Parashat Vezot Haberakha (וזאת הברכה – And here is the blessing), Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12.
The text is essentially the blessing of each tribe by Moshe.
Of the twelve tribes? The tribe of Shimon is not mentioned. The tribe of Shimon would have had only one hidden blessing because of Chitim1 and Shechem2. However, in the blessing to Yehudah (33:7) the word Shema would refer to Shimon (שמעון): Shema (שמע) Hashem Kol3 Yehuda (שמע יי קול יהודה) – Hear, HaShem, the voice of Judah. When dividing Eretz Yisrael, Shim’on receives his portion in the midst of Yehuda.
Joshua – Chapter 19 – יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
א וַיֵּצֵא הַגּוֹרָל הַשְֵׁנִי, לנִ –לְמַטֵּה בְנֵי-שִׁמְעוֹן, לְמִשְׁפְּחוֹתָם; וַיְהִי, נַחֲלָתָם, בְּתוֹךְ, נַחֲלַת בְּנֵי-יְהוּדָה
1 from that of the children of Yehouda.
In Jerusalem’s major hospital, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, is the Abbell Synagogue. This place of worship serves patients and hospital staff. It is here that the famous stained glass windows by Marc Chagall representing the tribes of Israel are installed. In 1959, Doctor Miriam Freund, the president of the hospital and Joseph Neufeld, the architect of the hospital commissioned Marc Chagall to design the stained glass windows of the synagogue representing the tribes of Israel. Chagall and his assistant, Charles Marq, worked on the project for two years. Chagall was inspired by the blessing of Jacob (Genesis, 49) for each of his sons and that of Moshe (deuteronomy 33) on the twelve tribes. Each window is dominated by a specific color and contains blessings. Before their final destination, on February 6, 1962, the stained glass windows were exhibited in Paris and New York.
“all the time I was working, I felt my mom and dad looking over my shoulder; and behind them were Jews, millions of other Jews who had disappeared – from yesterday and a thousand years ago.
1 Ibn Ezra in his commentary on Bamidbar (The Numbers) 25:1-9.
Numbers 25:1: Israel settles in Shittim. There the people indulged in debauchery with the daughters of Moab. וַיָּחֶל הָעָם, לִזְנוֹת אֶל -בְּנוֹת מוֹאָב: במדבר ככה
2 sichem (chkhem – שכם ) city where Chimon and Levi massacred the population. Jacob when he blesses his sons (Genesis 49) rebukes the anger and violence of Shimon and Levi. Although Levi and Shimon were associated in the massacre of Shechem, the Levites proved their attachment to Hashem because they did not participate in the making of the golden calf.
3 Sound similarity between קול (Kol – voice) and כל (kol – all): All of Judah, including the tribe in the middle.