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| (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000 |
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VERSE: Gn19-31a
RASHIS COVERED: Gn19-31a Gn19-31b Gn19-33a Gn19-33b Gn18-37a
OVERVIEW:
========
Recall that Lot escaped from Sedom and Amorah. He and his two
daughters were in a cave. The daughters seduced Lot. Rashi
uses this opportunity to show the teleology of sin--how does
IT happen and what goes into it. Rashi uses the method of
>CLIMAX<. According to this method, the Bible sometimes develops
an idea in several stages over several verses.
In the sequel the phrase >the elder< refers to the >the elder
of Lots 2 daughters< while >the younger< refers to >the younger
of Lots 2 daughters<
{LIST}
According to Rashi sin takes place in 4-5 stages
================================================
WHICH STAGE WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS STAGE
=========== ==========================
In stage 1 One discovers >VULNERABILITY< in men(eg He is old)
In stage 2 One >EXAGGERATES FEARS(Paranoia)<(eg no men left)
In stage 3 One >uses ACCIDENTS< (eg look at the wine we found)
In stage 4 One treats a person like a >SEX OBJECT<(eg seduce)
Let us see these 4 stages in the incest of Lot.
{LIST}
Rashi uses this opportunity to show the teleology of sin--
how does IT happen and what goes into it.
================================================================
STAGE TEXT OF VERSE SHOWING STAGE IN SEDUCTION
============= ==================================================
Vulnerability And the elder said to the younger,Father is old*1
Paranoia and there are no men left in the world*2
Accidents*3 (they found some wine)--let us give wine to father
Sex-Objects She (the elder) >seduced< him *4
NOTES
=====
*1 Notice how Rashi connects the >VULNERABILITY< stage with
the >PARANOIA< stage. Rashi says
>He is old(vulnerability) and if we dont do it NOW then
we wont have another opportunity(Paranoia)<
*2 >There are no men left in the world<. This is >paranoia<
Paranoia consists of taking a legitimate fear and
>EXAGGERATING< it.
*3 If one carefully reads Rashi, the Sifsay Chachamim and the
Midrash Rabbah on which this is based one gets the
erroneous impression that there is controversy on the
daughters intention.
According to one view there was so much drinking
at this time of history that people
had to hide the wine in caves---that is where the girls
found the wine.
According to another opinion the Midrash alludes to the
great amount of wine there will be in the Messianic era
In other words the girls had >pure< intent--they wanted
to populate the world and even though they committed
incest they did have good intentions.
But there is no CONTROVERSY here. Rather Rashi is describing
sin psychology. Surely we all know that no one just goes out
and sins (After all it doesn't look right). Rather every sin
has some type of >justification and rationalization<
Also every sin utilizes accidents.
So we now understand the 2 opinions in the Midrash--they
are complementary. On the one hand everyone was drinking
wine,and THEREFORE, by accident, in the cave they were in
they found wine that had been hidden there. As is the
case with all sinners they saw this as an act of God that
would help them. On the other hand they didn't just go
and sin. Rather they said they were sinning to >populate
the word<. Like many sins, this one also had its ugliness
painted and mixed with some good intentions.
*4 Rashi uses the method of double parshas. His inferences
are justified by the two {LISTS} below
{END OF THIS LIST}
{LIST}
Rashi compares two verses to show that the elder >Seduced<
his father and treated him like a sex object
------------------------------------------------------------
Gn19-31 And the elder slept OF her father
Gn19-34 I(the elder) slept OF my father yesterday
Gn19-34 You(younger) sleep WITH him tonight
Gn19-35 The younger slept WiTH him
*a *b
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NOTES
=====
*a,b So we see that the >ELDER< slept >OF< her father
while the >YOUNGER< slept >WITH< her father
Throughout the Bible >SLEEPING OF< vs >SLEEPING WITH<
is used to denote >Treating a person like a sex object<
vs >having an affair<
In the case of women, treating a person like a sex
object refers to seducing the man(without his
participation)
{END OF THIS LIST}
{LIST}
Rashi further amplifies on the difference between the older and
younger daughter by showing how their respective nations were
treated later on. The attached LIST shows how the two daughters
differed in
-their sexual overtures(the older treated him like an object)
-their naming of their children(the baby was called FromDaddy)
-our obligations to them(dont harass vs dont harass war)
================================================================
WHICH DAUGHTER WHAT TOPIC LANGUAGE OF BIBLE VERSE
============== ============ =================== =======
Older sex treated like object Gn19-31
Younger sex*1 had an affair Gn19-35
Older Name of baby Named him FROMDADDY Gn19-37
Younger Name of baby Named him WITHME*2 Gn19-38
Older Relationship dont provoke war Dt02-09
Younger Relationship dont provoke *3 Dt02-19
NOTES
=====
*1 As indicated in a previous LIST the verses says
>Slept OF him< vs >Slept WITH him< denoting treating like
an object vs having an affair
*2 Thus the older daughter openly bragged in her name on what
happened--she called him >FromDaddy< while the younger
daughter called him >WithMe<(more discrete)
*3 Rashi of course is commenting on the difference between
Dt02-09 and Dt02-19: >dont provoke WAR< vs >dont provoke<
Thus the younger daughter was more protected: >dont provoke<
means >dont provoke AT ALL< (while with the older daughter
we were only prohibited in >dont provoke to WAR<
{END OF THIS LIST}
COMMENTS:
========
We have left to explain the cryptic statement in Rashi about
the >dots< in the written scrolls of the Torah, on the
word >When she got up<. Gn19-33 states that the elder slept
with her father but >lot did not know when she slept and
GOT UP<. The capped words >GOT UP< have >DOTS< over them in
the Torah.
These dots of course are only hints. There are only a few
places in the Bible where they occur. A parenthetical remark
in Rashi states that he >did know when she got up<. But this
directly contradicts the explicit verse. Surely the dots
cannot contradict what is already there (These parenthetical
remarks were not written by Rashi but inserted their by
a printer at a later date)
Rather I would suggest (as is the custom with drunkedness and
affairs) that the >dots< refer to a >hazy awareness<---the
type of groggy awareness which happens when you are just
getting out of it. So the verse says >he was stone drunk
when she slept with him but he was just COMING OUT OF IT
when she got up (and nevertheless he slept with the younger
one the next night)<
We plan to gather all the >dot verses< in one posting in
the future and show a unified treatment of them. For the
moment it suffices to concentrate on the above lists to
give us the simple meaning of the text.
RULE USED: EXAMPLE9
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Volume 8 Number 6
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Volume 8 Number 6