Gn32-13b,
presenting Jacob's supplication to God to save him from this
brother Esauv states
And you,God, said,
I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea,
which can not be counted for multitude.
Rashi simply explains the underlined citation by providing
a cross reference from an other verse:
Rashi first cites Gn28-14 which states
And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth,
and you shall spread abroad to the west,
and to the east,
and to the north,
and to the south;
and in you and in your seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed.
Rashi is not fully satisfied with this other verse.
After all one verse speaks about your seed shall be as the sand of the sea
while the other verse speaks about your seed shall be as the
dust of the earth. Dust and sand are similar but
not identical. Rashi therefore cites a verse mentioned to
Abraham, Gn32-13
That in blessing I will bless you,
and in multiplying I will multiply your seed
as the stars of the heaven, and
as the sand which is upon the sea shore;
and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Rashi argues that since this blessing was stated to Abraham for his
progeny it is therefore an appropriate cross reference to Jacob.
Sermonic points:The Talmud states that
the incidents of the Patriarchs are moral norms for the
children. Here Jacob teaches us how to pray: Jacob was
afraid he might die---to strengthen himself thru prayer he
cites a Biblical prophecy that Abraham's seed would be plentiful.
Here the Biblical prophecy directly contradicts the possibility
of war and massive death. In this way the utterance of prophecy
during prayer spiritually strengthens him. Such uses of prophecy
during times of stress are meritorious and an intrinsic part
of the prayer experience.
One of Rashi's 10 major methods is the word meaning
method. Rashi will sometimes explain Biblical Hebrew roots
in a manner parallel to literary explanations in other languages.
A common technique of word meaning in all languages is naming
by exaggeration. Some common English examples
are
- A sky-scraper is seen as scraping the sky
- A breakfast is seen as breaking the fast of
the night
- The English idiom hear a pin drop means silence.
Some further examples of naming by exaggeration
are given by the Rashis on the following verses:
- Verse Ex21-03a states
If he came in with his body, he shall go out by himself; if he was married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Rashi explains the underlined phrase using
the technique of exaggeration:
come with his body means single--
that is, one body not two.
- Verse
Lv19-20a
states
And whoever lies carnally with a woman,
who is a slave wintered to a man,
and not wholly redeemed,
nor freedom given her; inquiry shall be made;
they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
Rashi explains the underlined phrase using
the technique of exaggeration:
she is wintered to a man
means
she is engaged.
That is their relationship is cold vs hot.
- Verse
Gn33-13a
states
And he said to him, My lord knows that the
children are
tender and the flocks and herds
are young on me and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.
Rashi explains the underlined phrase using
the technique of exaggeration:
young on me
means
too young to care for themselves but rather have to be
looked over
that is, they are like human infants who have to be held
and carried on ones shoulder, vs. being able to bear themselves.
Verse Gn32-18 states three questions:
And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets you,
and asks you, saying,
- Whose are you? and
- where are you going? and
- whose are these before you?
Gn32-19 states a corresponding 3 responses
Then you shall say,
- They are your servant Jacob?s;
- it is a present sent to my lord Esau; and, behold, also
- he is behind us.
Thus Rashi here teaches the grammatical rules governing
answering questions: A sequence of answers following a sequence
of questions should be parallel: That is the first answer responds
to the first question, the second answer responds to the second
question, etc. This parallel rule is depicted above
in the numbered lists.
Sermonic points: We have presented this Rashi as
grammatical. But most people see this Rashi as indicating
etiquette: It is proper etiquette to answer questions
sequentially, rather than in a random order.
Note the alignment of the underlined
words in the following verses
- Jacob, in verse
Gn34-16
discussing
a possible alliance between Jacob and Schem
states
- Then will we give our daughters to you,
- and we will take your daughters for us, ...
- Schem in verse
Gn34-21
continuing the discussion of the alliance states
These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them live in the land,
and trade in it; for the land, behold, is large enough for them;
- let us take their daughters to us for wives,
- and let us give them our daughters.
Rashi, commenting on the underlined verbs, ironically observes
Each side -- Jacob and Schem -- both used the word give
with their own daughters but used the word take with the daughter's
of the other side. In other words despite their ideological differences
each side thought their daughters special.
Sermonic points:
Rashi's point echoes the concerns of the modern concept of democracy:
For negotiations between two sides to succeed the two sides must
treat each other equally despite large ideological differences.
Note the contradiction in the following verses.
- Verse
Gn34-13a
discussing
the response of Jacob's sons to the rapist (of his daughter Dinah)
who wanted to marry his daughter,
states
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem
and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said
- Verse
Gn34-13
however continues
because he had defiled Dinah their sister;
We see the contradiction: Which is it?
Were Jacob's sons deceitful or did Schem deserve it
because he had raped and defiled their daughter / sister?
Rashi resolves this contradiction using the
broad-literal method of resolution: Rashi prefers a
translation of cunning to deceitful. Rashi translates
Gn34-13 as follows:
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem
and Hamor his father cunningly,
because he had defiled Dinah their sister; and said:
The point here is that the word deceitful has perjorative
connotations while the word cunning has laudatory connotations.
Therefore the translation deceitful is not accurate since
its nuances contradict the fact that the behavior of Jacob's
children was morally proper.
Sermonic points:
You can ask: But is it proper to be deceitful in response to
an immoral event? Doesn't that close the door on repentance. After
all Chamor did rape Dinah? He now wanted to repent and marry her---
what justifies the deceit?
I actually found a legal answer to this in the Rambam, Laws
of Employees, Chapter 9: An employer has the right to be deceitful
to an employee who quits in the middle of a time sensitive job where
no replacement is possible. For example, you can promise to pay him
more if he finishes the job and then reneg on the promise. Or, you
can withold payment of a loan due to him. In a similar manner
Jacob's children were morally justified in deceiving a rapist.
Gn32-17a:21,
discussing the gift Jacob sent to his brother Esauv before
meeting him
has a detail-theme format as shown
below:
- Detail: And he delivered them to the hand of his servants,
every drove by themselves;
- Detail: and said to his servants, Pass over before me, and
- Detail: put a space between drove and drove.....
....it is a present sent to my lord Esau; ....
- Theme: And say you moreover, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.
For Jacob said, I, Jacob, will appease Esauv with the present
that goes before me, ....
To explain this Rashi we note 3 points:
- We understand the details--every drove of animals was
by itself, there were spaces between the droves etc.
- We also understand the theme--that Jacob wanted to
appease Esauv
- But we don't yet understand how the details
contribute to the theme.
It is this connection between details-theme that Rashi explains.
Here is the verse again with the Rashi comments attached: Notice
how the sole goal of each Rashi is to connect the details
to the main theme.
- Detail: And he delivered them to the hand of his servants,
every drove by themselves;
[Rashi: The distinctness of each drove of animals gave
an air of diversity, making the present more appealing, and the consequent
likelihood of appeasing Esauv more likely.]
- Detail: and said to his servants,
Pass over before me, and
[Rashi: Jacob suggested present first, I follow, thus
letting the appeasing nature of the present take effect prior to Jacob's
appearance.]
- Detail: put a space between drove and drove.....
....it is a present sent to my lord Esau; ....
[Rashi: The spaces between droves gives an air of
spaciousness, increasing the appeal of the present and the consequent
likelihood of appeasing Esauv more likely.]
- Theme: And say you moreover, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.
For Jacob said, I, Jacob, will appease Esauv with the present
that goes before me, ....
[Rashi: The spaces between droves, distinctness of each
drove and the prior appearance of the present to Jacob's appearance---
all these items created an air of appeal for the present that heightened
the probability of the present appeasing.]
We consider this Rashi
an excellent example of the style method: We again emphasize
that the paragraph details and theme are each understood.
Rashi's sole contribution is to show the connection between details and
theme, that is, to show the paragraph unity.
Sermonic Points:
The sermonic points on this Rashi are clear: When asking people in power
for favors one should send them gifts and praise them. Interestingly, the
Talmud says that any time Rabbi Judah the prince, the Author of the Mishnah
legal code, had to appear before the Roman Emporer, he first studied this
Biblical passage, Gn32 as this chapter contains the secrets for
political success with foreign diplomats.
A modern author who wishes to indicate special
emphasis to each item in a list uses bullets
to indicate this emphasis. By bulleting the
reader is asked to dwell for a moment on each list item
and listen to its nuances. In my article Biblical
Formatting to appear in the Jewish Bible
Quarterly I have explained that when the
Biblical Author wishes to indicate special emphasis
on each member of a list, repeated keywords
are used. The repeated keywords should be
interpreted as the equivalent of a bulleted format.
The following example illustrates this. The Rashi comments
illustrating each bulleted point are combined with the text.
Gn32-22:25, discussing the journey of
Jacob over the river states as follows
- So the present passed over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.
- And he rose that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
- And he took them, and passed them over the brook,[ The people, wives, and children.]
- and passed over that which he had., [Rashi: His possessions]
- And Jacob was stayed behind alone; ...[Rashi: To check for left behind items.]
We see here how the bullet method words. The common
denominator of all the verses is items transferred over the Jordan.
Rashi then supplements the explicitly identified items with reasonable
complements as follows:
- The present went first (explicitly stated)
- The people went second, wives, and children (explicitly stated)
- The possessions went third (not explicitly stated but a reasonable inference)
- Finally Jacob left behind presumably to check for leftover items
(not explicitly stated but a reasonable inference)
Advanced Rashi: We think the above example an
excellent illustration of the format method. The illustration
shows the delicate blend between explicitly stated and inferred
items. It also shows the non-deterministic nature of the exegesis.
Sermonic Points: Notice that Rashi interprets
Jacob stayed behind alone
as referring to Jacob checking on leftovers. Rashi points out:
Monetary exactness and honesty is very important to righteous people.
This week's parshah contains no examples
of the
database, spreadsheet, and
symbolism,
methods.
This concludes this weeks edition.
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