Attitude Toward the Canaanite Nations

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1. "Do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites..."

   Sharón Rimón

   ​Why does the Torah describe the purchase of the Cave at Makhpela in such great detail? Who is a wife worthy of Yitzchak? Why does Avraham object to his son marrying Canaanite women? And why does he insist on Yitzchak marrying a woman from the land of his birth, when God had instructed him to disengage from their culture? These questions are explored in light of the obvious danger: that the potential wife found in Haran will not want to come to Canaan, while Yitzchak cannot leave the land. Will Avraham be willing to forgo one of these two values? 

2. "Do Not Take a Wife from the Daughters of the Canaanites"

   Rabbi Dr. Tamir Granot

   The story about finding a wife for Yitzchak seems simple, but the Torah describes it in great length, both in a detailed description of the events and in lengthy monologues. What can we learn from the long repetition? Why does Avraham want his son to marry a woman from Haran, and not from Canaan?

3. Chapter 12: The Canaanites and Morality, Part 2

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   This lesson will continue examining the moral dimension of the war of conquest against the Canaanites. In order to gain a broader perspective, we will turn to the relevant passages in the Torah that make reference to the Promised Land and to its inhabitants.

4. Chapter 12: Conclusion: The Moral War

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   This lesson concludes the discussion of the Torah’s attitude toward the Canaanite nations by examining more closely God's grave gift of the land of Canaan, as well as considering a very important disagreement among the commentaries concerning the Canaanites. Those that perfunctorily read the first half of Sefer Yehoshua in isolation, as a bloodthirsty account of wanton Israelite conduct, do a disservice to the text and to the ancient traditions behind it. Of course, no one can deny the tragedy of war or its cruelty but that must not blind us to the awful truth that some wars are nevertheless justified and even obligatory.

5. Israel's Tragic Lethargy

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   Sefer Shoftim, while it tends to revolve textually around a series of inspired regional leaders, really traces the story of Israel's tragic lethargy.  The minority of tribes are involved in the continued conquest of Canaan but the vast majority of tribes are not. The Torah commanded the nation to uproot the Canaanite Nation from their midst and sure enough, it was not possible for the people to suffer an unrepentant Canaanite population in their midst while remaining aloof from their cultural and moral values.

6. Yiftach's Vow

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   A close read of the text and a textual link to Akeidat Yitzhak points to the conclusion that the intention of Yiftah's vow was in fact human sacrifice. In the larger context, what this episode corroborates is that Israel and its leaders, in this horrible culmination of the process throughout the era of the Judges have become indistinguishable from the Canaanite. Yiftah, a self-styled leader of Israel and a seeming servant of all that is just and holy, is at the same time a product of the terrible effects of corrosive Canaanite culture that seeks to guarantee victory upon the battlefield by vowing to immolate an innocent human being.

7. Considering the Naziritehood of Shimshon of Dan

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   Shimshon's nazirite status is unique and peculiar. The nazir is by definition a person who is profoundly driven towards an encounter with the Divine. Shimshon's status is imposed upon him by Divine command from birth and not by choice. Just like the Hazal describe the Nazir as a reaction to the Sotah - the breakdown of the relationship between a husband and wife - so too God's command of coerced Nazirite status upon Shimshon is a reaction to the complete adoption of the immoral Cannanite lifestyle by the nation by the end of the Book of Judges. 

8. Ahav: An Introduction

   Rabbi Alex Israel

   Following his father's legacy of alliance with Phoenicia, Ahav marries Izevel and together they transform the worship of Ba'al and Ashera into the national religion. The Canaanit culture and religion are attractive for many reasons. The rebuilding of Jericho signifies the spiritual low the nation has reached. But if Ahav is the most serious sinner thus far amongst the Israelite kings, why is his kingdom flourishing?

9. Why are There Stories in the Torah?

   Dr. Baruch Alster

   תאריך פרסום: תשע"ה | |

   Rashi's first comment on the Torah famously asks why the Torah begins with creation and not with the mitzvot. In essence, he is dealing with the question of the Torah's genre - is it a history book or a legal text? This question is dealt with by other parshanim as well. In this lesson, we will compare three approaches - those of Rashi, Rashbam, and Ramban. We will see that each of the later parshanim saw the question as a dichotomy - the Torah is either law or narrative, while Rashi's view is more complex.

10. What is the Challenge of Lekh Lekha?

    Rabbi David Silverberg

11. Shekhem and Dina: Canaanite Conduct

    Rabbi David Silverberg

12. Morality, Justice and our Rights to the Land of Israel: Abraham

    Rabbi Dr. Daniel Tropper | Hour and 6 minutes

    Parashat Lekh Lekha seems to begin a series of stories that appear random in terms of their sequence and content. We find, however, that there is structure and purpose to these stories. What is Avraham's mission, and how do these stories cohere into a greater narrative that reflect Avraham's aspirations, missions, setbacks, success and enduring messages? How do the setbacks, too, impart messages about morality and the Land of Israel that continue to play out throughout the generations? 

13. Re'eh: Why Would Israel be Attracted to Canaanite Paganism?

    Rabbi David Silverberg

14. The Prophecies of Amos: Oracles against the Nations (continued)

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    Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom

    תאריך פרסום: 5778 |

    In this shiur, we will continue our study of Amos’s oracles against the nations. Last week, we surveyed the history of Aram in order to put the crime of which they are accused and the punishment designated for them into context. We will do much the same with the oracles against Philistia (“Peleshet”) and Phoenicia (“Tzor”). The rationale for studying these two together goes beyond convenience
    and their juxtaposition in the text. It may well be that these two coastal nations – the only two to be accused of the crime of handing over war refugees – have more in common than alphabetical proximity.