Did Rashi darshen a non-existent chaser? Minchas Shai has a pretty strong answer, that this is not the correct girsa of Rashi. Quite plausible, though I am not entirely convinced.
2008
Lech Lecha sources -- by perek and aliyah, in an online Mikraos Gedolos.
Brit Milah as Adopted, Adapted, and Directed Practice Taken from the Egyptians -- Shadal addresses the question that if the Egyptians also practice circumcision, how can it be a sign / covenant for the Israelites? And also deals with a Pheonician myth about Cronus and Uranus, child sacrifice and circumcision, and says this developed from the story about Avraham and Yitzchak.
As a followup to this 2004 post on vehakenaani az baaretz, this 2008 post about Avraham pursuing as far as Dan, when the area of Dan was not named this until sefer Shofetim. Shadal rejects the idea that this a later addition to chumash; rather, this was another place called Dan. This same concern likely motivates Rashi to say that it was called this via ruach hakodesh.
What was the name of Lot's wife? And why should we care? First, various answers as to her name. Where does it come from? Is it an extra-Biblical tradition, derived via midrashic methods from the Biblical text, made up in order to convey some message, or to put more focus on a previously minor character? I trace through various sources which discuss her name. Also, whether Lot's wife really turned into a pillar of salt.
This last one really is rooted in Vayera, but Lot's decision to move to Sodom in the first place takes place in Lech Lecha, and comes into play here.
Contrasting Noach's blessing of Shem with Malkitzedek's (=Shem's) blessing of Avraham. We can see in this contrast a possible motivation for Chazal's emphasis on Shem's preceding the blessing of Avraham to the blessing of Hashem, to the effect of Shem's loss of Kehuna.
Ibn Ezra vs Rashi. What Rashi surprisingly labels peshat (identifying the palit from the battle as Og), and why it so. And the additional stretch labeling him as a survivor of the flood, as Mishrash. Then Ibn Ezra's take, and why he does not see fit to adopt Chazal's identification of the palit.
Two divrei Torah giving rather "creative" explanations for how the Avot kept the Torah, despite apparent violations. And these violations are for rather minor things that might have escaped notice. And a discussion as to whether these are meant as creative exercise or seriously.
When the season comes around. Is this a full year? Or rather 9 months. Assume the latter, and it resolves an apparent contradiction with an earlier Divine promise for a son. Therefore, a three month interval between the two promises.
What is meant by "name?" Explores possibility that it literally means making the name larger by adding the letter heh, and the implications of that interpretation. On a pshat level, it most likely means "renown." Turn to another example, by yibum, where it means "title" to land/inheritance, proved by evidence internal to the text (Rut names her son Oved) and via lexical comparison to a similar phrase by Ephraim and Menashe. Discuss the idea of ain mikra yotzei midei peshuto, and how a gezera shava here uproots the pshat meaning entirely, with an eye to the meaning of the statement in general. Finally, apply this meaning of "name" to a pasuk in Haazinu.
Explores when the command to leave his homeland was made, and why the poetic repetition. Compare with the command to bind Yitzchak, and we see Biblical poetry and repetition used to highlight the drama and the difficulty of the request.
Cross-listed for Vayera, this begins in parshat Lech Lecha. If so, a way in which Avraham kept the Torah, or the Torah of Shem and Ever. Yet the incident in which Sarah offers her maidservant; her insistence of Hagar's demotion back to maidservant despite bearing Avraham a son; and the recognizing of such a child vs. casting out of the house, all have basis in the Code of Hammurabi.
In which Avraham *receives* 10% of the spoils from Malkitzedek, rather than *giving* it to him. If so, we have a contrast to his conduct with the King of Sodom. And an explanation is respective attitudes, a la Goofus and Gallant. Further, in the aftermath, Hashem is not saying that he will be a shield, but rather a gatherer of wealth. See the post inside.
2008
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