From time immemorial man has always wondered what awaited him around the next bend of the river, over the next ridge rising above him or in the valley stretched out below him. Quite often what awaited was more of the same terrain he had just traversed and, no surprise, he failed to appreciate the variety each new vista presented. There were special geographical features that did stand apart and that caught mankind’s attention, arresting views that simply could not be ignored. Foremost among these places was an almost mythical river known as Sambatyon.
The Sambatyon River appears in Jewish literature as an important terminus in Jewish geography. It is described as a tranquil stream that is navigable throughout the week, only to turn wild and impassable from sundown on Friday night until nightfall on Saturday night. With the passing of the Sabbath, the Sambatyon was said to return to its quiet state, according to this tradition. Alongside this version ran an opposing view brought down in Tractate Sanhedrin (10:6) that the Sambatyon rages from Saturday night each week through Friday afternoon, at which time it turns quiet and becomes passable for 24 hours. Whichever version one accepts, the Sambatyon is unique in Jewish legend. Such a fickle body of water runs counter to the common experience of river travellers throughout time and space. Major whitewater systems, such as the Green and Colorado rivers in the western United States contain several hundred discrete rapids of various degrees of difficulty and danger, but these rapids don’t change their behavior according to the time of the week one seeks to travel on them!
Sambatyon also appears in Jewish lore as sort of a destination river beyond which, it is alleged, Shalmeneser, the Assyrian warlord, deported all or part of the exiled 10 tribes of Israel in the eighth century B.C.E. Since no one today can definitively identify even trace elements of those tribes, it remains a mystery to this day as to the whereabouts of the tribes or the river for that matter. Not that the ancients or even modern students of Jewish history have not offered their opinions on the whereabouts of these “missing” peoples or rivers. A quick review of the literature reveals that no fewer than a dozen theories exist as to the modern identity of the 10 lost tribes: from the Japanese to the British, and from the Native Americans to the Afghans. The Jewish Virtual Library lists the possible whereabouts of the tribes in such far-flung places as Africa, India, China, Arabia, Persia, Kurdistan, Caucasia, the U.S. and Great Britain. Sadly, these numerous speculative theories have never proven definitive.
Recent developments in genetic testing may ultimately provide a better source of evidence as to the possible whereabouts of the 10 tribes. When one considers that such disparate, dedicated political opponents as Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Abbu Abbas of the Palestinian Authority likely share an estimated 3000 of 3400 chromosomal alleles (or 90% of their total chromosomal material), it’s quite feasible to imagine scientists will soon be able to determine with more precision which peoples originated in the ancient Middle East and the late Kingdom of Israel.
As to the location of the Sambatyon, multiple theories exist, but no consensus. It would seem a river that remains quiet at set times and too turbulent to cross at other times would be simple to identify, but no such river has yet in fact been found. Since the Sambatyon river is mentioned both in the Talmud and the Chumash, its existence seems without doubt, whatever may be true concerning its changeable nature. If, as some sources state, the Sambatyon river was in fact located in ancient Media, the possibility of the modern Kurdish people representing the descendants of the 10 lost tribes seems most compelling.
In contrast to the semi-mythical Sambatyon of near-Asian fame flow the real, but sluggish, waters of the Hackensack River. Along the banks of this tidal river live today Jews who identify with the ancient Kingdom of Judah and the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. The Hackensack has the distinction of appearing on the earliest maps of the New World drawn by that intrepid sailor Henry Hudson. Such maps delineate the Hudson River, showing the Hackensack as a distinct stream emerging to the northwest. The ecosystem that exists along its banks contains every eastern woodland mammal except the black bear, numerous waterfowl and rodents of various kinds. Be forewarned, however, that while, unlike the Sambatyon, the Hackensack can be crossed safely every day of the year, other dangers lurk; the author had a memorable, surprise confrontation some years back with a rather fearsome, two-foot-long Norwegian rat near the Hackensack river shoreline. Upon the encounter both rat and author quickly scurried away in opposite directions.
By Joseph Rotenberg
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