posts so far for parashat Shelach

2012

1. Shelach sources -- further improved.

2. The large samach, because the spies were 60 cubits tall -- So Rav Chaim Kanievksy. I offer that it is enlarged because the word וַיַּהַס is an onomatopoeia.

3. Running commentary on parashat Shelach, part one and two.

4. YUTorah on parshas Shlach.

5. A trup tutorial: kadma vs. pashta -- How to distinguish between the melech and mesharet. Why the pashta will sometimes be repeated in a word. And in an interesting instance, where the pashta is not repeated, what that means in terms of stress. I argue with Chelek HaDikduk. Or perhaps I don't.

6. How to translate יוֹרִשֶׁנָּה. Should we emend Onkelos? Take II -- Chelek HaDikduk explains why the Teimanim will disregard Rashi and preserve their reading of Onkelos, as יוֹרְתִנַּהּ. I agree, but take slight exception. Is Rashi setting out to emend the text, or to justify what he believes is the only extant reading of the Targum? I first addressed the girsa issue in Onkelos last year.

2011

1. The mercha kfula in parshas Shmini -- How shall we account for it? Is it conjunctive or disjunctive? This is relevant because there is an instance of a mercha kefula in Shlach as well.
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2. Who said 'I am the LORD'?  A silly change in Divine appellation, by Samaritan scribes, at the start of Vaera. And after mentioning that modification, I note another extremely silly change, or Yehoshua bin Nun's name in the list of spies in parshat Shlach.
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3. Shlach sources - 2011 edition -- further improved and expanded. For example, many more meforshei Rashi.
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4. Shadal's resolution regarding who initiated the sending of scouts -- indeed, they asked first. And Hashem allowed it for Shadal's resolution regarding who initiated the sending of scouts Moshe's benefit, as well as a pretext so as to cause the Jews to learn in kollel for forty years.
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5. How the Samaritans emend the beginning of Shlach: Is the Samaritan Targum's harmonization of the beginning of Shlach with sefer Devarim an example of Ziyuf? This is a different emendation than the one mentioned in entry #2, above.
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6. Why, according to Tg Yonatan, should the spies be swift-minded? My answer -- they shouldn't. Targum Pseudo-Yonatan has a typographical error in need of correction. That is, rather than guvrin charifin, it should read guvrin chafirin!
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7. YU Torah on parashat Shelach.
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8. Rashi's girsa of Onkelos, on יוֹרִשֶׁנָּה: While Rashi makes a diyuk in Onkelos and establishes the proper girsa in Onkelos, Shadal begs to differ. And how that makes me reevaluate Rashi and propose a different girsa in Rashi citing Onkelos.
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9. Should we translate ha'anak as singular or plural? In Onkelos, different girsaot exist. The scholars fight it out. Ohev Ger has evidence, from Targum Pseudo-Yonatan and various manuscripts of Onkelos, that it should be singular. HaMaamar and Lechem Abirim bring counter-evidence, but I don't find it persuasive.
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10. Understanding the derasha of כִּי חָזָק הוּא מִמֶּנּוּ as stronger than God -- Rashi based on a gemara understands מִמֶּנּוּ as the spies implying a lack of ability of the Almighty. But how shall we understand the derasha, based on not reading מִמֶּנּוּ but מִמֶּנּוּ, when they are pronounced the same? One can emend the gemara, as Rashi does, or one can find differences in pronunciation, based on analyses by Ibn Ezra.
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11. Resolving Rashi on חַי אָנִי. What does he say? What does he NOT say? Two statements of Rashi contradict one another. Is וְיִמָּלֵא כְבוֹד ה part of the oath or not? The first Rashi puts it in, and as a present tense verb, and the second Rashi reorganizes the verse, taking it out, and has it as a future tense verb. This leads various supercommentators to suggest emendations, but the correct one comes from Berliner, based on manuscript evidence, that the second Rashi is a later insertion, and was authored by Rabbi Yosef Kara.
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2010

1. Shelach sources -- revamped, with more than 100 meforshim on the parasha and haftorah.
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2. The trup on kol -- The trup, and nikkud, on the word kol of kol nasi bahem is evidence for Rashbam of the expression's meaning. He is right, but it is the words in the pasuk which determine this trup and nikkud.h
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3. Did Moshe really send nesiim as scouts? The differing position of Rashbam on this matter, and how it works out with the harmonization with the account in sefer Devarim.h
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4. After what was Nachal Eshkol named? After the cluster of grapes, but what about the Biblical character Eshkol? And why does it seem to be called that before they even arrived? The Gra has an interesting suggestion, which I then analyze. See also this earlier post, about dual etymology of Nachal Eshkol.
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5. How many times did the Bnei Yisrael 'test' Hashem? Ten times, some good number of times, or no times? Angering or testing?
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6. When did Moshe call Hoshea Yehoshua? On a peshat level, just when did Moshe give Yehoshua his new name? For what purpose? As per Rashi, Bechor Shor, Rashbam, and Shadal.
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7. How should we parse וּפִגְרֵיכֶם, אַתֶּם--יִפְּלוּ, בַּמִּדְבָּר הַזֶּה?  Rashi says ketargumo. What is bothering Rashi? Also, how we might differ.

2009

1. Shlach sources -- links by aliyah and perek to an online mikraos gedolos, as well as to many meforshim on the parsha and haftara.
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2. Why would Moshe send the meraglim if he knew they would sin? My own suggestion to a question posed elsewhere, based on some other Rashis.
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3. vehaAnashim asher alu imo -- explaining a masoretic note on Shelach, that there are two instances of vehaAnashim, and to remember that this one has a kadma veAzla.
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4. Why did Yehoshua send the spies? Especially given the problem which resulted from Moshe's sending of spies!
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5. Why would Moshe pray for Yehoshua and not Kalev? Rav Elyashiv has an answer, but I believe it goes against an explicit midrash or two.
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6. Was Rachav an innkeeper or a harlot? The "famous" explanation that she was an innkeeper may be the result of misreading / overreading the Targum, according to Radak. I examine all the places Targum translates zonah as pundekita and weigh it, as well as showing how Radak and Ralbag treat it.
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7. Radak is right; Rachav was a harlot. In this post, I consider one of the pundekita sources I missed, about Yiftach's mother. There, an addendum to the Targum makes it fairly explicit that pundekita means prostitute, in an explanation of the application of the name which corresponds well with Ralbag's explanation.
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8. Why does Rashi shift grasshoppers to ants? A few explanations, but I believe that the correct explanation is that he doesn't, and that by nemalim he means chagavim, since he uses that term elsewhere.
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9. Why the chirik in bin Nun? A cute answer, involving borrowing of dots...
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10. Who in the world is Nun? And I am not just saying "Yehoshua's father"...

2008

1. From Shadal's Vikuach -- Bamidbar Rabba for parshat Shelach notes that techeles has been hidden away, yet the gemara makes clear that the Amoraim and early Savoraim had techeiles. This can help us date Bemidbar Rabba.
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2. Was sending the spies a good thing? And what is the implication of lecha here and elsewhere? And then Rabbenu Bachya actually says it!
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3. Did Calev go by himself to Chevron? The sudden shift from plural to singular for going to Chevron, but other psukim indicate otherwise. How do different meforshim deal with this question?
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4. The Egyptians, occupied with burial -- cross-listed from Masei, a parallel midrashic theme of the enemy occupied with burying so as to not make trouble.
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5. The metaphor of tzitzis and mezuzah. In the course of this post, I mention Ramban's dismissal of Rashi's explanation of the count associated with tzitzis.

2007

• The Meraglim Didn't Lie. Also, why mention Hoshea and the name change.
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• From Shadal's Vikuach -- Rashbam uses trup / nikkud to determine what "kol nasi bahem" means every spy was a prince, but not that every prince was a spy.

2006

• Minyanim And Meraglim
• Why we are lucky Calev and Yehoshua did not join with the other spies. ;)
• Whose Idea Was It to Send the Spies?
• All right, I admit it. It was mine. (kidding, kidding.) The Jews? Or Hashem? An apparent contradiction between two sources, resolved by an appeal to Bible as case law or law codes, and by considering the purpose of revealing details in each case.
• Theophoric Names in the List of Spies, but of which deity?
• and a suggestion that names have been changed by the individuals as a reaction to the Exodus, to reflect Hashem as the deity, or to remove the taint. Yehoshua perhaps the first to assume a theophoric name involving YVKV. Or perhaps not. See the comments.
• A Source For Mashiach ben Yosef; Aviram Named After Ancestor?
• Yigal ben Yosef, and Aviram as from Avraham
• Earlier (than Yehoshua) theophoric names involving shem haShem?
• Considering Yocheved and Yosef.
• Why is the Matteh Yosef Missing?
• in the list of the spies? Some thoughts and suggestions.

2005

• The Ten Trials
• What are they? Is the number 10 intended literally? "If I've told you once, I've told you 1000 times."
• Taking וְלֹא-תָתוּרוּ Literally
• As good advice. Looking at billboards featuring scantily clad women causes traffic accidents.

2004

• A Dual Etymology
• for Nachal Eshkol. Avraham's friend plus the cluster of grapes. And a midrash which feeds into it, speaking of how Hashem knew its eventual designation and etymology.
• Nachal Eshkol and How Calev Stands Up to the Other Spies
• And how it relates to risking one's life to save another. And a suggestion of where the midrash derives this threat and confrontation.
• Yehoshua As The First Theophoric Name
• carrying the name YKVK. (or maybe not -- see the posts below.) Thus would bear out ushmi Hashem lo nodati lahem.

to be continued...