Barak ben Avinoam

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1. The Days of the Judging of the Judges

   Dr. Yael Ziegler

   The Book of Ruth references the era of the Judges – but to which judge, specifically, is the book referring? Midrashic text make various suggestions (Ehud and Shamgar; Devorah and Barak; Ivzan), which highlight the difference and similarity between Ruth and stories from the Book of Judges. Comparing and contrasting these stories creates important insights about the characters, values, and objectives of the Book of Ruth.

2. The Blessed Volunteers

   Haftarot: Beshalah

   Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein

   The message of the war led by Devorah and Barak is the responsibility of the minority, who break through the indifference and decide to act.

3. The Battle at River Kishon - Part 1

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   A careful and precise read of the text reconciles the apparent contradiction between the Biblical account regarding Hatzor and the archaeological evidence. This method can be used in many apparent discrepancies between the Biblical account and archaeological evidence.

   Barak gathers his men at Mount Tavor, located at the confluence of the tribal boundaries of Zevulun, Naftali and Yissachar and at River Kishon, a watercourse that begins its route near the feet of the mountain and flows along the floor of the Yizrael Valley. Barak descended with his men at Devora's behest to battle Sisera, just as an unexpected cloudburst appeared and turned the fertile plain into an impassable mudflat, a topographic trap that abruptly rendered the Canaanite chariots useless.

4. The Battle at River Kishon - Part 2

   Part 2

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   Although the text of Chapter 4 makes no mention of any unusual precipitation, and is content to simply describe the victory as a generic intervention of God, a careful reading of the passage would seem to provide almost undeniable evidence that the said intervention took the form of a sudden storm and a resultant flash flood of the valley floor.

5. Devorah and Yael

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   This episode furnishes us with a mother - Devorah - and a wife - Yael - securing victory for a rag-tag army of irregulars over an army with nine hundred iron chariots in order to indicate that war is ignoble, killing is tragic, but freedom from enemy domination must be nevertheless be achieved. While the women of Israel proclaim life's inherent sanctity and celebrate its inviolate worth, leaving their proverbial tents to counter the threat but never reveling in the enemies' demise, Sisera's mother dreams of more bloodshed and spoils.