Талмуд к Берешит 34:2

HALAKHAH: ⁶⁶Parallel texts in Babli 33b, Tosephta Chapter 8, Sifry Deut. 56.“⁶²Deut. 11:30: “They are on the other side of the Jordan, westward, on the road to sunset, in the Land of the Canaanite who dwells in the prairie, opposite Gilgal, near the terebinths of guidance.” They are on the other side of the Jordan,” away from the Jordan. “Far away⁶⁷Rashi, Commentary to Soṭa 33b, attributes this meaning of אחרי to Gen. rabba. If one accepts the usual meaning “westward” (adopted by Rashi in his Commentary to Deut.), one would have to read “sunset” in the opinion of R. Jehudah and “sunrise” in that of R. Eleazar, as suggested by L. Finkelstein, Sifry Deut., pp. 123–124. from the road towards the sun’s coming”, the place from where the sun shines. “In the Land of the Canaanite who dwells in the prairie, opposite Gilgal, near the terebinths of guidance.” That refers to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal among the Samaritans, the words of Rebbi Jehudah. Rebbi Eleazar⁶⁸Only in Sifry Deut. the reading is: R. Eliezer. That reading is very unlikely since R. Ilaï, R. Jehudah’s father, was R. Eliezer’s student. (The one reading “R. Eleazar” quoted by Finkelstein in his apparatus comes from a secondary source not necessarily dependent upon Sifry.) said, this does not refer to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal of the Samaritans. “They are on the other side of the Jordan,” by the Jordan. “To the West, on the road to sunset,” a place where the sun goes down. “In the Land of the Canaanite,” but there is the Ḥiwwite⁶⁹In Sichem, Gen. 34:2.. “Who dwells in the prairie,” but there it is in the mountains. “Opposite Gilgal,” Gilgal is nowhere there⁷⁰East of Jericho, Jos. 4:19.. “Near the terebinths of guidance.” The terebinths of guidance are not there⁷¹Here one speaks of a grove, in the verse referring to Abraham of a single tree.. How does Rebbi Eleazar uphold “Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal”? They made two elevations and called them Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. In the opinion of Rebbi Jehudah, they walked 120 mil on that day⁷²The distance from Jericho to Sichem is estimated at 60 mil (in the Babli, 36a, and one Tosephta source, “more than 60 mil”). In R. Jehudah’s opinion they crossed the Jordan, put up the stones, walked to Sichem, completed the ceremony, and walked back, all in one day. This contradicts Jos. 8:30–35.. In the opinion of Rebbi Eleazar, they did not move at all.