Genesis, Chapter 21, Verse 33 reads: “And Abraham planted a tamarisk-tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.” This is how the Jewish Publication Society of America translated the Hebrew verse in 1917. However, over 300 years earlier, in 1611, the KJV translators rendered the verse: “And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-Sheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.”
There is some Jewish support for the KJV’s use of the word “grove.” The Jewish commentator Rashbam (c. 1085 – c. 1158), for instance, in his note to verse 33, writes, “[Abraham] planted a tamarisk: Rather a grove of trees, where he could pray.” However, many modern translators think the text refers to a type of tree, specifically, a tamarisk. The NJPS, for instance, uses the word “tamarisk” and the NRSV “tamarisk tree,” as do the New King James Version and the New International Version.
There are, of course, significant differences between one tree and a grove of trees. So, what is the effect of using “grove” instead of “tree” or “tamarisk-tree” to translate the Hebrew word אֵשֶׁל (êšel)? Does it make any difference in our understanding of the verse?
A grove of trees has some distinct advantages over a single tree, some of them physical, others of a non-material kind. For example, a grove covers more ground, thereby providing more shade and offering a cooler area where weary travelers might stop to refresh themselves and rest. Also, a grove of tamarisks whose roots extend deeply down into the soil in search of water, a scarce commodity in the Negev, helps stabilize the soil, reduce wind erosion, and, in general, make a place more habitable.
But there are advantages to a grove of a more spiritual type. As we saw above, Rashbam alludes to one of them in his comment concerning Abraham planting a grove that provided him a place to pray. Many ancient peoples revered groves. In ancient Greece, for example, the grove of Dodona in Epirus was a sacred oak grove dedicated to Zeus. Its priests and priestesses interpreted the rustling leaves of its oak trees as divine messages.
Let’s assume Abraham planted a grove of trees, tamarisk trees, if you will. Thinking this way leads us to consider two notable characteristics often attributed to Abraham: his consideration for others, displayed here by creating a comfortable place where travelers might rest, and his deep spirituality—his creating a space where he could pray, a place where he called on the “name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.”
Some interpreters of the verse find even more meaning in it. For them, Abraham did more than simply plant a tamarisk tree or even a grove of trees. The grove was, in fact, “an inn where travelers could lodge.” (Gemara, Sotah 10a.) Thus, they found in verse 33 an allusion to one of Abraham’s most prominent virtues: his hospitality to wayfarers. At Abraham’s inn, guests could find food, drink, and lodging, and they were encouraged to thank not only Abraham but God for what they had found. This trait of displaying hospitality has become a cherished virtue of Abraham’s descendants.
Every morning, as part of the Morning Blessings, specifically in the recitation of the Blessings of the Torah, Jewish descendants of Abraham recite a passage from the Talmud listing various groups of precepts. One group is precepts, “the fruits of which a man enjoys in this world, while the stock remains for him for the world to come: viz., honoring father and mother, the practice of charity, timely attendance at the house of study morning and evening, hospitality to wayfarers,….’ Ah, hospitality!
Kosher observant Jews traveling in Europe from the Middle Ages until WWII used several methods to keep kosher on the road. One of them was to depend upon the hospitality shown to wayfarers by the various Jewish communities they passed through on their travels, places where they could find homes, inns, or communities with kosher facilities to assist them. They still carried food with them, of course, and often relied upon eating fruits and vegetables. Travel was difficult but doable. But then came the catastrophe.
On January 30, 1939, the German Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Chancellor of the Reich), Adolf Hitler, delivered a speech in the Reichstag that contained the following statements:
I have often been a prophet in my life and was generally laughed at. During my struggle for power, the Jews primarily received with laughter my prophecies that I would someday assume the leadership of the state and thereby of the entire Volk and then, among many other things, achieve a solution of the Jewish problem. I suppose that meanwhile the then resounding laughter of Jewry in Germany is now choking in their throats. Today I will be a prophet again: If international finance Jewry within Europe and abroad should succeed once more in plunging the peoples into a world war, then the consequence will be not the Bolshevization of the world and therewith a victory of Jewry, but on the contrary, the destruction of the Jewish race in Europe.
Ultimately, the prophecy concerning the annihilation of European Jewry did not come true. But the Nazi attempt to fulfill it had devastating consequences for Jewish life in Europe. Let’s consider only what today is known as the Czech Republic.
At the time of the Shoah, the Nazis created the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.” The Protectorate roughly corresponded to what is now called the Czech Republic. In her landmark book, The War Against The Jews 1933-1945, Lucy S. Dawidowicz records the estimated number of Jews killed by country in the Final Solution. The estimated pre-Final Solution population of the Protectorate was 90,000; the estimated Jewish population annihilated was 80,000, or 89%. According to the World Jewish Congress, today, the core Jewish population in Czech Republic is about 3,900 individuals. About half of the Jewish population lives in Prague. The murder of the Jewish population was accompanied by the destruction of its pre-war institutions, synagogues, and culture. So what does an observant Jew who travels to Prague for business or as a tourist do today?
Enter Chabad. Beginning in the 1950s under the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Chabad-Lubavitch began sending shluchim (emissaries) worldwide to support Jewish life. By the 1960s–70s, the mission expanded to reach remote areas, offering essential services to unaffiliated Jews and travelers: daily and holiday prayer, kosher meals—especially on Shabbat—and sometimes lodging. In cities with limited Jewish infrastructure, like Prague, Chabad has become a vital resource for Jewish travelers.
Chabad of Prague operates three restaurants, one meat restaurant and two dairy restaurants. All three are located in the Jewish Quarter.
The Chabad Grill offers a variety of Mediterranean and international dishes, including grilled meats, steaks, fish, salads, and pasta, with a fine dining atmosphere. It is located at U Milosrdných 6, Prague 1, and is supervised by Chabad of Prague. U Milo, a dairy restaurant, serves Italian and Mediterranean-inspired vegetarian dishes like pasta, pizzas, fish, and salads, and is located at U Milosrdných 4, Prague 1, also under Chabad supervision. Shelanu Pizzeria, known for its pizza, falafel, and sandwiches, is located at Břehová 8, Prague 1, and provides delivery services under the supervision of Chabad of Prague. And for a kosher version of an authentic Czech treat, you can get trdelník at Trdelník & Coffee, Josefov CZ, U Starého Hřbitova 42/2, Staré Město, Prague 1.
I recommend U Milo for breakfast and dinner. For lunch, it’s Shelanu, and if you want a nice ambiance and are in the mood for meat, there’s the Chabad Grill. There is also a small store in the basement where the Chabad Grill is housed, selling food items primarily imported from Israel.
One final vital item: The Jewish Community of Prague publishes two lists, in English, of kosher food products you can find in a grocery store or corner market in Prague. Both are PDFs. One is KOSHER LIST 2025 (PRODUCTS UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE RABBINATE OF JCP) (PDF); the second is KOSHER LIST 2024 (FOREIGN PRODUCTS AND HECHSHERS) (PDF). Both PDFs can be found by clicking here..
If you are not Jewish, Prague has an abundance of eating places. I heartily recommend the latest edition of Fodor’s Prague, which was suggested to me by an experienced tour guide who has led many trips to Prague.
All the best,
Gershon
Note: Thanks to Beth Ben-Avraham for editorial assistance.
Gershon Ben-Avraham 