|
I often joke that graduate school is the place you go to learn complicated polysyllabic words. Some, of course, do reflect difficult concepts, like the theory of relativity or deconstructionist theory of literary readings. But other times, they’re just fancy terms for simple ideas. Using them makes you sound smart, but personally I think you could accomplish the same by donning horn rimmed glasses and a Harris tweed jacket.
Let’s take an example. In antiquity, the practice of amphictyony was common. Say what? Amphictyony is a system of people living in a set arrangement with the sacred religious space at the center. In ancient Greece, for example, various groups lived in a specific pattern around the Delphic temples, dedicated to the worship of Apollo and Demeter.
In ancient Israel, it was the twelve tribes who lived in a fixed arrangement with the Tabernacle (mishkan) at the center. In fact, the Torah tells us in several places that the tribes lived in groups of three in each of the four directions around the Tabernacle.
But there was one problem. To make this arrangement work, you need to have twelve tribes. But are there really twelve tribes? In fact, the tribe of Joseph seems to include Joseph’s son, Ephraim and Manasseh, for a total of fourteen tribes. Aside from being fodder for a Mel Brooks movie, ala the “fifteen” commandments, how did this work?
This problem was already noted by our sages. Commenting on one of the opening verses in this morning’s Torah portion, Bamidbar, we read in the midrash Tanchuma (Buber edition, Vayechi 16:1 – 7th century CE):
- As for the tribes, that has a basis in the structure of the world. The day has twelve hours, the night has twelve hours, the year has twelve months, and there are twelve planets. R. Yochanan said: Were there really twelve tribes? Now do not Ephraim and Manasseh make fourteen? It is simply that, when Levi was numbered with them, Ephraim and Manasseh were not numbered with them. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in the list of Numbers 1:10, which omits Levi): From the children of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamliel son of Pedahtzur.
Let’s unpack this a bit. The Bible has a number of “magic” numbers, like seven and forty. Twelve is another such number, and the way we consistently have twelve tribes is simple. In contexts in which the tribe of Levi is omitted, due to their lack of landholding status, Ephraim and Manasseh are included. When the tribe of Levi is included, then the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are eliminated in favor of a single tribe of Joseph. It’s an elegant, and simple, solution to a complex problem.
And in fact, I’d say it makes our sages look smart, even without Harris tweed jackets.
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
| 
