meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/HaKtav VeHaKabalah/HaKtav VeHaKabalah/English/Sefaria Community Translation.txt"}
text: HaKtav VeHaKabalah
  הכתב והקבלה
  Sefaria Community Translation
  
  
  HaKtav VeHaKabalah
  
  Introduction
  
  
  
  Genesis
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  
  
  Verse 13
  
  
  
  Verse 14
  
  
  
  Verse 15
  
  
  
  Verse 16
  
  
  
  Verse 17
  
  
  
  Verse 18
  
  
  
  Verse 19
  
  
  
  Verse 20
  
  
  
  Verse 21
  
  
  
  Verse 22
  
  
  
  Verse 23
  
  
  
  Verse 24
  
  
  
  Verse 25
  
  
  
  Verse 26
  
  
  
  Verse 27
  
  
  
  Verse 28
  
  
  
  Verse 29
  
  
  
  Verse 30
  
  
  
  Verse 31
  
  
  
  Verse 32
  
  
  
  Verse 33
  
  
  
  Verse 34
  
  
  
  Verse 35
  
  
  
  Verse 36
  
  
  
  Verse 37
  
  
  
  Verse 38
  
  
  
  Verse 39
  
  
  
  Verse 40
  
  
  
  Verse 41
  
  
  
  Verse 42
  
  
  
  Verse 43
  
  
  
  Verse 44
  
  
  
  Verse 45
  
  
  
  Verse 46
  
  
  
  Verse 47
  
  
  
  Verse 48
  
  
  
  Verse 49
  
  
  
  Verse 50
  
  
  
  Verse 51
  
  
  ... And in truth, the greatness of the righteousness of his heart with God prevented him from fulfilling the commandment of honoring his father (and to tell his father that he was alive); in the same way that all of his behavior towards his brothers at this time - even though at first glance it appears as one who is taking vengeance upon them... in truth [was] only because of his righteousness, to not do anything against the will of his Maker. For so was the decree from the Most High which He showed him in a prophetic dream - "and they bowed down to my sheave" (Genesis 37:7). And he did it with great wisdom and deep counsel that they would not fulfill these bowings and this submission in front of him, while knowing that he was Joseph - as this would have been a great embarrassment for them. Surely to save them from this, he made great efforts that they should fulfill [the dream] without knowing that he was the one to whom they were bowing. [This is] as the verse testifies - "And Joseph remembered the dreams that he dreamt about them" (42:9), as explained there. Likewise was Joseph concerned in his heart about informing his father at the beginning of his being brought up, that he was alive and was the ruler of the country, lest the decree of the Most High about the bowings of the sheaves and the eleven stars be nullified. Behold it is for this reason - even though he was personally yearning to honor his father with the good news - that he nevertheless needed to strain with great strength  to nullify the commandment of honoring his father (in the same was as there is no room for the commandment of honoring one's father if, through it, he nullifies one of the commandments of the Lord)... Behold, in order to fulfill the will of his Maker, he was obligated to forget the honor of his father from his heart, even though he found himself obligated to honor him every instant... Hence he called his son, Menasseh, "as the Lord made me forget..." - He is the one who assisted me that I not think about the honor of my father, as if he was forgotten from my heart. And most of the usage of forgetting is just about not putting one's attention to something; in that it is not [sufficiently] important in his eyes to put his mind to it (hence, he "puts it to the side"). And he said, "all of my father's house," to include all those connected with his father, as they were all equally good in his eyes. And he did not have a grudge in his heart about what they did to him; as he said to them afterwards (Genesis 45:8), "It is not you that sent me here, but rather God." And [about] that which he said, "all of my toil" - his intention was not that with the status of being raised up, he forgot all of the heartaches which he had before his entering into all of this honor. For in fact his intention even at the time of his toil when he had the status of a slave - even though he was forced to be involved in things that were unnatural for him - [was that] this toil was not a strain and a burden upon him; as he accepted it with a joyful heart and gave thanks to Him, may He be blessed, that He helped him spiritually that he should not think of it as a strain, but rather to do it with a good heart. So all of the great toil was as removed and forgotten [even] in its time...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  He equated him with a lion which is the strongest of the animals; and compared him to a young lion, regarding his lightness and alacrity [being] beyond the adult lion. That is why he used two nouns, as "cub" alone is also said about other animals when they are small; as it is stated (Lamentations 4:3), "Even jackals offer the breast, and suckle their cubs." And the intention here is cub of the lion species, and it is a construct phrase. And so did Yonatan ben Uzziel translate, "I compare you, Judah, to a cub that is the child of lions." But to me, it appears that gur is an expression of provoking, [like] the expression, "every day, they provoke (yaguru) wars" (Psalms 140:3); [and] "begin to inherit, and provoke (hitgar) war against it" (Deuteronomy 2:24). And the explanation of "gur lion" is a lion that is provoked, as he is at his most dangerous then.
  
  Exodus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  [Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg 18th c. Germany]
  Into a tanim - Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel into a hiviah, and according to Rashi, nachash. And in any case it is necessary to make a distinction between a tanim and a nachash. The nachash that Moses' staff became above (4:3) is a snake of the ground, that is found in the forests and deserted places, and tanim is a water snake (vassershlange in Yiddish); as "[In that day the LORD with His sore and great and strong sword will punish] leviathan the slant nachash; leviathan the tortuous nachash; and He will slay the tanin that is in the sea." (Isaiah 27:1) And about Pharaoh it is said: "Great tanim, sprawling in your channels, Who said, My Nile is my own; I made it for myself." Since Pharaoh relied on the waters of the Nile that watered his land, he was compared to a great tanim/water snake that wanders on the Nile, and the proof is that Moses, whose staff became a tanim which can be compared to Pharaoh and his people; and the intention here is a rebuke regarding the plague of blood that changed the water of the river to blood, and the frogs that came from the river. And the wise men of nature [natural history scientists transl.] already said that there are the water snakes [sea snakes] and called it [Hidrarkhos] which is 114 feet long, close to 57 amot, as we see in the Mechilta of Shimon Bar Yochai... "the nachash is in the dry land, and this one grows in the land and that one (tanim) grows in the water, etc."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  And [how] I carried you (literally, “bore you up”). Onkelos translates ואשא as though it were [וְאַסִּיעַ [אתכם — viz., ואטלית יתכון “and I made you travel on eagles wings” ; he adapted the expression in a manner that is consonant with the respect due to the Most High (see Rashi). According to my understanding this "carrying" has nothing to do with carrying a burden, but really the elevation spoken of here is spiritual, just as "I will raise my hands to heaven" (Deut. 32:40). And the use of eagle is because it flies higher than any other bird, as it is written "as the eagle flies to heaven" (Prov. 23:5). If you fly high like the eagle then you will reach peaks and heights and raise all things to heaven. And the height here intends of the Highest High, the Blessed One raised B’nei Yisrael up at the time of the Exodus by directing all their affairs in a miraculous manner, splitting the sea and [giving] manna and so on, all miraculous things, out of ordinary from what the natural world behaves. It is fitting to point out that their raising was above the ways of the world, by using the idea of carrying on eagle's wings, as to say I raised you even higher than an eagle could have flown.
  
  
  Leviticus
  
  
  
  Numbers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  A service of gift: It means to say [that] the service of priesthood given to them exclusively, all [involves giving]. This is to say, giving to something else, such as the sprinkling of blood, the burning of fats and limbs, the pouring of the water and the wine. And it is only about these forms of service which are gifts, that the non-priest who approaches is liable for death. But forms of service which are not gift - meaning to say, that do not include giving, such as the removal of the ashes, which only includes the service of removal, since they remove them and put them away from the altar - do not carry a liability for death for the non-priest...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  The [letter,] yod is vocalized by a patach; and it does not state, "yechal," with a yod vocalized by a tsere, as in (Isaiah 48:11), "as how can it be desecrated (yechal)" - like many negative commandments that are stated in the passive form. For if so, its meaning would be that he could not find any way to desanctify his vow, even if it be done through annulment. Hence the verse states it in the active form, to teach that he - from himself - cannot annul it, but it is permitted that it be desanctified by others; and that is with the annulment of others. And this is [the meaning of] of what the Sages, may their memeory blessed, said  (Chagigah 10a), "He may not annul, but others can annul [it] for him."
  
  Deuteronomy
  
  
  
  Postscript
  
  