Later, when Isaac digs new wells to replace his father’s wells that the Philistines had obstructed, when he digs the family’s seventh well (three dug by his father and obstructed and four new wells dug by Isaac), he calls the place “Be’er Sheva,” meaning “the seventh well.” In other words, the name Be’er Sheva has two explanations, either after the oath that Abraham and Avimelech took there or after the seventh well dug by Abraham and Isaac.
When considering the various commentaries on the Torah, we find that some of them argue that these were not only two origins for the same name but designated two different locations. For example, the Rashbam writes,
This was not the same Be’er Sheva we read about in connection with Abraham. There were two places named Be’er Sheva as we know from the verse, “he came to Be’er Sheva in Judah.”
Others though, like the Seforno, argue that there is only one location named Be’er Sheva, but when it was named after the oath its name was pronounced “Be’er Shava,” and when named after the seventh well, its name was pronounced “Be’er Sheva.”
In an essay on the aforementioned passage in the Zohar, the Alter Rebbe explains that the plain meaning of the text as explained by the commentaries and the disagreement between Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Chiya in the Zohar are related. When the place is named after the oath Abraham and Avimelech took, it corresponds to the sefirah of understanding, because all oaths relate to understanding. When it is named after the seventh well, it corresponds to the sefirah of kingdom (malchut), since it is the seventh emotive faculty.
Whether there are two different locations called “Be’er Sheva,” or whether these are two different names for the same location, we are prompted to see if we can identify other cities and towns in the Holyland with the other sefirot.
- Ibid. 26:18-22.
- Ibid. v. 25 and vv. 32-33.
- On Ibid. v. 33.
- 1 Kings 19:3.
- On Genesis 26:33.
- See also Radak and Chizkuni Ibid.
- Sefer HaMa’amarim 5567 (third edition); also published in the Mittler Rebbe’s Biurei HaZohar 16c and ff.
- Incidentally, there is a discourse by the Lubavitcher Rebbe (From Shabbat parashat Vayeitzei 5740 printed in Tiferet Levi Yitzchak – Bereishit, pp. 158ff.) on the debate in the Zohar, where he explains that the difference between the two opinions of Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Shimon hints at two primary mitzvot that we observe each morning: the mitzvot of Tefillin and Tzitzit (the tallit). Rabbi Chiya, who expounds on the verse “The sun rises, and the sun sets, and it hastens to its place where it rises” (Ecclesiastes 1:5), says that the essence of Jacob's departure from Be’er Sheva and his journey to Haran symbolizes the mitzvah of Tefillin. On the other hand, Rabbi Shimon, who interprets the departure as a departure from holiness (the Land of Israel) entirely and an entry into the danger of chutz la’aretz, aligns his understanding with the mitzvah of Tzitzit and the Tallit.
