Mamre the Man, the Place, the Legend

The Constantinian church at Mamre appears on the Madaba Map (right margin, adjacent to the modern pillar)Mamre is the site where Abraham pitched the tents for his camp, built an altar (Genesis 13:18), and was brought divine tidings, in the guise of three angels, of Sarah's pregnancy (Genesis 18:1-15).The Oak of Mamre is possibly a Terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus) and its location near to Hebron (off limits to Israelis since the Oslo Accords).Genesis 13:18 has Abraham settling by 'the great trees of Mamre'. The original Hebrew tradition appears, to judge from a textual variation conserved in the Septuagint, to have referred to a single great oak tree, which Josephus called Ogyges.We investigate the man Mamre in Midrash as well as the dazzling interpretation of his interaction with Avrohom in the Tshuos Chen, Reb Gedaliah of Linitz a disciple of the BESHT.