Pictorial Tour of Historical Sites in Parshas Toldos

Anash.org Feature: Tour the ancient sites mentioned in Parshas Toldos with “Picturing the Parsha” featuring unique and exclusive photos with detailed descriptions by Tanach explorer and photographer Sholom Raskin.

By Anash.org reporter

In each Parsha of Sefer Bereishis, we encounter new places where our Avos traveled and settled. Wouldn’t it be incredible to see what those sites look like today?

Tanach explorer and photographer Sholom Raskin has a curiosity and fascination with real-life locations of the stories from Tanach. During his time in Eretz Yisroel, he intensely explored hundreds of historical and archeological sites and documented it all.

In this weekly column on Anash.org throughout the weeks of Sefer Bereishis, Sholom presents photos of ancient sites mentioned in the parsha. Under each picture, there will be a caption with the Perek and Posuk that is being referenced and a short explanation of what the picture is about.

A printable PDF allows for easy printing of the photos and descriptions for reading on Shabbos and showing it at the Shabbos table. Click here to download the PDF.

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List of places in Parshas Toldos:

26:1 – There is a 3-way argument about where the city of Gerar is located. According to Rabbi Saʿadiah Gaon, the city of Gerar is ‘Al-Khalūṣ’, which may have been identified as the archaeological site of Al-Khalasa (about 13 miles southwest of Be’er Sheva). Today, that area is used for training by the IDF. I went there for Mivtzoim, where I took this photo.

 26-1 – The 2nd opinion of where the city of Gerar is located, is between Netivot and Ofakim (about 11 miles southeast of Gaza City), it’s called Tel Haror which is next to Nachal Gerar. Once when driving in this area, the driver stopped the car to get directions. So, I took a picture of the sunset, near the area of Gerar.

26-1 – The 3^rd opinion of where the city of Gerar is located is Tel Gama (about 3 miles from the border with central Gaza, and half a mile from Kibbutz Re’im). Today, there isn’t much to see at Tel Gama, however, it is located in the area of the Simchas Torah massacre. It is located about a mile west of the site of the Nova Massacre (above picture). It is located about half a mile west of Kibbutz Re’im. This is the bomb shelter (picture below) outside of Re’im where Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped.

26:33 – In Tel Be’er Sheva (about 2 miles east of the modern city of Be’er Sheva), you can see wells dug thousands of years ago. While it is not certain that Yitzchok Avinu dug this well (picture below), it illustrates what an old well in Be’er Sheva looks like.

26:33 – The ancient well in Tel Be’er Sheva. 

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SholomTravels.com, an online travel guide by Sholom Raskin, contains a comprehensive list of places mentioned in Tanach and where they are mentioned; 115 locations based on tiers, location in Eretz Yisroel, archaeology, history, nature, and viewpoints; an interactive Google Maps page; as well as hundreds of pictures and videos.