, the dominant shevet among the northern tribes, was granted the heartland of Eretz Yisrael. The tribe’s naĥalah stretched from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It shared a southern border with Benjamin and Dan. Ephraim’s northern border was shared with his closest kin, Manasseh, and bisected Samaria. Most of the cities inhabited by the tribe were located on the central mountain ridge running vertically through this territory, known in that region as “Harei Ephraim.”
Ephraim’s southern border rose unevenly from Jericho, which was in Naĥalat Binyamin, skirted the “Wilderness of Beth On,” and hit various points westward: Beth-el, Ataroth, Lower Beth-horon, and Gezer. The border then extended to the Mediterranean, with its southern point likely hitting north of Jaffa. His northern border hit the points of Shechem, Tappuah, and then followed the entire path of the Kaneh Brook toward the Mediterranean.
Visiting Naĥalat Ephraim
Itinerary: Qubbat a-Najma, Shiloh, ‘Izbet Sarta
Western Ephraim is familiar terrain to just about every Israeli, since the coastal area of the naĥalah is heavily populated in the modern era. The fertility of Ephraim, his creativity, and interaction with the world are realized in the greater Tel Aviv area, the center of Israel’s action. What is affectionately known as the “Merkaz” (Center) is home to millions of Israelis who are the dream realizers, who have propelled the technology and commerce of this young country to the extent that Israel is recognized internationally as the “start-up nation.”
Naĥalat Ephraim is breathtaking, evocative country, mountains interspersed with winding riverbeds, valleys, and grassy plains. We start our tour by driving north on the Allon Road, Route 458, embarking from the Jerusalem–Dead Sea corridor.10The Allon Road was part of the Allon Plan, an Israeli initiative in the wake of the Six Day War to settle a relatively narrow corridor west of the Jordan River with Israeli settlements and relinquish the rest of the West Bank to Arab control. We wind through the northern Judean Desert, bisecting Naĥalat Binyamin, until the stark and bare gray-white peaks and crags sharply give way to greener and gentler rolling hills. For a grand view of the vineyards and wheat plains of eastern Ephraim, ascend to the lookout point on Qubbat a-Najma, accessed via Kochav HaShahar (a pastoral yishuv off of the Allon Road). The Rehavam Lookout, named after assassinated tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi, is a prime spot to survey the eastern border of Ephraim. To the east is the breathtaking span of the Jordan Valley from Jericho up to the sharp peak of Sartaba, all belonging to Naĥalat Menasheh. (Ephraim’s eastern border was shared with Manasseh; it did not extend to the Jordan River.) You can clearly see the Mount of Olives to the south, accounting for the scholarly consensus that this peak was a substation for the masu’ot, the communication system of torches that would be fired up from peak to peak (beginning on the Mount of Olives) to inform the nation of the New Moon (the next official station was Sartaba).11There were substations between the main beacons: “ביני וביני הוו קיימי,” Rosh Hashanah 23b.
The view to the west encompasses the eastern span of Naĥalat Ephraim up toward the watershed line, otherwise known as the Way of the Patriarchs. You are looking at the length of the central mountain ridge, running north–south, from Shechem to Hebron. The central cities of Ephraim – Tappuah, Shiloh, Ophrah, Beth-el (arguably located in Naĥalat Binyamin) – were all located on the Way of the Patriarchs. The vista spread out before you is the heartland of Israel. It requires little imagination to rebuild the villages and farms of Israelite antiquity in the mind’s eye.
Continue north on the Allon Road, past the Arab village of Mughayir; about two kilometers on (a little more than one mile), make a sharp left turn on the back road leading to the village of Shiloh. This is storybook land: a lush valley bordered by gentle slopes, populated by idealistic Jews who have spread out from the more established settlements of Ephraim to breathe life back into these ancient hills. Our destination is ancient Shiloh, the spiritual capital of early Israelite settlement, but some would say that the modern-day spiritual revival of the nation of Israel is taking place right here, in the newly established communities of Adei Ad, Kidah, and Shevut Rachel.
A tour of ancient Shiloh begins with a survey of the historical background of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). After fourteen years of conquest and settlement,12Zevaĥim 118b. Joshua of Ephraim chose to erect the Mishkan in this city in his naĥalah13Joshua 18:1. for reasons beyond the parochial. Shiloh had been a well-fortified city in the Middle Bronze period (2000–1550 Bce), attested to by the excavated five-meter-thick walls (approx. sixteen feet thick) covered by an earthen glacis. Whether the Canaanite inhabitants were still in the city when the Israelites took over the place is not certain. There is no archaeological record of a destruction layer dating to the Israelite conquest, and the biblical text does not mention any battle for the site. Thus Joshua found in Shiloh a ready-made city, either abandoned or readily captured, with fine water resources, easily accessible via the central mountain range artery.
Much of what there is to see on Tel Shiloh dates to later periods: Second Temple era structures, Byzantine churches, and a Muslim mak’am (holy site). There is ample evidence, though, of a settlement here in the time of the Judges (Iron I) and First Temple era (Iron II). Just outside of the Canaanite (MB) western fortifications are typical Israelite four-room houses that seemed to have been used both as storage facilities and as domiciles. A large collection of collared-rim storage jars, typical to the Iron I Israelite period, was discovered in situ. Carbon testing of charred olive pits found in one of them helped date the jars definitively to the era of the Judges.
Positive identification of the site as biblical Shiloh is a recent development. The location matched the biblical description as “north of Beth-el, east of the road ascending from Beth-el to Shechem, and south of Lebonah” (Judges 21:19).14Lebonah is identified as present-day a-Luban Sharkiya, just north of Tel Shiloh. The tel has been traditionally called “Khirbet Seilun,” preserving a form of the name Shiloh. And the archaeological evidence has corresponded neatly with the written record of Shiloh. It was only in 2006, though, that a church inscription, dating to the fourth century CE, was uncovered, asking the Lord to have mercy on Seilun and its inhabitants. This discovery removed any doubt that this place was indeed ancient Shiloh.
The search for the location of the Mishkan site continues apace. Various suggestions include the Muslim mak’am, built on top of two successive Byzantine churches, since that spot has a clear tradition of holiness. Another possibility is the very top of the tel, under the current lookout tower, given the logic that a ritual site should be situated at the highest point.15Also Tosefta Megillah 3:14 – ״אין בונים בתי כנסיות אלא בגובהה של עיר״. The present consensus is that the Mishkan was likely situated at the very north of the tel, outside of the Canaanite city walls. There, we find a smoothed-out surface, excavated in antiquity, approximately 100 × 50 amot long – exactly matching the dimensions of the Mishkan.16Exodus 27:18. That the carved-out area is oriented on an east–west axis is also telling, since the Mishkan (and later the Temple) faced east. While most of the excavated remains at this spot are dated to later periods, recent excavations have uncovered a wall, as well as niches that may have held wooden support beams for a monumental structure – all from the era of the Judges.17As reported by Shimon Cohen, “אותרו ממצאי המשכן בשילה הקדומה?” Israel National News, July 2, 2013, http://www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/258471.18It has also been suggested that the biblical description of the battle against the Philistines that resulted in their capture of the Ark, recorded in I Samuel 4, may have indicated a location of the Mishkan at the northern end of the tel. When the Benjaminite approached Shiloh to report on the battlefront, he first passed through the gate, and then through the city. The High Priest Eli was seated outside the Mishkan when he heard the commotion in the city and demanded a report. Since it is likely (as judged by a survey of the tel’s terrain) that the still-uncovered gate was located at the southern end of Shiloh, this would place the Mishkan at its northern end. דביר רביב נתנאל אינסון, המדריך למטייל בשומרון, חלק ב (קידה: המדריך למטייל, תשע״ד) 224.
Bones of sacrificial animals19The ages and types of animals corresponded to the biblical precepts. found on surrounding hilltops attest to the practice recorded in the Mishnah (Zevaĥim 14:6): “When the Mishkan was in Shiloh, kodshim kalim and ma’aser sheni were eaten anywhere within sight of Shiloh.” The Israelites would make pilgrimage to the Mishkan in Shiloh over the 369 years that it stood there, during the entirety of the period of the Judges, and would eat from their sacrifices in the entire surrounding area – so long as they remained within sight of Shiloh.
The first lengthy and formative era of the Jewish nation in its land demanded leeway for self-expression and individuality, for the tribes to come into their own, within their separate naĥalot. Ritual was deliberately designed at this time to be non-oppressive, even as all were enjoined to worship together in one centralized spot. Bamot were prohibited during the time when the Mishkan stood in Shiloh, but as long as one was in sight of Shiloh, one partook of the sacrifice.
This formative period, spanning hundreds of years, was a difficult one for a confederation of tribes trying to establish their own naĥalot while at the same time attempting to nurture a unified national identity. The balance was struck by having a single and central locale to worship together, while still allowing for some distance. “Kol ha-ro’eh” – whoever was in sight of Shiloh could partake of the sacrifices.
The period of the Judges was not only a difficult era – it was a dangerous one as well, without clearly defined boundaries, where the eye could wander and idolatry could flourish, and indeed: “each did as was seemly in his eyes.”20See “Dan the Leader” and “Dan the Idolator” in chapter 8. Surprisingly, then, the Sages linked Shiloh – the center of religious ritual during this era – to Joseph, master of self-control:
R. Abahu said: “Scripture states, ‘A fruitful son is Joseph, a fruitful son because of the eye.’ Let the eye that did not want to feed upon and derive enjoyment from that which did not belong to it [i.e., Potiphar’s wife] merit to eat sacrifices as far as its range of vision.”
Zevaĥim 118b
Yosef Ha-Tzadik was the paradigm of one who was open to others, who yearned for an emotional response, for relationship between the tribes. Yet he also was the model of restraint when a relationship was inappropriate, as was the case with Potiphar’s wife.21The name of Ephraim’s prince, Elishama ben Amihud, was homiletically interpreted by the Sages as praise for Joseph, who heeded God’s command rather than surrender to this woman’s seductions (Tan. Naso 33). Thus, Shiloh was within the borders of his descendants’ naĥalot, for it typified the delicate balance between restraint and expansion.
R. Ĥiya bar Avin said in the name of R. Joshua ben Korĥah: “An elderly man told me, ‘One time, I went to Shiloh, and I could smell the fragrance of the incense from between its walls.’”
Yoma 39b
The holiness of the incense scent of Shiloh could not be contained; nor could the holiness of the Mishkan at Shiloh, for it was like Joseph – increasing outward, so that all who could connect their sight to the focal point were connected to the Shekhinah. But one who set his sight elsewhere, who “did what was right in his [own] eyes,” who betrayed his relationship with God by breaching boundaries of propriety and erecting bamot away from Shiloh, contributed to the destruction of the national vision.
At Shiloh, one could enjoy a relationship with God without being smothered. One had the space to grow fully into oneself, without overly confining boundaries. Perhaps the festival described by the Talmud as “the most joyous of days,” Tu be-Av (the fifteenth of Av), which was held in the vineyards of Shiloh, best characterized the nature of the place:
R. Simeon ben Gamaliel said: “Israel has no days as festive as the fifteenth of Av…when the maidens of Jerusalem would go out dressed in white, borrowed garments [so as not to embarrass one who had none].…They would go out and dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? ‘Young man, raise your eyes and see what you choose for yourself.’”
Ta’anit 26b
That this grand event took place in the vineyards of Shiloh was implied by the biblical story of the distraught remaining Benjaminites, their ranks decimated after civil war. Fearing that the tribe might be lost to Israel, other tribal leaders hatched a plan:
They said, “Behold, there is a yearly holiday to the Lord at Shiloh.”…They told the Benjaminites, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards. And see; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh go out to perform the dances, you shall emerge from the vineyards, and each of you grab his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.”
Judges 21:19–21
This merry fair, full of youthful energy and brimming with promises of love, was the height of joy in the Jewish year. How fitting that it was held outside the walls of Shiloh, where strict boundaries and tight restraint have no place. How fitting that it was held in the city of Joseph, paradigm of beauty and potential relationship. The maidens beckoned the young men to watch them dance, to fall in love. Just as God allowed His children their space to find Him in Shiloh – “kol ha-ro’eh” – the excitement and innocent romance of young love was allowed expression here, in Shiloh.
On the eve of exile, Jeremiah prophesied:
I shall yet rebuild you and you shall be rebuilt, O Maiden of Israel;
You will yet adorn yourself with drums and go forth in joyous dance.
You will yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria; the planters will plant and redeem.22Jeremiah 31:3–4.
We are not yet fully redeemed. We still suffer constraints from within and without, so that youthful exuberance is rarely allowed full expression. To this, we may understand Jeremiah’s words above as a response of comfort, further enhanced by the Benei Yisaskhar:
“Young man, lift up your eyes”: During the two months of sadness [Tammuz and Av], we are blinded to the wonders of God, since our eyes are full of tears, as it is written, “My eyes, my eyes are continuously brimming with tears” (Lamentations 1:16), and it is impossible to look around. This isn’t so when the eyes are beautiful and clear: they can take in everything, all around. This is what the young maidens who go out to dance on Tu be-Av are saying: “Young man, lift up your eyes!”23Benei Yisaskhar, Tammuz–Av, 4:5.
Joseph was one for whom maidens would climb the walls just to gaze at his beauty. Young attraction was given proper space to blossom yearly in his city, Shiloh. And we were promised that the clouded eyes of exile will clear once more, and the maidens will beckon and dance, encouraging the young men to look upon them.24For more on Shiloh, see 161–182 ,נדלר, חן מקום, .
We round off our tour of Naĥalat Ephraim with a visit to the western area of the territory. ’Izbet Sarta, named after the Arab village Sarta,25Izba is Arabic for small farm or village. is a tiny archaeological site identified as the biblical Eben-ezer: “Israel went out to war against the Philistines. They encamped at Eben-ezer, while the Philistines encamped at Aphek” (I Samuel 4:1).
The site was active for approximately 250 years, between the thirteenth and eleventh centuries BCE. It began as an oval-shaped enclosure, probably for livestock, and was expanded at a later period into a series of a typical Israelite four-room houses. The pottery at the site included collared-rim storage jars, typical of early Israelite settlement. There were many grain silos excavated in the same stratum as the houses, indicating that the population had shifted from nomadic to agricultural, and that perhaps Eben-ezer was a grain repository for the entire area. Charred grain was discovered in the silos, evidence of a destruction level at the site.
The most exciting find was discovered in one of the grain silos. An ostracon – a pottery sherd with ancient writing, in this case in a proto-Canaanite (early Hebrew) script – was found, with 103 letters. Deciphering the inscription proved no easy task, since the letters sometimes appeared in reverse, the grammar was unusual, and the text was written from left to right. There is consensus that the last line was an abecedary (a listing of the alphabet), and that the ostracon most likely represented an exercise tablet for a young student. At the very least, we may take this as evidence of literacy in the premonarchial period of Israelite settlement.
Though ’Izbet Sarta is little more than a jumble of stones to the untrained eye, it is worth a visit, since it was definitely an Ephramite settlement and the site of a momentous biblical battle. The Israelites initiated a war against the Philistines, who had total control over the coast and the Jezreel Valley. They chose Eben-ezer as their headquarters for strategic reasons: this was one of the only Israelite villages located close to the coast, and the Philistine city of Aphek,26For more on the history of Tel Aphek, see רביב ואלינסון, המדריך חלק ב׳: 194–200. where they hoped to attack, was situated a mere three kilometers (a little under two miles) to the west. The Philistines waged a successful preemptive attack, prompting the Israelites (who apparently had no central commander of note) to send for the Ark in Shiloh.
According to the analysis of Dvir Raviv and Netanel Ellinson, the Israelites treated the Ark as a talisman that would help them win. The Philistines, on the other hand, feared the power of God represented by the Ark, and were therefore victorious in battle.27Ibid., 192–93. They killed a huge number of Israelites, confiscated the Ark for themselves, and invaded the central mountain region, gaining control over certain Israelite cities, including Ophrah, Geba, and Michmash. The sacking and burning of Eben-ezer, memorialized by the charred wheat, is testament to the end of the period of the Judges. Samuel of Ephraim would shortly emerge as a unifying leader to the troubled nation, though, and would usher in a new, brighter era in Jewish history.
He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survive.
Jack London, The Call of the Wild