#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
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| Rashi is Simple Version 2.0 |
| (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000 |
| http://www.RashiYomi.Com |
| PERMISSION to reprint WITH this header if NOT for profit |
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VERSE: Dt03-02a
Dt03-02a And God said to Moses don't fear OG
RASHI: Rashi compares the 2 verses Dt03-02 Dt02-31
Dt02-31And God said ----- *1 ------I give you Sichon
Dt03-02And God said DON'T FEAR HIM I give you OG
NOTES
-----
*1 It says DON'T be afraid by OG vs SICHON
because OG had an additional MERIT that SICHON
did not have---OG helped Abraham save Lot.(This
is shown below*2). Hence Moses feared this merit
would help OG. Hence God had to reassure Moses.
*2 This posting is an excellent example of how mistakes
can creatively lead to new insights.
1) Recall that in Volume 4 Number 11 (and also in Number 1)
I claimed that "Chazal believed that OG was ELIEZER"
2) Akiva Sunness refuted this view. To appreciate the
refutation we review WHY I believed this
3) Recall the following 4 verses
3a) Gn14-05 And they smote the REFAIM
3b) Gn14-13 And the SURVIVOR came and told Abraham
that his nephew was captured
3c) Dt03-11 OG, AT THE VERY LEAST survived the Refamim
NOTE: This last verse translation is based on
the translation that the Hebrew word RAK means
AT THE VERY LEAST (not only)which in fact was
shown in Volume 4 Number 11. See good examples in
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/gn20-11a.htm
BASED on these 3 verses we infer that
1) At the very least OG survived the REFAIM war
2) He is the survivor who told Abraham that his
nephew was captured
3) He must have survived SOMETHING ELSE(probably
the flood) since it says HE AT THE VERY LEAST
SURVIVED the REFAIM (implying he survived
something else)
3d) Chazal now cite the a 4th verse dealing with the
sins of the flood people
Gn06-02 And the Sons of Judges/Powerful people
came and snatched girls
So CHAZAL conjecture that the reason the wicked
OG came and told Abraham that his nephew was
captured was probably so that "Abraham would try
and rescue him, would die in the war with the
Refaim, and then OG could marry Sarah whom we
know was very beautiful.
4) In summary we have
*given strong proof that OG survived the Refaim
*given strong proof that he told Abraham about
the Capture of his nephew
*given plausible proof that OG survived the flood
*given a conjecture as to why he wanted to help
Abraham
*However my further conjecture that OG volunteered
to work as a servant for Abraham so that he could
get Sarah when Abraham died, this further
conjecture is unfounded.(This is what AKiva
pointed out)
5) I finally did the research on WHY I believed this
and found the following language in Rashi in
>>>>>
Dt03-02a And God said to Moses don't fear OG
RASHI: Rashi compares the 2 verses Dt03-02 Dt02-31
Dt02-31And God said ----- *1 ------I give you Sichon
Dt03-02And God said DON'T FEAR HIM I give you OG
NOTES
-----
*1 It says DON'T be afraid by OG vs SICHON
because OG had an additional MERIT that SICHON
did not have---OG helped Abraham save Lot.(This
is shown below). Hence Moses feared this merit
would help OG. Hence God had to reassure Moses.
>>>
Rashi now adds language NOT found in the Midrash
Rabbah 42:8. Rashi claims that
>>>>
"...and since he was interested in Sarah therefore
OG ***served*** Abraham"
>>>>
It was this langauge "***served***" that led me to
believe that OG actually served Abraham and was
Eliezer.
After a discussion with Akiva we reached the
following conclusion.
* If OG had ONLY told Abraham about the capture
it wouldn't have caused Moses to worry (So
what?...he did one favor)
* Therefore OG probably did MANY favors for him
Eg (An original suggestion of mine in Volume 4
Number 11) OG may have given Abraham military
positions and/or loaned him troops. So indeed
OG **served** Abraham (but was not Eliezer.)
SUMMARY: As the above example shows my mistake caused me
to carefully read Rashi and discover the word ***served***
which is not used by the Midrash Rabbah. This word "**served**"
in turn encouraged me to seek greater depth to OGs so called
favor(OG did more than just tell about Lots capture). Rashi
had a reason for conjecturing this---without the extra service
Moses fear did not seem reasonable.
PSOTSCRIPT: I also privately emailed Barbara, who in Volume
4 Number 15 complained "I really was beginning to believe
that Rashi is simple UNTIL you claimed that OG was ELIEZER..
that blew my mind..." See Volume 4 Number 15 for her letter
Akiva also said the same thing "How can you compare a wicked
person like OG who wanted to destroy the Jews with Eliezer"
(In response I assumed that OG was righteous then and turned
wicked later).
All in all a good exchange of ideas. Barbara was happy I
remembered her question.
RULE USED: DOUBLE PARSHAS
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Volume 7 Number 8
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Volume 7 Number 8