midrash session 3.1

[cellio]

Rabbi Symons and I have continued to study midrash, but I fell off the wagon when it came to posting translations. When I was only a little behind I had some notion that I would catch up. But no, those things never get better with time. :-) We just started our third series, so I'm going to just start here. (The first was the akeidah and the second was the crossing of the sea of reeds. Now we're doing the beginning of Moshe's leadership.)

As before, I'm generally trying to translate pretty closely, rather than finding the phrasing that flows most smoothly in English, because part of the point is to improve my language skills. Well, except for the parts where I waved my hands more broadly because I got the gist just fine but fell down on some individual words. As always, comments, corrections, and improvements are most welcome.

And let me just praise Rabbi Symons here: not only did he make me nice large photocopies of this text (the original lines were maybe 3" wide -- tiny font), but he cut out and taped together all the resulting pieces to make nice continuous columns for me! That's kindness!

First we read the passage in Sh'mot leading up to Moshe's flight from Egypt. I either hadn't noticed or had completely forgotten that the text mentions two kings after Yosef -- Yosef died and a new king arose who didn't know him, and then he died and the people cried out from their slavery-induced anguish. I thought it was one king. The following midrash starts from the passage about that second king's death.

(1) "And the king of Egypt died" -- (this is approximate:) he was a leper [a], for a leper is like the dead, as it is written: "please she is not like the dead" (this refers to Moshe's prayer for Miriam). [b]

[a] M'tzora, the scaly skin affliction discussed at some length in the middle of the book of Leviticus and that affects Miriam in the desert. It's usually translated "leprosy" but they don't really mean the disease we know by that name today.

[b] A better rendering would be "please let her not be like the dead", but I don't know if that's a fair reading or eisegesis.

We initially disagreed on whether this passage meant he had died of leprosy, but the following text will resolve that.

New paragraph: (2) "The children of Israel groaned" -- what did they groan? (3) Because [to Paro] the magicians of Egypt said: (4) there is not to you healing if we don't slaughter [c] young children of Israel, 150 in the evening and 150 in the morning, and you wash (bathe) in their blood two times a day. [d] (5) As soon as Israel heard (the) decree [e] they began to maon and groan and lament [f].

[c] shachat, the same word as for ritually slaughtering animals.

[d] The if/negation got dropped in the last clause, but the meaning should be clear: they're saying Paro only gets healed of his leprosy if they slaughter all these kids and he bathes in their blood twice a day (for an unspecified number of days).

[e] Literally, I think, "a decree Israel (plural) heard" -- I don't see a definite article or a "this" or the like.

[f] We had to consult a dictionary for some of these verbs. I might have them in the wrong order.

New paragraph: (6) "And God heard their groaning" -- Rabbi Akiva says: (7) executioners [g] for Paro were drowning Israel in walls of houses to build (that is, while houses were being built they were held in the concrete or mud or whatever), and they would cry [out] from the midst of the buildings, crying from the midst of the walls -- and the Holy One blessed be He heard [h] their moaning.

[g] This is not a Hebrew word. It's just not built like one. We consulted a translation of this midrash.

[h] "Heard" would be "sham'a", not "shomei'a", so I'm missing nuance. That's not present tense, is it? (I wouldn't expect a final vowel for present tense, but gutterals have their own rules sometimes.)

Aside: this method of killing seems incompatable with Paro needing the blood. Also, not really "shachat" at that point.

New paragraph: (8) "And Moshe was a shepherd" -- the Holy One blessed be He administered a test [i] to Moshe in (through?) a flock. (9) Our teachers said: when Moshe our teacher was a shepherd of [his] flock for Yitro [j] in the wilderness a lamb ran (scampered?) from him, and he ran after it until the lamb took shelter (?). (10) Immediately [k] when the lamb took shelter it prepared (?) [l] itself and knelt for water and the lamb stood to drink [that is, there was a pool of water and it was getting ready to drink]. (11) Immediately when to the lamb Moshe approached (?) he said: (12) I was not knowing [m] that you ran from me because you were thirsty, [and] you tire [you must be tired now, approx] . (13) He lifted [n] it on his shoulder and he was walking (started to walk? no infinitive). (14) The Holy One blessed be He said: you have compassion to a lamb of a flock of flesh and blood, so -- as you live, you will shepherd my flock Yisrael.

[i] That's my best stab at "tested to Moshe".

[j] I think it's really "shepherd of Yitro's flock", but the construction is a little awkward; there's an extra possessive in there.

[k] "Miyad" and "keivan" both mean immediately, but if I understand correctly the former is more immediate than the latter.

[l] It's hitpael but with a dalet substituted for the taf ("hidpael" :-) ). The root is zayin-mem-nun. I had to ask. (Those marks below those letters are mine.)

[m] Two verbs, "was" and "knew"; not sure why. Same construction on yodei'a as shome'a above, by the way.

[n] I'm not getting a verb here, actually, but there's got to be one and this is what I got from our discussion. Can't reconstruct, though.

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

"And let me just praise Rabbi Symons here"

He's a good guy. I learned a lot from him myself.

[cellio]

I am so glad we have him. Between him and the senior rabbi I have great learning opportunities.

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

I think (2) should be: why did they groan? Any instance of why could theoreticaly be for/to what. I always figured this was a: for what purpose, which amounts to why.

[h] the verb is present tense. Ayin needs a real vowel or it will disappear (silent letter plus resting shva=silence). For some reason an aleph can take a resting shva or end a word. So the sense is G-d continuously hears those who call out to Him.

As for the note which follows: I believe this portion is unrelated to Pharoah's need for blood. In addition to slaughtering babies, Egyptians buried people in walls. Even though no one else could hear these people crying out, G-d heard them. Midrashim frequently come to resolve questions/difficulties in the text (think: What's bothering the Midrash?, like What's bothering Rashi, but earlier) so here the Midrash is perplexed why we are told that G-d heard. Doesn't G-d always hear us crying out if we are crying out? So the sense becomes: ONLY G-d heard B'nei Yisrael crying out.

[j] Rabbinic Hebrew often has extra posessives like this.

[L] That daled replacing a taf occurs every time the root begins with a zayin. So it is hipdael when peh=zayin. Some other letters also do funky things at the beginnings of hitpael.

[cellio]

[h] the verb is present tense. Ayin needs a real vowel or it will disappear (silent letter plus resting shva=silence). For some reason an aleph can take a resting shva or end a word.

Ayin is a gutteral; alef is not. Perhaps that matters. (I know that a gutteral can't take a sh'va, though it wouldn't have here anyway.)

So the sense is G-d continuously hears those who call out to Him.

Enduring, rather than past tense. Nice.

As for the note which follows: I believe this portion is unrelated to Pharoah's need for blood.

Ah! That makes sense. It can sometimes be hard to tell where boundaries are.

"What's bothering the midrash" -- :-).

Thanks for the other comments too.

Continuation (because I posted too soon)

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

(11) When Moshe approached (to) the lamb

[m] same reason: ending in ayin

[n] the verb is hirkivo. The final vav is an object suffix (that masculine object: the sheep) The verb is a hifeel of resh-chaf-bet. Same root as to ride an animal or rakevet (a train). Moses caused the animal to ride on his shoulder.