brief torah thought (Lech l'cha)

[cellio]

This shabbat we had our approximately-annual shabbaton, or Shabbat retreat. Because everybody's there for the duration -- nobody has to run home for lunch guests or the like -- we can be more relaxed and have time for conversation. I like that aspect a lot.

When my rabbi read the fourth aliyah (Genesis chapter 14) in the morning service, he commented that the passage seems tangential and wondered what it's there to teach us. At lunch afterwards, I told him I could think of four reasons for that chapter to be there:

• redemption of captives (Avram had to rescue Lot after the war)
• we can't always isolate ourselves and sometimes get drawn into others' conflicts
• tithing
• Avram superseding Malki-Tzedek, a priest of God according to the text

My rabbi asked if I got that from Mi Yodeya. :-) I know I've asked a question about Malki-Tzedek, but the rest of this was my own reasoning.

He then added a fifth: consequences of bad choices. Lot could have gone anywhere when he split from Avram, and he chose S'dom.

Comments

[goljerp]

Ah, I see. I was reading the Etz Hayim pentateuch[1], which uses the "New" JPS translation[2], and translates Genesis 13:9 as "... if you go north, I will go south...". There's a note, which I didn't recall, which points out that it's literally left and right, and adds, "from the customary viewpoint of one facing the rising sun". Interesting.

Since it's never a bad time to have an excuse to pull out lots of books off my bookshelf[3], the "Old" JPS translation is more literal, "... if (thou wilt take) the left hand then I will go to the right..."

Robert Alter follows the "Old" JPS with "If you take the left hand, then I shall go right, and if you take the right hand, I shall go left."

Everett Fox translates this "If to the left, then I to the right, if to the right, then I to the left."

So, interesting, that of this non-scientific selection of translations, most do follow the literal text.

As far as more traditional commentaries go, I only have the Rashi on Genesis[4], and his comments are more about the distance Avram will be from Lot (he says not far, which isn't the sense I got from the text) and not about north/south/east/west.

Thank you for bearing with me geeking out slightly. Now the notes. :-)

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[1] It's never a bad time to use (or, even better, say) the word "Pentateuch", if you can do it naturally.
[2] I wonder what will happen if JPS ever decides to do another translation. Will that be the "newest" JPS? Will they start referencing the dates? I put "New" in quotes because, well, it isn't all that new by now, is it? I mean, (checks sources) 1985 is more recent than 1917...
[3] Well, 6 books, and from a couple of different bookshelves, but the point remains.
[4] I'm going to get the Commentators Bible English translation of Mikrot Gadolot for Genesis some day, but right now I just have Numbers and Deuteronomy. And I want to get the full set of books by Nehama Leibowitz eventually, but right now I only have her "New Studies in Vayikra". On the more modern side, Ellen Frankel doesn't say anything about this verse, and I don't think Dr. Aviva Zornberg does either, although I must admit I only skimmed the Lech Lecha chapter of Beginning of Desire just now.[5]
[5] I'm sorry the notes are getting longer than the actual comment. Well, maybe not very sorry. :-)