THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
22 Friday, January 21, 1977
Three Say Grace Together
BY RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.)
Jewish law requires
that three people who eat
together must recite the
grace after meals as a
unit acting together.
The Talmud (Mishna
and Gemara Berakot 45a)
cite this rule and explain
that the background is a
verse of scripture in the
Book of Deuteronomy
which states that "When
I will call out the name of
the Almighty give great-
ness to our Lord."
The procedure is that
one of the three summons
the other two to become
alert and offer prayers of
thanks to the Almighty
for the food they have
consumed together.
Medieval authorities
(e.g. Me'iri Berakot 45a)
indicate that this is done to
instigate the proper at-
titude and concentration
of the other two, as well as
the caller himself, in offer-
ing prayers of thanksgiv-
ing to the Almighty.
What is brought about
here is a human inter-
relationship whereby
people arouse each other
to concentrate on their
indebtedness to the Al-
mighty for all he has pro-
vided for them as mem-
bers of the human race.
This, of course, is the
great value recognized
today by behavioral sci-
entists in the function of
group dynamics.
In agadic literature
Abraham is regarded as
having observed all the
commandments even
though they had not yet
been revealed.
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Archeological Digs at Lachish
Help to Explain Judean History
The tel of Lachish as it appears today
JERUSALEM — A vis-
itor to the British
Museum can almost hear
the roar of contending
armies as he views the
vivid relief executed by
an Assyrian combat ar-
tist almost 2,700 years
ago, depicting the assault
by his countrymen on the
Judean city of Lachish.
Standing atop the high
tel of Lachish today, and
looking into the trenches
sunk into the artificial
mound by archaeologists,
one can hear another
sound, softer but no less
terrifying.
Discolored bricks, occa-
sional cinders and broken
crockery lying beneath
collapsed walls evoke the
sound of flames licking at
dying cities, one piled
above the other.
For the past four sum-
mers, an archaeological
team headed by David Us-
sishkin, of Tel Aviv Uni-
versity, has been probing a
small area on top of the
20-acre tel. From the
ruins, it has been recon-
structing a human drama
that goes back five millen-
nia.
The story of Lachish
first began to be pieced
together by British ar-
chaeolgists in 1933. In the
ruins of a small guar-
droom inside the massive
city gate, they uncovered
18 shards covered with
ancient Hebrew script.
The messages date
from 588 BCE when the
Babylonian army of
Nebuchadnezzar was
sweeping through the
country on its way to
Jerusalem.
'Most were written by
an officer named
Hoshaiahu, who was
commanding a garrison
somewhere in the Judean
foothills. They were ad-
dressed to Ya'ush, the
army regional comman-
der posted in Lachish.
"We are watching for
the fire signals of Lachish
according to all signs my
lord (Ya'ush) gave," reads
one of these messages,
"because we do not see
Azekah."
The name of the latter
town, located at the entr-
ance to the Elah Valley
north of Lachish, is men-
tioned in Jeremiah 34:7:
"When the king of Baby-
lon's army fought against
Jerusalem and against all
the cities of Judah that
were left, against Lach-
ish and against Azekah,
for these alone remained
of the cities of Judah as
fortified cities."
Hoshaiahu's urgent
message following the fai-
lure of Azekah to light its
signal fires apparently
updates Jeremiah's ac-
count by recording the ci-
ty's fall. Soon after, Lach-
ish's own defenses were
breached and the city was
razed.
The British dig ended
in 1939 when the head of
the expedition, J.L. Star-
key, was murdered near
Hebron as he was driving
to Jerusalem from Lach-
ish.
Limited probes were
made in 1966 and 1968 by
the late Professor Yoha-
nan Aharoni. The current
dig, begun in 1973 by Aha-
roni's Institute of Ar-
chaeology at Tel Aviv Uni-
versity and the Israel Ex-
ploratio-n Society, is in-
tended as a long-term, sys-
tematic exploration of the
site.
This year a group of lec-
turers and students from
the University of South
Vale of Ayalon, where
Africa, which is helping to- Joshua called upon the sun
support the dig, partici-
to stand still until the bat-
pated in the field work.
tle was over.
In the remnants of a
After 'annihilating the
Canaanite temple, Us-
sishkin's team has found kings and much of their
a piece of charcoal, part of armies, Joshua went on to
the temple doorway that take Lachish. He
breached its wall on the
was consumed by fire.
It had been carved from second day of assault; it
a cedar of Lebanon and appears, from the char-
its destruction appar- coal and the other signs of
ently occurred when the ruin, that he put the city
Israelites under Joshua to the torch.
conquered the city in the
On the high point of the
13th Century BCE.
tel, from where the
Elsewhere in the temple Mediterranean can be
are octagonal columns seen 12 miles away, the
showing the influence of first fortified palace was
the Pharaonic Egypt from built about the time of
which the Israelites 'had David or Solomon.
fled.
Lachish had become
Lachish was already an
ancient city when Joshua the second most impor-
arrived. It had been in- tant city in Judea when
habited as early as 3,000 Sennacherib's Assyrians
BCE. By 1,500 BCE it was destroyed it in 701 BCE
a large, fortified city. It on their march to
reached its maximum Jerusalem, which they
size two centuries later failed to capture.
under the Canaanites.
Lachish was rebuilt, but
It is this city which is
mentioned in the Tel el- it was destroyed again a
Amarna letters written century . later by the
to the Egyptian monarch B abylomans.
Akhenaton by vassal
The remains of two
kings in the area. (The
destructions are
letters, a collection of great
clearly
visible in the ar-
cuneiform tablets, were chaeological
digs, with
uncovered a century ago
on the banks of the Nile.) distinct layers of broken
The King of Lachish is walls and pottery com-
accused in one of these pressed into the dust of
letters of conspiring with the tel.
the Habiru — generally
Archaeologists agree
identified with the anc- that the top layer repre-
ient Hebrews — against sents the destruction by
the Pharaoh. But by the the Babylonians in 588
time Joshua arrived, the BCE. There is, however,
then King of Lachish,
Japhia, was not an ally controversy over
whether the destruction
but an enemy.
The Bible recounts how below is the work of
army
Japhia and a coalition of NebuChadnezzar's
during a foray into the
four other kings gave bat- country
a decade earlier,
tle to the Israelites in the or whether
it represents
the Assyrian destruction
114 years earlier.
To the unknowing
traveller, the ancient city.
is merely a featureless
mound which he comes N---/
upon suddenly, after a
sharp bend in the road.
The eye lingers on it for
just a moment before
turning to the young fruit
orchards planted by
members of the neighbor-
ing Moshav Lachish.
to
off
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Storage jars smashed during the destruction of the city.
The moshav, a picture
of tranquility in its re-
mote setting, was
founded in the 1950's,
some 25 centuries after
the watchfires on the
walls of the last Jewish
city atop the tel were
snuffed out.