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One Story From Discover The Land Of Israel
Shiloh
In The Time Of The Judges
Judges 20, 21
In the heart of the land of the tribe Efraim, east to the Road Of The Patriarchs going from Jerusalem to the city of Shechem, are located the ruins of the ancient city of Shiloh, the city that hosted the Mishkan, built by Moshe in the desert.
The whole congregation of the Children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh and erected the Mishkan there. (Yehoshua 18:1)
For 369 years, from the time of Yehoshua until the time of the Prophet Shmuel when the city is conquered and burned by the Philistines, Shiloh is the spiritual, national center for the Israelite tribes.
Today, after many years of destruction and desolation, there is a new community in Shiloh resettling the mountains, cultivating the land, bringing back the existence of Israel to these landscapes.
Every year on the 15th of the Hebrew month Av, this community celebrates a very unique event, “the holiday of love.” This holiday is about matching single young men and women for marriage to make new families in Israel.
The source of this holiday goes back 3,300 years to the time of the Judges when a major crisis between the tribe of Benjamin and all the other of the tribes of Israel took place. This conflict was about the shameful event that happened with the concubine in Giv’ah. (See the story of Giv’ah.)
The catastrophic result of the battle between the brothers was that almost the entire tribe of Benjamin perished.
All who fell that day from Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword. All these were men of valor.
The frustration and rage is so intense that...
The men of Israel returned back to the Children of Benjamin and killed them with the edge of the sword, the entire city, the cattle, and all that they found. And all the cities that they found, they set on fire.
Only 600 men from Benjamin survived.
Six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon four months.
These men did not have any wives. They would not marry Gentile women on the one hand and on the other, the people of Israel would not give them their daughters...
The men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying: “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”
So these men stayed on a rock at Rimmon without women and without the ability to have families.
After the dust of the battle settled, and the size of the horrible damage that infected Benjamin was revealed...
The Children of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother and said: “There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. How shall we provide wives for those that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them from our daughters as wives?”
In order to continue the tribe of Benjamin and still not break the vow which Israel took upon themselves, an original idea was suggested.
They said: “Behold, there is a feast to the Lord, from year to year in Shiloh, which is north of Beit El, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beit El to Shechem, and on the south of Levona.”
The Talmud explains that the feast was the festival that marked the opening of the harvest of the vineyards in the valleys around Shiloh on the 15th of Av. (Rashi Shmuel 1: 20,30)
They commanded the Children of Benjamin, saying: “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards. See if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances...”
The girls of Israel, dressed in white, used to go down dancing, singing, and harvesting the first grapes.
“Then you will come out of the vineyards and catch for yourself every man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh.”
This kind of matching was not the most gentle, but worked. In this way, the tribe of Benjamin could continue and Israel did not break its vow not to give its daughters to Benjamin.
The meaning of the name “holiday of love” meant not only love between man and woman, but also referred to the reconciliation between the tribes of Israel. Once again there was peace and love among the Israelites when Benjamin was accepted back as one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Children of Benjamin did so. They took for themselves wives from the dancers, whom they carried off. They returned to their inheritance and built the cities and settled in them.
Then the Children of Israel departed at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family. They went and returned, every man to his inheritance.
In The Time Of The Judges
Judges 20, 21
In the heart of the land of the tribe Efraim, east to the Road Of The Patriarchs going from Jerusalem to the city of Shechem, are located the ruins of the ancient city of Shiloh, the city that hosted the Mishkan, built by Moshe in the desert.
The whole congregation of the Children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh and erected the Mishkan there. (Yehoshua 18:1)
For 369 years, from the time of Yehoshua until the time of the Prophet Shmuel when the city is conquered and burned by the Philistines, Shiloh is the spiritual, national center for the Israelite tribes.
Today, after many years of destruction and desolation, there is a new community in Shiloh resettling the mountains, cultivating the land, bringing back the existence of Israel to these landscapes.
Every year on the 15th of the Hebrew month Av, this community celebrates a very unique event, “the holiday of love.” This holiday is about matching single young men and women for marriage to make new families in Israel.
The source of this holiday goes back 3,300 years to the time of the Judges when a major crisis between the tribe of Benjamin and all the other of the tribes of Israel took place. This conflict was about the shameful event that happened with the concubine in Giv’ah. (See the story of Giv’ah.)
The catastrophic result of the battle between the brothers was that almost the entire tribe of Benjamin perished.
All who fell that day from Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword. All these were men of valor.
The frustration and rage is so intense that...
The men of Israel returned back to the Children of Benjamin and killed them with the edge of the sword, the entire city, the cattle, and all that they found. And all the cities that they found, they set on fire.
Only 600 men from Benjamin survived.
Six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon four months.
These men did not have any wives. They would not marry Gentile women on the one hand and on the other, the people of Israel would not give them their daughters...
The men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying: “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”
So these men stayed on a rock at Rimmon without women and without the ability to have families.
After the dust of the battle settled, and the size of the horrible damage that infected Benjamin was revealed...
The Children of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother and said: “There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. How shall we provide wives for those that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them from our daughters as wives?”
In order to continue the tribe of Benjamin and still not break the vow which Israel took upon themselves, an original idea was suggested.
They said: “Behold, there is a feast to the Lord, from year to year in Shiloh, which is north of Beit El, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beit El to Shechem, and on the south of Levona.”
The Talmud explains that the feast was the festival that marked the opening of the harvest of the vineyards in the valleys around Shiloh on the 15th of Av. (Rashi Shmuel 1: 20,30)
They commanded the Children of Benjamin, saying: “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards. See if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances...”
The girls of Israel, dressed in white, used to go down dancing, singing, and harvesting the first grapes.
“Then you will come out of the vineyards and catch for yourself every man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh.”
This kind of matching was not the most gentle, but worked. In this way, the tribe of Benjamin could continue and Israel did not break its vow not to give its daughters to Benjamin.
The meaning of the name “holiday of love” meant not only love between man and woman, but also referred to the reconciliation between the tribes of Israel. Once again there was peace and love among the Israelites when Benjamin was accepted back as one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Children of Benjamin did so. They took for themselves wives from the dancers, whom they carried off. They returned to their inheritance and built the cities and settled in them.
Then the Children of Israel departed at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family. They went and returned, every man to his inheritance.