Pensiero Ebraico su Ezechiele 48:1

With regard to the length of each strip of land, the Sifri, Parshas Haazinu,⁶Sec. 10. states: “What is the intent of the statements,⁷Yechezkel, ch. 48. ‘Yehudah, one,’ ‘Asher, one,’ ‘Dan, one’? They teach that in the Future, Eretz Yisrael will occupy a span from the east to the west. The strip to be given to each tribe being 25,000 rods⁸I.e., the length of the span will run from east to west and its width from north to south will be equal to 25,000 of the measuring rod held by the angel, as stated in Yechezkel 40:5. wide – this is 75 mil.”⁹A Talmudic measure equivalent to a kilometer. From where did they derive this measure? From the portion of land to be offered as a terumah. It was equal to one of these tribal portions, as it is written with regard to the terumah,¹⁰Yechezkel 48:8. “as one of the portions.” The portion set aside as terumah was 25,000 rods wide, as explicitly stated in the narrative.¹¹The total length of Eretz Yisrael in this future era will thus be 975 km, encompassing an area extending from a point near the border between contemporary Turkey and Syria to below Eilat, as depicted on the map on the preceding page. There is a slight difficulty with this explanation, however, because the borders of the land will extend beyond those mentioned in Yechezkel, ch. 48.

To explain: The measuring rod of the angel in Yechezkel’s vision was six oversized cubits long, as evident from the verse,¹²Ibid. 40:5. “In the man’s hand, there was a measuring rod six cubits long, each [cubit] a cubit and a handbreadth.” An ordinary cubit is five handbreadths long. Each of the measuring rod’s cubits was an ordinary cubit and an additional handbreadth. Thus, each of the measuring rod’s cubits was six handbreadths long. Thus, a length of 25,000 rods is 150,000 oversized cubits. A mil is 2000 cubits. Thus, the width of every strip of land is 75 mil.¹³We are forced to say that these mil are oversized mil. To explain: The length of 25,000 rods is 180,000 ordinary cubits, because the measuring rod was six oversized cubits, i.e., 7.2 ordinary cubits and 7.2x25,000=180,000 ordinary cubits, or 90 ordinary mil. See Rashi’s commentary to Yechezkel 48:1 which also states that these mil will be larger than ordinary mil. See sec. 80.

“These are the names of the tribes. In the northernmost corner….”¹⁴Ibid. 48:1. The portions of the tribes the Tosafos Yom Tov proceeds to list are mentioned in verses 2-8. Dan, Asher, Naftali, Menashe, Ephraim, Reuven, Yehudah.¹⁵See Rashi’s commentary to Yechezkel 48:8 which explains the future division of the land among the tribes and how it is possible that five tribes will be granted a portion in what was originally the heritage of the tribe of Yehudah. “On the border of Yehudah, from the eastern edge to the western edge shall be the portion that is terumah that you shall offer twenty-five thousand rods in width, and in length as one of the other parts, from the eastern edge to the western edge. The [Beis Ha]Mikdash shall be in the midst of it.”¹⁶Ibid. 48:8. The narrative continues, stating¹⁷Ibid. 48:9. that “the portion to be offered as terumah to God,” i.e., for God’s Sanctuary, will be in this strip that is located near the tribal portion of Yehudah. This portion, as a whole, is called the terumah, as will be explained at the end of this treatise.¹⁸Sec. 80. In the midst¹⁹But not in its exact center. of the terumah, as one proceeds from east to west, in its northern portion, there will be a strip the length of 25,000 measuring rods with a width of 10,000 measuring rods from the north to the south.²⁰Yechezkel 45:1. This strip is not at the exact center of the terumah, but is located towards the center, away from the edges. “The [Beis Ha-]Mikdash, the Holy of Holies, will be located within [this area].”²¹Ibid. 43:3