Theme: Differences between Jewish belief and Christian/Pagan beliefs:

·         Themes: deception and mistaken identities in chumash (‘things are not necessarily as they seem’); Moshiach lineage:

·         Deliberately-misleading psukim

·         Theme: What prophecy means: being pro-active, Rivka, (M”R?), Yona etc

·         Divine-Human interaction: Sub-Themes: Divine Provocations (“The Divine Provocateur”)

·         Divine-Human interaction: Sub-Theme: Karma: God Punishes According to the Transgression : Mida Kneged Mida:Reasons for the choice of plague: they were punishments for Egyptian transgressions:

·         Theme: Divine-Human Interaction: God testing to see human response to the divine communication:

·         Helices: coming back, at a higher level

……….

·         mitzvoth as a reaction to human action:

·         Example:  The Content and Order of the Ten Commandments; The 10 commandments and the events in the creation and Eden accounts: A mix of the above plus: The 10 Commandments and the Shabbat/Garden of Eden Account[1][32]

·         Divine-Human interaction: cause-effect: Be careful what you ask for – you may get it (and you may not)

·         Theme: The Significance of names:Names of God; names of places, names of holidays

.................................................

   Divine-Human interaction:    Cause-effect: 

Sub-theme: Natural vs Miraculous: guided vs random: Examples of Subtle Divine Intervention in Joseph’s Life

·         Sub-Theme: exile as a result of sin’at chinam (like tzara’at as a result of lashon ha’ra)

·         Theme: the Role of other nations and their prophets & our interaction with them…………

·         AR ideas re Chanukah, oil etc:

·         Themes: Dumm, eretz, adamah (dam, adam, adamah; ish, ishah))…

...

Not sure that these belong in a book about themes, but maybe they are the background, how the universe came about, why we are here, that God set up the system etc, and then the themes are how the system works.

..

Monotheism

Themes & Dreams

'Themes' of the Chumash material

 Prophetic visions, revelations, inspiration & dreams: interpretation, action & actuation

The effect of one's words:

•  [interpretation affects actualization];

• The effect of intentions: 

• Yakov’s dream and and its effect;

• yakov’s intention at procreation of Reuven with Leah had effect etc;

• how Ya'akov's response to the sulam dream (his ‘vow’) affected the future 

• similar re Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabenu

• how the avot, imahot and nevi'im reacted verbally (Yakov after the sulam) after a revelation, 

• 
  

• how the interpretation of achey yosef affected the future realization of the chalomot, 

• how they acted (including Bil'am), 

• how they interpreted the messages given to them (for example Rivka interpreting what she heard as a mission not just information), 

• 'the power of words', Yakov's words re Rachel and other examples including eg Elisha, re the child, and the woman's actions/interpretation re the oil.

Relating different stories

·  how the protagonists (actually heroes) grew beyond their initial midot, and how their earlier stories are related to their later ones;

·  the light one story casts on another; 

·  the psychological motivations of the protagonist or the divine message of the story as revealed by the subtext or internal logic of a story,

·  relationships between seemingly unrelated sections of the chumash (relating different stories, connection between the ten commandments and Eden etc) 

principles of divine operation ('derech hashem'): examples of known midot, and proposed new ones:

• examples of mida kneged mida: re the 10 makot; the effect of the words of the navi [Effect of the actions and words of the Biblical protagonists on the later events which befell them. (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, Yosef, other shvatim, Moshe, and also Pharaoh [re the the plagues etc])

• not having more than one of the avot etc in contact in a given period, 

• Hashem as 'divine provocateur',

• cultivating the avot and Moshe Rabbenu as sanegorim, etc.

Major theme of the hoped-for chumash book

  (prophetic) dreams and their interpretation, related to how the avot, imahot and nevi'im reacted verbally

 (Yakov after the sulam) after a revelation, how they acted (including Bil'am), how they interpreted the messages given to them (for example Rivka interpreting what she heard as a mission not just information), also 'the power of words', Yakov's words re Rachel and other examples including eg Elisha, re the child, and the woman's actions/interpretation re the oil.

Principles:

• A basic principle is mida kneged mida, so one should examine one's life-events to trace this and try to decipher what is the message.

• Deliberate misleading: look behind the scenes, go to a deeper level (I need to figure out what would have been the case if the Biblical protagonist had done this...)....

• One main central theme of the book applies an essential message of chumash: that the future unfolding of events – and of divine-human interactions - depends on our free-willed responses to situations. Response affects future: 

  • every time a response is required - whether verbal or action - it is an opportunity, and a maximally-positive response will effectuate a positive future; 

  • always judge lekaf zchus, otherwise the negative interpretation boomerangs to you;

  •  interpret dreams positively and this helps in actualizing them positively; 

  • be supporting maximally of the dreams of others, help them to achieve it rather than shooting it down verbally or taking action to obstruct it.

• Mitzvos (7 of bnei noach, 10 comandments...) were established in response to humanity's actions. Mitzvot specific to the Jewish People and then Holidays were established in response to Bney Yisrael's actions.

• things happen over and over again, until resolved (eg sibling rivalry, but also the parallel stories), so we need to pay attention to the patterns in our lives and find out thereby what the challenge is that we are meant to face, the obstacle to overcome inside us, the direction of growth that is being pointed out to us.

• we can create channels for our descendants and the bney yisrael as a whole, so at moments of decision, remember it is destiny & eternity that is affected and this can give us the strength to make the effort and self-sacrifice.

• what the story of yosef dream tells us about astrology; avodah zarah vs human FW, especially as guided by hashgachah pratit.

• problem of evil

• what monotheism is really about

• listen carefully to what is said and what is happening during important nexus, try to go out of yourself at that moment because there are messages in what is happening that you can miss due to self-involvement at that instant.

...

relating nistar, torah she'bichtav & torah sheba’al peh

Conneciton of toshba and she'bichsav maybe is theme of cyclical events and energies, and holidays are return of the past energies as mentoined in the chumash. 

• Elements of torah sheba’al peh which can be tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav (the shabbos and yom kippur articles and others)

• elements of nistar or kabalah which are closely tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav

• elements of torah sheba’al peh which can be tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav

• hints in the creation and gan eden accounts to fundamental mitzvoth 

Plays on words (mischakei milim); remazim

Quantum Kabbalistic Cosmology:  Acquiring power over the cosmic forces controlling your life, and Transcendance from 'the wheel', guided by insights from the inner meanings of Biblical stories

We are enslaved by the forces in our genes and environment, in our awareness and by our instincts, by Nature, by society and by the will of those seeking power over us. As a result we may experience existential despair and the sense of lack of meaning and purpose in our lives. However we can quantumly transcend our inner limitations and the cosmic tyranny of Nature, rise above determinism and randomness - and Fate - via acts of free will, guided by kabbalistic principles enshrined in the inner meanings of Biblical stories.

Alternate titles, or titles of chapters etc:

• In a universe whose light was created via "let there be!", beware the power in words YOU utter!

• The hidden wheels of the universe: the mechanisms of the celestial-human interaction as gleaned from the Bible's stories.

• Quantum Kabbalistic guide to a more successful(?) tuned-in? life:

•  for Bible-lovers

• Interpreting/decoding the hidden divine message encoded in the patterns of Your life, with Biblical stories as the key

• What God is teaching us through the Biblical stories, and how we can apply it to flow more harmoniously through life

• Chumash book title: "Biblical guide to a Harmonious Life": "God's physics as revealed by biblical narrative: "The Cosmic M.O. 

• "God may be talking to me, but i don't understand what he's saying" 

• "Translating for God" 

• "God and I have communication issues"

• "The Bible is a Manual for life... but I never understand manuals!"

• Being in synch with the spiritual cosmos...dynamics.." "Creating harmony in human-divine relationship)...."

• "With God as with people: Improve your communicaiton EQ, improve your conneciotn"

• Biblical messages for attaining Karmic harmony in your life.

• "Beyond Astrology"

• Transcending the bonds that constrain your life"

think of what possible benefit the book can be and base the title on that...how a persons life can be transformed positively, what the effect would be:

examples "living inspired" "life is a test" "Endless light"

emails with subject-headings with the word 'theme' and or 'title': I collected here on this page emails with the words "Chumash book" and "Themes"

How to decide on the title: 

• look through themes and find general pattern of the themes and reflect that in the title; 

• or find a main theme and refelct it in title;

•  or title should be something general etc.

Title: "Jews don't believe in the bible" 

("Judaism as a cloud"resides in the cloud , they disagree") "Judaism is what Jews do"

(beLIEf)

AR: also will inter alia be an explanation to Ch's why J's don;t interrpet Chumash as they do, we look to see if our interpretaitons fit with chazal about chumash and if they fit with halachot etc. And why J;s don;t accept later figures/prophets. 

Preface: I'll be telling you what I believe is the Jewish belief. But even I don't aways agree with what I (Jews don't agree. Even with what I just said. But you are reading MY book, so I'll tell you what I believe.)

Intro: explain the title (or should this be ch 1?)

....................................

Sub-theme: Names of God: 

 ·    ……Names of the Holidays (see re Purim etc)…

…….…………...……….

Theme: 'who appears when in chumash'; who was mentioned later on and who wasn't

Can the chumash shed light on nistar? on torah she'b'alpeh

Ego

What is prophecy in the Torah

......................................

Example of a title & approach: Review of a book by Guy Finley: 

"Design Your Destiny, Shape Your Future, in 12 Easy Steps"  

Whether we know it or not, we create the content and the quality of our own lives moment-to-moment. In fact, you are creating and experiencing your destiny even as you read this. Which means that what you think of being your future is really the choices you are making -- and experiencing -- right now. To understand this truth is to unlock the treasure of your True Self, and gain the abundance of a mind and heart that cannot compromise yourself, or anyone else.

Think for a moment about this next question. Your answer to it will determine your destiny. Which would you rather have: a life whose unhappiness is offset by temporary pleasures won at the cost of your health and relationships with others, or a life that is permanently enriched by being able to transform whatever makes you unhappy into true spiritual abundance?

If you have chosen the latter of these two distinct paths through this life of ours then Guy Finley's book Design Your Destiny: Shape Your Future in 12 Easy Steps may well prove to be the most significant book you will ever read.

Design Your Destiny will show you how to take charge of the strong and subtle forces that, until now, have been secretly deciding your life choices without your consent. And once you take back rightful control of your own life, newfound powers of self-command will be yours to use as you wish. And as the wise ones have taught all through the ages: the one who commands him or herself, commands the world.

As you work with the down-to-earth practices described in this book, you'll marvel as:

• Fears, doubts, and worries about tomorrow start to fade away

• You enjoy new enthusiasm and real love for life

• Your present moments fill with assurance, wisdom, and strength

• The problems of the past lose their grip on your heart and mind

• Stress and insecurity are replaced by relaxed confidence

Design Your Destiny will provide you with all of the instructions you need to make the journey to the invisible world within, and take possession and command of your own thoughts and feelings. What an adventure awaits you once you gain the powers needed to design your own destiny!

"(Why)Jews don't believe in the Bible".

 Partly based on my chumash vorts, partly philosophy etc 

"For Bible-believers."

Maybe I should video myself talking about all these topics, to send to publisher. say I will adapt it to a book.

• Ch1: (Why) Jews don't believe in the Bible".

• Ch2: (Why) Jews don't want to be saved.

• Ch3: (Why many) Jews don't believe in Hell.

• Ch4: (Why many) Jews don't believe God talks to them.

• Ch5: (Why) Jews don't believe anyone was greater than Abraham/Moses.

• Ch6: Why Jews won't turn the other cheek.

• Why bad things happen to good Jews

• Why so many people hate Jews

• Why Jews don't spread their message.

How the first psukim of Breishis (or "creation & eden account") 

'frame' the themes 

threading (running through) the chumah, and (the events in) our lives: 

Find parallels between what happens in the creation account, and:

1. the themes I find in chumash (laws of divine-human interaciton);

2. how the world works (spiritual physics).

• the first word "breishis" is disconnected from the rest of the sentence, it is mysterious, as is the world and what happens to us; the torah starts with  mystery to let us know tat all is mystery to us, as God told Iyov, when God references this creation event.

• creation is with words, and we see in chumash stories the importance of words, and this tells us that in our lives in this world also.

• God's ruach hovers, and brings order to chaos, and that is our task as well. And in chumash the stories illustrate that all is from God, God watches and cares and intervenes, directing small events as well as overall history (which is reasonable since God created it all, and so is powerful enough to do so, and because God created it all for a reason and saw it was good, and wants to keep it that way!).

• Adam gives animals names, and we see the importance of names in the chumash stories, and so too in our lives..

• snake deceives chava, and deception and mistaken identity are all over in the chumash, and we need to understand that htis happens in our lives and the lives of nations.

The creation & eden story as precursor to the rest of the chumash ("5 books of Moses"): 

 At one level the 6-day creation account is an introduction to the Torah: is saying that the God who created the universe and humanity is the one who later on is communicating with us, directing history, approtioning lands to nations, and commanding us to do all the mitzvos. God's brings order to chaos, and that is our task as well, as per the traditional understanding of the final words of the creation(shabbat) account - "asher bara elokim la'asot' - which God created (for us) to do (complete)

what is the eden story all about? just as the creaiton account is an intro to the mitzvot part of Torah, the eden story is intro to the story part: That is, the Eden account tells us that humans chose to choose freely, they chose to accept the burden of moral action, and the God who placed Adam & Eve in the Eden test-situaiton is the one who placed all the rest of the people and naitons in the chumash stories in test-situations, where their free will is the key, and they are expected to choose the good. In this way the Eden account is precursor to all the 

The stories in chumash illustrate that all is from God, God watches and cares and intervenes, directing small events as well as overall history - which is reasonable in light of the creation & Eden accounts since God created it all, and so is powerful enough to do intervene at will, and because God created it all for a reason and saw it was good, and wants us to keep it that way!

...

H created Adam, and then commanded him re not eating from the tree of Knowledge, but deliberately didn;t create woman at the same time and made sure to command adam before she was on the scene, and made sure not to tell Eve about the tree, leaving it to adam to do so. And creates a snake and deliberately places it in Eden to tempt Eve.

Also there is the mention in some sources of a love-triangle, the snake desired Eve, etc, so there was a type of rivalry.

And this sort of rivalry, and being set up by God follows in all the stories: firstit is rivalry of  siblings, then of nations. In Exodus the children-rivals grow to be naitons and there is war between them, ie the J people as a nation (complainign about food, giving in to temptaiton of egel hazahav, bnos moav etc) or between nations midian moav amalek etc , and later in tanach between tribes of Israel etc.

 (and kinah gaavah taavah are much of the basis for the conflicts in the stories). 

..........................

The below outline is too philosophical, I want the book to be based on chumash stories. Maybe to start with the story, then my interp'n of it, and chazal/mystical, and the phil'l teaching based on it, and the life-lession?

CH 6: Other nations: each nation has its mission, destiny, no need for anyone else to be jewish. The nations had great prophets etc. (But not valid if they claimed God told them to tell the Jews to not keep the Torah as taught by M"R.) 

Ch 7:The power of words and names: physics cause effect, etc, but fawareness is fundamental... at crucial jjunctures the power of the effect of a very difficult FW''ed choice, not just any FW'ed choice.... can detemrine the reso f history, push it onto a different track

Some events predetermined, but how we get there is up to us... Joseph: Jews would b ein mitzrayim, and even 'eved' etc, but in good way... etc

....................

the Chumash English book

The book is planned to have individual ma’amarim, but arranged around a set of themes. The first example of each theme will be used to express the theme, and then ma’amarim in later parshiot will refer to these themes.

I was thinking of a book which reads not so much as parshat hashevuah but rather more as an overall analysis of specific aspects, traces certain themes, for a wider audience Jewish and otherwise who are interested in the Bible at least as an inspired (not just literary) work, but who don't follow the parsha.

 ...

List of themes excerpted from Chumash file of Aug 2016

'Themes' of the Chumash material

The book is planned to have individual ma’amarim, but arranged around a set of themes. The first example of each theme will be used to express the theme, and then ma’amarim in later parshiot will refer to these themes.

principles of divine operation ('derech hashem'): examples of known midot, and proposed new ones:

·         examples of mida kneged mida: re the 10 makot; the effect of the words of the navi [Effect of the actions and words of the Biblical protagonists on the later events which befell them. (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, Yosef, other shvatim, Moshe, and also Pharaoh [re the the plagues etc])

·         not having more than one of the avot etc in contact in a given period,

·         Hashem as 'divine provocateur',

·         cultivating the avot and Moshe Rabbenu as sanegorim, etc.

Applying to angels this concept (that the future unfolding depends on our free-willed responses), an angel cannot be preprogrammed, but rather their message depends on the response of the human protagonist - and that's the meaning of separate angels for each message.

.......

Themes: 

• Importance of Names: Ya’akov/Yisra’el, Yitschok, B’er Sheva, “ha’aretz asher ar’eka”

• Deception and mistaken identities in chumash.

•  Deliberately-misleading psukim 

• Theme: What prophecy means: being pro-active, Rivka, (M”R?), Yona etc

• Divine-Human interaction: Sub-Themes: Divine Provocations (“The Divine Provocateur”) 

• Divine-Human interaction: Cause-effect: Sub-Theme: exile as a result of sin’at chinam (like tzara’at as a result of lashon ha’ra

…………Theme: the Role of other nations and their prophets & our interaction with them…………

…Themes: Dumm, eretz, adamah (dam, adam, adamah; ish, ishah))…

…………Theme: The Significance of names…………

Sub-theme: Names of God:

Divine-Human interaction: Sub-theme: Natural vs Miraculous: guided vs random: Examples of Subtle Divine Intervention in Joseph’s Life

Quantum kabbalistic dream/reality (self-)actualization

QP halacha article type stuff re mind over reality, choosing from different possible paths of future actuality.

My chumash dream stuff re yosef’s brothers’ interpretation affecting its actualization; 

……

 how the protagonists (actually heroes) grew beyond their initial midot, and how their earlier stories are related to their later ones; 

maybe the psychological motivations of the protagonist or the divine message of the story as revealed by the subtext or internal logic of a story, and in general the light one story casts on another;

 'derech hashem', not necessarily new caregiories but maybe new examples, for example:

• mida kneged mida (not new, but my examples are, perhaps, re the makot, and the effect of words), 

• not having more than one of the avot etc in contact in a given period, 

• Hashem as 'divine provocateur', 

• cultivating the avot and Moshe Rabbenu as sanegorim, etc. 

..

...

A major theme of the hoped-for chumash book: prophetic dreams and their interpretation, related to how the avot, imahot and nevi'im reacted verbally (Yakov after the sulam) after a revelation, how they acted (including Bil'am), how they interpreted the messages given to them (for example Rivka interpreting what she heard as a mission not just information). Also, 'the power of words' to effectuate events: Yakov's words re Rachel and other examples including eg Elisha, re the child, and the woman's actions/interpretation re the oil.

………….

some musings about themes: categorize relevant ma'amarim: for example:

• הסרת האבן מעל הבאר ע"י יעקב connection between stories involving the same person (shedding light one on the other)

• הצטדקות לבן על החלפת רחל the inner dynamics of a story revealed via an analysis of its internal logic.

• מעשה המקלות של יעקב : The power of intentions to affect events

• הטעמים למיתת רחל: The power of words (especially spoken in anger) to affect events

• מאבק יעקב עם שרו של עשיו : Relation of written and oral torah: medrash aggadah [as opposed to others which involve halacha, like the inuyim]

• Karma, Midah Kneged Midah

• Signs: interpreting then: closely related to the theme of karma/mida kneged midah: see eg the interpretation (on my site) of M"R's sign of staff to tanin swallowing etc  ie as reminder of Pharaoh's dream re cows.

• "What should the protagonist have done, and what would have happened if they had indeed done so": Yosef's brothers when hearing the dreams; Pharaoh when seeing the swallowing sign; Bil'am when told not to go; Avram re child form sarah instead of from hagar, etc.

So although the Hebrew version will be organized according to parsha, there will also be a way to read it according to theme, eg in the online verison this is easily accomplished, choosing how to see the material, and in a print version there can be a table of the themes and the pages in the book with vorts on the same theme, etc. (So someone reading a page of vorts on the parsha of that week, and sees a vort they like, they can easily find other vorts illustrating tha ttheme elsewhere in the book, ie on other parshas.

………..

Theme: 'who appears when in chumash'; who was mentioned later on and who wasn't

Can the chumash shed light on nistar?

Introduction: just as some aspects of chazal's understandings as recorded in torah sheb'al peh can be found by implication in torah she'bichtav, so too some elements of nistar or kabalah are closely tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav (ma'aseh breishis) 

Nistar is by definition different than nigleh, but can it be that nigleh, namely the chumash in this case, can shed light on nistar as well? Since the chumash is meant to be read at different levels, the young child and the talmid chacham and the mekubal, then presumably there are indeed aspects of nistar in the chumash as well. Perhaps one must first know all of nigleh, and then learn nistar, and then re-read nigleh in the light of the nistar. I haven’t accomplished either of these steps, but I make an attempt in any case.

Example: Shedding light on the creation account:

A) The four worlds: For example, only by hearing ideas of kabbalah does one learn that there are 4 (really 5) olamot, and then one can read the creation account and upon seeing that one is missing one can identify it by remez, and then the fact tha tit is only hinted at, plus the context in which the terms are used, might shed some light on the general idea which is not available only via the nistar alone.

1) The olamot:   

הבריאה בארבעת העולמות: האצילות, הבריאה, היצירה, והעשייה

הקבלה בין לשונות הבריאה בבריאת אדם לבין מאפייניו השונים

2) the unity and nature of God/schechinah (and corresponding aspects of the nature of humanity).

 לשון רבים אצל ה' בבריאת האדם

בריאת האדם כזכר ונקבה 

3) Sphirot: the mention of the relevant terms in the chumash and tanach, and related terms which seem like they should be sfirot.

..…….

B) Mlachot shabbat and briyat haolam

Can one learn something about mlachot Shabbat by seeing the context in which they appear in the creation account?

……………

C) Ma’aseh Merkava and Ma’aseh Breishis

What can one learn about the spiritual cosmos by seeing this parallel?

    The Writing of the Torah: 24:4 MR wrote “vayichtov” all the words of God   24:7 MR took the book “sefer (haBris)” ;When were the creation accounts and stories of the Avot written down by Moshe Rabbenu?; Historical Records available to Moshe;Revelation vs human records of events: The added value of the Torah’s ‘stories’ is that they are told from the divine perspective; The unique perspective of the Biblical accounts:

Theme:

Helices: coming back, at a higher level

·    Ya'akov grabbing heel then becomes Yisrael for same thing later

·    M"R sneh, then masveh

·    B"Y don't want to go into E"Y, bec of mraglimn; then due to anan for 40 years, closeness, don;t want to leave desert to go into E"Y (ie the same, but for higher reason)

·    M”R: ‘lo ish devarim anochi’, then speaks over the whole sefer dvarim, which has its name form that. (Also: M”R ends up saying the aseret hadvarim at the request of the B”Y instead of them hearing it directly from Gd.

…………
This week's Haftorah and this week's New York Times
A leader who built his nation lies old and dying next to his young
woman companion. Anticipating his imminent demise, a power struggle
rages between those close to him; he is seemingly powerless to
intervene. The outcome may have historic consequences for the Land of
Israel.
……………………
Daddy’s Torah:
•       Rebbe mechabed ashirim: ??!!: gave everyone what they need, ie
to ashirim he gave kovod!
•       Ayin Hara: People are given be’chesed, more than what they
deserve, However, if a person is unhappy at what you have, the Court
reviews to see if you’re worthy of it; if not, it can be taken away.
……..…..

THEMES section from file "chumash English NEW" etc

A book which reads not so much as parshat ha’shevuah but rather more as an overall analysis of specific aspects, traces certain themes, for a wider audience Jewish and otherwise who are interested in the Bible at least as an inspired (not just literary) work, but who don't follow the parsha.

'Themes' of the Chumash material
The book is planned to have individual ma’amarim, but arranged around a set of themes. The first example of each theme will be used to express the theme, and then ma’amarim in later parshiot will refer to these themes. 

Prophetic visions, revelations, inspiration & dreams: interpretation, action & actuation

The effect of one's words:

• how the interpretation of achey yosef affected the future realization of the chalomot, 

• how Ya'akov's response to the sulam dream affected the future, 

• similar re Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabenu

• how the avot, imahot and nevi'im reacted verbally (Yakov after the sulam) after a revelation, 

• how they acted (including Bil'am), 

• how they interpreted the messages given to them (for example Rivka interpreting what she heard as a mission not just information), 

• 'the power of words', Yakov's words re Rachel and other examples including eg Elisha, re the child, and the woman's actions/interpretation re the oil.

• The effect of one's words (how the interpretation of achey yosef affected the future realization of the chalomot [interpretation affects actualization]; how Ya'akov's response to the sulam dream (his ‘vow’) affected the future, similar re Avraham, etc);

• The effect of intentions: Yakov’s dream and and its effect; yakov’s intention at procreation of Reuven with Leah had effect etc;

Relating different stories

• how the protagonists (actually heroes) grew beyond their initial midot, and how their earlier stories are related to their later ones;

• the light one story casts on another; 

• the psychological motivations of the protagonist or the divine message of the story as revealed by the subtext or internal logic of a story,

• relationships between seemingly unrelated sections of the chumash (relating different stories, connection between the ten commandments and Eden etc) 

principles of divine operation ('derech hashem'): examples of known midot, and proposed new ones:

• examples of mida kneged mida: re the 10 makot; the effect of the words of the navi [Effect of the actions and words of the Biblical protagonists on the later events which befell them. (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, Yosef, other shvatim, Moshe, and also Pharaoh [re the the plagues etc])

• not having more than one of the avot etc in contact in a given period, 

• Hashem as 'divine provocateur',

• cultivating the avot and Moshe Rabbenu as sanegorim, etc.

One main central theme of the book applies an essential message of chumash: that the future unfolding of events – and of divine-human interactions - depends on our free-willed responses to situations. See handwritten material directly below:

…

Applying to angels this concept (that the future unfolding depends on our free-willed responses), an angel cannot be preprogrammed, but rather their message depends on the response of the human protagonist - and that's the meaning of separate angels for each message.

relating nistar, torah she'bichtav & torah sheba’al peh

• Elements of torah sheba’al peh which can be tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav (the shabbos and yom kippur articles and others)

• elements of nistar or kabalah which are closely tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav

• elements of torah sheba’al peh which can be tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav

• hints in the creation and gan eden accounts to fundamental mitzvoth 

Plays on words (mischakei milim); remazim 

……………………….

A major theme of the hoped-for chumash book: prophetic dreams and their interpretation, related to how the avot, imahot and nevi'im reacted verbally (Yakov after the sulam) after a revelation, how they acted (including Bil'am), how they interpreted the messages given to them (for example Rivka interpreting what she heard as a mission not just information). Also, 'the power of words' to effectuate events: Yakov's words re Rachel and other examples including eg Elisha, re the child, and the woman's actions/interpretation re the oil.

………….

Entire content of file , on Arzei PC and on email

Revelation vs human records of events: The added value of the Torah’s ‘stories’ is that they are told from the divine perspective, thus granting the reader access to otherwise-unknown inner motivations of the protagonists. Beyond this very important aspect, it also supplies the truth about events which otherwise were likely contentious amongst the protagonists of the story. (Conversely, there are aspects which were known to the protagonists which are unavailable to us since they are not part of the written or oral Tradition).

The unique perspective of the Biblical accounts: A basic principle when reading chumash is to realize that since it is a divine document, unfiltered through human psyche, (some of) what it tells you is something that humans could not have known. Just as humans could not have been present at the creation, yet it tells of that (and tells things that even if a human were present they could not have known), so too it tells us what was in human hearts and minds during some event (eg the brothers reaction to Joseph’s receiving the coat and telling of the dreams) that not only would we not have known if we were witnessing the event, but even the protagonists were not aware of their own feelings and thoughts as described by the torah (the jealousy and hatered that the brothers had in their hearts towards Joseph). A newspaper account or historian’s analysis could be very different.

Going through the Torah’s accounts from the Garden of Eden to the very end of the sojourn in the desert, one can list many events involving several protagonists in which central aspects were perhaps not known to all involved.

1. The Garden of Eden account: Did God tell Adam before the split into two that the reason was that given to us in the Torah (‘lo tov…kenegdo’)? Was this perhaps only known to later prophets, or only revealed when the Torah was? Did Adam know what the snake told Eve? Did Eve tell Adam, and did he believe her, and did Adam overhear what Eve answered God when asked why she had eaten?  And so on and so forth for all the stories.

2. The flood is an account of an event as seen by God. It is not what would have been seen by humans, ie there are events some see as miraculous but have a natural explanation. A description can be given from either perspective. The Torah often gives us the miraculous one, even though someone present at the event might not have seen it as miracle and would therefore have described it very differently. 

3. The prophets and writings: Often these mention details about a Biblical event that are not in the Biblical account, presenting either further information or insight or even a type of prophetic commentary (see my “perush hatanach latanach” [“perush hanevi’im lachumash” etc). (Note: In many cases it is the Tradition rather than the text which presents the words  as referring to a Biblical event.)

4. Yoseph and the Exodus: It was not until they received the Torah in the desert that the Bney Yisrael knew the truth of what had happened in the story of Joseph. Being descended from the protagonists, it is only natural that the tribes of Reuven, Shimon, Levi etc, and the descendants of Yosef, all had different perceptions of what had transpired, and what had been the motives of those involved. The biblical account made it clear that the brothers had hatred and jealousy in their hearts, something that probably they never admitted even to themselves, let alone transmitted as part of the story possessed by their descendants.  

Of course the Bible’s telling of the story makes clear many other aspects which may well have been still disputed by the descendants of those involved: that Yoseph’s dreams were from on high rather than delusions of grandeur, that his brothers misinterpreted the dreams, that Joseph was innocent of the accusation leveled by his employer’s wife, that Joseph was crying when his brothers spoke, that he bore no grudge towards them, and that the command of their fathers which they conveyed to Joseph - meant to grant them immunity after their father’s death – was most likely fabricated. From the Biblical account it seems pretty clear that even at the very end the brothers did not understand Joseph and were dishonest, fabricating a command of their fathers to him (meant to grant them immunity after their father’s death) in complete obliviousness to Joseph’s righteousness and lack of intent to punish them. All of this might well have been a very significant revelation to the Bney Yisroel when receiving “the five books of Moses” in the desert, and perhaps somewhat unsettling. But it provided a final opportunity to close the circle: Yosef’s bones were carried by the Bney Yisrael out of Egypt at his express command, and those bones and the living descendants all present at Sinai and when the contents of the five books were transmitted, revealing the true story of Joseph.

It would be interesting to analyze the events in the desert according to the tribes of the protagonists, to see whether there was some influence of this revelation, or if there were events which motivated God to reveal this then.

Another example: Moshe Rabbenu was told what his brother Ahron was thinking.

That Sarah laughs ‘bekirbah’ means the narrator has access: either God, or by Avraham via God, or was told by Sarah later. 

Was God in this way trying to tell Avraham and Sarah something aobut God’s abilities?

Make list of such, eg Esav, but was told to Rivka (vayugad), but no mention of who told her. Does the story with Sarah provide a methodological hint about this?

…..

The shvatim were sure they were acting lishmah, chazal present reasons for a sanhedrin to judge Yosef and apply the death penalty. But hashem tells us in the chumash something that no-one else could know, that the shvatim themselves were not consciously aware of (and that maybe was first revealed to humanity at the time the chumash was given) - that they were motivated by hatred and jealousy! They would have laughed at anyone accusing them of such a childish and base motivation. And they would have felt themselves sincere in that. But Hashem knows our inner heart and motivation. And Hashem tells us the Pinchas's motive was purely leshem shamayim. 

……...….

Some parts of the torah are prophetic records incorporated by God into the torah, so they are visions as seen by a prophet. 

Perhaps the flood account too is a description of a vision induced by God in a human prophet.

………. .. ...….……

Theme: Differences between Jewish belief and Christian/Pagan beliefs:

1. Not damned

2. No ‘hellfire’

3. God loves us as children(banim atem lashem elokechem.. etc; Also see David Aaron article) (and seeks our love: veahavta..)

4. The physical is good, and can be sanctified (wine etc): taking care of people’s physical needs is a great spiritual act, bringing about conneciotn to God (avraham)!

5. God is male/female: a couple achieving unity is connecting to the godly, and also this is how a child, life, is created, the process is holy

6. Holy day can be joy, wine, not just solemn (does it say ‘vesamachta’ for pesach?)

Themes: deception and mistaken identities in chumash (‘things are not necessarily as they seem’)

The idea of the ancestry of Moshiach involving illegal sexuality all along the chain is well known, and much discussed. I have a piece about mistaken identities, but i don't think I tied it specifically into Moshiach's lineage, just the general idea of this in Breishis. Deception and mistaken identities play a role throughout chumash: in the snake to Eve, perhaps Eve to Adam, Avraham and Sarah to Pharaoh and Avimelech, and Rivka and Yitzchak to Avimelech (generic king name), Yakov and Rivka to Yitzchak and Esav, Rachel to Lavan, Lavan to Yakov and Yakov to lavan, Yosef's brother to Yakov (re the coat with blood), Yosef to his brothers (re his identity and the goblet etc), and even Moshe to Pharaoh (telling him they were coming back after three days), and perhaps even the idea of mraglim.

I connected it with the general tendency in Torah to obscure dates and causal chains and chronological order, from creation, to the connection between creation and Eden account, the inyan re Avraham (as I wrote about), the order in which the Torah  sections were given (not at Sinai but in pieces?) , the amount of time in Egypt, the time between the two bet hamikdashes etc......

MESH:There are many cases in chumash re mistaken identities (not tied specifically to Moshiach's lineage) in Breishis. in the snake to Eve, perhaps Eve to Adam; chumash hiding that Avram left Terach to go to E Yisrael;  Avraham and Sarah to Pharaoh and Avimelech, and Rivka and Yitzchak to Avimelech (generic king name), Yakov and Rivka to Yitzchak and Esav, Rachel to Lavan, Lavan to Yakov and Yakov to lavan, Yosef's brother to Yakov (re the coat with blood), Yosef to his brothers (re his identity and the goblet etc). Deception and mistaken identities play a role even later in the chumash: even Moshe to Pharaoh (telling him they were coming back after three days), and perhaps even the idea of sending spies (mraglim).

This perhaps relates to the general tendency in Torah to obscure dates and causal chains and chronological order, from creation, to the connection between creation and Eden account, the inyan re Avraham leaving Terach, the order in which the Torah  sections were given (not at Sinai but in pieces?) , the amount of time in Egypt, the time between the two bet hamikdashes etc.

……..

Moshiach lineage:

• Lot’s daughters deceived him (after he wanted to give them to the Sodomites surrounding their home), and the angels pretended to be people [ in need of shelter; they were saved by Lot from the Sodomites, and in turn they saved Lot from the destruction]

• Tamar deceived Yehuda, 

• Yehuda was born of Leah who was given via deception to Yaakov, 

• Yaakov received the brocho via deception of Yitschak, via the advice of Rivka, daughter of the master deceiver

• batsheva lured David, 

• Ruth enticed Bo’az.

…

22: vesho’aloh = borrow. Jews asked for permission to leave for three days, and so it was borrowing, the Egyptians assumed they’d get it all back. Maybe even the Jews themselves did not know they were leaving for good! And so that’s why they were told to ‘borrow’! Pharoah later found out they were not coming back, and decided to go out to overtake them and bring them back (or kill them?).

……

M”R’s Jewish identity was hidden by being placed in the basket. His identity as a jew might not have been apparent to the Jews he saved. The Pharoah he bargained with for the release of the Jews might not have known he was born a Jew.

….…..…

……Deliberately-misleading psukim……

The Torah tells us that things are not as they seem. What we think is the reason for something may not be. 

B’er Sheva: we are led to think the name will be ‘sheva’ because of the ‘7 kvasim’, but it turns out to be a different name, based on an oath as part of a pact. And there is a mislead-within-a–mislead in that it is such a similar word, spelled identically but with a completely different meaning. Indeed when we see the name in th Torah which is without nekudot, it is identical! And then it later becomes a triple-mislead: yitschak digs his father’s wells anew, and re names them, but gives the same name effectively, an oath as part of a pact, but this time it is due to the pact Yitschak made, but it has the same name, but this time reversed, there was an oath with Avimelech, and then the newest well was named 7[why?[, so the place (which was in or near b sheva according to the pasuk earlier) is now named b’er sheva! ט וַיִּקְרָא אֲבִימֶלֶךְ לְיִצְחָק, וַיֹּאמֶר אַךְ הִנֵּה אִשְׁתְּךָ הִוא, וְאֵיךְ אָמַרְתָּ, ... אָבִיו, וַיְסַתְּמוּם פְּלִשְׁתִּים, אַחֲרֵי מוֹת אַבְרָהָם;וַיִּקְרָא לָהֶן, שֵׁמוֹת, ... לג וַיִּקְרָא אֹתָהּ, שִׁבְעָה; עַל-כֵּן שֵׁם-הָעִיר בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה

…………………..

Bamidbar 35: (Ma'sei): 

The theme is "aretz" (and "blood, dumm), and there is a deliberately misleading at the very end, where we expect "ha'aretz", but it is instead "bnei yisrael"

י דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם:  כִּי אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים אֶת-הַיַּרְדֵּן, אַרְצָה כְּנָעַן.

  לב וְלֹא-תִקְחוּ כֹפֶר, לָנוּס אֶל-עִיר מִקְלָטוֹ, לָשׁוּב לָשֶׁבֶת בָּאָרֶץ, עַד-מוֹת הַכֹּהֵן.  לג וְלֹא-תַחֲנִיפוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם בָּהּ, כִּי הַדָּם, הוּא יַחֲנִיף אֶת-הָאָרֶץ; וְלָאָרֶץ לֹא-יְכֻפַּר, לַדָּם אֲשֶׁר שֻׁפַּךְ-בָּהּ, כִּי-אִם, בְּדַם שֹׁפְכוֹ.  לד וְלֹא תְטַמֵּא אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יֹשְׁבִים בָּהּ--אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי, שֹׁכֵן בְּתוֹכָהּ:  כִּי, אֲנִי יְהוָה--שֹׁכֵן, בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.  {פ}

When I showed this to R Machlis, and re B'er Sheva/Shova, he mentioned that a perush says that "al ken" introduces an unexpected idea.

So I thought of somehting for al ken ya'azov:

,………………………………

עַל-כֵּן, יַעֲזָב: God states that 'it is no good for man to be alone', and decides to make an ‘ezer kenegdo’ – ‘a help which is opposite’ - meaning one who gives support but in a way that is conducive to growth. Adam considered Eve as ‘flesh of my flesh’, literally, since she was made from a part of him. However, for humanity in general, we who are born of parents, we are ‘flesh of their flesh’, and our parents are indeed there to help us, often in ways which are opposed to our will, but doing so to protect us and in ways which make us grow.   Adam didn’t have parents, and so only Eve was this for him, however men born of parents have a flesh-conneciton already, have help-which-is-opposite, and so are not alone. Nevertheless, 'al ken', they should leave their parents! Instead of the natural flesh-connection of child-to-parent which renders every person not-alone, they should find a spouse to fulfil not being alone.

Since it was Adam who gave rise to Eve, the exhortation is directed at men, that they should cleave unto their wife and BECOME one flesh! This is the chidush H’ is pointing us to by stating the ideas in this way.

[ לֹא-טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ; אֶעֱשֶׂה-לּוֹ עֵזֶר, כְּנֶגְדּוֹ.  יט וַיִּצֶר ..כָּל-חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה ......וּלְאָדָם, לֹא-מָצָא עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ.  ... וַיֹּאמֶר, הָאָדָם, זֹאת הַפַּעַם עֶצֶם מֵעֲצָמַי, וּבָשָׂר מִבְּשָׂרִי; לְזֹאת יִקָּרֵא אִשָּׁה, כִּי מֵאִישׁ לֻקְחָה-זֹּאת.  כד עַל-כֵּן, יַעֲזָב-אִישׁ, אֶת-אָבִיו, וְאֶת-אִמּוֹ; וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ, וְהָיוּ לְבָשָׂר אֶחָד]

....

“Al ken berach”: When God created the world in 6 days, those are the days of ‘miracle’’ and ‘life-giving’, and so those should be the ones which are made holy. Or the 6th day, on which God ‘sees’/realizes/decides that all is ‘tov me’od’! Not the day on which no creation took place! 

But instead, it is exactly the day that God ‘did nothing’ which is made holy! 

That is, the pasuk tells us that God created the world in six days, and ‘just’ rested on the 7th, but nevertheless specifically God made the 7th day holy, the day of rest rather than the 6 days of creation! Why?! 

(The answer of course is that shabbos is a creation itself, and the greatest of creations; but this realization about shabbos is exactly what God is pointing out to us by raising this quesiotn [via the wording].)

....

R Machlis mentitned "al ken...purim.." that it is an unexpected name for the holiday, so I looked there and can see that the psukim are maybe leading one to believe that the name will be connected to "venahapochu" in some way, and instead it is 'purim'. (I pointed out that the essential aspect of all the holidays are also completeley unexpected, matzo/chometz on pesach etc) [AR: and in any case, if the megillah says 'hu hagoral' why not cal it 'goral'? but the persian name is used, as is Hadassah's persian name, Esther.]

The last major perek (#9, bec 10 is only a few psukim): begins with overall description, then goes to events themselves - the hanging of haman’s sons etc - and then returns to overall, the making of the holiday. The chapter begins with:

וּבִשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר חֹדֶשׁ הוּא חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם בּוֹ אֲשֶׁר הִגִּיעַ דְּבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ לְהֵעָשׂוֹת בַּיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר שִׂבְּרוּ אֹיְבֵי הַיְּהוּדִים לִשְׁלוֹט בָּהֶם וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁלְטוּ הַיְּהוּדִים הֵמָּהבְּשֹׂנְאֵיהֶם:                                                                             

So we know this ‘nahapoch hu’ is the theme (and an explnaiotn of the concept is provided in that pasuk as well).

Then the chapter relates how an annual holiday was established to mark the events, and the word ‘nehepach’ is used again, and then an example of this is given - that Haman wanted to kill the Jews but instead he ended up himself being killed. Then it says that they chose a name for the holiday and we expect it to be a name based on ‘nahapoch-hu’, but instead the name ‘Purim’ is given, based on the ‘lots’ which were cast!

……..

After I showed re B Sheva and in Mas'ei re unxpeced deliberately-misleading psukim, R Machlis meniotned "al ken...purim.." that it is an unexpected name for the holiday, so I looked there and can see that the psukim are maybe leading one to believe that the name will be connected to "venahapochu" in some way, and instead it is 'purim'. (I pointed out that the essential aspect of all the holidays are also completeley unexpected, matzo/chometz on pesach etc) [AR: and in any case, if the megillah says 'hu hagoral' why not cal it 'goral'? but the persian name is used, as is Hadassah's persina name, esther.]

PHOTO:

..

There is an unexpected aspect even to this – the word ‘pur’ seems to be Persian, so it is so obscure, that a translation into Hebrew of the word ‘pur’ is provided – ‘hu hagoral’ ‘namely, chance/Fate’- even though the word is used in the body of the story and translated there as well. So at least one would expect that the name of the Holiday would be in Hebrew, ‘goral’, but instead it is the foreign word ‘Pur’ (perhaps Akkadian: but it is in the plural, and this is either the Hebrew plural [as occurs in  Yinglish, Yeshivish and Israeli Hebrish], or ‘im’ may also be the plural as used in that language…?). 

Why use the foreign word? Perhaps because the Jewish people then spoke a foreign language. But then why not write the megillah in that language? Since it was meant as a religious holiday, the book was written in Hebrew. And since the holiday was meant to be celebrated forever, and it was understood that the Jews would not always be in that place, it was written in Hebrew. So why not use the Hebrew ‘goral’? Perhaps because at the time everyone was talking about the event of the casting of lots using the term as it was used by those who cast it – Haman’s people… and, and so this word was written, but with the Hebrew translation. But nevertheless one suspects that there is a deeper reason to the fact that they wrote it with the original foreign word rather than the Hebrew one.

: וַיִּכְתֹּב מָרְדֳּכַי... לְקַיֵּם, עֲלֵיהֶם--לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂים ... בְּכָל-שָׁנָה, וְשָׁנָה.  כב כַּיָּמִים, אֲשֶׁר-נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאֹיְבֵיהֶם, וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב; לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם, יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה, וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ, וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיֹנִים.  כג וְקִבֵּל, הַיְּהוּדִים, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-הֵחֵלּוּ, לַעֲשׂוֹת; וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר-כָּתַב מָרְדֳּכַי, אֲלֵיהֶם.  כד כִּי הָמָן בֶּן-הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי, צֹרֵר כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים--חָשַׁב עַל-הַיְּהוּדִים, לְאַבְּדָם; וְהִפִּל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל, לְהֻמָּם וּלְאַבְּדָם.  כה וּבְבֹאָהּ, לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ, אָמַר עִם-הַסֵּפֶר, יָשׁוּב מַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר-חָשַׁב עַל-הַיְּהוּדִים עַל-רֹאשׁוֹ; וְתָלוּ אֹתוֹ וְאֶת-בָּנָיו, עַל-הָעֵץ.  כו עַל-כֵּן קָרְאוּ לַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה פוּרִים, עַל-שֵׁם הַפּוּר--עַל-כֵּן, עַל-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הָאִגֶּרֶת הַזֹּאת; וּמָה-רָאוּ עַל-כָּכָה, וּמָה הִגִּיעַ אֲלֵיהֶם.  כז קִיְּמוּ וקבל (וְקִבְּלוּ) הַיְּהוּדִים...לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂים אֵת שְׁנֵי הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה, כִּכְתָבָם וְכִזְמַנָּם:  בְּכָל-שָׁנָה, וְשָׁנָה.  כח... וְהַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה נִזְכָּרִים וְנַעֲשִׂים בְּכָל-דּוֹר וָדוֹר... וִימֵי הַפּוּרִים הָאֵלֶּה, לֹא יַעַבְרוּ מִתּוֹךְ הַיְּהוּדִים, וְזִכְרָם, לֹא-יָסוּף מִזַּרְעָם.

....

So I looked and see even the date of Purim perhaps has this type of issue:

בְּיוֹם-שְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר, לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר; וְנוֹחַ, בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה.  יח והיהודיים (וְהַיְּהוּדִים) אֲשֶׁר-בְּשׁוּשָׁן, נִקְהֲלוּ בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וּבְאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר, בּוֹ; וְנוֹחַ, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה.  יט עַל-כֵּן הַיְּהוּדִים הפרוזים (הַפְּרָזִים), הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּעָרֵי הַפְּרָזוֹת--עֹשִׂים אֵת יוֹם אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר, שִׂמְחָה וּמִשְׁתֶּה וְיוֹם טוֹב; וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת, אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ

Maybe just as with shabos the day of rest becoming holy rather than the 6 days of creation becoming holy, here too the day they rested, ‘venoach may’oiveyhem’ is the holy day,not the day they had the great victory (and maybe because it was a day of death for so many humans?).

....

Maybe the reason the holiday is named purim is to stress to us that what seems random is not, or that one should not trus tot magic, lots (purim) because this power is fickle and can turn against you, only God, because this is via Willed intervention which cannot be subverted.

….

……

......Perush HaTorah laTorah…...

"הרי זה מקרא עשיר במקומות הרבה"

נכתב על ידי פירוש התנך על החומש ב-1/10/2010

Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on google_plusone_shareShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services

 "הרי זה מקרא עשיר במקומות הרבה" (מכילתא דר' ישמעאל, מסכתא דשירה, פרשה ד)

 התורה שניתנה לנו בסיני, רב בה הנכסה על הנגלה, ולכן היא נדרשת לפירוש. מסורות רבות של פירושים גלומים בדברי חז"ל ובפרשני ימי הביניים, באופנים שונים וברבדים שונים, וכולם יחד מרכיבים את המארג של "שבעים פנים לתורה".

התורה שבכתב, שעליונותה ונצחיותה קיבלו תוקף מחמת המסורת שבידינו שהיא היא תורת משה, הריהי "קצה קרחון" של מסורות רחבות המפרשות את הסיפורים המכוננים. חלקם הולכים ומתגלים, הולכים ומבצבצים במקומות בהם ישנו תיאור חוזר לאירועים אלו בחומש, ובדברי הנבואה והכתובים. נוכל לשער, שחלקם אף לא נגלה לנו כלל, ואולי "שרידים" מהם משוקעים במדרשי חז"ל ובפרשנות הקבלית.

נוכל אם כן לראות בתנ"ך עצמו את המקור הפרשני הראשוני לאירועי יסוד מכוננים, ציוויים וביטויים ייחודיים, החוזרים ו'מהדהדים' במקומות אחרים בתורה ובדבריהם של נביאים. בכל אותם מקומות נוכל לזהות מקבילות רבות הן בתוכן, הן בלשון והן בסגנון למקור הראשוני. אולם לאחר ניתוח מדוקדק, יבלטו בין אותם פרטים דומים גם נקודות בהם יש שוני או תוספת שאינה מוזכרת בסיפור המקורי-הראשוני.

הקוים הדומים מעידים שאכן יש במקור המאוחר השתקפות בבואתו של המקור הראשוני המכונן, ואילו כל אותם תוספות או נקודות שיש בהם שוני, ניתן להניח שהן משקפות מסורות נבואיות, הנותנות זוית אחרת, פן שונה לאותו אירוע עצמו, או תוספת הממלאת 'פערים' שאינם מפורטים בסיפור המקורי. 

…………….

Perush nach latorah: Hoshea 12:5  re yakov’s struggle….

….

פירוש התנך על החומש

תאריך הרשמה: 10/1/2010

פרסומים אחרונים - כל החידושים של פירוש התנך על החומש | כל התגובות של פירוש התנך על החומש

"הרי זה מקרא עשיר במקומות הרבה"

 "הרי זה מקרא עשיר במקומות הרבה" (מכילתא דר' ישמעאל, מסכתא דשירה, פרשה ד) התורה שניתנה לנו בסיני, רב בה הנכסה על הנגלה, ולכן היא נדרשת לפירוש. מסורות רבות של פירושים גלומים בדברי...

 מעשה הבריאה מתואר בשירתו של דוד (תהלים קד), המהלל ומשבח את גדולת הבורא. כפי שידוע, ישנן מקבילות רבות בין שירה זו לפרשת בראשית, במרכיבי הבריאה ובסדר בריאתם, וכן בביטויי לשון וסגנון יחודיים. ובכ...

…

בריאת העולם בתנ"ך

נכתב על ידי פירוש התנך על החומש ב-1/10/2010

Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on google_plusone_shareShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services

 מעשה הבריאה מתואר בשירתו של דוד (תהלים קד),המהלל ומשבח את גדולת הבורא. כפי שידוע, ישנן מקבילות רבות בין שירה זו לפרשת בראשית, במרכיבי הבריאה ובסדר בריאתם, וכןבביטויי לשון וסגנון יחודיים.ובכל זאת "דברי תורה עשירים במקום אחר".

בשירת דוד ישנם פרטים שאינם מוזכרים בבראשית, כמו תאור העולמות העליונים וצבאות השמים (פס' ג-ד): "הַמְקָרֶה בַמַּיִם עֲלִיּוֹתָיו... עֹשֶׂה מַלְאָכָיו רוּחוֹת מְשָׁרְתָיו אֵשׁ לֹהֵט".[1]עדות נוספת ומרתקת לעניין זה, נוכל למצוא בתיאור מעשה הבריאה שבספר איוב (פרק לח, ד-ז): "אֵיפֹה הָיִיתָ בְּיָסְדִי אָרֶץ... בְּרָן יַחַד כּוֹכְבֵי בֹקֶר וַיָּרִיעוּ כָּל בְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים", ובאופן מרומז יותר בישעיהו (פרק מה, יב): "אָנֹכִי עָשִׂיתִי אֶרֶץ וְאָדָם עָלֶיהָ בָרָאתִי, אֲנִי יָדַי נָטוּ שָׁמַיִם וְכָל-צְבָאָם צִוֵּיתִי"[2].אכן בהמשך ספר בראשית מוזכרים כמה פעמים אותם מלאכים הדרים בשמים, [3]  וחז"ל אף מצאו  רמז לכך, בנוכחותם של גורמים נוספים אליהם פונה ד' באמצע מלאכת הבריאה "נעשה אדם בצלמנו".[4]

בהתבוננות מעמיקה יותר נגלה שישנם הבדלים בין פרשת בראשית לתהלים גם בתיאור סדר הבריאה הבראשיתי: (בצבע כחול מודגשות נקודות הדמיון, ובאדום – התוספות)

תהלים קד

בראשית א

(א) בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ:

(ב) וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל פְּנֵי תְהוֹם
וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם:

(א)... ד' אֱלֹהַי גָּדַלְתָּ מְּאֹד הוֹד וְהָדָר לָבָשְׁתָּ:

(ב) עֹטֶה אוֹר כַּשַּׂלְמָה

(ג) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי אוֹר:(ד) וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאוֹר כִּי טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ:(ה) וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה

נוֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם כַּיְרִיעָה:
(ג) הַמְקָרֶה בַמַּיִם עֲלִיּוֹתָיו
הַשָּׂם עָבִים רְכוּבוֹ הַמְהַלֵּךְ עַל כַּנְפֵי רוּחַ:

(ו) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם
(ז) וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָרָקִיעַ
וַיַּבְדֵּל בֵּין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מִתַּחַת לָרָקִיעַ וּבֵין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל לָרָקִיעַ
וַיְהִי כֵן:(ח) וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָרָקִיעַ שָׁמָיִם וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם שֵׁנִי: פ

(ד) עֹשֶׂה מַלְאָכָיו רוּחוֹת מְשָׁרְתָיו אֵשׁ לֹהֵט:

(ה) יָסַד אֶרֶץ עַל מְכוֹנֶיהָ בַּל תִּמּוֹט עוֹלָם וָעֶד:

(ו) תְּהוֹם כַּלְּבוּשׁ כִּסִּיתוֹ עַל הָרִים יַעַמְדוּ מָיִם:
(ז) מִן גַּעֲרָתְךָ יְנוּסוּן מִן קוֹל רַעַמְךָ יֵחָפֵזוּן:(ח)יַעֲלוּ הָרִים יֵרְדוּ בְקָעוֹת אֶל מְקוֹם זֶה יָסַדְתָּ לָהֶם:(ט) גְּבוּל שַׂמְתָּ בַּל יַעֲבֹרוּן בַּל יְשׁוּבוּן לְכַסּוֹת הָאָרֶץ:

(ט) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל מָקוֹם אֶחָד וְתֵרָאֶה הַיַּבָּשָׁה וַיְהִי כֵן:(י) וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לַיַּבָּשָׁה אֶרֶץ וּלְמִקְוֵה הַמַּיִם קָרָא יַמִּים וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי טוֹב:

ראשית נצביע על המרכיבים והביטויים הדומים: יסודות הבריאה וסדר בריאתם: מים (מי תהום), אור, שמים, ארץ;[5] הילוכו של ה', כביכול, מעל פני הארץ; הפרדת המים וריכוזם במקום אחד והופעת היבשה.

אך, כאמור, ישנו הבדל מהותי בין שני התיאורים: בעוד שבראשון המצב הראשוני היה "חושך על פני תהום ורוח אלוהים מרחפת על פני המים" ורק אח"כ בריאת האור והשמים,[6]  בתהלים מתוארים קודם כל העולמות העליונים, ורק לאחר מכן יסוד הארץ המכוסה במי התהום. גם בתיאור זה ישנה תוספת מעניינת שפני הארץ כבר היו מעוצבים בצורת הרים וגבעות, ומי התהום כיסו אותם, כפי שהיה בזמן המבול.

יתכן ושתי נקודות מבט אלו מתועדות במסורת החז"לית במחלוקת המפורסמת ביןבית שמאי ובית הלל, אם שמים נבראו תחילה או ארץ (ירושלמי חגיגה פ"ב, ה"א / דף עז, ט"ג, ובר"ר פרשה א).

נושא מעניין נוסף שנוכל להשוות אותו מהי מטרת הבריאה. בנושא זה כבר ידוע ההבדל בין פרק א'  לפרק ב'. על גבי זה נוכל לראות את התיאור בתהלים ככיוון שלישי.  

בראשית א

בראשית ב

תהלים קד

(כו) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל הָאָרֶץ וּבְכָל הָרֶמֶשׂ הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל הָאָרֶץ:

(כז) וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם:

(כח) וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁהָ וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבְכָל חַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל הָאָרֶץ:

(ה) וְכֹל שִׂיחַ הַשָּׂדֶה טֶרֶם יִהְיֶה בָאָרֶץ וְכָל עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה טֶרֶם יִצְמָח כִּי לֹא הִמְטִיר יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהִים עַל הָאָרֶץ וְאָדָם אַיִן לַעֲבֹד אֶת הָאֲדָמָה:

(טו) וַיִּקַּח ד'  אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם וַיַּנִּחֵהוּ בְגַן עֵדֶן לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ:

(יד) מַצְמִיחַ חָצִיר לַבְּהֵמָהוְעֵשֶׂב לַעֲבֹדַת הָאָדָם לְהוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ:(טו) ְויַיִן יְשַׂמַּח לְבַב אֱנוֹשׁ לְהַצְהִיל פָּנִים מִשָּׁמֶן וְלֶחֶם לְבַב אֱנוֹשׁ יִסְעָד:

(כג) יֵצֵא אָדָם לְפָעֳלוֹ וְלַעֲבֹדָתוֹ עֲדֵי עָרֶב:

בעוד שבפרק א' בבראשית האדם, הנברא בצלמו של הבורא, הוא השולט והרודה במעשי הבריאה, ובפרק ב' במהופך - כל בריאת האדם נעשתה בכדי לעבוד ולשמור על הבריאה, בתהלים עולה כיוון שלישי. מעשי הבריאה נבראו אמנם לשמש את צרכי האדם, אך אין הוא עליון על כל שאר הבריאה. המים והנחלים משקים את בעלי החיים כולם (פס' י), הצומח משמש כמאכל גם לבהמות. והאדם נדרש לעבוד ולפעול כדי לייצר את מאכליו, שאינם רק קיומיים עבורו, אלא גם מהווים מקור לשמחה.

הבדל זה נוכל למצוא גם בתיאור תפקידם של המאורות

בראשית א

תהלים קד

(יד) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹתוּלְמוֹעֲדִים וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים:(טו) וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר עַל הָאָרֶץ וַיְהִי כֵן:

(טז) וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים אֶת הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם וְאֶת הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים:(יז) וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם לְהָאִיר עַל הָאָרֶץ:(יח) וְלִמְשֹׁל בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה וּלֲהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵיןהַחֹשֶׁךְ

(יט) עָשָׂה יָרֵחַ לְמוֹעֲדִים שֶׁמֶשׁ יָדַע מְבוֹאוֹ:

(כ) תָּשֶׁת חֹשֶׁךְ וִיהִי לָיְלָה בּוֹ תִרְמֹשׂ כָּל חַיְתוֹ יָעַר:(כא) הַכְּפִירִים שֹׁאֲגִים לַטָּרֶף וּלְבַקֵּשׁ מֵאֵל אָכְלָם:

(כב) תִּזְרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ יֵאָסֵפוּן וְאֶל מְעוֹנֹתָם יִרְבָּצוּן:(כג) יֵצֵא אָדָם לְפָעֳלוֹ וְלַעֲבֹדָתוֹ עֲדֵי עָרֶב:

החלוקה בין חושך לאור בתהלים אינה רק ל"אותות ולמועדים ולימים ושנים" – מערכות זמן המתאימות לסדר החיים האנושי, אלא יוצרות הרמוניה בין הכוחות המונגדים בבריאה: הלילה מאפשר לחיות לטרוף בצל החשיכה, ואילו ביום כשהחיות ישנות, יכול האדם לצאת לעבודתו.

ניתן עוד להוסיף ולהעמיק, ששורשם של כל מערכת ההבדלים הללו נעוצה בפירושושל דוד למעשה הבריאה לא כאירוע היסטורי חד-פעמי, אלא "מחדש בטובו כל יום מעשה בראשית", וכפי שכל הבריאה נבראה בצורה הרמונית, כך שכל מרכיב משרת ומחייה את משנהו, כך בכל יום עומדים ונזקקים הבריות לטוב ד'.

[1] גם אם נפרש שאיו הכוונה למלאכים ממש, אלא שהרוח והאש הינם השלוחים של הקב"ה, הרי שיש כאן חידוש שאינו מוזכר בפרשת בראשית. אמנם יש לציין כי המלאכים מתוארים במעשה מרכבה (יזחקאל א, יד): "ודמות החיות ראיהם כגחלי אש".

[2] הביטוי צבא השמים מתייחס גם למערכות הכוכבים, כמו, דברים, ד, יט: "ופן תשא השמימה וראית את השמש ואת הירח ואת הכוכבים כל צבא השמים ונסחת והשתחוית להם", אך גם לבריות שבעולמות העליונים, כמו במראה הנבואה של מיכה (מל"א, כב, יט): ראיתי את ד' יושב על כסאו וכל צבא השמים עומד עליו מימינו ומשמאלו".

[3] בראשית, כב, יא: "ויקרא מלאך  ה' מן השמים ויאמר אברהם אברהם ויאמר הנני"; שם, כח, יב: "והנה סולם מוצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה והנה מלאכי אלהים עולים ויורדים בו". גם הביטוי שבאיוב נמצא בספר בראשית, ו, ב: "ויראו בני האלהים את בנות האדם כי טובות הנה ויקחו להם נשים מכל אשר בחרו".

[4] רש"י ד"ה נעשה אדם: "ענותנותו של הקב"ה למדנו מכאן, לפי שהאדם בדמות המלאכים ויתקנאו בו לפיכך נמלך בהם, וכשהוא דן את המלכים הוא נמלך בפמליא שלו".

[5] בדומה גם בתיאורו של ישעיהו מ, יב: "מִי-מָדַד בְּשָׁעֳלוֹ מַיִם, וְשָׁמַיִם בַּזֶּרֶת תִּכֵּן, וְכָל בַּשָּׁלִשׁ עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ וְשָׁקַל בַּפֶּלֶס הָרִים וּגְבָעוֹת בְּמֹאזְנָיִם".

[6] כפי שרש"י מפרש את המילים הראשונות בתורה, בד"ה בראשית ברא: "ואם באת לפרשו כפשוטו כך פרשהו בראשית בריאת שמים וארץ והארץ הייתה תהו ובהו וחשך ויאמר אלוהים יהי אור. ולא בא המקרא להורות סדר הבריאה לומר שאלו קדמו

..…THEME: Ego…… [AR: try to find idea re ego in each parsha]

Breishis: sets the stage: tzelem, ruach etc. 

Noach: the god who created the universe a parsha earlier, and who arranged a worldwide flood and got th animals to come on their own to the ark, could arrange food to be there as well, or send manna as in the desert. But instead , like adam is leovdo uleshomro, Noach takes care of the animals, the whole time that people are dying his family is doing chesded for the entire animal kingdom, this gives them the zchus to live.

Also: the 'vayir'u elokei yisrael' is to be understood in the context of "vayera elav", which in my interpretation means that Hashem appeared to Avraham Avinu as three strangers needing food and water and shade, which explains why the psukim are built that way, why Avraham ran to them, it was not an 'interruption' of a vision etc, it WAS the vision, because Avraham was at the level where he could truly see Hashem when seeing humans needing sustenance.

Maybe if we relate to people in this way, it brings their soul to the fore, and they become malachim in the sense of being messengers, or facilitators of processes in our lives, and our roles in history. 

Truly seeing humans as God's image, and overcoming ego to worry only about their need and not one;s own pain (his brit), is to receive the presence of God. Without ego we are only neshama, which is ‘of God’, as told in the creation account, and if we relate to others as neshama, chelek elokai mi'ma'al, then helping others is very literally an encounter with God (and creating/revealing the unity of God by erasing the illusion of the separateness of individual humans, who are all really of God, and so are not separate).

………

Similar theme to ‘ego’, that we are all ‘in the divine image’: [AR: one can of course also give a deeper phi’l interp of tzelm, re FW to choose.] As shown in Breishis stories, God cares about our choices, reacts - since we are tzelem elokim and what we perpetrate is against tzelem elokim. End bamidbar (near end of Mas’ei): in the context of not allowing people to get away with murder or even killing by accident: ‘ki ani hashem shochen be’bnei yisrael’ [and earlier ‘veshachanti betocham’ ‘leshochani betochechem’? also] , so this is like the parallel of 1st and 6th of the 10 commandments.  [AR: try to find this theme in as many places a s possible]  See nyu email for beginning of bamidbar.

…

…

………Divine-Human interaction: cause-effect: Be careful what you ask for – you may get it (and you may not)……

• Kayin complained to God that all would kill him, and so God granted him protection, via a 'sign', but this made him a 'marked man', it was both the protection and the heavy price of the protection.

• Avraham davened "lu Yishmael yichyeh lefanecha" and God granted it, but at the expense of Avraham's other son, Yitschak. 

• Yitschok davened for Rivka to give birth, and she did, but they were twins who would always be rivals. 

• Esav begged Yitschak for a brocho, and Yitschok granted it to him, at the expense of his other son, Ya'akov.

• Ya'akov gave a brocho to Yosef, Efrayim & Menashe that they should count as shvatim, but this was to some degree at the expense of Shim'on and Levi.

• Rochel wanted children and demanded them of Ya'akov who pushed it off onto God; Rochel had children but she died giving birth to the second, and later the first was sold as a slave (which could not have happened during her life-time).

• Moshe Rabbenu complained that he couldn’t bear the burden himself: he was told to give of his ruach to the zkenim etc. He davened to go into Eretz Yisrael but was refused.

• He davened for Miriam, but it was not exactly successful.

…………Theme: The Significance of names…………

Sub-theme: Names of God:

• H’-Elokim.   H.   Elokim.   Shakai. …

• Calling ‘in the name of’ God  (and as in Iyov)

• 10 commandments: taking God’s name in vian

• ‘(Beshem) H elokei Yisrael’

Anochi, Ehyeh 

H’ in some sense can be represented via the word ‘anochi’, which is the main content of the 1st dibrah, where H ‘introduces self to B Yisrael, and also because that is what B Yisrael heard directly. Here h is doing that prior to M”R. So H’s names are Anochi (as given later) & ‘Ehyeh’ (given now, but it was an ancient signal in the kabalah of the zkenim). 

The are at 8 ‘anochi’, 4 of M”R and 4 of H. 5 time ‘ehyeh’, the last time by H, H uses both  together “anochi ehyeh”.

Note that when M”R ask “mi anochi” he means himself but H answers by sating that Ehyeh is with im, and that Anochi sent him. M”R doesn’t underatand that Ehyeh is God’s name. He then asks for H’s name and is told E asher E, etc, and that this is H’s name. 

….

• Adam gave ‘names’

…..

e מַזְלֵג from the parsha this past shabbat (here it is plural; it is in other parshiyot but in basically the same form): 

I think there is no other word in tanakh using the assumed root זְלֵג 

and I see that its spelling is unusual:(wiki) המעיין במקרא יבחין כי המילה מצויה הן בצורת היחיד הן בצורת הרבים. אולם למרבה ההפתעה שונה הריבוי המקראי (מִזְלָגוֹת) מהריבוי השגור בפינו (מַזְלְגוֹת). תופעה זו חלה גם במילים מקראיות אחרות (מַשְׁבֵּר למשל), אך אינה תואמת את הריבוי הנהוג במשקל מַקְטֵל

Possibly it is from 'to drip', but that does not seem to be the case. If so, I would suppose that it is because when the meat begins to sizzle and drip, that is when the מַזְלֵג is used, or to make it drip. Therefore 'mizaleg'.

Sefer shmuel gives the meaning וְהַמַּזְלֵג שְׁלֹשׁ הַשִּׁנַּיִם

So it is specifically 3-pronged. Can it be that the word is an acronym: it was made like a dagger('zayin'), but split in 3 (= ג) prongs -> "may zayin le gimmel" = mzl"g.

(but then by definition mazleg has three prongs, so why specify? maybe my the time of Shmuel [the origin of the word was lost to most people and] this redundant term was used, like saying 'mayim achronim vasser'.

However this depends on an old question, which I may have asked you: the first ordering of the alephbet as an acrostic seems to have been used in thilim (ashrei), mishle (eshet khayil) etc, not earlier. Is there any indicaiotn in chumash or neviim of this ordering? Is there any reference in neviim that the order of the alephbet is significant (of course kabalh and midrash talk of it, and issue of why the torah starts with the letter beis assumes this etc)? If the origin of the word mazleg is as I suggested above, it implies that gimmel was the third letter and also that the order of the letters was used to indicate numbers. Where is the first obvious mention of a letter as a number?

[I came up with an alternate scenario, not that I am actually proposing it, espcecially if it is 'heresy':    for example: Dovid HaMelech and shlomo hamalech's mother wanted to write a 'poem' using all the letters as line-beginnings, but the order of the letters was not significant; they wrote out ashrei or eshes chayil with caligraphy and hung it up for shlomo to learn as a baby, and he saw the first letters written calligraphically, larger, and learned the alphabet from it, and always recited the letters in that order, and since that time he made it the standard order. Or that Dovid HaMelech was then given nevuah that this indeed was the intended order. etc.

Or that people noticed that there were thilim etc in which there were exactly 22 lines and each began with a different letter (perhaps to be expected statistically?), and then it became common to write these out with calligraphy to teach kids the letters, or Dovid HaMelech noticed these and hung them up as mentioned earlier.]

..................

Are there acronyms in tanach?[of course 'tanach' is an acronym :) ]

Is there special mystical significance to a split, like "וּמִשָּׁם, יִפָּרֵד וְהָיָה לְאַרְבָּעָה רָאשִׁים"? which would be of relevance here?

(But it is odd that unkelus and rashi use 'tzinoros' to explain it, not clear what they mean; by the way it seems that forks as eating implements arrived in Europe quite late, so maybe Rashi was not familiar with it? But doesn;t sefer shmuel's explanaiton clarify? or was it taken to refer to a specifc mazleg?)

Since another possibility was that there is a star-cluster in a pitchfork shape, so it would be mazal-gimmel, I did a brief search but didn;t see any likely candidates.

Also: it is one of the (many) kelim which betzalel made, so it must have great significance; which references speak about the deeper meaning of this specific implement?

.................................

Baruch Kahane <barunitza@gmail.com>

Jun 7

to me

מצאתי את זה:

רש"ר הירש שמות פרק כז פסוק ג

ומזלגתיו - "מזלג" משורש "זלג", בארמית: ירידת דמעות, קרוב ל"שלך", נופל, ומכאן "השליך", הפיל, "שלג" ו"סלק" בארמית; הוראת היסוד היא אפוא: נפילה במקום ופינוי מן המקום. "מזלג" מציין כלי שבו מסלקים דבר מן המקום כדי להניחו במקום אחר.

יש ראשי תיבות בתורה. "אנכי" - אנא נפשי כתיבת יהבית (שבת  קה ע"א)

סדר האותיות - חז"ל למדו הלכות מגימטריות, כמו "קדוש יהיה" - מכאן שסתם נזירות שלשים יום (נזיר ה ע"א). והרי גימטריא מבוססת על סדר האותיות. מכאן שלפי חז"ל סדר האותיות הוא מסיני.

…….………….

Theme: Importance of Names: Ya’akov/Yisra’el, Yitschok, B’er Sheva, “ha’aretz asher ar’eka”

Ya’akov/Yisra’el         (Vayishlach)
Why does torah use ‘ish’ for struggle w/ yakov? should say hashem or mal’ach etc, at least somewhere in story, or at end when it is clear that y realizes is malach.: maybe since all is machazeh if is hashem or maach, here I unappropriate because he had a physical effect, so ti is a manifestation of hashem which is qualitatilvely different than a machazeh, and that is ‘ish’, which is more physical/ Also (suggested by R Simon Jacobson in response to this vort and my question re why ish) hashem ‘ish’ milchomoh’ and I’d add so is appropriate re struggle and re war esav was preparing
:....
Yakov: 1) held Man/Angel physically, preventing him from going and 2) wrested a bracha from him. These are the two archetypical actions of Yakov to Esav, holding Esav’s foot, preventing him from emerging into the world, and wresting a bracha away from Esav; they are also the reasons for his name Yakov (holding the “ekev” = heel, and “vaya’akveni” zeh pa’amayim”, for sale of fprimogeniture (first born rights) and then taking the bracha), so it is fitting that Yakov does this to the man. That is also why the bracha he gets is a change of name: he has now completed the Yakov stage of holding/wresting a bracha, and now he has ‘wrestled with God and man and succeeded” that is his new name, Yisrael, and so he can now move to the next stage of his life. And indeed, we see that he pretty much disappears from the stage after this, and instead Yosef takes center stage.
..

Lamah Zeh anochi/lamah zeh tish’al lishmi

..…………M”R and Names……….

M”R’s name and self-description: why didn't yocheved give him a name at birth? and why not call him that when he was grown up? why wait for Batya to give him a name, and then use that one?

...

Alternate interpretation of “Cvad Peh”: 

Maybe: cvad peh and cvad lashon imply that his name is in a foreign language. So why is this a drawback? Because if he is Egyptian in the eyes of the Egyptians, he cannot represent the Jewish God, and be a spokesperson for the Jewish People.

M”R says ‘elokei ha’ivrim nir’ah elay’ so it sounds like it is not HIS God, ie he is an Egyptian!?

 ‘Arelim’ means ‘foreginers’, so maybe ‘aral sfasayim’ means foreign speaker, ie a plenipotentiary (emissary), and that is a reason he wouldn’t be trusted.

That is, M”R saw that the Jews didn’t accept him even when he tried to save them (when he killed the Egyptian taskmaster), and of course the Egyptians would see him as a traitor to Egypt for taking the side of the slaves.

It is interesting hat at no time does M”R appear with his mother or father, and so it is not at all celar whether his identity as a Jew was even known, whether to the Jews or to the Egyptians, or to Pharaoh specifically. What did he dress like? Well, when Tzipporah first found him she introduced him to her father as ish mitzri’! Maybe he always looked non-Jewish and Egyptian, even when he was appealing for the Jewish people in front of Pharaoh. And since it says that the people who wanted him dead had died, and that is why it was ok to return to Egypt, he was coming basically as an unknown, so even if his jewish identity was known to the old Pharoah, maybe the new one didn;t know, and though M”R was Egyptian!?  

..

Maybe M"R had to have cavod to pharaoh because P (or at least the previous one) was his step-father! so this made it more difficult for him to argue etc! he had to speak with cibud av! so he was cvad peh cvad lashon

…

Also: kvod H’ nir’ah eluy = Kvod-kvad + anochi ehyeh im picha; ie the kvod H’ is with is mouth, so he is “Kvad peh’

…….

Moshe chased them away, vayegorashum, then his son is gershom, but from a different root. Play on words.

……………………………………

14: they will ask me “ma shmo” “zeh shmi” “… eh ye asher e”. 

Like Yakov and “man” “lamah zeh tish’al le’shmi”. 

Adam gave shemos to all animals. 

..

טעמים לשם "גרשום 

I think I wrote that perhaps he actually meant these reasons for the name that I presented, but for PC reasons, not to offend the locals and others, didn’t tell people this meaning. Maybe it is even - but probably not -  a subtle-oblique criticism like re 'ish mitzri'.

…

"ויקרא את שמו גרשֹׁם, כי אמר גר הייתי בארץ נכריה" (ב, כב  Since the word 'grsh' appears twice in other stories/prophecies to M"R is this perhaps another example like giving the name b'er sheva, where the reader is being deliberately misled?.

Note: It's odd to name his son for something that he himself is experiencing. Or maybe not, God told Avraham to name Yitschak for an act of the parents. But of course that was an act directly linked to the child's (pre-)history. 

Or maybe the choice of name is meant to remind his son, growing up in a foreign land, with zeide Yisro, that he is from another nation.

Divine-Human interaction: Sub-theme: Natural vs Miraculous: guided vs random: Examples of Subtle Divine Intervention in Joseph’s Life

Joseph tells the ministers in jail that God provides the dream interpretations, and he tells the same thing to Pharaoh. Joseph says to his brothers: “Don’t worry, it was not you who sold me to Egypt, it was God who sent me here to be a deliverance for you and the whole family to provide food during the famine”. Indeed at various junctures Joseph’s destiny is affected by divine intervention, but it all unfolds in a natural way. This is similar to the way that the events in the Megillah of Esther unfold; they are clearly miraculous when seen as a whole, but the individual events are very natural-seeming.

• Joseph’s dreams are clearly divine messages (but no one else knows this);

• His having the dreams at that point served only to get him sold, which led to the fulfillment of the dream;

• Joseph was looking for his brothers, couldn’t find them, and then “a man found him, wandering lost” and directed him to his brothers: if not for this anonymous ‘man’, the sale of Joseph would likely not have occurred.

• After Joseph is thrown in the pit, Reuven leaves for a while, intending to return later and rescue Joseph when the brothers have left; however during his absence the brothers sell Joseph, something that should not have occurred.

• The caravan of Yishma’elim arrived seemingly from nowhere and Joseph was sold to them before Reuven had a chance to return;

• God gave Joseph a special charisma which enabled him to survive and thrive even as a slave;

• The ministers in jail have prophetic dreams;

Even when people tried to harm Joseph, he rose above it. 

The minister described him as “a lad, a Hebrew, a slave” as though to denigrate him. However this turned into Joseph’s favor, since Pharaoh did not fear to place him in a high position where he could eventually usurp the throne: given that everyone knew his lowly status and foreign origins non-one would ever accept him as actual Pharaoh, and so there was no danger in appointing him viceroy.

…...

Divine-Human interaction: Cause-effect: Sub-Theme: exile as a result of sin’at chinam (like tzara’at as a result of lashon ha’ra)

Yoseph

 From exile via sin’at chinam to to redemption (the Exodus) via chesed shel emes: From the Biblical account it seems pretty clear that even at the very end the brothers did not understand Joseph and were dishonest, fabricating a command of their fathers to him (meant to grant them immunity after their father’s death) in complete obliviousness to Joseph’s righteousness and lack of intent to punish them. All of this might well have been a very significant revelation to the Bney Yisroel when receiving “the five books of Moses” in the desert, and perhaps somewhat unsettling. But it provided a final opportunity to close the circle, with Yosef’s bones being carried by the Bney Yisrael out of Egypt at his express command, and with those bones and the living descendants all present at Sinai and when the contents of the five books were transmitted. 

So the larger story of the exodus starts when his Yosef’s brothers sent him out of the land of Israel to the Egypt and concludes when generations later they transported him back – with the bones entering the land to be buried with the post-revelation realization of Yosef’s righteousness.  The story begins with a Jew sold by his brethren as a result of “sin’at chinam” – baseless hatred - into slavery in Egypt, transitions into the descent of all their descendants falling themselves into Egyptian slavery, and then concludes with an act of “chesed shel emet” – kindness granted to a one after their death, an action that is not meant for reward since it is enacted when the beneficiary can by no longer repay the kindness. [Note: this is in direct contrast to the alleged ‘command’ of Jacob transmitted to Yoseph only when Jacob is no longer there to debunk it .)

………………

[Note: Just as the Aron Hakodesh (the Ark) transported itself, and led the way to the Land, and with the accompanying protection afforded by the pillar of fire and cloud of glory, with the Bney Yisrael simply following it, perhaps the Exodus was partially merited simply by virtue of the protection afforded to whomever would be transporting Yosef’s bones to its rightful burial in the Land (reading ‘vehaya ki…veha’alu’ as “ God will redeem you when/if you will…”.]

…………..

The Bible’s telling of the story makes clear many other aspects which may well have been still disputed by the descendants of those involved: that Yoseph’s dreams were from on high rather than delusions of grandeur, that his brothers misinterpreted the dreams, that Joseph was innocent of the accusation leveled by his employer’s wife, that Joseph was crying when his brothers spoke, that he bore no grudge towards them, and that the command of their fathers which they conveyed to Joseph - meant to grant them immunity after their father’s death – was most likely fabricated.

……….

…………Theme: the Role of other nations and their prophets & our interaction with them…………

My vort re Nach and the pach hashemen, his son Shem vs chanuka/Greeks/Yafet: etc. See my email with attached file re the inmportance ot the Greels of olive oil: “ancient Greeks and olive oil, relgious etc”

Chanukka: According to …. the cruz hashemen at chanukka was special because it was Olive oil from shem made from the olive branch brought by the dove after the mabul. Symbolizing…. Appropriate for the nes chanuka because …. Maybe can say that the name for oil comes from this: Shem/shemen/min shem. Some say it was lve branch from Eretz Yisrael, but then what was the significance of the dove finding it there if there was no flood in Israel, so bringing it back was not a sign that the flood had receeded? But maybe since it was the second time the dove was sent out ….

…..

Chanukah: Yisroel/Esav: My old vort showed why Y 'went back', to wrestle. But I wanted to connect it to what chazal say about pachim ktanim and the oil. So: yakov and Man were westling for the pach hashemen 'pachim ktanim', Y went to evcuate his family from war zone, left the pachim there in agremeent wiht Man, and returned to fight over who gets it, esav says it is his inheritance, part of the 'sadeh', Y wins and thereby retroactively gets all brochos including harnessing powers of nature (Einstein etc?!).

Chanuka time the Yafet greeks wanted their inheritance from Noach, the oil, it was part of beauty etc, annointing with oil (what role did olive oil play in ancient statues)? Shem was was youngr son not older, see eg rashi, and so the conflict at the time of chanuka was like the earlier struggle between yakov & esav. The Greeks did start science, study of ature, and beauty etc, but didn't tie it to spiritual deelopment. (mayb eis like mafsik belimudo idea)

oil is pressed olives, purified, is task of yisrael but could have been task of esav in diff way, or yafet; oil drippig from head can be decadent, greek style. but if greeks are as they sould have been and jews as they should have been, would not have been conflict. (the syrian greeks were not like Alexander, famous story with cohen gadol. And the jews at the time were not up to par.)

.....

AR ideas re Chanukah, oil etc:

∙ Sneh burned but was not consumed, like chanukah oil.

∙ tie it to oil of noah, and ner tamid, and mon, and the flame symbolizes that when light flame one from the other it is not dimished, M"R to yehoshua, Tradition not change the torah even if it is transmitted over thousasds of years.

∙ zohar on sneh puts it in context of Bil'am vs M"R: Bilaam as great as MR but his power from darakness, MR from light (and he was chesed): and the sneh was to reassure BY that they will not be consumed:

AR: maybe because bilam was advisor of pharoah when M"R was there? Maybe that is related to midrash of MR choosing glowing coal, light that burns rather than light that doesnt, deliberately to confuse Bilaam to think he was not dangeorus to the Bilam/Paraoh plan. MR was cast into the river bec it is water which is not afraid of fire. And water is from earlier creation. MR expmelified chesed (maybe idea of flock of sheep, good shepherd?). So sneh is fire is fearful but MR could approach nevertheless, conquered his fear bec he is from water, earlier­creaiton­inspired, so he wasnt made tomeh by the 49 levels of tumah in mtzrayim. And the flood aftermath was to reassure humanity it would continue and oil of yonah was the carrier of the continuity like Tradition, but it was divide dinto different naitons three sons of noah, MR from Shem but Greeks form Yafet, fighting over that oil, bilaam fighting MR and MR gets the light at the sneh, and sheh symbolizes not being consumed by the fire. So we see fire and realize if it doesnt consume the sneh then it means we also can be not consumed by any earthly fire, the oil will last even though it is feeding the menorah­flame, that is ner tamid, ie the traidotn continues, the Jewish people continue after any cataclysm (Flood). And descnedants of Avraham chesed, and Tradition via MR chesed is the idea that the Values are chesed etc, not those of the Yafet Greeks like beauty and truthc(Ahron teaches that Truth is not a value, but rather shalom is). So MR and Ahron are chesed, anovoh & sholom (brisi sholom was to Ahron's descnedant Pinchas), and together thet represent overcoming jealousy.

New vorts:

• sibling rivalry in breishis has to include sons of Noah. Theyfought over the oil. Yakov/esav both of shem. Mitzrayim/Canaan are chom but not clear if they were part of it.

• Yafet yishkon beoholei shem, ie in B Hamikdash, Koresh was form Yfet! So the greeks came in bayis sheni, wanted the oil for their form of worship and aesthetics, phil science etc, not morality spirituality?

• Plato saw us as only shadows, Torah sees us as divine image, par to fhte cosmc process, what we do here is how the upper relams develop. The shadow manipulate the upper relam.

• 10 commandments broken bec we didnt have vessels for even first aleph of anochi, and 10 were written in stone but also divine (both sides), but by breaking them, knowing we didnt have the vessels, we now needed 613

• vessels, oil, woman and elisha, need vessels thne oil flows, conneciton to yakov.

• Yakov goes back for oil.

• Yefet comes to B Hamikdash for it.

• Yosef in mitzraiyim, and ivri from canaan. Is there an conneciotn to the oil.

• What is the oil why so important? Oil is infinite light, flame is light in the worls, we have ot bring

• the infinite light into the world. At least tha tis how we understand misison, myaybe yefet

• understands differenlt.

• Esav's brocho was “mishmanei haaretz, umital hashamayim?”. (But tal is from bottom up?)

…………..

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=103&chapid=1149#_ednref90

see " He fooled everybody…." Then re Esav etc

 Nimrod had it; then Esau was jealous of Nimrod, who was another great hunter. He lay in ambush, slew Nimrod, took the garment from him, and brought it home. This garment was the birthright which Jacob got from Esau, who got it back again. This was the garment of Jacob, the garment of Ham. "Nimrod, Amraphel, king of Babel, went forth with his people on a great hunt. At that time he was jealous of the great hunter Esau. As Nimrod approached with two attendants, Esau hid and cut off Nimrod's head before the other two. Esau then fled with the valuable garment of Nimrod, which had made him victorious over the entire world. Then he ran exhausted to Jacob, after hiding the garment."90 That was the deal: he was willing to sell it in a financial sense. In another account, "Nimrod, the king of Babel went hunting in the field; Esau was observing Nimrod all the day, for jealousy had formed in his heart, Esau against Nimrod. Esau lay in ambush and cut off his head and then he took the valuable garment of Nimrod because Nimrod prevailed over the land, and ran and concealed it in his house."91 This was the birthright which he sold to Jacob, and there are other versions of the same thing.92

The Pirkê de Rabbi Eliezer says,

Esau, the brother of Jacob, saw the coats of Nimrod, and in his heart he coveted them, and he slew him, and took them from him. . . . When he [Esau] put them on he also became, by means of them, a mighty hero. . . . And when Jacob went forth from the presence of Isaac his father [after receiving the blessing from Isaac] he said: Esau, the wicked one, is not worthy to wear these coats. So Jacob stole the garment from [Esau's] tent and he dug in the earth and hid [the garments] there.93

Somebody is always trying to steal the garment; somebody is always trying to fake it. It reminds one of "The King's Ankus," the story by Kipling.94 But always there is the false version of it going around: Then Jacob buried the garment. It was this garment in which the firstborn of Israel performed the priestly functions of Mt. Sinai. It was the priestly garment of Adam."

Gemara (Avodah Zarah 43a) 

R' Yehoshua was

once following R' Elazar HaKapar and saw how he found a ring

with an (idolatrous) image of a serpent on it. A gentile child

passed by and R' Elazar said nothing. When a gentile adult

passed by, R' Elazar asked him to be (nullify) the avodah

zarah aspect of the ring, but he refused. R' Elazar applied

pressure and the gentile performed the , thus permitting R'

Elazar to take the ring. R' Yehoshua learned 3 things from this:

1) an idolater may be the avodah zarah of another idolater;

2) only an idolater familiar with idolatry may perform the ;

3) an idolater may be coerced to do the . Yaakov Avinu told

his family to deposit their items of avodah zarah under the tree

rather than destroy them or throw them into the sea, as is

normally required for avodah zarah. The Ramban explains that

this was because the avodah zarah had come from Shechem and

had become before falling into the hands of Yaakov's sons

…….

…Themes: Dumm, eretz, adamah (dam, adam, adamah; ish, ishah))…

Similarity/difference to breishis:

וַיֹּאמֶר, מֶה עָשִׂיתָ; קוֹל דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ, צֹעֲקִים אֵלַי מִן-הָאֲדָמָה.  יא וְעַתָּה, אָרוּר אָתָּה, מִן-הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר פָּצְתָה אֶת-פִּיהָ, לָקַחַת אֶת-דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ מִיָּדֶךָ.  יב כִּי תַעֲבֹד אֶת-הָאֲדָמָה, לֹא-תֹסֵף תֵּת-כֹּחָהּ לָךְ; נָע וָנָד, תִּהְיֶה בָאָרֶץ.  יג וַיֹּאמֶר קַיִן, אֶל-יְ':  גָּדוֹל עֲו‍ֹנִי, מִנְּשֹׂא.  יד הֵן גֵּרַשְׁתָּ אֹתִי הַיּוֹם, מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה, וּמִפָּנֶיךָ, אֶסָּתֵר; וְהָיִיתִי נָע וָנָד, בָּאָרֶץ, וְהָיָה כָל-מֹצְאִי, יַהַרְגֵנִי.

..

To Adam: אֲרוּרָה הָאֲדָמָה, בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ, בְּעִצָּבוֹן תֹּאכְלֶנָּה, כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ.  יח וְקוֹץ וְדַרְדַּר, תַּצְמִיחַ לָךְ; וְאָכַלְתָּ, אֶת-עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה.  יט בְּזֵעַת אַפֶּיךָ, תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם, עַד שׁוּבְךָ אֶל-הָאֲדָמָה, כִּי מִמֶּנָּה לֻקָּחְתָּ:  

...

To Noach and his children:  אַךְ-בָּשָׂר, בְּנַפְשׁוֹ דָמוֹ לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ.  ה וְאַךְ אֶת-דִּמְכֶם לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם אֶדְרֹשׁ, מִיַּד כָּל-חַיָּה אֶדְרְשֶׁנּוּ; וּמִיַּד הָאָדָם, מִיַּד אִישׁ אָחִיו--אֶדְרֹשׁ, אֶת-נֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם.  ו שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם, בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ:  כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים, עָשָׂה אֶת-הָאָדָם.   

...

…………………..END OF “THEMES”…………………..

Excerpted From file "Add to Chumash, collected from emails"

……

Theme: What prophecy means: being pro-active, Rivka, (M”R?), Yona etc

Toldos: The greatness of Rivka as a proactive prophetess:  

Ve’hinei: they were surprised that it was twins: this is a hint that Rivka didn’t tell anyone. And if she had doubts about the reality of the prophecy, this dispelled them.

Like Yosef whose dream was in order to create the events which led to the realization of the dream, rivka’s prophecy was meant as a prescription for her future proactivism, not a passive prophecy of the future (Yona also of course).  When we see the end of the story we understand why Avraham sent for a bride from that area, the cheaters, but with chesed, ie she was different than them but was not naïve and could beat them at their own game if she had too, as indeed Yakov eventually did with lovon, with the sheep and then with the escape. Also we can understand rivka’s enigmatic ‘im ken lama zeh anochi’ as ‘ok, this is unusual, what is this trying to tell me, what am I supposed to be doing about all this’ and that’s why she went to ask God. Like M Rabenu w the b bush, seeing noticing stopping, remarking on it: ‘asurah na v’er’eh e hamareh hagadol hazeh, madu’ah lo yiv’ar hasneh’...”.  

Rivka knows the family history, knows that yishmael was cast out, that sarah wanted it but not avraham, he was not clued in the way sarah was, also that avraham sent eliezer to haran without a clear plan, so she understands that the men in the family operate on a different plane, avraham likes the wrong son, yitschak likes the wrong son, the men are not involvled in the ‘practical’ realm of ensuring Jewish survival etc and that is her role. And after asking yakov ish tam to go totally against his nature and trick his father etc, she sends him to her family to shake him up with further training, teach him survival skills.

That’s why eliezer with the malach that avraham sent chose rivka based on chesed, she was in the horrible den of twisted people, and yet was full of chesed, this was remarkable, and also it meant that she had innate ability to use the twistedness when necessary, so be’di’eved he got both things he would have wanted, chesed and family.

.......

מעמד הסנה כנסיון למשה רבינו

 ואכן משה רבינו סר לראות, ולא התעלם מהסנה, ובכך הלך בדרכיו של ה'......

Need to mention that Torah stresses "Vayar Hashem ki sar lir'ot"…  M”R was proactive in this sense….

…………….

Yosef’s proactive ‘prophecy’: Yosef is not just interpreting a dream - not just giving its meaning as a prediction of the future -  but rather he adds on the reason Par’oh is getting this dream, that God is telling him about the famine in order to give him an opportunity to prevent its dire consequences! Like Rivka, and Yonah.

God Punishes According to the Transgression : Mida Kneged Mida:

Reasons for the choice of plague: they were punishments for Egyptian transgressions:

……………

vort-question re what is and is not written in torah

initial encounter between M"R and Pharaoh, not related in chumash

re M"R and Aharon going to Pharaoh. I long ago of course noticed the multiple repetition of the intro of the story "hu moshe ve'aharon..: etc. 

But this shabbos for the first time I realized that there is no account in the chumash of what must have been an incredible event. M"R introducing himself to Pharaoh, perhaps the same one who raised him? or M"R's foster-brother? and where was his meeting with the bas paroh who adopted him (of course midrash tells us who she was). 

We are told of Yaakov's conversaiton with the Pharaoh of his time, surely the initial encounter would have been incredibly fascinatting, revealing and significant?

Yisro's daughters presented M"R as ish mitzri, and MR says "elokei ha'ivrim" which can be interpreted as though it is not THEIR god (chas veshalom)... was M"R known to all those present as the man who had been a prince there? was he known as a Jew? Why does the chumash hide this encounter from us? Is the multiple repetition in some way meant as a smoke screen to distract us from the realization that this encounter's description is missing? If so, the chumash is going to great lengths to hide this; surely it would be worth to drop some f the repetition and include a few words about the encounter. In a way it is similar to the chumash hiding from us whether at the end ya'akov knew that the brothers had sold yosef (and f course Yitschok hid this knowledg from yaakove, as rivka hid from him the initial revelaiton about esav and yaakov) 

………

Theme: Divine-Human Interaction: 

God testing to see human response to the divine communication:

See some of the material below re M”R & the Sneh

……..

Theme: Moshe Rabbenu at the Sneh: The sneh situation as a test, and M”R’s reactions as a catalyst for the path taken by the ensuing conversation

Moshe says: asura na ve’ereh..” he did not say this, he thought this. But Torah writes “said”. So ‘said’ is not meant literally, same obviously for when torah quotes god as “saying” something. 

And did Moshe think these actual words? Why not think without words if this is possible?  

“Asurah na ve'er'eh et hamareh hagadol hazeh”: to whom did Moshe Rabbenu (MR) say it and why? If to himself, why “na”? - so we will assume it is not to himself.

Maybe he was talking to God at the time, like case with Avraham? 

Perhaps to the sheep! Medrash Rabbah Shmos "וּמֹשֶׁה, הָיָה רֹעֶה" Compares MR and Dovid HaMelech, the quintessential shepherds, caring for their sheep and therefore qualified to be a "ro'eh Yisrael". Midrash says the sneh conversation lasted three days. How could MR abandon the flock for three days? We know what happened in the very same place, Har Chorev, some years later right after matan Torah when he arrived a day later than bney Yisrael had expected after Matan Torah! Two times God spoke to MR with fire, both at Har Sinai, and both times his flock went unattended!

Perhaps he is 'asking permission' to turn aside. It is the opposite of what Avraham avinu did, Avraham turned from Hashem to help the strangers – and he didn’t ask permission, but Avraham was helping humans and here MR is dealing with sheep.  

Usually I would tend to think that "Vayar Hashem ki sar lir'ot" means something complimentary to MR, that it was a test, and MR passed it and therefore Hashem spoke to him from the sneh. But perhaps since MR was being tested about being a shepherd this turning aside from the sheep was not the appropriate action? And indeed it led to disaster later on…

And if one interprets "asurah'' as MR asking permission from Hashem to turn aside – either to abandon the sheep, or because of "mah no'eh ilan zeh" - then it wouldn’t say 'vayar Hashem ki sar lir'ot'.

….…..

הצלת משה רבינו ע"י ציפורה

http://www.shoresh.org.il/hidush/hidush.asp?id=1713

maybe need to quote the words from the pasuk

ויהי בדרך במלון... ויבקש המיתו

"malon…hamito" to match 'unmaltem'. (and there's a yud heh vav left over in hamito = hashem)

……

עשר המכות - מידה כנגד מידה

 הבהמות מתו הדבר : דבר

חושך: המצרים עסקו בתועבות של משכב זכור ומשכב עם בהמה (ויקרא יח, ב), דברים הנעשים בחושך. לכן הם נענשו בחושך.

I wrote that the pasuk below is a hint to

משכב זכר

 לֹא-רָאוּ אִישׁ אֶת-אָחִיו, וְלֹא-קָמוּ אִישׁ מִתַּחְתָּיו--שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים;

…

DEVELOP THIS: the process of exodus via MR was the same as the leaving for burial of Yakov by Yosef: asking permission of Paroh, gong via ever-hayarden; leaving behind the children and sheep ……

Carrying Yosef's bones out with MR, and Yosef carrying Yakov bones out (pakod yifkod).

…..……...

מדוע היה חשוב שבני ישראל ימצאו חן בעיני מצרים? אם המטרה היתה רק שישאילו להם כלים, כדי שיצאו ברכוש גדול, היו יכולים לשאול את הכלים גם בלי שימצאו חן בעיניהם!

They could have taken it during the plague of darkness, or Hashem could have made a miracle to make them give it, or made a plague that would have necessitated giving them things, but the point of the plagues was to change a mindset, create an awareness, and this was part of it.

..............................

......Perush HaTorah laTorah…...

..…

………Divine-Human interaction: cause-effect: ……….. 

mitzvoth as a reaction to human action:

 Example:  The Content and Order of the Ten Commandments

The content and order of the ten commandments can be seen as parallel to, and perhaps motivated by, the essence and order of 10 significant events in the history of existence/humanity/the Jewish People, starting from the creation and up to the receiving of the Torah at Sinai.

1.       The beginning of history is: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth”: this introduces God as creator and all-powerful: as a result we have the first commandment: “I am the Lord Your God” 

2.       The creation account relates that God made the sun, moon and stars: these were later to become the focus of the earliest idolatry (worship of the sun, moon and stars) and therefore we have the second commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods”

3.       The exile from Eden resulted form a chain of events, beginning with the snake’s words to Eve.

The snake misquoted God’s purpose in forbidding the Tree of Knowledge (“Even though God said ....”), thereby tricking Eve; Eve then misquoted God’s command by saying “God said we can’t eat or touch it...”: she may have been misled by Adam, who told her that it was not only forbidden to eat of the Tree but even to touch it;

The snake said “You shall be as gods”: using God’s name (and the concept of God) in these ways brought disaster; as a result we have the third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”.

4.       The next event of significance was the onset of the first Sabbath: and so the fourth commandment is: “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy”.

Note: It is well known that the first four commandments involve the relationship between humanity and God, while the next six commandments involve the relationship of people to other people. It is therefore fitting that the first four correspond to events prior to the expulsion, and the other six to events after the exile from Eden, when humanity began its normal physical existence, and the onset of human society.

5.       The next event of significance: Adam and Eve give birth: the existence of children brings with it the need for the fifth commandment: “Honor thy Father and Mother”.

6.       The next significant event: the onset of sibling rivalry, and violence:  unfortunately, the first child to be born murders the second, and so the next commandment is: “Thou shalt not commit Murder”.

7.       In Genesis 6:2 we are told of the degeneration leading to the Flood: the powerful princes and others taking women “whomever they desired” (Rashi: even married women): and so the next commandment is: “Though shalt not commit adultery”.

8.       In Genesis 6:11 we are told that the reason for the flood was that in the time of Noah the Earth was full of ‘chamas’ (Rashi: theft)[21][31]: and so the next commandment is: “Thou shalt not steal”

9.       The commandments were given immediately after the Exodus from Egypt: the exile in Egypt began with the sale of Joseph: Joseph bore slanderous news of his brothers to his father; and thus the next commandment is: “Thou shalt not bear false witness”

10.   The brothers coveted Josef’s special position in the eyes of his father, as exemplified by Jacob’s giving him the coat of many colors: and thus the next commandment is: “Thou shalt not covet”.     

………Divine-Human interaction: cause-effect: Be careful what you ask for – you may get it (and you may not)……

·         Kayin complained to God that all would kill him, and so God granted him protection, via a 'sign', but this made him a 'marked man', it was both the protection and the heavy price of the protection.

·         Avraham davened "lu Yishmael yichyeh lefanecha" and God granted it, but at the expense of Avraham's other son, Yitschak. 

·         Yitschok davened for Rivka to give birth, and she did, but they were twins who would always be rivals. 

·         Esav begged Yitschak for a brocho, and Yitschok granted it to him, at the expense of his other son, Ya'akov.

·         Ya'akov gave a brocho to Yosef, Efrayim & Menashe that they should count as shvatim, but this was to some degree at the expense of Shim'on and Levi.

·         Rochel wanted children and demanded them of Ya'akov who pushed it off onto God; Rochel had children but she died giving birth to the second, and later the first was sold as a slave (which could not have happened during her life-time).

·         Moshe Rabbenu complained that he couldn’t bear the burden himself: he was told to give of his ruach to the zkenim etc. He davened to go into Eretz Yisrael but was refused.

·         He davened for Miriam, but it was not exactly successful.

Sub-theme: Names of God: 

·         H’-Elokim.   H.   Elokim.   Shakai. …

·         Calling ‘in the name of’ God  (and as in Iyov)

·         10 commandments: taking God’s name in vian

·         ‘(Beshem) H elokei Yisrael’

……Names of the Holidays (see re Purim etc)…

…….…………...……….

Themes for Chumash book in English 

…

related themes: the divine/human interaction, effect of dream interpretation, karma/mida keneged mida (see link to me on   http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/5414). 

book from only the material relavant to some set of related themes, eg the divine/human interaction, effect of dream interpretation, karma/mida keneged mida (see link to me on   http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/5414).

book should have only the material relavant to some set of related themes, eg the divine/human interaction, effect of dream interpretation, karma/mida keneged mida (see link to me on   http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/5414).

Book can also be from only the material relevant to some set of related themes, eg the divine/human interaction, effect of dream interpretation, karma/mida keneged mida (see link to me on   http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/5414).

…

book from only the material relavant to some set of related themes, eg the divine/human interaction, effect of dream interpretation, karma/mida keneged mida (see link to me on   http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/5414).

Divine-Human interaction: Sub-Themes: Divine Provocations (“The Divine Provocateur”) 

[AR: Thematically this is similar to ‘in defense of…’: that one should not judge the protagonists based on a simple reading, one needs to more carefully see how they were set up in order to understand their acitons, and their true character…]

• God ‘set up’ Adam.Eve, deliberately presenting an irresistible temptation. Telling someone “you can do anything but X, anything at all but x” is a guaranteed way to get them to do x. God designed Adam&Eve to be unable to resist it.

• Cain/Abel: God deliberately provoked jealousy by accepting one sacrifice and not the other

• God commands Abraham to listen to Sarah, to cast out Ishmael in favor of Isaac, setting up a lasting rivalry between them.

• Jacob and Esav struggle yet in the womb, this is divine instigation for they are not yet even born; God tells the pregnant Rivka that the younger will inherit rather than the older, setting her up for the interception by Jacob of the blessing originally meant for Esav.

• Abraham is led to leave his homeland and set up shop in an inhabited land, so he encounters many problems, and later his descendants the Jewish nation is sent to Egypt for a long time only to return to a land even more inhabited, and are told the promised land has to be conquered from these others, and indeed over the generations Esav and Yishmael fight him for supremacy (or contest his ownership of the land), as promised. And God creates to competing religions based on that of the Jews, both antagonistic to Jews, one (traditionally Rome, ie Europe) is from Esav and the other from Yishmael.

• Genesis is about younger brothers supplanting the older, and the Jewish people are constantly struggling against those who came later, trying to supplant them: younger religions created by the descendants of the older brothers.

All this is apparently God’s stratagem to test and refine through struggle.

Rambam re prophecy, levels, vision etc. my idea of vision as deeper reality than physical actions.

We are all prophets (FW). We caused the universe to emerge into reality (qp etc). Adam/Eve etc.

In Bible there were Jewish and non-Jewish prophets. According to....prophecy is now given to (women)? And children? Fools?

To broaden dreams as prophecy,  add all types of  divine human interaction which are meant to tell humans something and which are in human control: 2 DorLedo articles etc, Karma re Egypt plagues, amd re 10 commandments etc.

Also: self actualization at highest level via overcoming one’s nature

Four Mystical Experiences: Closing Circles

The Re-enactment of the Stolen Idol Scenario, and its Redemption

Yakov’s Karma

Two Dreams or One Dream Twice Dreamt?

Angry Words Kill

In “genesis” page of website, see article: Cause and Effect: In the context of the Torah’s accounts, a dream interpretation affects its realization; similarly the response to a divine mission affects its outcome.

Interesting that other than chanoch, no-one in parshas breishis is singled out as good.

THEMES section from file "chumash English NEW" etc

A book which reads not so much as parshat ha’shevuah but rather more as an overall analysis of specific aspects, traces certain themes, for a wider audience Jewish and otherwise who are interested in the Bible at least as an inspired (not just literary) work, but who don't follow the parsha.

'Themes' of the Chumash material
The book is planned to have individual ma’amarim, but arranged around a set of themes. The first example of each theme will be used to express the theme, and then ma’amarim in later parshiot will refer to these themes. 

Prophetic visions, revelations, inspiration & dreams: interpretation, action & actuation

The effect of one's words:

• how the interpretation of achey yosef affected the future realization of the chalomot, 

• how Ya'akov's response to the sulam dream affected the future, 

• similar re Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabenu

• how the avot, imahot and nevi'im reacted verbally (Yakov after the sulam) after a revelation, 

• how they acted (including Bil'am), 

• how they interpreted the messages given to them (for example Rivka interpreting what she heard as a mission not just information), 

• 'the power of words', Yakov's words re Rachel and other examples including eg Elisha, re the child, and the woman's actions/interpretation re the oil.

• The effect of one's words (how the interpretation of achey yosef affected the future realization of the chalomot [interpretation affects actualization]; how Ya'akov's response to the sulam dream (his ‘vow’) affected the future, similar re Avraham, etc);

• The effect of intentions: Yakov’s dream and and its effect; yakov’s intention at procreation of Reuven with Leah had effect etc;

Relating different stories

• how the protagonists (actually heroes) grew beyond their initial midot, and how their earlier stories are related to their later ones;

• the light one story casts on another; 

• the psychological motivations of the protagonist or the divine message of the story as revealed by the subtext or internal logic of a story,

• relationships between seemingly unrelated sections of the chumash (relating different stories, connection between the ten commandments and Eden etc) 

principles of divine operation ('derech hashem'): examples of known midot, and proposed new ones:

• examples of mida kneged mida: re the 10 makot; the effect of the words of the navi [Effect of the actions and words of the Biblical protagonists on the later events which befell them. (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, Yosef, other shvatim, Moshe, and also Pharaoh [re the the plagues etc])

• not having more than one of the avot etc in contact in a given period, 

• Hashem as 'divine provocateur',

• cultivating the avot and Moshe Rabbenu as sanegorim, etc.

One main central theme of the book applies an essential message of chumash: that the future unfolding of events – and of divine-human interactions - depends on our free-willed responses to situations. See handwritten material directly below:

…

Applying to angels this concept (that the future unfolding depends on our free-willed responses), an angel cannot be preprogrammed, but rather their message depends on the response of the human protagonist - and that's the meaning of separate angels for each message.

relating nistar, torah she'bichtav & torah sheba’al peh

• Elements of torah sheba’al peh which can be tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav (the shabbos and yom kippur articles and others)

• elements of nistar or kabalah which are closely tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav

• elements of torah sheba’al peh which can be tied to the wording of torah she'bichtav

• hints in the creation and gan eden accounts to fundamental mitzvoth 

Plays on words (mischakei milim); remazim 

……………………….

A major theme of the hoped-for chumash book: prophetic dreams and their interpretation, related to how the avot, imahot and nevi'im reacted verbally (Yakov after the sulam) after a revelation, how they acted (including Bil'am), how they interpreted the messages given to them (for example Rivka interpreting what she heard as a mission not just information). Also, 'the power of words' to effectuate events: Yakov's words re Rachel and other examples including eg Elisha, re the child, and the woman's actions/interpretation re the oil.

……

Going through the Torah’s accounts from the Garden of Eden to the very end of the sojourn in the desert, one can list many events involving several protagonists in which central aspects were perhaps not known to all involved.

…….

Entire content of file , on Arzei PC and on email

……...….

Some parts of the torah are prophetic records incorporated by God into the torah, so they are visions as seen by a prophet. 

Perhaps the flood account too is a description of a vision induced by God in a human prophet.

………. .. .

Theme: Differences between Jewish belief and Christian/Pagan beliefs:(as reflected in Chumash)

.....................

Themes: deception and mistaken identities in chumash (‘things are not necessarily as they seem’)

Moshiach lineage:

…

22: vesho’aloh = borrow. Jews asked for permission to leave for three days, and so it was borrowing, the Egyptians assumed they’d get it all back. Maybe even the Jews themselves did not know they were leaving for good! And so that’s why they were told to ‘borrow’! Pharoah later found out they were not coming back, and decided to go out to overtake them and bring them back (or kill them?).

……

M”R’s Jewish identity was hidden by being placed in the basket. His identity as a jew might not have been apparent to the Jews he saved. The Pharoah he bargained with for the release of the Jews might not have known he was born a Jew.

….…..…

……Deliberately-misleading psukim……

…………Theme: The Significance of names…………

Theme: Importance of Names: Ya’akov/Yisra’el, Yitschok, B’er Sheva, “ha’aretz asher ar’eka”

sub-theme: the names of God

Lamah Zeh anochi/lamah zeh tish’al lishmi

..…………M”R and Names……….

M”R’s name and self-description: why didn't yocheved give him a name at birth? and why not call him that when he was grown up? why wait for Batya to give him a name, and then use that one?

...

Divine-Human interaction: Sub-theme: Natural vs Miraculous: guided vs random: Examples of Subtle Divine Intervention in Joseph’s Life

Divine-Human interaction: Cause-effect: Sub-Theme: exile as a result of sin’at chinam (like tzara’at as a result of lashon ha’ra)

…………Theme: the Role of other nations and their prophets & our interaction with them

…Themes: Dumm, eretz, adamah (dam, adam, adamah; ish, ishah))…

.....

What is prophecy in the Torah: 

• Moshe and signs, and re what prophecy is, yonah as most successful; also Rivka understood various levels a)recognize this is unusual (like MR at sneh), b)ask God, not a psych c) undertand the message is prescription for action not just a passive prediction. 

• Avraham and Sarah misunderstood promise of children and so had hagar/yishmael, they should perhaps have waited, their understanding affected events? Certain things are predestined, but how to get to them is dependent on human will and moral choice. So I can put in various things re FW etc. 

• halachic decision is result of hkbh act (like nes/nisayon) after appropriate process; like struggle of 

• novi to understand vision (ma’kel sha’ked), is part of proess even though he doesnt get it right; like MR not understand how make menorah etc;

Divine-Human interaction

• I can work in the evo/bb stuff re FW and that this is the crux of the Eden/creation story, that we have FW and things actualize according to our actions. Can make Eden into a prophetic dream encounter, as per Rambam.
  
  

• Rambam re prophecy, levels, vision etc. my idea of vision as deeper reality than physical actions.

• We are all prophets (FW). We caused the universe to emerge into reality (qp etc). Adam/Eve etc.

• In Bible there were Jewish and non-Jewish prophets. According to....prophecy is now given to (women)? And children? Fools?

• To broaden dreams as prophecy, add all types of  divine human interaction which are meant to tell humans something and which are in human control: 2 DorLedo articles etc, Karma re Egypt plagues, amd re 10 commandments etc.

• Also: self actualization at highest level via overcoming one’s nature

• Four Mystical Experiences: Closing Circles

• The Re-enactment of the Stolen Idol Scenario, and its Redemption

• my karmic stuff: Yakov’s Karma etc…

• Two Dreams or One Dream Twice Dreamt?

• Angry Words Kill

• In “genesis” page of website, see article: Cause and Effect: In the context of the Torah’s accounts, a dream interpretation affects its realization; similarly the response to a divine mission affects its outcome.
  
  To broaden dreams as prophecy: add all types of  divine human interaction which are meant to tell humans something and which are in human control: 2 DorLedo articles etc, Karma re Egypt plagues, amd re 10 commandments etc.

• Also: self actualization at highest level via overcoming one’s nature

• Four Mystical Experiences: Closing Circles

Monotheism: but I need to mention this as a theme only if I have signiifcant amount of orignal material to add 

• god created everything, even evil is a creation of god.

• jews sacrifice egyptian deity

• god says he "la asot shfatim" on the other 'gods'

My vorts?

• the sun moon and stars are stated to be for a clock, not our rulers or astrology; stars etc bow to joseph.

• megillah is struggle over pagan forces

• bil'am thinks can use his magic power agianst god's will?

.......

The idea of Noach flood as nevuah: what theme does this belong to?

Idea of Eden story as telling us that at some level our souls all requested to live in this world, otherwise would have been unfair for god to have placed us here.

..

Theme:Helices: coming back, at a higher level

Theme: Differences between Jewish belief and Christian/Pagan beliefs:

...

…………………..END OF “THEMES”…………………..