Posts so far for parshat Vayakhel

2014

1.  Why single out kindling? As ruling out the exception of ochel nefesh.

2. Why does Rashi change midrash Tanchuma?

2013
1. YUTorah on Vayakhel-Pekudei. And

2. Why does the Torah emphasize that 'on the day of the Shabbat' there is a prohibition of kindling? From Magid Meisharim, it comes specifically to remove us from the hearts of the Sadducees...

3. A woman's wisdom is only in the spindle? I suggest this strong response is because he was responding to a polemic attack on Pharisaic Judaism.

2012

1. The trup symbol of psik in וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה | אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל --  to hint that it was not from the money of the Israelites, but rather that clouds brought it from Gan Eden. This according to Birkas Avraham. Based in Tetzaveh, but connected to Vayakhel.
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2. Vayakhel sources, 2012 edition. 

2011

1. Vayakhel sources -- further improved. For example, many more meforshei Rashi.
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2. YUTorah on parashat Vayakhel. And for 2012. And 2014 edition.
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3. Some thoughts on Onkelos on Vayakhel --   Regarding three points -- the word shaba as a back-formation; Onkelos' rendition ofal hanashim as al neshaya; and whether ve'asah should be rendered in Onkelos as a part tense verb.
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4. Betzalel did all that Hashem commanded Moshe, pt i -- based in Pekudei, but involving Vayakhel:  According to Rashi, Betzalel knew even that which Moshe didn't say to him, and also argued against the reverted order. How to understand this is a major dispute amongst super-commentators of Rashi. In this first part, we try to establish that Rashi never even juxtaposed the two midrashim, which may then impact how we understand what he does say.
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5. Betzalel did all that Hashem commanded Moshe, pt ii --  Into the fray! Looking at the Levush Ha'Orah, who takes other meforshei Rashi to task.
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6. Lo Tevaaru vs. Lo Taviru Esh --   I'm almost certain the Samaritans changed it. The question is, why?
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7. Is it היו or יהיו פני הכרובים?  The Rashba answers a query, based on the texts before him and bolstered by sevarah.
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8. Should Shemot 35:35 read כל or בכל?  Exploring a variant raised and rejected by Minchas Shai.
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9. The pesik in Et | Mizbach HaOlah --  Should we indeed darshen the trup in this way?  My very first post arguing with Birkas Avraham about this issue.

2010

1. Vayakhel sources -- revamped. Now with more than 100 meforshim on the parasha and the haftara.
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2. Did they donate four, or five, types of jewelry to the Mishkan? Did the midrashist have a non-Masoretic text?! A pasuk in Vayakhel lists four types of jewelry donated to the Mishkan. But a Midrash Rabba appears to indicate five types of jewelry. And LXX and the Samaritan Torah back up this reading. What shall we make of this? Could an entire word have fallen out of our Torah?!
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3. As a followup to the above post, Did an entire word fall out of the Torah, pt ii -- No, it didn't. Though I'll attempt to prove this in the third segment. Though the idea that this would be the conclusion could bias one's analysis -- after all, one does not want to be a heretic, according to the Rambam's definition!
   
   This segment is dedicated to analyzing the language of the midrash, and is an attempt tofurther demonstrate that the midrashist indeed was working off a text equivalent to that found in the Samaritan Torah.
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4. And Did an entire word fall out of the Torah, part iii -- No, it didn't. And in this segment, I will try to demonstrate.

2009

1. Vayakhel sources -- links by aliyah and perek to an online Mikraos Gedolos, and many, many meforshim on the parsha and haftara. Great for preparing Shnayim Mikra.
2. Vayakhel thoughts, on gematria and Rashi. What is motivating Baal HaTurim to give all these derivations of the count of 39 melachos. And what is motivating Rashi to explain that Vayakhel is the hiphil? Was it the variant girsaot of Onkelos on this pasuk? I personally doubt it.
3. The Karaite interpretation of lo tevaaru esh, and how Aharon ben Yosef responds to Ibn Ezra and Rav Saadia Gaon within this polemic. Some interesting stuff on both sides.
4. And then, why I think the Karaite position is ridiculous; and my own suggestion of a peshat-based interpretation of this pasuk.
5. How Zohar on parshat Vayakhel mentions Yishtabach, which might be post-Talmudic. And how Zohar on parshat Vayakhel says (citing Chazal that) one may not break off a "parsha" that Moshe did not, but misinterprets parsha to mean sidra, something which does not seem to make sense.

2008

• "Upon the Women" -- Does Onkelos intend a derash? I would guess not, and Rashi may not really be saying this either.

2006

• Behold, Hashem is Called / Credited
• Midrash Rabba (48:5) has an interesting spin on the singling out of Betzalel. While it is homiletic, it fits into an existing theme in the peshat of the pesukim, and also relies on a very clever play on a linguistic ambiguity in the text, one which most casual and many serious readers of midrash will miss...

2005

• The First Word of Parshat Vayaqhel
• Explaining Rashi's explanation of the first word of the parsha, as the perfect causative, created by vav hahipuch from the imperfect causative. You can recognize the imperfect hiph'il because it looks exactly like the imperfect Aramaic Aph'el.

2004

• The 39 Melachot of Shabbat as Pashut Peshat
• How, on the simplest level of reading, the construction of the Mishkan and the prohibition of performing labor on Shabbat are linked, such that Chazal's derivation of the 39 melachot may be read as pashut peshat.
  

to be continued...

posts so far for parashat Tetzaveh

2014

1. Preemptive atonement for the golden calf? So suggests Rav Chaim Kanievsky, to explain why Rashi writes that the taking of a young bull was to atone for sin the golden calf, when it hadn't happened yet. I suggest an alternative, that Midrash Tanchuma (which is Rashi's source) as well as Rashi himself explicitly in parashat Ki Tisa, maintains that this was after the sin of the golden calf.

2012

1. Tetzaveh sources -- expanded and improved.

2. The zarka and segolta on מַעֲשֵׂה חָרַשׁ אֶבֶן -- Shadal writes that one would expect it to be different, based on Rashi. One should put חָרַשׁ אֶבֶן together as a single phrase.

3. The trup symbol of psik in וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה | אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל --  to hint that it was not from the money of the Israelites, but rather that clouds brought it from Gan Eden. This according to Birkas Avraham.

4. The trup on לְבָּשָׁם הַכֹּהֵן תַּחְתָּיו -- How shall we make sense of Rashi's comment on the tevir? Shadal makes up newtrup and makes it simpler.

5. YUTorah on parashat Tetzaveh.

6. Tzav in Tetzaveh -- Why does Rashi only analyze the word tzav in parashat Tzav, but not in parashat Tetzaveh? So asks the Siftei Chachamim. I think the answer is that Rashi only repeats midrash in this, rather than innovates, and Torat Kohanim is only on sefer Vayikra.


2011

1. Tetzaveh sources, further improved. For example, many more meforshei Rashi.
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2. Hakeves echad -- a missing heh for some Rishonim! Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Moshe haKohen, and Radak are missing a heh in hakeves ha-echadi,in parashat Tetzaveh!
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3. Arrange the lamps, or estimate the lamps?  I don't think Ibn Ezra is actually endorsing Yefet ben Ali's novel theory.
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4. YU Torah on parashat Tetzaveh.

2010

1. Tetzaveh sources -- revamped, with over 100 meforshim on the parsha and haftara.
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2. What makes a gadol? Comparing a list of traits listed in an Emes veEmunah post with a midrash about required traits. What of broad secular knowledge?
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3. What was bothering Ibn Caspi? Continuing the conversation on a post in Mishpatim. How Rashbam differing from Chazal is not the same as Rashi differing from Chazal. And considering how Ibn Caspi onegrof would potentially argue with the conclusions of Chazal.
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4. Is nature incapable of making squares and right angles? Considering a position of Rav Shamshon ben Refael Hirsch.
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5. When you cause to ascend the lamps -- What is bothering Rashi? He explains בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ in a particular way, but is inconsistent elsewhere in explaining לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר תָּמִיד. Meanwhile the derasha is not initially on Behaalotecha. I consider Gur Aryeh, and then differ, and explain my own take on the matter.

2009

• Tetzaveh sources -- links by aliyah and perek to an online Mikraos Gedolos, and links to many meforshim on the parsha and haftara.

2008

• Remove me Na -- also for Ki Tisa. How Moshe was removed from a sefer.

2006

• Yerushalayim - Pretty as a Nymph?
• But what does nymph mean, and how does it relate to bride?
• Rapprochement of Brothers
• Cross-listed with Ki Tisa. Moshe is commanded to bring his brother near. Does the happen before or after the sin of the Golden Calf? If so, this might be vindication of Aharon's actions. A midrashic analysis to see if we might deduce Aharon's motivations.
• Identifying the Stones of the Chosen:
• Odem
• Piteda
• Bareket
• Nophech
• Sapir
• Yahalom
• Leshem
• Shevo
• Achlama
• Tarshish
• Shoham
• Yoshpeh
• Other attempts

2004

• A Populist Midrash
• Different approaches to atonement, progressing from the elite, to the common people, to the poor, to the poor unlearned. Interestingly, Torah learning is given as an option before prayer.

2003

• The Purpose of the Tzitz
• is "bearing the iniquity of the holy things." What does this mean? What iniquity? Three traditional answers: Rashi, that iniquity which belongs to the korbanot (e.g. tamei) but not which belongs to the owners (taking it out of designated areas); Tg. Yonatan, the iniquity of promising to bring a korban but not following up; Rashbam, recalling the korbanot so that the Jews' sins will be forgiven for them. Then, my suggestion: the "iniquity" of a mere mortal intruding in this holy place, such that he must be announced by the tinkling of bells and designated at "Holy to Hashem" to justify his presence.

To be continued...

posts so far for parshat Matot

2012

1. Matos sources -- now organized chronologically.

2. YUTorah on Matot

3. Hataras Nedarim, suspended in air

2011

1. The mercha kfula in parshas Shmini -- How shall we account for it? There is one in Matos as well.
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2. Matos sources -- further expanded. For instance, many more meforshei Rashi.
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3. Why is Moshe's death after the war against Midian? Last year, I presented one reason from Rav Yonasan Eibeshitz. Here is another one, having to do with the laws of ritual purity.
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4. YU Torah on parashat Matos.
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5. Is there any Targum Onkelos on Atarot v'Divon? Not according to Rashi and Tosafot. So why do we have it in our Mikraos Gedolos?
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6. Why is וְכִבַּסְתֶּם translated as וּתְחַוְּרוּן?  Onkelos strays from his usual path. Is this a violation of the rule laid down by Rashi in parshat Tazria?
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7. Matos / Masei as the last sidra in the Torah --  Yes, I know there is a whole sefer in front of us, sefer Devarim, but that is Mishneh Torah. We should still consider the first four sefarim as a unit, such that we should expect some closure to the Torah.
   
   That, I think, is peshat in the instruction to Moshe about fighting Midyan...

2010

1. Matos sources -- revamped,  with more than 100 meforshim, organized into categories.
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2. Pinchas took the aron to battle, to the exclusion of the tzitz -- What Ibn Ezra tells us by omission, when he says that they took the aron to war.
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3. What is the allegorical meaning of the midrash of Pinchas the flying kohen? This is one midrash I suspect was indeed intended allegorically, despite the thrilling details which we would like to picture happening on the peshat level.
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4. What was Bilaam doing in Midian? Bilaam shouldn't have been there, since he 'returned to his place'. So why was he killed in the battle against Midian? The midrash has an answer; Ibn Caspi does not, and is firm in not having an answer. Also, Rav Saadia Gaon, and another suggested resolution.

2009

1. Matot sources -- links by perek and aliyah to an online Mikraos Gedolos, plus many, many meforshim on the parsha and haftarah.
   
   
2. To whom did Moshe speak in the beginning of Matot? To the leaders, to the people, to the leaders of the people, etc. Different opinions, and how it may work into trup.
3. Rav Yonasan Eibeshutz considers why the war with Midian was to be specifically waged in Moshe's lifetime.

2008

1. The Trup on Vekamu nedareha -- and Shadal's suggestion that the revii should really be a zakef, analyzed.
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2. Yachel meaning Forgive, Profane, Or Delay? as per the discussion of various meforshim.
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3. Did Ibn Ezra have "chalutz" with a kametz? I doubt it.

2007

1. The Vengeance of the Lord -- Moshe takes immediate action, as opposed to what Yehoshua does. There is also a change from the vengeance of the Israelites, in Hashem's statement, to the vengeance of Hashem, in Moshe's statement. Perhaps this is Hashem's vengeance on behalf of the Israelites.

2006

• No Punishment For Cursing? And Excusing The Woman Who Vows -- A post on Emor, about the blasphemer, in which I digress to discuss the laws in Matot, and how a husband may nullify his wife's vows. I suggest that וְנָשָׂא אֶת-עֲו‍ֹנָהּ may be read not only as "he (=her husband) shall bear her sin," but also "He (=Hashem) shall bear her sin," or "her sin shall be borne." An analysis by considering the various sections in the parsha.

• Bilaam the Flying Soothsayer -- 
• the derivation of the midrash that Bilaam flew and that Pinchas used the tzitz to bring Bilaam back to earth.
• Pinchas the Flying Priest
• in which Pinchas also flies. the midrashic derivation of that, as well as the derivation of an extended Arami Oved Avi midrash in Tg Yonatan, where Bilaam's misdeeds are more numerous.

2005

• Did Pinchas Act On His Own Initiative? (related to parshat Balak and Pinchas as well)
• First, dismiss as anachronistic and silly the idea that the brit shalom that Pinchas received was a cure for fanaticism, and that Hashem disliked Pinchas' action, by noting that in this incident, Hashem killed 24,000 in a plague, that Moshe called for the execution of the leaders of those who had joined Baal Peor, and that in a subsequent episode, Pinchas is called upon to join battle with the Midianites.
  However, if one desires to mitigate the zealousness, one can point out that according to the traditional, midrashic interpretation (advanced by Rashi), Moshe and the judges were unsure of how to act in Zimri's case, Pinchas recalled the halacha, reminded Moshe, and Moshe told him to carry it out. And so, Pinchas executed a command from the leader of the Israelites, and did not simply act on his own (though the halacha he recalled was that zealots may act on their own in such a case.)
  From a pshat perspective, one might posit that Pinchas did not act on his own at all. The previous verse contains a command to kill the leaders of those who had joined Baal Peor, and we know from earlier and elsewhere that the harlotry led into joining Baal Peor, and so Zimri fit this command. Further, Pinchas' action stops Hashem's anger (manifested in the plague), and Hashem told Moshe the killing of those involved would turn aside His anger.
  
• Midianites or Moabites? (related to parshat Balak and Pinchas as well)
• Considers that the beginning of the Baal Peor episode involved daughters of Moab, while subsequently, Kozbi was a Midianite, they are told to take revenge on the Midianites, and in parshat Matot, they fight a war against Midianites, and Moshe is upset that they did not kill the Midianite women who enticed them in the first place.
  Notes the Midianite role in consulting with Bilaam in the first place, in parshat Balak; notes that Midian at points seemed to hold land of Moav; notes Balak himself may have been a prince of Moav. Suggests that the elite of the Israelites slept with the nobles of the area, who were Midianites, while commoners slept with the commoners, who were Moabites; that it was Moabite land under rule of Midian; that there were both Moabites and Midianites present; and that Moav was protected as the result of Divine command.
• First to the Leaders
• The first pasuk is taken midrashically to mean that first the leaders and then the general populace were informed of the command. Explains how this is evident in a particular parsing of the verse (advanced by Mizrachi): "And Moses spoke unto the heads of the tribes and to {rather than of} the children of Israel, saying..." and demonstrates how the trup is consistent with this reading, and not with the typical pshat reading.
• Haftarat Matot = Yirmiyahu 1:
• Yerushalmi Gittin #1: Jewish Geography?
• Which way is Bavel? The gemara says East, but Yirmiyahu appears to say North, an issue which bothered the meforshim. An attempted resolution - perhaps Yirmiyahu is talking about a failed attack which we know happened shortly after his prophecy, and his prophecy explicitly makes mention of the fact that it will fail.
• Yirmiyahu: Baby-Faced Prophet?
• In which I consider a possible neo-midrashic interpretation of הִנֵּה לֹא-יָדַעְתִּי, דַּבֵּר כִּי-נַעַר, אָנֹכִי as Yirmiyahu literally being unable to speak because he is an infant. Speculations that this was used as a basis for Jesus and, in turn, for Ben Sira and Merlin.

2004

• Tevilat Kelim
• A novel analysis of the psukim, the gemara, Ramban, and Rashi, on the subject of immersing certain acquired vessels. This post defies easy summary, so check it out inside!
• More On Tevilat Kelim
• Heh. Check out this post, which shows that not only Jews practice tevilat keilim.

2003

• Halachic Ramifications of the Number of Israelite Warriors
• A discussion in Eruvin about the minimum size of an encampment of Jewish soldiers, in which five normal halachic obligations are waived. One suggestion, 12,000, is based on the size of the force which attacked Midian in parshat Matot.

to be continued...

Posts so far for parshat Pinchas

Two posts this week about shafan and al-wabr, which is a hyrax. First, that wascally wabr. And next, did Saadia Gaon have a masorah on shafan as al-wabr?


2013

1. YUTorah for Pinchas.


2012

1. Pinchas sources -- further improved.

2. YUTorah on parshas Pinchas.

3. What made the daughters of Tzelaphchad so brilliant? Rashi says they were smart, since they would not have brought their claim had their father had a son. But this is common gentile law as well! Rather, Levush HaOrah explains that they meant had their father had a daughter of a son. I explain why this is compelling peshat in Rashi, based on the Sifrei. And why I still don't think it is correct peshat in Rashi.

2011

1. Pinchas sources -- further expanded. For instance, many more meforshei Rashi.
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2. Yocheved's mother, whose name was Otah -- Why don't Rashi, Bechor Shor, and Ibn Ezra leap at the cute derash as peshat? I am not convinced they even had access to this midrash, but they might reject it onpeshat grounds -- that it does not feel like peshat -- rather than having to reject it on technical grounds of dikduk.
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3. YU Torah on parashat Pinchas.
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4. How does Onkelos translate עצרת תהיה לכם? Shadal brings various variants, but dismisses a proof from Zoharic Aramaic. He is cryptic why, but I think that his comment in the addendum of the Vikuach, together with a bit of calculation, can aid us in arriving at why.
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5. A son going off the derech is the mother's fault -- so claims the Kav HaYashar on parashat Pinchas. And he backs it up with a apocryphal story of the Ramban's wife being raped. It should be clear that I don't agree with the Kav HaYashar here.
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6. Did Korach's sons go to Gehinnom, or did they become prophets? Mizrachi shows a contradiction within Rashis. The Taz attempts to solve it. And I offer suggestions throughout, that Rashi didn't say it, or that Rashi means that their songs ascended, not that they physically ascended.
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7. Was Pinechas initially a kohen?  Someone, by email, called my attention to a dispute between the Zohar and the gemara as to whether Pinchas was initially a kohen, prior to his killing of Zimri and Cozbi...  However, if we read that gemara in Zevachim carefully, we see that it is actually amachlokes whether Pinchas only became a kohen then...  Therefore, it would be no surprise if the Zohar presents an interpretation which differs from the one proffered by Rashi.
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8. Is marrying two sisters intrinsically or extrinsically obnoxious?   We consider the perspective of Rashi (intrinsically), Ibn Ezra (based on the land), and Ibn Caspi (who rejects Ibn Ezra and gives a rationalist reason for the prohibition). I suggest that it is extrinsically bad, based on intent and social mores. -- This touches on Pinchas' assertion that Yocheved was Amram's aunt.
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9. Was Baba Elazar a con-artist?  I am not going to address this question head-on, at least initially. I would prefer to start with a story, which happened to some close family friends of mine, a few years back...

2010

1. Pinchas sources -- revamped, with over 100 meforshim on the parasha and haftarah.
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2. Elokei HaRuchot and avoiding blasphemy -- Shadal is correct from a grammatical perspective of what the text of Onkelos should be, but accidental chiruf ve-gidduf due to grammatical ignorance doesn't really concern me. A short post.a
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3. Was Pinchas descended from Yisro or from Yosef? Or both? Should we indeed follow the gemara's harmonization? A study in Rashi, and in approaches to midrash aggada.
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4. Tossing Korach -- out of the pit and into the fire -- Did Korach die with Datan and Aviram, or within the congregation consumed by the fire? Different reads of parashat Korach yield different results. And then, in parshat Pinchas, Korach's fate seems a bit ambiguous. How the Samaritans resolve this difficulty by messing with the Biblical text.
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5. Does Eliyahu Hanavi come to every bris? Some sources associate Pinchas with Eliyahu Hanavi, I thought to discuss the midrash that Eliyahu Hanavi visits every bris, such that we have a kisei shel Eliyahu.
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6. Yocheved His Aunt, and the Length of the Servitude --  If Yocheved was literally Amram's aunt, it is difficult to make the servitude 210 years, and even more, 400 years. Relax this and you have more leeway. Rav Saadia Gaon and the Targum Hashiv'im give us this leeway.

2009

1. Datan and Aviram were at fault, while Korach was just along for the ride. Ralbag's interpretation of certain pesukim in Pinchas.
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2. A quick trivia question or two on Pinchas. In a followup, I identify the pasuk that has a peh in each word, discuss Baal Haturim's answer and note his source, note the loss of peh in HaShufami, discuss Baal Haturim's answer and note his source, and finally give my own explanation for the loss of pheh.
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3. Should the yud of Pinchas be small? Part one and part two. How the tradition in the Zohar differs from all masorot and sifrei Torah in the time of Minchas Shai. What about now? Look it up this Shabbos and report back.
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4. How did one "join" to Baal Peor? Was the method of worship sleeping with a virgin? I disagree.
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5. How does the Torah trace the lineage of the wicked for shame? Analyzing Rashi and his sources, as a supercommentator.
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6. Zimri the exhibitionist? I don't think so! Considering the typical dumb Pinchas dvar Torah that appears in Jewish newspapers this week, year after year, in which Pinchas' actions were improper and Hashem is trying to reform him.
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7. Did Pinchas have to fear for his life? An interesting idea I saw in Chizkuni, but I should have looked at Ibn Ezra, where we can find the same.
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8. How Onkelos translates Ish -- why he sometimes translates it gevar and sometims anash. I spot what I think is the rule, after a stark juxtaposition in this week's parsha.
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9. An eternal covenant of Kehuna Gedolah -- based on Shadal, Ibn Ezra, and Ralbag. And what about when it did not go to the sons of Pinchas ben Eleazar, but to the sons of Itamar? Was this a violation of the covenant? Why not? And how this might have caused a rift.
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10. What was Tzelophchad's sin? And why I favor specific identifications, within the realm of midrash.
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11. Did Rabbi Akiva create his own midrashim? I would argue yes, even in the case of Tzelofchad's sin, where he has a gezeira shava working for him.
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12. What's in a name? Salu -- where I discuss the name, what it may mean, and its form.
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13. Pinchas sources -- links by aliyah and perek to an online mikraos gedolos. Plus a number of meforshim on the parsha and haftarah.
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14. Why the war with Midian before Moshe's death? From Rav Yonasan Eibeshitz, that they should not think Moshe did not take revenge upon them on behalf of Klal Yisrael because he, too, was guilty.
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15. Teshi, with a unique small yud -- but if the masorah states that the yud in Teshi, in Haazinu, is unique, then how can the yud in Pinchas be small?! See also post #3 from the same year.

2008

1. Every week, I first try to plot out what posts I am going to make by going through the parsha with and without various meforshim and noting to myself points of interest. Since I am (more or less) the same individual, going through the same parsha, it can easily occur the same points of interest occur to me from one year to the next. And where I am not careful to first read through old posts, I might end up posting the same thing. That happened this year, with Pashta-Zakef or Mercha on UMinchatam, which is more or less identical to the last post from one year ago. In this version, I include more pictures and perhaps make it clearer. Also, this year, an anonymous commenter suggests that the distinction between trup is musical rather than syntactic, as I had proposed.
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2. The ascension of Eliyahu, and the Pinchas-Eliyahu connection.
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3. Based in part on targum on the incident with Pinchas (at the end of Balak) as one of many sources, we see that beis torfah does not mean "thigh area," but the pudenda, in contrast with the misinterpretation provided by Rabbi Falk in his Oz veHadar Levushah.

2007

1. Why Isn't Zimri Identified by Name Initially?
   To show the degree to which Bnei Yisrael were attached to Baal Peor? But note Kozbi is also not identified. Various precedents, and then stylistic suggestions. Perhaps to show that Pinchas did not concern himself with rank, or to better stress Cosbi's Midianite identity.
2. Midiantites as a Generic term?
   This would solve problems locally and by the sale of Yosef.
3. Why the Count, and Why The Break Mid-Pasuk?
   Perhaps the preceding plague, perhaps as a closing count matching the count as they left Egypt. I suggest also a count in preparation for war against the Midiantites, And perhaps the pause in mid-pasuk because not just the command, but the entire section, was an interjection, placed by Moshe after the fact.
4. Pinchas or Pinechas?
   Do we pronounce a sheva na in his name? Is there a keri and ketiv in play?
5. Pinchas Picture Punning Puzzle
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6. Chirik Chaser vs. Chirik Malei in Aramaic (as a followup to Pinchas or Pinechas)
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7. Points on Pinchas
   Individual points that would not merit individual posts.
8. Zimri as the Gilgul of Shechem
9. The trup on UMinchatam
   Shadal notes trup at odds with the minchat shai, and suggests both are possible.

2006

• Brit Kehunat Olam. What Exactly Did Pinchas Get? Also, how could Pinchas Kill Zimri?
• Wasn't he already a kohen? Rashi's famous answer about Pinchas' missing out before. But wouldn't certain Leviim be excluded under the same? Other pashtanim: the high priesthood. How could Pinchas kill Zimri? Would this not make him impure? One answer is that he was not yet a kohen; another is that Zimri was a goses until he left the tent.
• Who was Cosbi bat Tzur?
• How Tg Yonanat creatively reparses the pasuk, such that Tzur becomes Balak.
• Blog Roundup
• What other blogs are saying about Pinchas
• Chamber or Belly?
• Did Pinchas thrust the spear into her belly (/womb)? Or did he kill her in her tent, just as he killed Zimri in his tent? Different approaches on the level of peshat. Then, more parsing of the pasuk to get all the details of the midrashic approach in Sanhedrin.

2005

• Giv'at Pinchas
• Many times we hear that the Levites received no inheritance in Eretz Yisrael (with the exception of certain Levite cities) yet the last pasuk in sefer Yehoshua states that Eleazar was buried in Giv'at Pinchas beno - the hill of Pinchas his son - which had been given to him in Har Ephraim.
  The Sifrei explains this as an inheritance from Pinchas' wife, who was from the tribe of Ephraim. I tie this in with the daughters of Tzelophchad, later in Pinchas, in Bemidbar 27, and to the explicit mention at the end of parshat Masei (in Bemidbar 36) that inheriting from a woman who has inherited can cause land to switch tribes.
  I also give two other suggestions - that is was not a true inheritance, but was granted to Pinchas in perpetuity as an achuzat kever, a place to bury his dead; and alternatively, just as we see that Yehoshua seems to have gotten a nachala in Har Ephraim (within his own tribes' land) after and apart from the usual division of the land, perhaps the same was true for Pinchas, as a practical matter of being a member of the ruling elite, who should be in close proximity to Yehoshua, or else as an expression of gratitude for his leadership, for example in the war against the Midianites, as we see in parshat Matot.
• A Real Shlumiel
• A tongue-in-cheek etymology of the word Shlemiel. I note that midrashically, Rabbi Yochanan identifies Zimri ben, the nasi of a household in the tribe of Shimon, with Shelumiel ben Tzurishaddai, the nasi of the tribe of Shimon, and gives explanations of the import of the other names. I also note that this follows a closed-canon approach.
  Thus we have the ultimate Shlemiel. Zimri does the sin, and Shelumiel is blamed for it!
• How Many Tents? (cross-listed from parshat Korach)
• How did Korach die? Was he burned with those offering incense or was he swallowed alive together with Datan and Aviram? I point out in this post that parshat Korach does not answer this explicitly, while in parshat Pinchas, when arriving at the lineage of Datan and Aviram, while the death of Korach is mentioned, how he died is perhaps left ambiguous. The psukim in Pinchas:
  
  
  וּבְנֵ֣י אֱלִיאָ֔ב נְמוּאֵ֖ל וְדָתָ֣ן וַֽאֲבִירָ֑ם הֽוּא־דָתָ֨ן וַֽאֲבִירָ֜ם קרואי (קְרִיאֵ֣י) הָֽעֵדָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר הִצּ֜וּ עַל־מֹשֶׁ֤ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹן֙ בַּֽעֲדַת־קֹ֔רַח בְּהַצֹּתָ֖ם עַל־ה׃

  וַתִּפְתַּ֨ח הָאָ֜רֶץ אֶת־פִּ֗יהָ וַתִּבְלַ֥ע אֹתָ֛ם וְאֶת־קֹ֖רַח בְּמ֣וֹת הָֽעֵדָ֑ה בַּֽאֲכֹ֣ל הָאֵ֗שׁ אֵ֣ת חֲמִשִּׁ֤ים וּמָאתַ֨יִם֙ אִ֔ישׁ וַיִּֽהְי֖וּ לְנֵֽס׃

  וּבְנֵי־קֹ֖רַח לֹא־מֵֽתוּ׃
  One could read this as either the earth swallowing them (Datan and Aviram), and Korach up, or else as the earth swallowing Datan and Aviram up, while Korach died with the death of the congregation, the other 150 who offered incense. The trup, in many ways, favors the former interpretation.
  Within parshat Korach, I point out that Moshe explicitly says that Korach will offer incense with the congregation; that he speaks to Korach and his congregation before turning to Datan and Aviram; that we would not truly expect the tent of Korach to be next to the tent of Datan and Aviram (for it to be swallowed up); that Moshe only addresses Datan and Aviram and not Korach; that the phrase mishkan-Korach Datan VaAviram has a makef between "tent" and "Korach," and that this, combined with other trup, suggests that mishkan-Korach means the Korachite tent of Datan and Aviram, and so Korach is not present at all; that only Datan, Aviram, and their families emerge from the tents, and no mention is made of Korach and his family; and finally, that this could be the cause of the statement in parshat Pinchas that the sons of Korach did not die - they were not present at all.
• Why Did Pinchas' Action Stop the Plague?
• I suggest that his act recast the situation from "Me vs. Them" into "Me and Some of Them vs. Others of Them," such that it did not merit as severe a response.
• Did Pinchas Act On His Own Initiative? (cross-listed from parshat Matot)
• After rejecting a silly reading which condemned Pinchas' act and claimed he was "healed" and was now a Peace Now activist, I put forth two readings which show Pinchas did not act on his own. According to the traditional reading, put forth by Rashi, he told Moshe the law and received instructions to carry it out on Zimri. According to a possible pshat reading, he was explicitly told a verse earlier to kill the leaders who had joined Baal Peor, and Zimri fit this description.
• Midianites or Moabites? (cross-listed from parshat Matot)
• Considers the issue and evidence of whether Moabites or Midianites were involved in the harlotry and idolatry of Baal Peor, explores Midianite involvement earlier in parshat Balak, and suggests a possible resolution of this difficulty.

to be continued...

Posts so far for parshat Naso

2013

1. Kehas and Gershon get a Vaydaber. Merari does not. Or HaChaim explains it as a special elevation to Gershon. I explain it as due to the interjection at the end of the instruction for Kehas.

2. May the Sotah take the bitter waters intravenously? I was in a bit of a fun mood, so I posted the following question (and subsequent answer) at Mi Yodea. Deleted, under the purim torah policy. :(

2012

1. Did Chazal know the meaning of Hebrew words? Given a Tannaitic dispute about the respective meaning of chartzan and zag, some Protestant scholar says no. Shadal says yes, and explains how something so basic can be a matter of dispute. Also, that Targum Onkelos is merely attributed to Onkelos.

2. YUTorah on Naso

3.  Naso sources, 2012 edition.

4. Haftarat Naso part i -- prophecy of Shimshon's conception and birth: Considering the haftara of parashat Naso, which is the story of Shimshon's miraculous birth. I present Malbim, and use his commentary as a jumping off point. In this first part, the malach's first communication.

5. Haftaras Naso part two, about the differences in the retelling of the story of the malach.

6. And part three, about the making of the goat for the malach.

2011

1. Naso sources -- further expanded. For example, many more meforshei Rashi.
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2. Impure to the bone? Part ii. Continuing a topic from last year on parshat Naso, about whether לטמי means bone or impure, and whether דאינשא should be present.
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3. YU Torah on parashat Naso.
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4. How shall we pronounce the first וּבָאוּ in parashat Naso?  Is it mile'eil or mi'le-ra? I weigh in, considering the meaning of Minchas Shai.
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5. An explanation for that cryptic Minchas Shai on ובאו --  If marking a telisha on the place of stress is so rare, why does Minchas Shai note its absence? This on Naso.

2010

1. Naso sources -- revamped, with more than 100 meforshim on the parasha and haftara.
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2. If a man does not have a redeemer -- Why is Rashi inconsistent in his explanation of this phrase, between Naso and Behar?
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3. Sotah, and Identical Twin Sisters -- A statement about identical twin sisters, one of whom is a Sotah, seems oddly out of place. It is a taus sofer, as several meforshei Rashi explain? This is quite plausible. On the other hand, I give a reason why it might well not be, at least not in its entirety.
   a
4. Impure to the bone, or just Impure? Rashi explains Onkelos, who deviates from his usual manner and explains tamei lenefesh as tamei to the bones of a dead person. This sort of expansion is quite irregular. But maybe Rashi isn't really saying this. And even if Rashi says this, this may not be what Onkelos says, or what Onkelos means, as Shadal explains.
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5. Ibn Kaspi and the (poisonous?) bitter waters -- Ibn Kaspi, perhaps, sheds light on the Ibn Ezra I discussed last year, that the kohen put poisonous bitter herbs into the water.

2009

1. Naso sources -- links by aliyah and perek to an online Mikraos Gedolos, and links to many meforshim on the parshah and haftarah.
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2. Thanks, DovBear, for the link and discussion! Check out this post and the comment section there, all about 2008's post on The Nature of the "Bitter" Waters. What precisely in Ibn Ezra's comment make Shadal and Avi Ezer draw their conclusions about Ibn Ezra's intent?
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3. As a followup to the above, in "Poisonous Sota Water?!", I carefully translate and parse Ibn Ezra and Avi Ezer, in an attempt to demonstrate exactly what Shadal saw in Ibn Ezra. Then, I relate another supercommentary on Ibn Ezra, namely Mechokekei Yehudah, and show how he says more or less the same thing -- that the kohen puts a potentially harmful agent in the water -- while disagreeing with Shadal's take on Ibn Ezra that it was always fatal and up to the kohen to decide whether to put it in.
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4. Then, as an additional followup, some more takes on Ibn Ezra's "sod" of the bitter waters (or waters of bitter substances), from another Ibn Ezra supercommentator, from a Karaite, and from Torah Temimah.
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5. The bitter waters operating with gender equality -- Baal Haturim's supplemental support to a midrash of it affecting both adulteress and adulterer, and whether the gematria is really the mechanism of derivation here.
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6. Amen | Amen; is the pasek meaningful as the Baal Haturim takes it, or is it something almost mechanical as a result of the duplication, which was anyway the source for the midrashic conclusion?
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7. Yaer Hashem as a revival of Yitzchak? The Baal Haturim connects this part of the famous priestly blessing to a midrash in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer which has Yitzchak actually die at the akeida only to be resurrected.
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8. In the haftarah, questions about chronology. At what point were Shimshon's parents told about his birth? Was it during the forty year subjugation under the Philistines, or before it? And how the "missing" first pasuk might help resolve this.
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9. How can you have a nazir who runs after women? Ralbag resolves this by relating the two, that this is supposed to offset and restrict Shimshon's nature.
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10. Who spoke to Manoach and his wife? An angel or prophet? Ralbag interprets this as prophet, in a way that can have repercussions across Tanach.
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11. How is the birth of Shimshon connected to parashat Naso? Besides the obvious nazir connection. That Manoach did not suspect his wife of adultery.

2008

1. The trup on umichsei hatachash
• may be reversed. Trup charts and discussion to illustrate.
2. Ufkudav -- As Hashem Commanded Moshe
• Understanding Rashi on this pasuk, which may involve getting the correct girsa of Rashi. And an analysis of Sifsei Chachamim's analysis.
3. Venistera, And She Is Defiled
• Is this saying that she was secretly defiled? That there was a separate action of seclusion?
4. The meaning of "And She Was Not Seized"
• Does this refer to rape? Or to her being caught in the act? If the latter, by whom? By witnesses or by her husband?
5. The Nature of the "Bitter" Waters
• Were they merely bitter in (potential) effect? Or were they physically bitter? Or were they poisonous? And if poisonous, was this due to trickery of the kohen who made a private determination that she was guilty -- thus eliminating any Divine role in any of this? Is this similar to trickery in how the ketores saved the people in the mageifa? How will Avi Ezer try to save Ibn Ezra from this heresy? How will Shadal reject this Ibn Ezra as a matter of peshat?
6. The bitter waters of Sotah as a selective abortive agent for bastards
• a weird theory, I grant you, but read it to see if it makes any sense
7. "Sitting" in Taanis, and Critiquing Homiletic Divrei Torah
• In which I critique a homiletic interpretation of a gemara relating to nazir, then discuss whether it is legitimate to critique homily. Finally, I find a version of the devar Torah, attributed to the same source, which better (though not entirely) accords with the shakla veTarya of the gemara.
• As a quick followup, the Seforno on the relevant pasuk in Naso.
8. The segol of Pera
• Understanding Rashi's grammatical point that the segol in the word pera is only there because it is the construct form. Even in absolute form it would remain the same. Shadal notes a variant girsa of Rashi which has him potentially referring to the patach, but even so, Rashi is not correct. I suggest that Rashi differs as to the pattern in play, and is working off the form as it appears in Aramaic, in Targum Onkelos.
9. HaMearerim as Accursed, Causing Curse, or Something Else
• A discussion of what Rashi means in his assessment of the word -- prickly rather than causing curse (the latter is Onkelos); then as it occurs in the Samaritan Targum and in Targum Pseudo-Yonatan, discerning.

2007

• A midrash, and my expansion, on why converts are great. And I link it to Shavuot.

2006

• Naso roundup from other blogs

2005

• Healed at Sinai (Naso/Shavuot)
• A midrash that all were healed in order to receive the Torah. We look at the derivations, then suggest a vector for the genesis and development of the midrash.
• Na Only Connotes Please
• cross-listed from Behaalotecha. We consider the meaning of X only connotes Y, and cite in part a midrash in Bamidbar Rabba about Shimshon.

2004

• A Hair-Raising Experience
• eh. I tried to make a link from a nazir's consecrated hair, burned on the altar, with the Indian hair wigs.
• Count
• C++ code to count the sons of Gershon.

to be continued...