In Bereishit perek 48, Yaakov encounters Yosef and his sons.
In pasuk 8, וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל.
In pasuk 10, וְעֵינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּבְדוּ מִזֹּקֶן, לֹא יוּכַל לִרְאוֹת.
In pasuk11, רְאֹה פָנֶיךָ לֹא פִלָּלְתִּי; וְהִנֵּה הֶרְאָה אֹתִי אֱלֹהִים, גַּם אֶת-זַרְעֶךָ.
A silly question: I thought Yaakov couldn't see (pasuk 8)? So how did he see Yosef's sons (pasuk 8)? And how did he see in Yosef's face and Yosef's sons (pasuk 11)?
One possible answer is that "see" doesn't mean literally seeing. In parshat Balak
need we claim that he literally saw with his eyes? If he had reports from scouts what Israel had done, wouldn't that be sufficient to say that he "saw"?
This is what Ibn Janach says, more or less:
Of course, there are degrees of blindness, such that he could possibly have recognized people he knew but in day-to-day life be functionally blind.
I was also thinking about the role of this interjection, of וְעֵינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּבְדוּ מִזֹּקֶן, לֹא יוּכַל לִרְאוֹת. Why is it necessary for the Torah to stress this, and right here? Here are a few answers, but I don't think they are all simultaneously true. That is, if it comes for reason X, then we should know that it is not coming for reason Y.
a) To explain why they should approach Yaakov. (But they should approach anyway, so that he could rest his hands upon them as he blesses them.)
b) To draw the parallel to Yitzchak's accidental blessing of Yaakov. Yitzchak confused his firstborn and second born, in part because of his blindness. Indeed, Yitzchak also asked Yaakov to draw near to him, and Yaakov only was able to deceive his father because of the fur.
c) To explain Yosef's mistaken impression later (in pasuk 18) that Yaakov had mistaken the older for the younger. וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל-אָבִיו, לֹא-כֵן אָבִי: כִּי-זֶה הַבְּכֹר
In pasuk 8, וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל.
In pasuk 10, וְעֵינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּבְדוּ מִזֹּקֶן, לֹא יוּכַל לִרְאוֹת.
In pasuk11, רְאֹה פָנֶיךָ לֹא פִלָּלְתִּי; וְהִנֵּה הֶרְאָה אֹתִי אֱלֹהִים, גַּם אֶת-זַרְעֶךָ.
A silly question: I thought Yaakov couldn't see (pasuk 8)? So how did he see Yosef's sons (pasuk 8)? And how did he see in Yosef's face and Yosef's sons (pasuk 11)?
One possible answer is that "see" doesn't mean literally seeing. In parshat Balak
| ב וַיַּרְא בָּלָק, בֶּן-צִפּוֹר, אֵת כָּל-אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה יִשְׂרָאֵל, לָאֱמֹרִי. | 2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. |
need we claim that he literally saw with his eyes? If he had reports from scouts what Israel had done, wouldn't that be sufficient to say that he "saw"?
This is what Ibn Janach says, more or less:
וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל -- that is, it was known to him and he sensed their coming, even though he did not [literally] see them, as was written וְעֵינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּבְדוּ מִזֹּקֶן, לֹא יוּכַל לִרְאוֹת. (Sefer Hashorashim, 462)
Of course, there are degrees of blindness, such that he could possibly have recognized people he knew but in day-to-day life be functionally blind.
I was also thinking about the role of this interjection, of וְעֵינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּבְדוּ מִזֹּקֶן, לֹא יוּכַל לִרְאוֹת. Why is it necessary for the Torah to stress this, and right here? Here are a few answers, but I don't think they are all simultaneously true. That is, if it comes for reason X, then we should know that it is not coming for reason Y.
a) To explain why they should approach Yaakov. (But they should approach anyway, so that he could rest his hands upon them as he blesses them.)
b) To draw the parallel to Yitzchak's accidental blessing of Yaakov. Yitzchak confused his firstborn and second born, in part because of his blindness. Indeed, Yitzchak also asked Yaakov to draw near to him, and Yaakov only was able to deceive his father because of the fur.
c) To explain Yosef's mistaken impression later (in pasuk 18) that Yaakov had mistaken the older for the younger. וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל-אָבִיו, לֹא-כֵן אָבִי: כִּי-זֶה הַבְּכֹר
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