midrash session 13

[cellio]

(If you're reading the series and wonder what happened to session 12, it was fully consumed in preparing for a beit-midrash session we taught jointly on the stuff covered in session 11. I knew that the beit midrash that day would have three segments, with one rabbi involved in each; I did not know in advance that mine was the only team-taught one. So yeah, three rabbis and me... no pressure. :-) )

Anyway, we are now going to talk about the ram that's caught in the thicket.

(1) R' Eliezer said: from the hills he [the ram] came, that he was grazing [1] there. (2) R' Y'hoshua said: an angel caused him to come from Gan Eden and under the tree of life he was grazing, and he was drinking from the waters that pass under it, and the scent of the ram was wafing in all the world. (3) And when was he given in the garden? (4) At twilight [2] for the sixth day of creation.

(5) All that (the) day Avraham was seeing the ram, caught in this thicket and released and freed, caught in this bush and released and freed, caught in this thicket and released and freed. (6) The Holy One blessed be He said: Avraham, such are the futures of your sons[,] caught in their sins and "thicketed" [3] in kingdoms, from Bavel [Babylon] to Madai [Media], from Madai to Yavan [Greece], and from Yavan to Edom [4]. (7) He [Avraham] said before him: Master of the worlds! It will be thus forever? (8) He said to him: [in] the end they will be redeemed by the horn for this ram -- "Adonai, Adonai [5] in the shofar he will blow and he will walk in the storms of Teman". [6]

[1] The root for "graze" is the same as for "shepherd", but I can't parse out the reflexion in the grammar.

[2] "bein-hashmashot", literally "between suns".

[3] Alternatives welcome. :-)

[4] Allegorically Edom is Rome, but there was also a historical Edom closer to home. I think the rabbis writing this mean Rome.

[5] I had not seen this before. The first of the two words here is literally "Adonai" (lord); the second is the four-letter name of God, with the vowels from the word "Elohim" (another name for God) written in instead. If I understand correctly, this has something to do with not repeating the name of God? The Masorites are apparently responsible.

[6] I went looking for the proof-text, searching "Teman" in all of Nevi'im (prophets), but didn't turn it up. (I did find other uses of Teman, though, so I'm pretty sure I'm not dealing with a spelling-in-transliteration problem.)

We're now at the second paragraph on the second image.

(9) R' Z'charyah said: [oto?] [7] the ram that was created at twilight was running and coming [8] to be sacrificed instead of Yitzchak, and Samuel (?) was standing and "sataning" in order to cancel Avraham Avinu's sacrifice, and two horns were caught between the trees. [We are to infer a causal relationship, I believe. Also, at least one interpretation says this was really the satan, but it says Samuel.] (10) What did the ram do [oto?]? (11) He extended his hand to the outer garment of Avraham. (12) Avraham looked? behind him and he saw the ram, and he extricated [9] him and he offered him instead of Yitzchak his son.

[7] I have a leftover word and don't know what to do with it.

[8] The rabbi translated this "to and fro", I think. Idiom?

[9] I'm taking someone's word for that.

Comments

[cellio]

Thanks!

[6] Interesting -- the translation I searched (Soncino, gives translation credit as David Mandel but no other identifying marks that I see) changes "Teiman" to "south", for no particularly good reason that I can see. I have learned something useful about my sources.

(9) "His horns" makes more sense; thanks for showing me how to see that. (The vav I knew, but not the yud-means-plural rule.)

[9] I didn't recognize the word away from its usual-to-me form. Oops.

(See also my reply to magid.)

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

[6] Teiman does sometimes mean south & sometimes means Yemen. Having failed to find Teman I would have tried Yemen, but wouldn't have thought to try south.

(9) The yud is the same yud you know from construct form (Roshei Yeshiva, Batei Midrash). A possessive is essentially a construct form, and a definite construct form at that. That is, if the last in a chain of contructs (eg the hair of the cat of the house of the friend of me) is a person (name or personal pronoun), all the nouns are definite.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips!