Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Does Bal Yera'eh apply specifically to your dough (בְּכָל-גְּבֻלֶךָ)?

In Shemot 13:6-7, in parashat Va'era:

ו  שִׁבְעַת יָמִים, תֹּאכַל מַצֹּת; וּבַיּוֹם, הַשְּׁבִיעִי, חַג, לַיהוָה.6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
ז  מַצּוֹת, יֵאָכֵל, אֵת, שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים; וְלֹא-יֵרָאֶה לְךָ חָמֵץ, וְלֹא-יֵרָאֶה לְךָ שְׂאֹר--בְּכָל-גְּבֻלֶךָ.7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee, in all thy borders.

I had the following novel thought. Why specifically "in all your borders"? In the past (meaning Shemot 12:15 and 12:19, it was in your "houses", rather than "borders" that they should not be found:

טו  שִׁבְעַת יָמִים, מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵלוּ--אַךְ בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן, תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ שְּׂאֹר מִבָּתֵּיכֶם:  כִּי כָּל-אֹכֵל חָמֵץ, וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל--מִיּוֹם הָרִאשֹׁן, עַד-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִעִי.15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; howbeit the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
יט  שִׁבְעַת יָמִים--שְׂאֹר, לֹא יִמָּצֵא בְּבָתֵּיכֶם:  כִּי כָּל-אֹכֵל מַחְמֶצֶת, וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מֵעֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל--בַּגֵּר, וּבְאֶזְרַח הָאָרֶץ.19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land.
)

This could very well be just a poetic alternation of "borders" for "houses", both giving the sense of "your domain".

However, the same shoresh can refer to kneading, or to dough. See Jastrow page 207:


If so, we might be able to translate this as:

ז  מַצּוֹת, יֵאָכֵל, אֵת, שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים; וְלֹא-יֵרָאֶה לְךָ חָמֵץ, וְלֹא-יֵרָאֶה לְךָ שְׂאֹר--בְּכָל-גְּבֻלֶךָ.7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee, in all thy dough.

When you are making dough, you may not add sourdough, so as so make it chametz. You can thus only produce matzah. This makes sense, since for those seven days, שְׂאֹר לֹא יִמָּצֵא בְּבָתֵּיכֶם, no sourdough is to be found in your house in the sense of using it to make chametz.

Sunday, September 06, 2015

Shadal: What, or who, is הוּא חַיֶּיךָ וְאֹרֶךְ יָמֶיךָ?

Shadal’s last comment at the end of parashat Nitzavim reads as follows:

To explain, the trup in the last pasuk of the parasha reads:

לְאַֽהֲבָה֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמֹ֥עַ בְּקֹל֖וֹ וּלְדָבְקָה־ב֑וֹ כִּ֣י ה֤וּא חַיֶּ֨יךָ֙ וְאֹ֣רֶךְ יָמֶ֔יךָ לָשֶׁ֣בֶת עַל־הָֽאֲדָמָ֗ה אֲשֶׁר֩ נִשְׁבַּ֨ע יְהוָ֧ה לַֽאֲבֹתֶ֛יךָ לְאַבְרָהָ֛ם לְיִצְחָ֥ק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹ֖ב לָתֵ֥ת לָהֶֽם׃

And this means that the etnachta is on וּלְדָבְקָה־ב֑וֹ. The etnachta provides a logical pause in the middle of the pasuk. Meanwhile, Shadal would place the etnachta on the word יָמֶ֔יךָ, and redraw all the trup to fit.

The difference is that, according to the standard reading, the break is like this:

to love the LORD thy God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave unto Him ||

for that is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

And according to Shadal, the break is like this:

to love the LORD thy God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave unto Him, for HE [Hashem] is thy life, and the length of thy days ||

that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

The idea is that He is your life, and so you should choose to love Him and cleave to Him, to dwell on the land. And the reason that it says “for He is your life” is that it says “and to cleave to Him”, in the same manner as “and you who cleave to Hashem, all you are living today.”

We need not dwell on the redrawing of the trup. It is regular and mechanical once you move the etnachta over.

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