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1. The First Dream

   Rabbi Yaakov Medan

   According to the conventional interpretation by the Sages, the Four Kingdoms refer to Babylon, Persia/Medes, Greece, and Rome. Later interpretations extend Rome into Christianity, while others combine Rome with Greece, allowing the fourth kingdom to be Yishma’el - Islam. These interpretations assume that the prophecy ends with a Jewish kingdom in the end of the days and therefore must span throughout human history. An alternative interpretation suggests that the four kingdoms are Babylon, Persia/Medes, Alexander the Great, and the Diadochi kingdom which comprises the Ptolemy and the Selucids, and the dream extends itself to the kingdom of the Hashmona’im. Many prophecies deviate from their initial intentions due to man’s deviation from God’s path, and are destined to be fulfilled in the future.

2. The Vision of the Four Beasts

   Rabbi Yaakov Medan

   The Sages and many commentators are in agreement that the four beasts in Daniel’s dream parallel the four kingdoms described in Nevukhadnetzar’s dream. An alternative interpretation suggest that that the first three beasts are parables for Nevukhadnetzar - the lion, his son Evil Merodakh - the bear, and his son Belshatzar – the final king of Babylon - represented by the leopard. The fourth beast represents the kingdom of Persia and the ten horns of the beast represent the ten successive rulers of Persia. The new horn that sprouts and uproots the existing one represents Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire.

3. The Letter Lamed and Akeidat Yitzhak

   Dr. Avigail Rock

4. Rabbi Yona ibn Janach

   Dr. Avigail Rock

   Although R. Yona ibn Janach (Ribag) did not author even one full volume dedicated to biblical commentary, his contributions to parshanut have proven momentous.  For Ribag, biblical exegesis represented both the most fundamental basis and the ultimate application of the study of Hebrew language and grammar. His grammatical innovations lay the foundation for biblical exegetes who came after him, thus he should be viewed as an important exegete who influenced parshanut both in his time and in the following generations. He wrote Sefer Harikma and Sefer Hashorashim.

   Ribag had three distinct impetuses for writing Sefer Harikma:

   • Basic understanding of the Hebrew language is an urgent concern.
   • Understanding language is the basis of all knowledge.
   • One cannot understand the Torah without understanding its language.

    

   Some of the grammatical topics that Ribag discusses include:

   • The Lamed of Substitution
   • Derekh Ketzara – various abbreviations used in biblical Hebrew
   • Synecdoche – a type of metonymy in which a general term is used in place of the specific one
   • Syntactic Inversion
   • Roots of Hebrew Words

5. R. Avraham ibn Ezra

   Part 1

   Dr. Avigail Rock

   Ibn Ezra, grew up in the Golden Age in Spain and thus received a wide-ranging education. On the one hand, he acquired great expertise in the works of great Jewish minds throughout the generations; on the other hand, he was also fluent in Arabic, and he was involved in the rich Muslim culture, its literature and its scientific innovations.

   Ibn Ezra was not only a sharp-tongued thinker; he was a believing Jew, with a passionate love for his people and his Creator, for the Torah and its commandments - a man of science and a man of spirit.

   Ibn Ezra wrote commentaries on the Torah, and various books of Neviim and Ketuvim. It appears from his words that he wrote commentaries to other books of Tanakh as well, but they have been lost. He wrote two commentaries to the Torah, Peirush Ha-katzar and Peirush Ha-arokh, the Short and Long Commentary.

   Ibn Ezra’s commentaries, unlike those of the commentators of northern France, are difficult to comprehend.

   In Ibn Ezra’s introduction to his commentary, he presents different approaches to biblical interpretation followed and expresses criticism of each:

   • The scholars of Spanish yeshivot weaved philosophical views into their commentaries on the Torah.
   • The Karaites, who deny the tradition of the Oral Torah.
   • Those who understand the Torah as allegory. Ibn Ezra mainly opposes this as a path leading to Christianity.
   • The homiletic exegetes in Christian lands, who do not relate to the peshat of the verses, instead following the Midrashic approach.