Category: Philology
Balashon analyzes the word שרפ from a very Hirschian perspective.
Category: Straightforward Dvar
Nafka Mina offers a plausible allegorical interpretation of the famous midrash involving the 10 cubit Moshe taking on the much larger Og.
Aussie Dave at Israellycool reads parallels to the parsha in current Israeli events.
Bluke at The Jewish Worker makes a related point in this post (point 4).
Category: Homiletics
Rafi G. at Torah Thoughts discusses the implication of a midrash cited by Rashi about what the Israelites would have derived from Moshe speaking to the rock. And what they would derive from his hitting the rock. And thus why Moshe was punished as he was. I find the first two points more plausible than the last.
A wonderful interpretation of the incident of Moshe hitting the rock by Rabbi Gurkow at Inner Stream. In fact, I will excerpt some of it:
It was Moshe’s nature to lead by words, to entice, to cajole, to encourage and even to rebuke but never to hit.
To hit is to resort to violence out of sheer desperation. To hit is to allow your anger to get the better of you. To hit is to be destructive instead of constructive. To hit is to submit to the animal within and allow it to dominate. As humans and as Jews we are capable of more.
Remember: one destructive deed can destroy a hundred constructive words but one carrot accomplishes more than ten sticks.
2 comments:
I don't usually follow Rav Hirsch's etymologies, but do very much enjoy his commentary, so I'll take that as a big compliment.
:)
What caused me to think of Rav Hirsch was the various letter swaps to get
closely related words, which certainly has merit in many cases (such as in the present
example) but which Rav Hirsch often overdoes.
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