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Verse Gn24-22c discussing the gifts that Eliezer gave Rivkah states
And it came to pass, as the camels finished drinking, that the man took
- a golden ear ring of half a dollar value, and
- two bracelets for her hands of
- ten shekels weight of gold;
The Rashi symbolic interpretations of these gifts seems strange:
- a golden ear ring of half a dollar value, [Rashi: corresponding to the Biblical commandment
to give a half-dollar]
- two bracelets for her hands of [Rashi: Corresponding to the 10 commandments given on two stones]
- ten shekels weight of gold; [Rashi: Corresponding to the 10 commandments]
This Rashi is strange because it implies that Eliezer is prophesying that Rebekkah will be a
matriarch to a people who will receive the 10 commandments and be commanded on the giving of
the half-dollar. Rebekkah was in no position to know this at this stage of her life.
However the Rashi interpretations can be made plausible if we use one simple Rashi rule:
Rashi does not speak using abstract concepts but rather Rashi speaks using examples of these
concepts. Hence
- The concept of caring about the little man in the street is symbolized by the
half dollar vs. say the $1 bill. The half dollar symbolism is also used in the
commandment for every Jew to give a half dolloar symbolizing that all the little people
in the nation count. Consequently instead of using the
abstract concept of the little man in the street
Rashi uses an example of this concept: The commandment to give a half dollar.
Here we have used our understanding of Rashi's style to make his commentary plausible.
- The abstract concept of a dual emphasis on commandments between man-and-man vs. commandments between
man-and-God is exemplified by the two tablets containing the ten commandments since one side
the ten commandments contains commandments between man-and-God while the other side contains
commandments between man-and-man.
- The abstract concept of community is symbolized by the plural number ten. One example
of this is the quorum of people needed for a religious service,10, since the service must be delivered
by the community. Another example might be the 10 commandments which contain the basic laws and ethics
needed by the community.
Using this principle that Rashi expresses abstract concepts by using examples of them we can
translate the Rashi symbolism into traditional abstract language. Rashi is explaining what Eliezer
liked about Rivkah which would make her a good wife for Isaac:
- a golden ear ring of half a dollar value,
[Rashi: She cared about the little man; Eliezer knew this since she
gave a slave water to drink]
- two bracelets for her hands of [Rashi: She had a dual caring about both people and God---since
she cared about the person, Eliezer, and also showed caring behavior to his animals(a man-God commandment)
- ten shekels weight of gold; [Rashi: Corresponding to her concerns for the community since
she fed the camels which were presumably carrying commercial loads for community business]
As shown the Rashi symbolic interpretation is plausible and not far fetched. The sole tool we
used to make Rashi plausible is replacing examples by the abstract concepts
they exemplify. Rashi was not attributing prophetic knowledge to Rivkah or Eliezer.
Rather Rashi was explaining how the events which just happened indictated personality
traits desirable in a mate.
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