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From: Russell Hendel <rhendel@saber.towson.edu>
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 22:59:55 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Some explicit sources/lists on Gn18-22 and its Rashi

In discussing Gn18-22 Rashi says that the Biblical phrase "And Abraham
was still standing before God" is a "correction of the sages" and the
text should really read "And God still stood before Abraham". About
a dozen commentators explain that "correction of the sages" doesn't
mean that they changed the text but rather that it APPEARS as if they
changed the text. Chaiim Mateh in Mail Jewish Volume 32 Number 36 then asks

> Does any Rashi expert (Russell?) have an old or accurate Rashi wherein the
> above words are yes or not in parentheses?

How can I refuse a request like that. The following is a synopsis of a
full discussion of the matter which may be found at
http://www.shamash.org/rashi/v1b18-22.htm (Volume 6 Number 13 of Rashi
is Simple--Full credit is given to Chaiim and Mail Jewish).We can make 5
points.

1) The Yfay Toar on Midrash Rabbah 49:7 explicitly says that "The extra
phrase in Rashi 'which the sages changed the text' is a textual error in
Rashi---this phrase was erroneously added by some student and is not
found in most texts"

2) Furthermore EVEN if the phrase "which the sages HFACH" existed in
Rashi we would explain it as "Which the sages INVESTIGATED" since the
word "HFACH" means "TO INVESTIGATE" as in the Father of the Ethics
Phrase "INVESTIGATE INVESTIGATE(HFACH) and don't depart from Torah
study"

3) But the real focus in the Rashi is Simple email group is not on
investigating language of Rashi but rather on investigating Language of
Chumash. We must ask the obvious question what the phrases "God stood.."
and "So and so stood before God" mean.

4) The MARZU a commentator on Midrash Rabbah explicitly states that
ABRAHAM STOOD BEFORE GOD means he was still in the original prophetic
state that had begun in Gn18-01. In particular the famous dialogue where
God says He will destroy Sedom and Gmarrah and Abraham begs for mercy if
there are righteous people found... that whole dialogue was not real but
rather took place in a prophetic vision! In fact it is easy to construct
a list of verses where "standing before God" refers to a prophetic
vision (cf Gn19-27,Dt29-14, Zech3-1).

5) More conclusively the phrase GOD STOOD does occur but is always used
when God is about to do something. It might be out of place here since
God and Abraham were having a dialogue and God was not about to do
anything(cf Nu14-14 , Ez03-23, Zech03-05,1Chr21-15).

In summary it seems clear BASED ON BIBLICAL USAGE that the original
phrase was "And Abraham (prophetically) still stood before God"

Russell Jay Hendel; Phd ASA;
RHendel@Towson.Edu; Math; Towson
Moderator Rashi is Simple
http://www.shamash.org/rashi/