Friday, October 14, 2005

Daf Yomi Eruvin 3a: Lema'an Yed'u *Diroteichem*

I should have posted this earlier in the week, but here it is, excerpted from the end of a longer post on a related topic.
On Eruvin 3a, they cite Rabba's derivation for the requirement that a Succah be 20 amot or less:
מנה"מ אמר רבה דאמר קרא (ויקרא כג) למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל עד עשרים אמה אדם יודע שהוא דר בסוכה למעלה מעשרים אמה אין אדם יודע שדר בסוכה משום דלא שלטא בה עינא
From whence these words? Rabba says, since the verse states (Vayikra 23:43) "לְמַעַן, יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם, כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ ..." - "that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt..." Until 20 cubits a man knows that he is dwelling in a succah; higher than 20 cubits a man does not know that he is dwelling in the succah, for the eye does not rule over it {he cannot see it}.
After explaining how this pasuk, which seems to require knowledge of the past, could mean requirement that one is dwelling in the succah in the present (see cited post for details), I give my other, preferred method of reading it:
While on the subject of the derasha, I may as well mention my other way of interpreting it - as an al tikra. That is, we read the verse with different vowels. Rabba cites the verse לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם. The word דֹרֹתֵיכֶם is written chaser (defective) rather than maleh (plene). That is, the cholam after the daledh has no vav consonant to mark its presence in the unvowelized text of the Torah. Therefore, one can easily read another vowel in its place. I would suggest we place a chirik vowel there and then read לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דִרֹתֵיכֶם - "so that you should know your *dwellings*", rather than "so that that your *generations* show know." This would also account for the emphasis on the word yodea' in Rabba's derasha, as well as the emphasis on the word dar. The derasha would then be: "so that you should *know* your *dwellings*" - until 20 cubits man *knows* (yodea') that he *dwells* (dar) in a succah; higher than 20 cubits, a man *knows* (yodea') not that he *dwells* (dar) in a succah for his eyes do not rule over it (the schach). Note the word choice - dar instead of yoshev, as we find in the word hoshavti later in the verse.
I would only add to this that looking at Rabba's statement, we see that we can divide it into two parts - that written in Hebrew and that written in Aramaic. ויקרא כג) למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל עד עשרים אמה אדם יודע שהוא דר בסוכה למעלה מעשרים אמה אין אדם יודע שדר בסוכה is all in Hebrew - the first portion because it is a citation of the pasuk, but the rest is also in Hebrew, as we can see in the vav of יודע and the shin in שהוא and שדר. The parts in Aramaic are the introduction to the pasuk and statement - מנה"מ אמר רבה דאמר קרא - note for example the daled of דאמר and the phrase מנה"מ - and the elaboration at the end - משום דלא שלטא בה עינא - note the daleds again, and the alephs at the end of the words שלטא and עינא. One might say that the elaboration is by the stama, or one might simply say that Rabba deliberately keeps the first portion of his derasha in Hebrew, to better match the wording of the pasuk, because the derasha is indeed an al tikra. Either way I think it bolsters my case.

No comments:

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin