meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/Ramban/Torah/Ramban on Genesis/English/Nehama Leibowitz.txt"}
text: Ramban on Genesis
  רמב"ן על בראשית
  Nehama Leibowitz
  New Studies in Bereshit
  
  Ramban on Genesis
  
  Introduction
  
  
  
  Foreword
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  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
  
  ...The whole matter represents an allusion to our future history, that there would come a time when the descendants of Esau would overcome Jacob almost to the point of total destruction. This happened during the days of the Sages of the Mishnah in the generation of Rabbi Judah ben Baba and his colleagues, in accordance with their statement: "Said Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba: If a man will say to me, Give your life for the sanctification of the name of the Holy One blessed be He, I give it, so long as he will slay me forthwith, but a generation of persecution (shemad - forced apostasy), I cannot bear. What did they do in a generation of persecution? They would bring iron balls, make them white hot in the flame and place them under the armpits and drive their souls from them. There were other generations who did such things to us and worse than this. But we endured all and it passed us by, as is intimated in the text: "And Jacob came to Shalem (meaning whole or perfect, so that they text may be read homiletically: "And Jacob came through unscathed") 