Table of Contents
The Patriarchs
1996AM

Year 1996 of the Jewish calendar.

1

Peleg died 48 years after Abraham, that was the year 1996. That was 350 years after the Flood [(Bereishit Rabbah chapter 26 and Yalkut 105 section 1072.

However in Yalkut end of Noach section 62, and in Maaseh chapter Noach chapter 38, and in Shir HaKallah 9 they wrote 360 years, 69 [(see year 128)]]. And then the earth was divided and Hashem scattered from them 30 families [(Bereishit Rabbah chapter 38)]. In the days of the Dispersion, Hebron was built [(Yalkut Reuven Parshat Bereishit 264 in the name of Rav Saadiah Gaon in Sefer Yetzirah, fifth)].

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2

The Covenant Between the Parts was when he was 48 years old [(Tanchuma)], thus it was the year 1996. [In Tanchuma, Hashem blessed Abraham in all at the Covenant Between the Parts when he was 48, informing him that a son would be given to him after 52 years]. On top of Mount Lebanon there is a very beautiful building, and there Hashem made a covenant between the parts with Abraham [(Beit Yisrael)].

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3

And they scattered to the four directions of the world, and each family went to its language and land, and they built cities and called the cities by their names or the names of their children [(and the locations of the cities and their names, see in Sefer HaYashar in the blessings)]. The children of Patros and the children of Casluchim married each other, and from them came forth Philistines, Gazites, Gederites, Gittites, and Ekronites - five families - and they built cities by their names.

The children of Canaan built for themselves 11 cities and their villages without number, and five men from the family of Ham came to the land of the Bakr, which is Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. They built five cities and called them by those names. Seir son of Hur son of Hovi son of Canaan went and found a wide valley near Mount Paran and built a city and settled there with his seven sons and called the city Seir after his name - it is the land of Seir to this day.

Ashur son of Shem went out with his sons with a great multitude and they traveled far and found a valley and built Nineveh, etc. The children of Aram built the city of Utz in the name of their firstborn brother in the second year after the Tower. Bela went out from the land of Nineveh and built a city opposite Sodom and called its name Bela - it is the land of Zoar. They made kings over themselves - all the children of Noah - kings.

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4

And Nimrod was still in the land of Shinar and built Babel, saying that there Hashem confused the language of all the earth. The second he called Erech, saying that from there Hashem scattered them. The third was Akkad, saying that there was a great war there. The fourth was Calneh, saying that there all his ministers and mighty men perished and they scattered from him and rebelled against him.

Nimrod sat in Babel and renewed his kingdom and his servants called his name Amraphel, saying that all his servants and ministers fell at the building of the Tower and because of his deceptions [(this is what Chazal say, that Abraham threw him into the fiery furnace and because of this he was so called, Hagadah)].

Nevertheless, Nimrod did not repent and continued to do evil, etc. At that time there was war between the families of the children of Ham, and Chedorlaomer king of Elam went forth from among the families of the children of Ham and fought the families of the children of Ham and subdued them under him, and went to the five cities of the plain and subdued them and they served him for 12 years and gave him tribute year by year [(see year 8)].

At that time Nachor died [(Sefer HaYashar)].

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