The 12 Tribes of Israel Collection
Simeon from the 12 Tribes of Israel
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Simon - The Aggressor“Because G-d heard” (Gen. 29:33)
Leah’s second son, Simeon, embodies the quality of hearing. The tribe of Simeon did not receive its own portion in the Land of Israel because of their aggressive role in destroying the city of Shechem (see Gen. 34), an act for which Jacob chastised them on his deathbed. This painting takes us to the portion within Judah’s land in the south that was allocated to Simeon. We are looking out over the crater Machtesh Ramon. The crater is harsh and aggressive with its fortress-like walls, but it is also an opening. In order to stem the harsher aspects of our internal and interpersonal landscapes, we need to create space, to let down our barriers and truly listen. In doing so, we create the possibility for harmonious community (in the foreground), and expansive possibility as we look out into the horizon, into the future.
The reddish-orange of the crater’s sand reflects the warmth of the tribe of Simeon’s gemstone, topaz. |
Detailed Explanation
- Essential Quality - Hearing
- Birth Mother - Leah
- Birth Order - Second
- Mother's Naming - And she (Leah) conceived again and bore a son and declared, "Because Hashem has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this one also," and she called his name Simeon. (Genesis, 29:33)
- Landscape - The Ramon Crater in the Negev adjacent to the city of Dimona
- Gemstone - Topaz
- Father (Jacob) Blessing - "Simeon and Levi are comrades, their weaponry is a stolen craft. Into their conspiracy, may my soul not enter! With their congregation, do not join, O my honour! For in their rage they murdered people and at their whim they hamstrung an ox. Accursed is their rage for it is intense, and their wrath for it is harsh; I will separate them within Jacob, and I will disperse them in Israel." (Genesis, 49:5-7)
- Kabbalah - Simeon is aggressive gevura (heroism) - the antithesis of Reuben's chesed. The fierce anger and cruel wrath that can result from unbridled gevura must be eliminated lest it turns into weapons of violence that consume the person and all those he comes in contact with. (Jacobson, Simon from Twelve Tribes - Twelve Paths)