The Shortest Passuk in the Torah

(1) ובני דן חושים. At the time he moved to Egypt he had only this one son. The reason the Torah commences our verse with the word ובני, “and the sons of, etc.,” is as if the Torah had meant to say “and all the sons of Dan were only one, i.e. Chushim.” Similar formulations are found in Chronicles I 2,8 ובני איתן עזריה, where Azaryah, though the only son of Eytan, is described as part of Eytan’s children, i.e. בני.

Abaye said: Come and hear a proof that one does refer to a single son using the plural term sons, as it is written: “And the sons of Dan: Hushim” (Genesis 46:23). Rava said to Abaye: Perhaps this verse should be understood as the school of Ḥizkiyya taught, that Hushim is not the name of Dan’s son but that they, Dan’s sons, were as numerous as the groups [ḥushim] of reeds. Rather, Rava said: One can prove this usage of the term sons in the verse: “And the sons of Pallu: Eliab” (Numbers 26:8). Rav Yosef said: This can be proven from another verse: “And the sons of Ethan: Azariah” (I Chronicles 2:8).

(17) And we will hasten as shock-troops in the van of the Israelites until we have established them in their home, while our children stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land.

(23) The sons of Dan, able men (or armed) and merchants, of whose numbers there is no end (or sum).

(1) ובני דן חושים, and the name of Dan’s children: Chushim. There were two, one of them died and his name has not been mentioned.

(1) The sons of Don [were] Chushim. Note the plural — “sons.” He may have had another son who died.

(5) R. Abba the son of Hiyya¹⁷In text: R. Ada the son of Hiyya. said: He was called Lahad because the lowliest (hadal) of the tribes was associated (in the building of the Tabernacle) with him. He was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. R. Hanina the son of Pazzi said: No tribe was greater than Judah, and none was more lowly than Dan, which descended from one of the maidservants, as it says: And the sons of Dan: Hushim (Gen. 46:23). The Holy One, blessed be He, declared: Let him come and join with Judah so that no tribe might become arrogant, for both the great and the lowly are equal in the sight of the Holy One, blessed be He. R. Hanina maintained: No man should become arrogant because of the honors bestowed upon him. The Tabernacle and the Sanctuary were erected by these two tribes, for Solomon was of the tribe of Judah, and Hiram was of the tribe of Dan, as it is said: The son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali (I Kings 7:4), and in the Book of Chronicles: The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (II Chron. 2:12). These verses indicate that his father was of the tribe of Naphtali and his mother of the tribe of Dan. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: In this world you erected a Tabernacle and a Sanctuary which were walled about, but in the world-to-come I will build a Sanctuary that will be encircled by a wall of fire, as it is said: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire (Zech. 2:9).

(14) When they came to the Cave of Machpelah, Esau came against them || from Mount Horeb to stir up strife, saying: The Cave of Machpelah is mine. What did Joseph do? He sent Naphtali to subdue the constellations, and to go down to Egypt to bring up the perpetual deed which was between them, therefore it is said, "Naphtali is a hind let loose" (Gen. xlix. 21). Chushim, the son of Dan, had defective hearing and speech, and he said to them: Why are we sitting here? He was pointing (to Esau) with his finger. They said to him: Because this man will not let us bury our father Jacob. What did he do? He drew his sword and cut off Esau's head with the sword, and took the head into the Cave of Machpelah. And they sent his body to the land of his possession, to Mount Seir.

(28) We read in Chronicles I 16,27: הוד והדר לפניו, עז וחדוה במקומו, "Glory and majesty are before Him, strength and joy are in His place." This verse contains a lesson about the exiles of the Jewish people, i.e. that they are for the good of the Jewish people. The chapter quoted describes an ongoing activity, i.e. בשרו מיום אל יום ישועתו, that even the redemption that has not occurred yet should be spoken of daily, or better still, it refers to a period of over one thousand years. Considering that in our eyes G–d's day is equal to a millenium, it follows that this is why Adam died on the day he ate from the tree (as he was warned he would in Genesis 2,17), though he lived close to one thousand years, the verse quoted in Chronicles, clearly refers to a period of exile. Lamentations 1,13, which describes the exile as already lasting כל היום,-at least one thousand years,- prompts the Zohar to comment that "my very glory," הודי, has proven to be my ruin." When you re-arrange the letter of the word הוד, you get דוה, as in כל היום דוה, "suffering constantly" (ibid.). I have already elaborated on this elsewhere, where I wrote that the word "הדר," is derived from "היפוך, i.e. "turning something around, reversing it," similar to the meaning of the expression "הדרן עלך," i.e. הפוך בה והפוך בה," (keep reviewing it, keep busy with it). What the Zohar meant was that the original "הוד," glory, will eventually lead to an even greater degree of "הוד" in the messianic future, just because that "הוד" had been converted to "דוה." We are told of that day in the future that ישמח ה' במעשיו, "that G–d will delight in His works" (Psalms 104,31). When you re-arrange the letters of the word ישמח, you have the word משיח, a reference to when that time will come. Concerning that day, the Midrash says that the Messiah will be given the combined “הוד, glory of Moses and הדר (its reversal) of Joshua, meaning that from the time of Joshua the spiritual decline set in, and the glory, הוד, kept turning into progressively more דוה, suffering. The הדר, decline would then reverse itself, i.e. the meaning of that term would no longer be negative. This process will lead to the cessation and disappearance of the iniquity due to the pollutants that the serpent spread throughout the world, and will enable the Messiah to make his appearance, and the new dimension of "light," the glory of the Messiah to manifest itself. The הדר (reduced measure of majesty in relation to Moses) of the new leader Joshua will be reversed at that time, a time described in Ezra 2,63 as the period when there is once again a High Priest who can stand in front of the אורים ותומים, the time when Elijah will have appeared. This period is alluded to when the Torah tells us in Numbers 27,21 that the new leader of the Jewish people will have to consult G–d by means of the אורים ותומים, i.e. the Ineffable Name worn by the High Priest Elazar in his breast plate. We also find an allusion to messianic times when the Jewish people are counted in our portion; the name of the son of Dan is given as שוחם (26,42), whereas in Parshat Vayigash, (Genesis 46,23) it is given as חשים. I have found that the Ari comments on this that the reason why the letter ו is missing in the spelling of that name in Genesis is to allude to the letters in the word משיח. In the time immediately preceding the arrival of the Messiah, one of the descendants of Dan will conduct a great battle. All this is mentioned in the Zohar's commentary on Parshat Balak (page 68-69, Sullam edition). It is based on Genesis 49,17: "Dan shall be a serpent (נחש) by the road, a viper (שפיפון) by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider is thrown backwards." According to the Zohar, the "serpent" is a reference to Shimshon whereas the "viper" is a reference to Elijah who rescued Tzaliah a descendant of Dan when the latter "flew" in pursuit of Bileam. The latter, escaped by means of sorcery and Tzaliah was at a loss what to do. When Numbers 23,3 describes Bileam as וילך שפי, this is a reference to Bileam's profound identification with the negative forces in this world as symbolized by the serpent. Jacob's blessing to Dan referred to above and resulted in two descendants of Dan referred to as Tzaliah and Ira asserting mastery over the evil forces of this world. Ira was one of David's warriors. This is what is alluded to in Samuel II 8,4: "David hamstrung all the horses (of his adversary)…"The רכב referred to in that verse alludes to Genesis 49,17, i.e. an exploit of Dan. The words ויפול רוכבו אחור in that same verse refer to someone called Shalyah from the tribe of Dan who will assist the משיח בן יוסף in the war preceding the coming of the Messiah. The verse in Genesis concludes with the word לישועתך קויתי השם, to indicate that looking forward to imminent redemption at that time will be justified. The reason why the son of Dan here is referred to as שוחם is to express the hope that this descendant of Dan at the time mentioned will be equivalent to the משוח מלחמה, the Priest whose special task it was to accompany Israel in battle (Sotah 42 on Deuteronomy 20,2). [Active participation in war was certainly not the Priest's normal function. In fact any priest who had killed a person was no longer fit to perform Service in the Temple. Ed.] Pinchas too, seeing that he was descended maternally from the tribe of Joseph, whose descendants will play the leading role in the battle preceding the coming of the Messiah, was such a משוח מלחמה. At a later stage this very שוחם is "transformed" into a חומש. When someone has inadvertently used sacred property, i.e. Temple property, for personal or mundane purposes, he must make restitution of the principal amount plus twenty per cent so that the total amount paid back is twenty percent (חומש) larger than the original. The people of Israel are considered as קדש לשם "sacred to the Lord," as Rashi explains on Song of Songs 8,12: האלף לך שלמה, ומאתים לנוטרים את פריו. Israel is considered G–d's vineyard, and anything stolen from it must not only be replaced, but the חומש, in this case מאתים, must be added to make the restitution legal.

The Gemara raises a question: But with regard to this baraita that Rav Shimi taught: One may not decrease to fewer than ten the number of verses read during a public Torah reading in the synagogue, and a generic verse, e.g., “And God spoke to Moses saying,” is included in the count, to what do these ten verses correspond? Why specifically the number ten?

(1) And it was appropriate that it would be on the twenty-fifth of Kislev, since the light emerges at that time. Because it was on the twenty-fifth of Elul that the light was created in the world, since the world was created on the first of Tishrei, and on it was created the Man that was created in the six days of creation; and the light that was created on the first day, it was on this twenty-fifth day of Elul that the light was created. And light has four boundaries: One boundary, [which is] that the light is at the end of its increasing and the darkness is at the end of its contraction, and from there the light begins to contract and the darkness to increase, and this is Tamuz [i.e., summer solstice]. And there is a [second] boundary where the light and the darkness are equal, and from there on the light begins to contract and the darkness to increase, and this is the month of Tishrei, since at that time the light and the darkness are equal and from there on the darkness increases and overcomes the light [i.e., autumnal equinox]. And there is a [third] boundary where the darkness overcomes the light completely, and this is in the Month of Tevet, and from then on the light begins to increase [i.e., winter solstice]. And there is a [fourth] boundary where the light and the darkness are equal and afterward the light proceeds to increase, and this is in the month of Nisan [i.e., vernal equinox], since at that time the light and the darkness are equal and afterward the light increasingly strengthens until the month of Tamuz, and thus it repeats. And behold, the beginning of the light that emerges from the darkness is on the twenty-fifth of Kislev, since the creation of the light of the world was at a time in which the day and night were equal, and this was on the twenty-fifth of Elul - or on the twenty-fifth of Adar according to the opinion (Rosh HaShanah 11a) that the world was created in Nisan - in which case the beginning of the light was on the twenty-fifth of Kislev since at that time the light began to increase. And therefore the miracle with the oil was made, and the light on the twenty-fifth was even if there was no oil to light, and the miracle was for all eight [days] when it was at that time which is singled out for the beginning of the light.

(16) Dan shall govern his people, As one of the tribes of Israel. (17) Dan shall be a serpent by the road, A viper by the path, That bites the horse’s heels So that his rider is thrown backward. (18) I wait for Your deliverance, O LORD!

(2) כאחד, “similar to the “one,” i.e. the tribe of Yehudah who normally played the role of saviour of his people. ...