My old nach, gra, chana etc
I think there's another webpage for this on my old site? And other versions of the material I inserted below?
I think there's another webpage for this on my old site? And other versions of the material I inserted below?
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U Moishe (Cohen) re rashi/Gaon/my very old nach
Gemoro Brochos 31b (near top) speaks of Chana and Eli (Shmuel aleph, perek aleph)
וְעֵלִי הַכֹּהֵן, יֹשֵׁב עַל-הַכִּסֵּא…:
יב וְהָיָה כִּי הִרְבְּתָה, לְהִתְפַּלֵּל לִפְנֵי יְהוָה; וְעֵלִי, שֹׁמֵר אֶת-פִּיהָ. יג וְחַנָּה, הִיא מְדַבֶּרֶת עַל-לִבָּהּ--רַק שְׂפָתֶיהָ נָּעוֹת, וְקוֹלָהּ לֹא יִשָּׁמֵעַ; וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ עֵלִי, לְשִׁכֹּרָה. יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ עֵלִי, עַד-מָתַי תִּשְׁתַּכָּרִין; הָסִירִי אֶת-יֵינֵךְ, מֵעָלָיִךְ. טו וַתַּעַן חַנָּה וַתֹּאמֶר, לֹא אֲדֹנִי, אִשָּׁה קְשַׁת-רוּחַ אָנֹכִי, וְיַיִן וְשֵׁכָר לֹא שָׁתִיתִי; וָאֶשְׁפֹּךְ אֶת-נַפְשִׁי, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה. טז אַל-תִּתֵּן, אֶת-אֲמָתְךָ, לִפְנֵי, בַּת-בְּלִיָּעַל: כִּי-מֵרֹב שִׂיחִי וְכַעְסִי, דִּבַּרְתִּי עַד-הֵנָּה. יז וַיַּעַן עֵלִי וַיֹּאמֶר, לְכִי לְשָׁלוֹם; וֵאלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, יִתֵּן אֶת-שֵׁלָתֵךְ, אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַלְתְּ, מֵעִמּוֹ. יח וַתֹּאמֶר, תִּמְצָא שִׁפְחָתְךָ חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ; וַתֵּלֶךְ הָאִשָּׁה לְדַרְכָּהּ וַתֹּאכַל, וּפָנֶיהָ לֹא-הָיוּ-לָהּ עוֹד
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R. Hamnuna said: How many most important laws can be learnt from these verses relating to Hannah!33 Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart: from this we learn that one who prays must direct his heart. Only her lips moved: from this we learn that he who prays must frame the words distinctly with his lips. But her voice could not be heard: from this, it is forbidden to raise one's voice in the Tefillah. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken: from this, that a drunken person is forbidden to say the Tefillah. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken, etc.34 R. Eleazar said: From this we learn that one who sees in his neighbour something unseemly must reprove him. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord.1 'Ulla, or as some say R. Jose b. Hanina, said: She said to him: Thou art no lord in this matter, nor does the holy spirit rest on thee, that thou suspectest me of this thing. Some say, She said to him: Thou art no lord, [meaning] the Shechinah and the holy spirit is not with you in that you take the harsher and not the more lenient view of my conduct.2 Dost thou not know that I am a woman of sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink. R. Eleazar said: From this we learn that one who is suspected wrongfully must clear himself. Count not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial;3 a man who says the Tefillah when drunk is like one who serves idols. It is written here, Count not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial, and it is written elsewhere, Certain sons of Belial have gone forth from the midst of thee.4 Just as there the term is used in connection with idolatry, so here. Then Eli answered and said, Go in Peace.5 R. Eleazar said: From this we learn that one who suspects his neighbour of a fault which he has not committed must beg his pardon;6 nay more, he must bless him, as it says, And the God of Israel grant thy petition.5
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וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ עֵלִי, לְשִׁכֹּרָה
sees it as a reference to the urim vetumim. It's known that the letters of the urim ve tumim had to be ordered to be deciphered (WHY?), Eli saw the letters and he read them as spelling shikorah, but the actual order should have been "kshayroh" , she's ok. …………….
Chana says 'lekaf chovah" etc. Why? Pshat is that he should have assumed her lips were moving for tfila not form drunkenness. but the Gra sees it as a reference to the urim vetumim. It's known that the letters of the urim ve tumim had to be ordered to be deciphered (WHY?), and the Gra writes that Eli saw the letters and he read them as spelling shikorah, but the actual order should have been "k'sarah", ie Chana was like Sarah imenu, ie maybe that Sarah also was akarah and davened. (Or mabe "kshayroh" , she's ok). However Rashi on the gmara says "bisrah", "he told/revealed to her", ie as opposed to 'he gave her a brocho'. But from the Gaon's vort we can see that he must have had a different girsa in Rashi, with a chof instead of a beiz.
Indeed in the old Nach that I have, this is indeed the girsa!
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My reconstruction of the Gra's reasoning: AR: why does chana say "dan lekaf chovah…etc", shouldn’t anyone even without ruach hakodesh dan lekaf zchus? maybe she's therefore referring to something that only someone with ruach hakodesh would know, and so that is the urim vetumim, and she's asking why, if he had enough ruach hakodesh to have the urim vetumim give an answer, and he knew that there were two interpretations of the Urim Vetumim, why he chose the bad one
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I assume that Eli was indeed giving a brocho when he said "it will happen", it wasn't that he was simply revealing what would be, as Yosef did to the minister in jail, that (his dream meant) he'd be freed -that wasn;t a brosho of yosef that was simply informing the minister of what would happen, here though it seems indeed Eli gave her a brocho.
[But it can’t be that just because he was sorry, how can he change something like an akoroh giving birth, that it should be the result of his discomfiture and desire to make amends, but it CAN be because maybe ELi thus gave her something of his own zchus?
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