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גרן האטד THE THRESHING FLOOR OF ATAD — It was so called because it was surrounded by a hedge of (אטדין) thorns (not because thorns were threshed there) Our Rabbis explained that it was so called in consequence of an incident that occurred there — that all the kings of Canaan and the princes of Ishmael came to wage war against them, but as soon as they saw Joseph’s crown hanging over Jacob’s coffin they all rose and hung their crowns on it and thus wreathed it with crowns like a threshing floor that is surrounded with a hedge of thorns (Sotah 13a).

ויעש לאביו אבל שבעת ימים, “he observed a seven days’ mourning period for his father.” According to Ibn Ezra this took effect as soon as they had buried Yaakov in Machpelah, in accordance with the tradition handed down by our sages. Some commentators believe that Joseph first returned to Egypt from the threshing ground of Atad, for when all the kings of the region had assembled there and had expressed fear that the Egyptians would use their presence as a pretext to invade and annex their lands, the elders of Egypt reassured them explaining that Joseph would return to Egypt immediately after the burial. (compare in part Sotah 13).

גרן האטד, “Goren ha-Atad.” “The threshing floor of thorns.” This obviously does not make any sense as no one requires a threshing floor for threshing thorns. We must assume that the place was called such, just as we find that there was a place called גורן כידון, “the threshing ground of a spear” (Chronicles I 13,9). This too does not make sense in terms of the purpose of that threshing floor. Perhaps that threshing floor was surrounded by a large number of spears seeing that David said to Goliath: “you are confronting me with the sword, the spear, and the lance” (Samuel I 17,45).