#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
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| (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000 |
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VERSE: Gn28-05a
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 1: The following was presented on the occasion of
a special birthday of my mother, Perl Hendel. In her honor
I explained the following Verse, which Rashi claims he does
not understand.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2: The following Rashi was brought to my
attention by Herman Woulk, the noted author, when I met him
a year and a half ago.
Gn28-05 And Isaac sent Jacob to Paden Aram to Laban the
brother of Rivkah THE MOTHER OF JACOB AND ESAUV
RASHI: I do not know why the capped phrase THE MOTHER OF
JACOB AND ESAUV was written.
RULE:
(a) Normal genealogy is parental eg "Isaac SON OF Abraham"
(b) Abnormal genealogy is used to denote EMPHASIS--some
special caring relation between the 2 people
EXAMPLES
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In the following verses genealogy is normal (Parental)
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VERSE TEXT
----- ----
Gn04-18 Kayin gave birth to Chanoch*1
Gn05-06 Sheth gave birth to Enosh *1
Gn10-02 The SONS of Yefet are Gomer..*1
Gn25-19 Isaac SON of Abraham*2
Gn36-20 These are the SONS of Seir..Lotan...*1
NOTES
-----
*1 The whole chapter gives genealogies. For reasons of space
we just mention 1 example
*2 There is an interesting Ramban on this which will be
studied at a later date (Ramban discusses the
STYLE of genealogies)
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In the following examples genealogy is ABNORMAL(non parental)
Rashi interprets this to mean showing a caring relationship
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VERSE GENEALOGY INTERPRETATION
----- ----------------------- --------------
Gn34-25 Simon brother of Dinah He went to war to save her*1
Nu25-18 Cazbi sister of Midyan She went to war for her nation
Ex15-20 Miryam sister of Aaron He prayed for her in sickness*2
Gn04-22 Naamah sister of Tuval Tuval married her to a friend*3
Gn28-09 Mchlth sister of Nvyth Nvyth helped her marry*3
Ex06-23 Elishvh sister of Ncson Ncshon helped her marry*3
NOTES
-----
*1 Gn34 discusses the war of Simon&Levi to save the raped Dinah
*2 Nu12 describes how Aaron prayed for Miryam when she
was punished by Leprosy
*3 These verses are more conjectural. Rashi citing Chazal points
out that a brother is a sister's closest male relative
and therefore measuring similarity to the brother is
a good way of accessing the potential success of a
marriage. For example Tuval was a hardware man while
Noach was a shipbuilder. So Chazal/Rashi conjecture
that Noach married Naamah since Naamah had grown up
with a hardware man and knew their needs
*4 Many of these verses have been commented on in previous
postings.
APPLICATION
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Returning to Gn28-05a "Rivkah The Mother of Jacob and Esauv"
we interpret this to mean that Rivkah cared for the individual
needs of BOTH Jacob and Esauv.
Recall that to be a good parent once must not impose on a child
but rather one must let every child grow up in their own way
The best example of such parenthood occurs with Jacob who
blessed that each child should grow up with what interests them
CHILD VERSE PROFESSSION
----- ----- -----------
Judah Gn49-08 Military
Zvulun Gn49-13 Seafarer
Yissachar Gn49-14 Farmer
Dan Gn49-16 Judge
Joseph Gn49-22 Political appointee
By contrast, as Rav Hirsch points out in his essays "And the
children grew up" (From which this part of the posting comes),
Isaac failed as a parent. It explicitly says that "Esauv was
a HUNTER while Jacob was an innocent man of tents"(Gn25-27)
Hence it was Isaacs obligation to orient the Torah study of
Esauv to be consistent with his hunting desires. Instead Isaac
raised BOTH Jacob and Esauv as tent dwellers which is why Esauv
rebelled.
The clearest proof that Esauv's wickedness came from Isaac's
failure is from the explicit verse "And Isaac did NOT recognize
the disguised Jacob BECAUSE HE HAD ON HAIRY CLOTHING"(Gn27-23)
In other words Isaac judged people by externals and could not
see the underlying personality.
By contrast Rivkah DID understand both her children. For this
reason she told the innocent Jacob to dress up as Esauv so that
Isaac would give Jacob the blessings that he intended to give
Esauv. Rivkahs intention was that Isaac should finally discover
that he had been fooled his whole life by the externals of Esauv
and should give Jacob the blessing (This is explicitly stated
in the Bible since Isaac agreed with Rivkah after he found
out "...he did fool you..but the blessing I gave stands"
(Gn27-33)
Similarly Rivkah understood that Esauv wanted to kill Jacob and
therefore she sent Jacob to Laban both to escape Esauv's murder
intents as well as to learn how to deal with underhanded people
We conclude that Rivkah was the mother of BOTH Jacob and Esauv
She understood them both. By contrast,the previous chapter,
shows us how Isaac was the father of Jacob but had been fooled
his whole life by Esauv who knew which externals his father
liked.
This is the simple straightforward meaning of the verse, "Rivkah
MOTHER of (BOTH) Esauv and Jacob". My mother Perl Hendel taught
me the above principles and raised all 4 of us to be totally
different. People who know me and my siblings comment on how
different we are. Therefore it is fitting that I solve this
problem of Rashi in honor of my Mothers special birthday
But Hermann Woulk's problem remains--"Why didn't Rashi know
the principle my mother taught me?"!
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Volume 6 Number 25
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Volume 6 Number 25