{"id":6299,"date":"2026-07-10T05:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T05:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/?p=6299"},"modified":"2026-07-10T05:07:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T05:07:45","slug":"al-ula-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/en\/2026\/07\/10\/al-ula-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"Al\u2011Ula, Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Matot\u2013Mass\u00e9 (\u05de\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u2013\u05de\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9 \u2014 Tribes \u2013 Journeys)<\/strong>
Numbers 30:2\u201336:13 \u2022 Irmyahou (Jeremiah) 2:4\u201328; 3:4<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matot deals with vows, then with the war against Madyan and the division of the territories located east of the Jordan. Mass\u00e9 recounts the forty\u2011two stages of the wilderness journey, sets the boundaries of Canaan, establishes the cities of refuge, and concludes with the inheritance of the daughters of Tselof\u2019had. In the haftara<\/strong>[1]<\/sup>, the prophet Irmyahu calls Israel to return to God and denounces the breach of the Covenant that has weakened the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbers 31:2<\/strong>[2]<\/sup>
 <\/strong>\u05e0\u05b0\u05e7\u05b9\u05dd \u05e0\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05be\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd<\/strong>
\u201cCarry out the vengeance of the children of Israel upon the Madyanites.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ancient sources<\/strong>[3]<\/sup> place the territory of the Madyanites in the northwest of present\u2011day Saudi Arabia, around the Wadi al\u2011Qur\u0101 (Valley of the Villages)<\/em>. It was in the heart of this region that, in 2019, Franco\u2011Saudi excavations<\/strong>[4]<\/sup> uncovered, in the city of Al\u2011\u2018Ula<\/strong> (The Sublime)<\/em>, a settlement occupied between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE. Domestic refuse pits yielded sheep and goat bones, but no camel remains<\/strong>[5]<\/sup>, despite the animal\u2019s omnipresence in the region. Nabat\u00e6an inscriptions bearing Jewish names<\/strong>[6]<\/sup> corroborate the existence of a Jewish community established in this valley. The site was abandoned at the beginning of the 7th century, but a new settlement was immediately built nearby. Medieval Hebrew inscriptions \u2014 distinct from the earlier Nabat\u00e6an inscriptions \u2014 attest to a Jewish presence<\/strong>[7]<\/sup> still documented there until the 10th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[<\/sup><\/strong>1]<\/strong><\/sup> The haftara belongs to the cycle of tlata de\u2011puranuta<\/em><\/strong> (\u05ea\u05dc\u05ea\u05d0 \u05d3\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d0), an Aramaic expression meaning \u201cthe three admonitions.\u201d This cycle designates the three haftarot read on the three Sabbaths preceding Tisha be\u2011Av (Irmyahu 1\u20132; Irmyahu 2\u20133; Yeshayahu 1), independently of the content of the parasha.
[2]<\/sup> \u05e0\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05be\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc (nikmat bene Israel<\/em>), \u201cthe vengeance of the children of Israel.\u201d In the following verse (Numbers 31:3), when Moshe conveys this command to the people, the expression becomes \u05e0\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05be\u05d4\u05f3 (nikmat Hashem<\/em>), \u201cthe vengeance of the Eternal.\u201d Rashi<\/strong> explains this shift: whoever attacks Israel attacks the Holy One, blessed be He; the vengeance of Israel and that of God are therefore inseparable.
[3]<\/sup> Madyan<\/strong> is identified in Jewish sources \u2014 Onkelos<\/strong> (Targum, 2nd century) and Flavius Josephus<\/strong> (Jewish Antiquities<\/em>, 1st century) \u2014 in Greek sources \u2014 Ptolemy<\/strong> (Geography<\/em>, 2nd century) and Strabo<\/strong> (Geography<\/em>, 1st century BCE) \u2014 as well as in medieval Arabic sources \u2014 al\u2011Ya\u2018q\u016bb\u012b<\/strong> (Kit\u0101b al\u2011Buldan<\/em> \u2013 Book of the Lands<\/em>, 9th century), al\u2011Muqaddas\u012b<\/strong> (A\u1e25san al\u2011Taq\u0101s\u012bm<\/em> \u2013 The Best Division of the Provinces<\/em>, 10th century), and Y\u0101q\u016bt al\u2011\u1e24amaw\u012b<\/strong> (Mu\u2018jam al\u2011Buldan<\/em> \u2013 Dictionary of Places<\/em>, 13th century). All locate Madyan in the northwest of Arabia<\/strong>, around Tab\u016bk, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Wadi al\u2011Qur\u0101 \u2014 corresponding to the present\u2011day region of Al\u2011\u2018Ula<\/strong>.
[4]<\/sup> Excavations<\/strong> conducted by archaeologists J\u00e9r\u00f4me Rohmer (France) and Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani (Saudi Arabia), in collaboration with teams from the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), AFALULA (French Agency for the Development of Al\u2011\u2018Ula), and the RCU (Royal Commission for AlUla). The results were published in Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy<\/em>, 2025.
[<\/sup><\/strong>5]<\/strong><\/sup> The dromedary<\/strong> and the camel<\/strong> are classified among impure animals (Leviticus 11:4; Deuteronomy 14:7). Their presence in the region is massive from antiquity onward, but their absence from the refuse pits of Al\u2011\u2018Ula suggests dietary practices consistent with biblical prescriptions.
[<\/sup><\/strong>6]<\/strong><\/sup> The Nabat\u00e6an inscriptions<\/strong> discovered on ostraca and architectural blocks \u2014 written from right to left \u2014 bear Jewish anthroponyms<\/strong> such as \u02benny bn ywsf (\u05e2\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05e1\u05e3, Anani ben Yosef<\/em>) or nhmy bn ydy (\u05e0\u05d7\u05de\u05d9 \u05d1\u05df \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9, Ne\u1e25ami ben Yadi<\/em>), corroborating other evidence of a Jewish community established in the valley of the Wadi al\u2011Qur\u0101.
[7]<\/sup> Medieval Arabic geographers \u2014 notably al\u2011Ya\u2018q\u016bb\u012b<\/strong> \u2014 preserve the memory of an ancient Jewish presence<\/strong> in the region of the Wadi al\u2011Qur\u0101. Medieval Hebrew inscriptions, found at a nearby site in Al\u2011\u2018Ula<\/strong> and distinct from the earlier Nabat\u00e6an inscriptions, attest to a Jewish presence in this region until the 10th century<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Matot\u2013Mass\u00e9 (\u05de\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u2013\u05de\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9 \u2014 Tribes \u2013 Journeys)Numbers 30:2\u201336:13 \u2022 Irmyahou (Jeremiah) 2:4\u201328; 3:4 Matot deals with vows, then with the war against Madyan and the division of the territories located east of the Jordan. Mass\u00e9 recounts the forty\u2011two stages of the wilderness journey, sets the boundaries of Canaan, establishes the cities of refuge, and concludes with … Continuer la lecture de Al\u2011Ula, Saudi Arabia<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2677],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6314,"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6299\/revisions\/6314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebdosyna.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}