Verse Gn28-20:22,
presents
a prayer of Jacob:
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me ...\
then shall the Lord be my God;
And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God?s house; and of all that you shall give me I will surely give the tenth to you.
Rashi provides further details to the underlined words
shall be God's house
by cross referencing
an other verse
Gn35-01:07
which describes
the fullfillment of this vow
And God said to Jacob, Arise,
go up to Beth-El, and live there; and make there an altar to God,
who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.
Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments;
And let us arise, and go up to Beth-El; and I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
...
So Jacob came to Luz, ... that is, Beth-El,
And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Beth-El;
because there God appeared to him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
Sermonic points:
Judaism in general frowns on oaths and vows. However the above Rashi
shows us one instance in which vows are welcome and encouraged. Jacob,
had to flee his home and avoid a brother who wished to kill him. He had
to go to a strange place and deal with a crooked father-in-law. Such
stresses typically create doubts and lapses in religious behavior. To
strengthen himself Jacob made a vow that after surviving all this he
would make an altar and a house of God. The thought of fulfilling
this vow created a psychological focus point which helped Jacob thru this
difficult period.
The Talmud explicitly states that Patriarch stories are role models
for all Jews. Thus the Bible here, teaches the Jewish people how to deal with
periods of enormous stress by vowing to dedicate oneself to God, in
some specific manner, after surviving the stressful period.
One of Rashi's 10 major explanation methods is the
word meaning method. Rashi had 10 vehicles by
which to explain word meaning. One word meaning
submethod is the special connective word submethod.
Examples of special connective words are if, then, when,
because, also .... These special connective words typically
have several usages. Rashi, in his comments, will indicate the varied
usages of these words.
The word if can sometimes mean when. The difference
between if and when is whether you expect the event
you are talking about to happen. If you expect it to happen you use
the word when; if you aren't sure you use the word if.
There are about half a dozen verses where if means when:
Ex20-22,Ex22-24,Lv02-14,Nu36-04,Gn28-20, Dt21-14. Let us carefully
review one of these verses.
Verse Gn28-20:22 states
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and garment to put on,
...
...Then ...all that you shall give me I will surely give the tenth to you.
Rashi comments on the underlined word if: A superior
translation would be when. The verse should be translated
as follows
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, when God will be with me,
[And saves me from the perils of my brother, father-in-law and
strange place], and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and garment to put on,
...
...Then ...all that you shall give me I will surely give the tenth to you.
Rashi's suggested translation of when versus if is
motivated by a verse which explicitly states that God will be with me.
Verse Gn28-15 explicitly states
And, behold, I,God am with you, and will keep you in all places where you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done that about which I have spoken to you.
Rashi's reasoning is that if God promised to be with Jacob
then indeed Jacob's statement if you will be with me should
be better translated as when you will be with me since
it was certain to happen.
Sermonic points:
Rashi teaches us etiquette. God had just promised to be with
Jacob. This was a prophetic promise and had to be kept. Nevertheless
Jacob uses the language if vs. when. Jacob teaches us the
etiquette of receiving a promise from God. We should not brag that it is ours. Rather we should have an attitude that it
is not coming to us and rely on God's providence to provide it.
This priniciple of etiquette, not to hold people to their promises,
but to act like we are undeserving of it, also applies to interpersonal relations.
Note the contradiction
indicated by the underlined words in the following verses:
-
Gn29-18
And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.
-
Gn29-23
And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in to her.
-
Gn29-25
And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah; and he said to Laban, What is this that you have done to me? did not I serve with you for Rachel? why then have you deceived me?
We see the
contradiction---Was Jacob double crossed by
day or night?
Rashi resolves this by distinguishing two stages
in the marriage:
Laban gave Leah to Jacob for the wedding night.
But Jacob and Rachel had personal [flirting] signs and Rachel
gave these to Leah. So Jacob only fully became aware
at morning that Leah was really Leah.
This Rashi has been interpreted to mean that
- Jacob and Rachel had little contact during the 7 years!
- Jacob had no memory of the women he was in love with!
- Jacob needed special signs to remind him who he was with
- Jacob did not know who he was with on his wedding night!
Remarkable! Even the lowest rif-rafs recognize who they are
with on a wedding night.
I think a more palatable approach to this Rashi is the
following:
Traditionally men are in interested in physical
characteristics while women are interested in the person.
The Bible explicitly states that Jacob loved Rachel
because of her figure and good looks (No mention of
personality!). As is well known men and women can flirt
with each other by glances and smiles. Rachel quickly
found out what Jacob liked and taught Leah how to flirt
with him. Laban told Jacob at the beginning of the 7
years that he couldn't marry the younger daughter
before the older daughter. Jacob was at first relunctant
But when Leah started flirting with him the way he
liked he decided to marry Leah. However after the
wedding night Leah had what she wanted and had no
reason to placate Jacob. She started acting herself.
It was only at this point that Jacob realized he was
double-crossed and not getting the physical flirtations
he wanted from a wife. Laban simply reminded him of
the deal they had made seven years ago but offered
him Rachel also.
Sermonic points:
The above approach to Rashi makes sense. It also
has relevance. It is well known that patriarchal stories
create role models for the Jewish people. No
Jew really worries about being double crossed in whom
he marries. But it is relevant to religious men to
be aware that women play such games with them--Rachels
will frequently help fellow women like Leah to catch
men. Women think it silly that men are interested in
physical attributes and not in personality. So this
incident as interpreted above has extreme relevance
to us.
There are two approaches to teaching general principles:
- One can state the abstract idea
- One can state a good example and let the reader infer the
general principle.
Interestingly, computer science studies, show that both
methods of instruction are equally effective. Some students
learn better from exposure to abstract ideas while other students
learn better from exposure to good examples.
The technique of communicating an abstract principle
via examples is known as the Rabbi Ishmael Style rules.
It is a matter of style that an example is viewed more
generally instead of restrictively.
Here is a simple example: Ex21-28a states that
an owner must pay when his ox causes damage.
Rashi, following the Talmud generalizes this: An owner
must pay when his animal causes damage. Here
the animal is the general abstract class while the ox
is the specific example. The Bible teaches the general rule
using the specific example. This follows the Rabbi Ishmael
Style rules.
Verse Gn30-01c states
And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children,
Rachel envied her sister; and said to Jacob,
Give me children, or else I am dead.
Rashi comments on the underlined phrase Give me children
or else I am dead by using the Rabbi Ishmael Style
rules:
This is a general principle
and does not apply only to Rachel:
Any barren women emotionally feels
as if she is dead.
Sermonic points:
The focus of the Rashi point is on the extreme loneliness
of not having children. Modern man is aware of needs for
food, sex and shelter. But there are other equally strong
emotional needs; having children is one of them, especially
for women.