[Mesorah] LeChol Ba'ei Sha'ar Iro

[Dov Bloom]

I suggest to those who are unclear on the meaning of "shaar ha-ir" or
"petach shaar ha_ir" to visit some archeological sites in Eretz HaKodesh.
I was recently at a newly designated National Park of Lachish, with
artifacts from the time, but not only, of Hizkiyahu and Sancheriv.

We saw quite clearly that the Shaar HaIr was a very solid, fortified
structure, perhaps with a second floor and room for a number of defenders.
The shaar was not an iron gate or something like that, but a building.
Think like the structure at Shaar Yafo to the left of the present road.
So "petach shaar ha_ir" would be the doorway of this structure.

True, BaEi Shaar Iro may be an idiom...

from a Israel Antiquities Authority article

 The northern part of the gate was uncovered decades ago by a British
expedition and an expedition of the Tel Aviv University, and the current
excavation was engaged in completely exposing the gate. The gate that was
revealed in the excavation is the largest one known in the country from the
First Temple period.

*According to Sa'ar Ganor, excavation director on behalf of the Israel
Antiquities Authority,* “The size of the gate is consistent with the
historical and archaeological knowledge we possess, whereby Lachish was a
major city and the most important one after Jerusalem”. According to the
biblical narrative, the cities’ gates were the place where ‘everything took
place’: the city elders, judges, governors, kings and officials – everyone
would sit on benches in the city gate. These benches were found in our
excavation”.



The Lachish city gate (24.50 × 24.50 m), which is now completely exposed
and preserved to a height of 4 m, consists of six chambers, three on either
side, and the city’s main street that passed between them. Artifacts
discovered in its rooms indicate how they were used in the eighth century
BCE: in the first chamber were benches with armrests, at the foot of which
were numerous finds including jars, a large number of scoops for loading
grain and stamped jar handles that bear the name of the official or a lmlk



(belonging to the king) seal impression. Two of the handles have the seal
impression lmlk hbrn (belonging to the king of Hebron). The word lmlk is
written on one of the handles together with a depiction of a four-winged
beetle (scarab), and another impression bears the name lnhm avadi, who was
probably a senior official during the reign of King Hezekiah. It seems that
these jars were related to the military and administrative preparations of
the Kingdom of Judah in the war against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, in
the late eighth century BCE.

Dov Bloom

On Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 15:34 Aharon Gal via Mesorah <
mesorah at lists.aishdas.org> wrote:

> I read the English translation to the verse:
> וְעֶפְרוֹן יֹשֵׁב בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי חֵת וַיַּעַן עֶפְרוֹן הַחִתִּי אֶת
> אַבְרָהָם בְּאָזְנֵי בְנֵי חֵת לְכֹל בָּאֵי שַׁעַר עִירוֹ לֵאמֹר:
> "Lechol Baei Sha’ar iro" is transated to “those who entered the gate of
> his town”.
>
> In Parashat VaYishlach it says: “kol yotzei sha’ar iro”. Will the
> translation there be “all those who left out the gate of his town”?
> Seems to me that this is an idiom, that means “the inhabitants of his
> town”.
>
> The problem is that both Onkelos and T’ Yonatan write "לְכֹל עָלֵי תְּרַע
> קַרְתֵּהּ” (LeChol Alei T’ra Karte’)
> Did both of them mean that Efron talked just to those who entered the town?
> or it was obvious to them that this is just an idiom, and they translated
> the idiom to Aramaic.
>
> Rashi writes: “shekulam batelu mimlachtan”.  Rashi does not clarify who
> are “kulan”, but I have a feeling that he meant “all the inhabitants of his
> town”.
> Professor Kadari, in his “Millon HaIvrit Hamikrait” writes on the Pasuk in
> Ruth “Kol Sha’ar Ami” (Ruth 3:11) “Kelal Ezrachei Ha’ir Beth Lechem” (all
> the citizens of the town Beth Lechem”). This is in-spite of the Targum
> there that says: “Kadam kol yotvei tra Sanhedrin rabba” “the people who who
> sit in front of the Great Sanhedrin). He mentioned in the same paragraph
> the verses from Chaye Sara and Vayishlach. ie, the meaning is the
> 'inhabitants of the town'.
>
> The interpretation of Professor Kadari makes sense.  So why
> English translations are “those who entered the gate of his town”?
> Seems to me that all followed the steps of Targum Onkelos, Yonatan, the
> Septuagint. Although those targumim here translated literally, and not
> idiomatic.
>
> Kol Tuv,
>
> Aharon
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