Yissachar and Zevulun: Business OR Torah?

Midrashim and commentaries as well as halachic authorities have looked at the relationship between the tribes of Zvulun and Yissachar as a unit, where one earns a living and, in turn, supports the other that is learning Torah. This has given rise to many spiritual-financial contracts and even a way of life that supports certain segments of the population that sit and learn torah all day.  This approach is derived both from the Blessings granted by Yaakov at the end of Sefer Breishit and a talmudic interpretation of verses in Divrei Hayamim about the tribe of Yissachar.

The shiur looks at the blessings of both Jacob (Breishit Chapter 49) and Moshe (Devarim Chapter 33) in a new way, teasing out the literal meaning of the descriptions of each Tribe’s inherited land as well as the words used to describe them. We reconcile the notion that Jacob tells Zvulun that his land inheritance will border the seas when, in fact, it does not even reside along a single seashore. How does a landlocked tribe come to lead an seafarers life? 

By looking at the relationship between Yissachar and Zvulun through an economic and business lens, we can see that they were business partners and not spiritual partners. They were not trading money for the world to come but rather trading with Tsiddon and other foreign economic powers for which these two tribes were two links in an export-oriented economic supply chain, rooted in domestic, Israelite values. 

The relationship is a classic one between entrepreneurs and managers that shaped the economy of the Tribes of Israel, and also reflected the very different personalities of each tribe as seen also in the song of Devora and the descriptions of Divrei Hayamim. Zvulun was the risk taker, the entrepreneur. Yissachar was the manager, the Financial brains and the values-protector.