posts so far for parshat Haazinu

2012

1. YUTorah on Haazinu

2. Haazinu sources.

2011

1. Haazinu sources -- begun in 2008 as links to an online Mikraos Gedolos, by aliyah and perek. In 2009, added more than 100 meforshim on the parsha and haftorah. In 2010, further improved and expanded. In 2011, even more sources. For instance, many more meforshei Rashi and meforshei Onkelos.
   .
2. Rabbi Avner the apostate in a Haazinu Torah Code -- Except of course that it is a likely a bubbe mayseh, and it is no Torah Code.
   .
3. Is Pikei'ach Nefesh docheh Shabbos? No, that is not a typo in the title.
   .
4. The 'peshat' in Shamayim, in Haazinu HaShamayim --  Tur vs. Tur, peshat vs. hanachon.
   .
5. The shaking, or shaken, earth --  Considering a krei and ketiv in the haftara, according to Meshech Chochma.
   .
6. YUTorah for parashat Haazinu

2010

1. Why Chomsky went off the derech -- He fulfilled the first part of the pasuk, of שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ, though his father did not know enough about the topic to inform him correctly. (Deep knowledge of Hebrew is different from deep knowledge of the relevant sugyot and the derivation of a halacha.) He should have followed up with זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ, by asking his grandfather.

2009

1. 'The Vile nation', censored out of Baal HaTurim.
   .
2. Har Sinai, the smallest of all the mountains -- and a good question from Junior.
   .
3. Is corruption His? Reading shiches lo as an accusation by the children of Israel.
   .
4. How many lines in Haazinu? Though the printed Rambams have encoded the number of lines as 70, in the good kitvei yad, the number is 67, and people just modified Rambam to accord with their local practice. And this let Cassuto to think that the Aleppo Codex was not for real.
   .
5. Teshi, with a unique small yud -- that does not appear elsewhere, because there should not be a small yud in Pinchas. And possible meanings of this unique small yud, from a midrashic perspective.
   .
6. Does parshat Haazinu include the promise that Israel will enjoy non-kosher fats?Ibn Ezra might be able to use this pasuk to bolster his assertion in parshat Tzav that really, the only forbidden fats are on animals that are actually korbanot, but on your typical animal of the same species, the prohibition is only derabbanan. Though Ibn Ezra does not cite this pasuk of Haazinu, Shadal brings it up and dismisses it as proof.
   .
7. Is vayin`atz a transitive or intransitive verb? Much like oved in Arami oved avi. Given that it is usually transitive, how do we explain it seeming to occur in an intransitive context in Haazinu?
   .
8. According to the number of the sons of... A difficult pasuk in Haazinu, with several of the many explanations offered given the traditional reading. And the reading of the Septuagint, of angels of God, and the fragmentary reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls, of bnei el-, which works out well with developed Jewish tradition as well as Ugaritic myth, in a way that neatly fixes up the entire "problem." Perhaps a broader discussion of this in a later post.
   .
9. The Natural Order, and the Sun in Giveon -- trying to figure out just what is bothering Ibn Ezra in his missing commentary on sefer Yehoshua, which he hints at in this week's parsha, and why the Moon standing still is somehow an answer to his problem. I think I figured it out.
   .
10. Alexander's ascent, via griffin or griffin-vulture -- related to the parsha, but discusses a Yerushalmi of Alexander ascending high into the air and seeing the world like a ball. Pnei Moshe says this was via his  nesher, basing himself on Greek accounts. In fact, in (some of?) those Greek accounts, it was via griffin.
    .
11. Is the second Pru Urvu a blessing or a command? A post on Bereishit, but an important principle is established from a pasuk in the tail-end of Haazinu, וּמֻת בָּהָר אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עֹלֶה שָׁמָּה, where an imperative form is used for something outside Moshe's power. So too Pru Urvu.

2008

1. In Shadal's Vikuach, in the chapter on the age of trup, an interesting Rabbenu Bachya -- that despite the sof pasuk dividing the two psukim, it should be read as דּוֹר עִקֵּשׁ וּפְתַלְתֹּל with הַ לְיְהוָה, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת. That is, "a generation crooked and perverse, Do ye thus requite the LORD?..."

2005

• Lech Lecha (2005): And I Will Make Your Name Great
• Name as "Title," Name as "Renown." Towards the end, we turn to analyze כִּי שֵׁם ה, אֶקְרָא: {ס} הָבוּ גֹדֶל, לֵאלֹקֵינוּ, and claim this is a case of synonymous parallellism.

2003, 2004

• Haazinu: The Shva Na/Nach Problem
• A vocalization problem with Devarim 32:6: הַ לְיְקוָק, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת. Is the shva under the lamed a na or nach? An interesting grammatical analysis.
• The Shva Na/Nach Problem, Take 2
• A reworking of the above, such that it is clearer, with more background. Additionally, an image of the Aleppo Codex is included, as well as a discussion of information provided by Ibn Ezra and Shmuel HaNagid on its pronunciation and way of writing it (with three different traditions). Also, I offer an explanation of the phenomenon. As we see in Targum, the הַ is not the heh expressing wonder, but rather a congnate of the Aramaic הָא, meaning hineh {=behold}. The open patach was initially allowed as an odd archaic feature of Biblical poetry, but then seized the lamed from the next word to close the syllable.
• Related, at Lion of Zion: Ha'azinu's Homoeoteleuton (in Radak), 2008
• A Source for ברכת התורה
• Vayelech/Haazinu/ Vezot HaBeracha - A neat derivation, or hint, to the practice of saying a bracha, blessing, before and after being called up in shul for an aliya to the Torah.

Haazinu sources -- 2012 edition

by aliyah

rishon (Devarim 32:1)

sheni (32:7)

shlishi (32:13)

revii (32:19)

chamishi (32:29)

shishi (32:40)

shevii (32:44)

maftir (32:48)

haftara (II Shmuel 22) -- with Malbim

by perek

perek 32

meforshim
Geonim (589-1038)

R' Saadia Gaon(882-942) -- see Wikipedia entry:

1. Arabic translation of Torah,here  at Temanim.org. This is a beautiful PDF, with the Chumash text, Rashi, Onkelos, and Rav Saadia's Tafsir. All of these have nikkud, which is a very nice feature. It also designates the Temani and standard aliyah breaks, and two commentaries, Shemen HaMor and Chelek HaDikduk, on the kriyah, trup, nikkud, and dikduk, on the basis of Yemenite manuscripts, which would be worthwhile even absent the other features. Quite excellent, overall.
2. The same Arabic translation, the Tafsir, here at Google books. No nikkud, Chumash text, Rashi, or Onkelos. But there is a brief supercommentary by Yosef Direnburg at the bottom of each page. 
3. Collected commentary of Saadia Gaon on Torah, selected from the writings of various Rishonim and from his commentaries on other works.

Rabbi Yona Ibn Janach(Spain, 990-1050) -- see Wikipedia 

Rishonim (11th - 15th centuries)

Not really Abarbabel

Judaica Press Rashi in English  and Hebrew (France, 1040 - 1105) -- ואני לא באתי אלא לפשוטו של מקרא ולאגדה המיישבת דברי המקרא, דבר דבור על אופניו

Chizkuni (France, 13th century) -- see Wikipedia  

Daat  -- with Rashi, Ramban, Seforno, Ibn Ezra, Rashbam, Rabbenu Bachya, Midrash Rabba, Tanchuma+, Gilyonot 

YUTorah on parashat Haazinu

Audio Shiurim on Haazinu Rabbi Chaim Brovender: Ending With A Song  Rabbi Ally Ehrman: Am Naval  Rabbi Meir Goldwicht: Zechor Yemos Olam  Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky: The Connection of Vayeilech and Haazinu  Rabbi Dr. Jacob J Schacter: Why couldn't Moshe do Teshuva?  Rabbi Baruch Simon: The power of speaking divrei Torah Rabbi Reuven Spolter: The Frightening Future  Rabbi Michael Taubes: Birkas HaTorah  Rabbi Yaacov Thaler: Shuva  Dr. Raphael Zarum: Moshe's Last Day  Articles on Haazinu Rabbi Chaim Eisenstein: Kabbalas Hatorah Through Fire and Water Rabbi Beinish Ginsburg: Ha'azinu and Succos Rabbi Avraham Gordimer: Lessons of Heaven and Earth Rabbi Maury Grebenau: The Bracha on Joy Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg: כי כל דרכיו משפט Rabbi David Horwitz: A Note on the Invocation of Heaven and Earth as Witnesses  Parsha Sheets on Haazinu Toronto Torah: Haazinu/Shuvah 5771 Rabbi Jeremy Wieder: Laining for Parshat Haazinu See all shiurim on YUTorah for Parshat Haazinu Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future is proud to present the newest issue of the To-Go series, Sukkot To-Go 5773. This year's issue features articles from Rabbi Zevulun Charlop (Special Advisor to the President on Yeshiva Matters),  Rabbi Joshua Flug (Director of Torah Research, Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future), Rabbi Meir Goldwicht (Rosh Yeshiva, RIETS), Rabbi Yosef Kalinsky (Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Torah Studies) Mrs. Deena Rabinovich (Faculty, Stern College for Women) Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz (Rabbi. Cong Shaare Tefillah, Teaneck, NJ; Faculty, Ramaz Upper School;, coordinator of www.hschinuch.org, a project of the YU Institute for University-School Partnership) Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner (Rosh Beit Midrash, Zichron Dov YU Torah MiTzion Beit Midrash of Toronto) and Dr. Ilana Turetsky (Faculty, Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration) Plus 6 years of Sukkot To-Go archives with additional articles and divrei Torah. Vew the Sukkot To-Go  download page

New This Week Removing the Yom Kippur Obstacles  Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn Is Perfection Our Goal?  Rabbi Yonah Gross Preparing for Yom Kippur  Mr. Charlie Harary The Teshuva of Yom Kippur: A Change of Perspective  Rabbi Eliakim Koenigsberg Wearing Shoes and Eating on Yom Kippur  Rabbi Ezra Schwartz The nature of the issur to eat on Yom Kippur  Rabbi Eliav Silverman Yom Kippur: Chinuch and children fasting  Rabbi Baruch Simon The Various Mitzvos and Minhagim of Erev Yom Kipur Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky

posts so far for parshat Haazinu

2012

1. YUTorah on Haazinu

2. Haazinu sources.

2011

1. Haazinu sources -- begun in 2008 as links to an online Mikraos Gedolos, by aliyah and perek. In 2009, added more than 100 meforshim on the parsha and haftorah. In 2010, further improved and expanded. In 2011, even more sources. For instance, many more meforshei Rashi and meforshei Onkelos.
   .
2. Rabbi Avner the apostate in a Haazinu Torah Code -- Except of course that it is a likely a bubbe mayseh, and it is no Torah Code.
   .
3. Is Pikei'ach Nefesh docheh Shabbos? No, that is not a typo in the title.
   .
4. The 'peshat' in Shamayim, in Haazinu HaShamayim --  Tur vs. Tur, peshat vs. hanachon.
   .
5. The shaking, or shaken, earth --  Considering a krei and ketiv in the haftara, according to Meshech Chochma.
   .
6. YUTorah for parashat Haazinu

2010

1. Why Chomsky went off the derech -- He fulfilled the first part of the pasuk, of שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ, though his father did not know enough about the topic to inform him correctly. (Deep knowledge of Hebrew is different from deep knowledge of the relevant sugyot and the derivation of a halacha.) He should have followed up with זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ, by asking his grandfather.

2009

1. 'The Vile nation', censored out of Baal HaTurim.
   .
2. Har Sinai, the smallest of all the mountains -- and a good question from Junior.
   .
3. Is corruption His? Reading shiches lo as an accusation by the children of Israel.
   .
4. How many lines in Haazinu? Though the printed Rambams have encoded the number of lines as 70, in the good kitvei yad, the number is 67, and people just modified Rambam to accord with their local practice. And this let Cassuto to think that the Aleppo Codex was not for real.
   .
5. Teshi, with a unique small yud -- that does not appear elsewhere, because there should not be a small yud in Pinchas. And possible meanings of this unique small yud, from a midrashic perspective.
   .
6. Does parshat Haazinu include the promise that Israel will enjoy non-kosher fats?Ibn Ezra might be able to use this pasuk to bolster his assertion in parshat Tzav that really, the only forbidden fats are on animals that are actually korbanot, but on your typical animal of the same species, the prohibition is only derabbanan. Though Ibn Ezra does not cite this pasuk of Haazinu, Shadal brings it up and dismisses it as proof.
   .
7. Is vayin`atz a transitive or intransitive verb? Much like oved in Arami oved avi. Given that it is usually transitive, how do we explain it seeming to occur in an intransitive context in Haazinu?
   .
8. According to the number of the sons of... A difficult pasuk in Haazinu, with several of the many explanations offered given the traditional reading. And the reading of the Septuagint, of angels of God, and the fragmentary reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls, of bnei el-, which works out well with developed Jewish tradition as well as Ugaritic myth, in a way that neatly fixes up the entire "problem." Perhaps a broader discussion of this in a later post.
   .
9. The Natural Order, and the Sun in Giveon -- trying to figure out just what is bothering Ibn Ezra in his missing commentary on sefer Yehoshua, which he hints at in this week's parsha, and why the Moon standing still is somehow an answer to his problem. I think I figured it out.
   .
10. Alexander's ascent, via griffin or griffin-vulture -- related to the parsha, but discusses a Yerushalmi of Alexander ascending high into the air and seeing the world like a ball. Pnei Moshe says this was via his  nesher, basing himself on Greek accounts. In fact, in (some of?) those Greek accounts, it was via griffin.
    .
11. Is the second Pru Urvu a blessing or a command? A post on Bereishit, but an important principle is established from a pasuk in the tail-end of Haazinu, וּמֻת בָּהָר אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עֹלֶה שָׁמָּה, where an imperative form is used for something outside Moshe's power. So too Pru Urvu.

2008

1. In Shadal's Vikuach, in the chapter on the age of trup, an interesting Rabbenu Bachya -- that despite the sof pasuk dividing the two psukim, it should be read as דּוֹר עִקֵּשׁ וּפְתַלְתֹּל with הַ לְיְהוָה, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת. That is, "a generation crooked and perverse, Do ye thus requite the LORD?..."

2005

• Lech Lecha (2005): And I Will Make Your Name Great
• Name as "Title," Name as "Renown." Towards the end, we turn to analyze כִּי שֵׁם ה, אֶקְרָא: {ס} הָבוּ גֹדֶל, לֵאלֹקֵינוּ, and claim this is a case of synonymous parallellism.

2003, 2004

• Haazinu: The Shva Na/Nach Problem
• A vocalization problem with Devarim 32:6: הַ לְיְקוָק, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת. Is the shva under the lamed a na or nach? An interesting grammatical analysis.
• The Shva Na/Nach Problem, Take 2
• A reworking of the above, such that it is clearer, with more background. Additionally, an image of the Aleppo Codex is included, as well as a discussion of information provided by Ibn Ezra and Shmuel HaNagid on its pronunciation and way of writing it (with three different traditions). Also, I offer an explanation of the phenomenon. As we see in Targum, the הַ is not the heh expressing wonder, but rather a congnate of the Aramaic הָא, meaning hineh {=behold}. The open patach was initially allowed as an odd archaic feature of Biblical poetry, but then seized the lamed from the next word to close the syllable.
• Related, at Lion of Zion: Ha'azinu's Homoeoteleuton (in Radak), 2008
• A Source for ברכת התורה
• Vayelech/Haazinu/ Vezot HaBeracha - A neat derivation, or hint, to the practice of saying a bracha, blessing, before and after being called up in shul for an aliya to the Torah.

YUTorah for parashat Haazinu

Audio Shiurim on Haazinu Rabbi Chaim Brovender: Ending With A Song  Rabbi Ally Ehrman: Am Naval  Rabbi Meir Goldwicht: Zechor Yemos Olam (Hebrew) Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky: The Connection of Vayeilech and Haazinu Rabbi Dr. Jacob J Schacter: Why couldn't Moshe do Teshuva?  Rabbi Baruch Simon: Purity of Heart and the Yomim Norayim  Rabbi Reuven Spolter: The Frightening Future  Rabbi Michael Taubes: Birkas HaTorah  Dr. Raphael Zarum: Moshe's Last Day  Articles on Haazinu Rabbi Chaim Eisenstein: Kabbalas Hatorah Through Fire and Water Rabbi Avraham Gordimer: Mitzvas K'sivas Sefer Torah and Aseres Y'mei Teshuva Rabbi Maury Grebenau: The Bracha on Joy Rabbi David Horwitz: On the Invocation of Heaven and Earth as Witnesses  Shiurim on Shabbat Shuva Rabbi Nachman Cohen: Love Makes the Difference  Rabbi Meir Goldwicht: The Power of Shame  Rabbi Hershel Reichman: Shem Mishmuel on Shabbat Shuvah Mrs. Shira Smiles: The Eternal Message  Rabbi Eli Baruch Shulman: The Importance of Dignity Rabbi Michael Taubes: The Haftorah of shabbat shuva  See all  Rabbi Jeremy Wieder: Laining for Parshat Haazinu See all shiurim on YUTorah for Parshat Haazinu

New This Week To Forgive is Divine - and Human: Asking for Mechila before Yom Kippur  Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman Mitzvas Shofar U'Tefillah on Rosh Hashana  Rabbi Eliakim Koenigsberg Preparing for Rosh Hashanah Rabbi Dovid Miller Inyanei Rosh Hashanah Rabbi Hershel Schachter Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: Yamim Noraim or Yamim Tovim?  Rabbi Dr. Jacob J Schacter Changing Times  Rabbi Nosson Scherman The source for tashlich on Rosh Hashanah Rabbi Baruch Simon Kedusha and Tumah  Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky Understanding Teshuva MiYirah  Rabbi Mayer Twersky Teshuva and Free Will  Rabbi Netanel Wiederblank

The shaking, or shaken, earth

Summary: Considering a krei and ketiv in the haftara, according to Meshech Chochma.

Post: In the haftara for Haazinu, in II Shmuel 22, we read:

ז  בַּצַּר-לִי אֶקְרָא ה, וְאֶל-אֱלֹהַי אֶקְרָא;  {ס}  וַיִּשְׁמַע מֵהֵיכָלוֹ קוֹלִי, וְשַׁוְעָתִי בְּאָזְנָיו.  {ר}	7 In my distress I called upon the LORD, yea, I called unto my God; and out of His temple He heard my voice, and my cry did enter into His ears.
ח  ותגעש (וַיִּתְגָּעַשׁ) וַתִּרְעַשׁ הָאָרֶץ,  {ס}  מוֹסְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם יִרְגָּזוּ; וַיִּתְגָּעֲשׁוּ, כִּי-חָרָה לוֹ.  {ר}	8 Then the earth did shake and quake, the foundations of heaven did tremble; they were shaken, because He was wroth.

Note the krei and ketiv. This is all part of a shir which David HaMelech sang, as it states in pasuk 1. There is a parallel song in Tehillim 18:8:

ז  בַּצַּר-לִי, אֶקְרָא יְהוָה--    וְאֶל-אֱלֹהַי אֲשַׁוֵּעַ: יִשְׁמַע מֵהֵיכָלוֹ קוֹלִי;    וְשַׁוְעָתִי, לְפָנָיו תָּבוֹא בְאָזְנָיו.	7 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God;{N} out of His temple He heard my voice, and my cry came before Him unto His ears.
ח  וַתִּגְעַשׁ וַתִּרְעַשׁ, הָאָרֶץ--    וּמוֹסְדֵי הָרִים יִרְגָּזוּ; וַיִּתְגָּעֲשׁוּ,    כִּי-חָרָה לוֹ.	8 Then the earth did shake and quake, the foundations also of the mountains did tremble; {N} they were shaken, because He was wroth.

And there, there is no krei and ketiv alternation, but the krei is in line with the ketiv. The difference, it seems to me, is that one, וַתִּגְעַשׁ, is the third person feminine past, while the other, וַיִּתְגָּעַשׁ, is the third person masculine reflexive (or passive) past. The former matches the pattern of the immediately following word, וַתִּרְעַשׁ, while the latter matches the later occurrence of וַיִּתְגָּעֲשׁוּ in the pasuk, though the subject later is the masculine plural מוֹסְדֵי הָרִים. Given the possibility of corruption from the later word וַיִּתְגָּעֲשׁוּ, given that even in Shmuel it only appears as an alternative krei, and given that in Tehillim we only have one, I would side with וַתִּגְעַשׁ as the correct one. This is if we consider krei and ketiv as the competing possibilities, with only one being correct.

In terms of meaning, I don't really see any major difference between the alternatives. Either way, the earth is literally or metaphorically shaking.

Meshech Chochma discusses this alternation. After citing the pasuk, he writes:


"And the ketiv according to the peshat is וַתִּגְעַשׁ, and so too in Tehillim. And this is strange, for the krei is against the peshat. And it appears that it is going upon the heichal, that the heichal is shaken, and from this, the earth quakes, just as they darshen in Yoma 54b:

וחכמים אומרים מציון נברא שנאמר (תהלים נ, א) מזמור לאסף אל אלהים ה' ואומר מציון מכלל יופי ממנו מוכלל יפיו של עולם

that the earth was created from Tziyon, for it is stated {in Tehillim}, מציון מכלל יופי. And this is the center, and from there it is shaken, and from there the earth shakes, and it is pashut."

This is an interesting way of parsing the pesukim, and one which I would not have thought of. And I think it would account for the masculine of וַיִּתְגָּעַשׁ (though ארץ might be able to support either).

Radak does not see any substantive difference between the krei and the ketiv:

[כב, ח]
ותגעש -כתיב כמו בתהלים וקרי ויתגעש והענין אחד, וקריאת המלה מלרע וכל הענין הזה עד ישלח ממרום רמז להשחית ולכלות אויבי ישראל, כי להם הוא רעש הארץ והשמים וחשך וערפל וגחלים ואש וחצים וברק, הכל דרך משל. 

He says vehainyan echad.

The Targum renders both וַתִּגְעַשׁ  and וַתִּרְעַשׁ as the itpael. Rashi, in saying that the head of the pasuk is mechubar to its end, might be mapping וַיִּתְגָּעַשׁ of the krei to the end.

The 'peshat' in Shamayim, in Haazinu HaShamayim

Summary: Tur vs. Tur, peshat vs. hanachon.

Post: According to the Tur's short commentary, shamayim at the start of Haazinu is a reference to the big cities and small towns.

"According to the peshat, the meaning of Haazinu HaShamayim is to those who dwell in the large cities which are fortified unto the heavens.; and vetishma ha'aretz is to those who dwell is villages and small towns."

Yet he does not offer this as peshat in his longer commentary:

"Some explain shamayim as referring to the angels who dwell in heaven, and the aretz as those who dwell on earth.


And some explain that this is on behalf of the rain which is from heaven, and on the earth that it should give its crops.


And what is correct is that it is the heavens and the earth literally, that the way of the pesukim is to take testimony from something which lasts and stands forever. And so too 'Hear, mountains, the dispute of Hashem' (Michah 6:2)."

It would seem that he changed his mind from one work to the other. I am not certain which one was composed earlier.

posts so far for parshat Haazinu

2011

1. Haazinu sources -- begun in 2008 as links to an online Mikraos Gedolos, by aliyah and perek. In 2009, added more than 100 meforshim on the parsha and haftorah. In 2010, further improved and expanded. In 2011, even more sources. For instance, many more meforshei Rashi and meforshei Onkelos.
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2. Rabbi Avner the apostate in a Haazinu Torah Code -- Except of course that it is a likely a bubbe mayseh, and it is no Torah Code.
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3. Is Pikei'ach Nefesh docheh Shabbos? No, that is not a typo in the title.
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2010

1. Why Chomsky went off the derech -- He fulfilled the first part of the pasuk, of שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ, though his father did not know enough about the topic to inform him correctly. (Deep knowledge of Hebrew is different from deep knowledge of the relevant sugyot and the derivation of a halacha.) He should have followed up with זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ, by asking his grandfather.

2009

1. 'The Vile nation', censored out of Baal HaTurim.
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2. Har Sinai, the smallest of all the mountains -- and a good question from Junior.
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3. Is corruption His? Reading shiches lo as an accusation by the children of Israel.
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4. How many lines in Haazinu? Though the printed Rambams have encoded the number of lines as 70, in the good kitvei yad, the number is 67, and people just modified Rambam to accord with their local practice. And this let Cassuto to think that the Aleppo Codex was not for real.
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5. Teshi, with a unique small yud -- that does not appear elsewhere, because there should not be a small yud in Pinchas. And possible meanings of this unique small yud, from a midrashic perspective.
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6. Does parshat Haazinu include the promise that Israel will enjoy non-kosher fats?Ibn Ezra might be able to use this pasuk to bolster his assertion in parshat Tzav that really, the only forbidden fats are on animals that are actually korbanot, but on your typical animal of the same species, the prohibition is only derabbanan. Though Ibn Ezra does not cite this pasuk of Haazinu, Shadal brings it up and dismisses it as proof.
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7. Is vayin`atz a transitive or intransitive verb? Much like oved in Arami oved avi. Given that it is usually transitive, how do we explain it seeming to occur in an intransitive context in Haazinu?
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8. According to the number of the sons of... A difficult pasuk in Haazinu, with several of the many explanations offered given the traditional reading. And the reading of the Septuagint, of angels of God, and the fragmentary reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls, of bnei el-, which works out well with developed Jewish tradition as well as Ugaritic myth, in a way that neatly fixes up the entire "problem." Perhaps a broader discussion of this in a later post.
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9. The Natural Order, and the Sun in Giveon -- trying to figure out just what is bothering Ibn Ezra in his missing commentary on sefer Yehoshua, which he hints at in this week's parsha, and why the Moon standing still is somehow an answer to his problem. I think I figured it out.
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10. Alexander's ascent, via griffin or griffin-vulture -- related to the parsha, but discusses a Yerushalmi of Alexander ascending high into the air and seeing the world like a ball. Pnei Moshe says this was via his  nesher, basing himself on Greek accounts. In fact, in (some of?) those Greek accounts, it was via griffin.
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11. Is the second Pru Urvu a blessing or a command? A post on Bereishit, but an important principle is established from a pasuk in the tail-end of Haazinu, וּמֻת בָּהָר אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עֹלֶה שָׁמָּה, where an imperative form is used for something outside Moshe's power. So too Pru Urvu.

2008

1. In Shadal's Vikuach, in the chapter on the age of trup, an interesting Rabbenu Bachya -- that despite the sof pasuk dividing the two psukim, it should be read as דּוֹר עִקֵּשׁ וּפְתַלְתֹּל with הַ לְיְהוָה, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת. That is, "a generation crooked and perverse, Do ye thus requite the LORD?..."

2005

• Lech Lecha (2005): And I Will Make Your Name Great
• Name as "Title," Name as "Renown." Towards the end, we turn to analyze כִּי שֵׁם ה, אֶקְרָא: {ס} הָבוּ גֹדֶל, לֵאלֹקֵינוּ, and claim this is a case of synonymous parallellism.

2003, 2004

• Haazinu: The Shva Na/Nach Problem
• A vocalization problem with Devarim 32:6: הַ לְיְקוָק, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת. Is the shva under the lamed a na or nach? An interesting grammatical analysis.
• The Shva Na/Nach Problem, Take 2
• A reworking of the above, such that it is clearer, with more background. Additionally, an image of the Aleppo Codex is included, as well as a discussion of information provided by Ibn Ezra and Shmuel HaNagid on its pronunciation and way of writing it (with three different traditions). Also, I offer an explanation of the phenomenon. As we see in Targum, the הַ is not the heh expressing wonder, but rather a congnate of the Aramaic הָא, meaning hineh {=behold}. The open patach was initially allowed as an odd archaic feature of Biblical poetry, but then seized the lamed from the next word to close the syllable.
• Related, at Lion of Zion: Ha'azinu's Homoeoteleuton (in Radak), 2008
• A Source for ברכת התורה
• Vayelech/Haazinu/ Vezot HaBeracha - A neat derivation, or hint, to the practice of saying a bracha, blessing, before and after being called up in shul for an aliya to the Torah.

Is Pikei'ach Nefesh docheh Shabbos?

Summary: No, that is not a typo in the title.

Post: I discovered a hilarious midrash, brought down and discussed by Emek Halacha (HaMidrash veHaMaaseh), R' Yeshaya Yosef Margolin.

In Midrash Rabba (in this siman):

'A halacha, one who has troubles with his ears, what of healing it on Shabbat? So taught the Sages: Pikuach nefesh docheh Shabbat.'

This Midrash is entirely surprising. For if it is dealing with a sickness which has danger {sakanah}, have we not until this point heard that pikuach nefesh is docheh Shabbos? Is it not explicit in the Mishnah at the end of Yoma as well as in several braytot. And if it is danger only to limb, which appears to be the simple implication of the language 'One who is choshesh in his ears', behold in truth we do not violate a Biblical prohibition, as is stated in Maggid Mishnah, perek 2 of Hilchot Shabbat, and in Bet Yosef siman 328. And either which way, it requires explication, for what reason Chadal leaned this question of theirs in the midrash upon one who was choshesh in his ears specifically, and later on in our words it shall be explained."

Read on in Emek Halachah if you are interested in his resolution. I did not read it all the way.

But the midrash is extremely funny, as stated, though I am not certain that this is on purpose. As I would read it, there is an implicit al tikrei here. Read not פקוח but rather פקיח. A pikei'ach is one who has functioning hearing, as opposed to an ilem or a cheresh, a mute or a deaf-mute. Thus, pikuach nefesh, making certain that the nefesh remains a pikeach, is docheh Shabbos.

Perhaps. That was my first instinct when seeing the midrash. It turns out that this drasha was all in my mind. For it seems that the midrash was not quoted accurately. As it appears at Daat's Midrash Rabba:

הלכה:
אדם מישראל שהיה חושש באזנו, מהו שיהא מותר לרפאותו בשבת? 
כך שנו חכמים:

כל שספק נפשות דוחה את השבת וזו מכת האוזן אם סכנה היא, מרפאים אותה בשבת. 

רבנן אמרי:
מבקש אתה שלא לחוש באזניך ולא אחד מאיבריך, הטה אזנך לתורה ואת נוחל חיים.

מנין? שנאמר: (ישעי' נה) הטו אזנכם ולכו אלי שמעו ותחי נפשכם. 

This does not specifically mention pikuach nefesh, but rather safek nefashot, and if this affliction of the ear rises to the level of sakanah, then it is docheh Shabbos. (And if it does not, is the implication, then it is not docheh Shabbos.)

Why mention specifically the ear here, as opposed to any other ever? Not for any halachic implication or effect, as it seems Emek Halachah is going to take it. Rather, this is Midrash Rabbah, which is a non-halachic midrashic work. It is midrash aggadah. But it uses the halacha as a jumping-off point for it homiletic teaching, of inclining one's ears to Torah, such that one will inherit life, etc.

And so, no other ever would have been appropriate to mention in context, even though of course those other eivarim would have the same halacha. And the purpose is not to teach the halacha, which of course everyone already know -- it is so, so basic. It is to spin off from their into the homiletic material.

Whether the midrash was discussing sakanas eiver or sakanas nefesh is perhaps ambiguous, and can be discussed and resolved. But that was surely not the point of the midrash.

A gemara that speaks of healing ears on Shabbos is Avodah Zarah 28b:

Said Raba b. Zutra in the name of R. Hanina: It is permissible to restore the ear into its proper position on the Sabbath. Whereon R. Samuel b. Judah commented: Only with the hand, but not by applying medicines. Some report: By applying medicine, but not with the hand, the reason being that it causes soreness.

Rabbi Avner the apostate in a Haazinu Torah Code

Summary: Except of course that it is a likely a bubbe mayseh, and it is no Torah Code.

Post: In Seder HaDoros, by Rabbi Yechiel ben Rabbi Shlomo Halprin, on page 56b, written about 1697, we read:

"And I have received a tradition that the Ramban had a student by the name of Rabbi Avner, who became a Sadducee {presumably, Christian; perhaps a Karaite?}. And his mazal cased him to become great, and he was awesome throughout the land. After these days, on Yom Kippur, he sent and brought the Ramban his teacher before him. He slaughtered by himself a pig, cut it up, cooked it, and ate it. And after he ate it, he asked the rav how many kareses he had violated. And the rav answered him that it was four. And he said that it was five. And thus, he wished to dispute with his teacher. And the Ramban cast his eyes upon him in anger, and that man fell silent, for he still retailed a bit of fear of his teacher. And in the end, the rav asked the man what brought him to apostasy. And he answered him that one time, he heard him {=the Ramban} darshen in parashat Haazinu that in that parashah were included all the mitzvos and all the things in the world. And since this was to him something impossible, he became another person. And the rav answered and said 'I still maintain this. Ask what you will.' And the man was extremely astonished and said to him, 'If so, please show me if my name name is written there.' And the Ramban answered, 'You have spoken well, that which you seek from me.' And immediately, he went into the corner and prayed, and the pasuk came to his mouth {Haazinu 32:26}, 

כו  אָמַרְתִּי, אַפְאֵיהֶם;  {ר}  אַשְׁבִּיתָה מֵאֱנוֹשׁ, זִכְרָם.  {ס}

26 I thought I would make an end of them, I would make their memory cease from among men;

that the third letter of each word spells out the name of the man, which is R' Avner. And when he heard this matter, his face fell, and he asked his teacher if there was any cure to his hurt? And the rav said to him, you have heard the words of the verse. And the rav went on his way, and immediately, the man took a boat without sailors or oars, and went wherever the wind blew, and no more was known of him. (And see in Emek haMelech, shaar rishon, perek dalet.)"

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, in telling this over -- see here at Shirat Devorah -- stresses that the rabbinic title, the R', was still present in his name. This is the sort of thing that the Rebbe, with his focus on kiruv rechokim, would notice and stress. I don't know that this was the intent, more than the focus on the negative message in the verse towards an apostate, as well as his path towards making amends.

This is an awesome story, in which we see the ruach hakodesh of the Ramban, the comeuppance of an apostate, and the message that the Torah is all-encompassing, and thus certainly relevant to our own lives. In addition, it seems to be a bolstering of the Torah codes, since someone as great as the Ramban put forth this Torah code.

Except, of course, it is not a Torah Code. There is no regular skip interval. Between the first few letters are six letters, but between the nun and the resh of Avner, there are only five letters. Rather, it is a more classic sort of kabbalistic derasha, finding the Xth letter of each subsequent word. This is the sort of thing we find regularly in Baal HaTurim. And Torah Codes proponents might well dismiss this sort of code as mathematically irrelevant, since it is not a priori. After all, one needs just look for any skip until one encounters one word, Avner. I say this just to stress the divide that exists between classic derashot of this sort and the Torah Codes. It is a different sort of derasha, where they make up their own, mathematically-grounded, rules.

Who was this Avner? If he really rose to such prominence and fame, shouldn't we have heard about him?

Well, it turns out that there was a famous apostate named R' Avner, in about the same time and place as the Ramban. The sefer Seder HaDoros does not identify him in particular, but it makes sense that he is referring to Avner of Burgos. The Ramban lived in Gerona and Avner was of Valladolid, both cities in Spain. Here is a bit about Avner, but read the whole article (drawn initially from JewishEncyclopedia):

Abner of Burgos (ca. 1270-ca. 1347, or a little later) was a Jewish philosopher, a convert to Christianity and polemical writer against his former religion. Known after his conversion as Alfonso of Valladolid.

As a student he acquired a certain mastery in Biblical and Talmudical studies, to which he added an intimate acquaintance with Peripatetic philosophy and astrology. He was graduated as a physician at 25, but throughout a long life he seems to have found the struggle for existence a hard one. In 1295, he reportedly treated a number of Jews for distress following their experiences in the failed messianic movement in Avila. As Abner reports in his Moreh Zedek/Mostrador de justicia, he himself "had a dream" in which a similar experience of crosses mysteriously appearing on his garments drove him to question his ancestral faith.

Not being of those contented ones who, as Moses Narboni says in his Maamar ha-Beḥirah (Essay on the Freedom of the Will; quoted by Grätz, p. 488), are satisfied with a peck of locust beans from one Friday to another, he resolved to embrace Christianity though at the advanced age of sixty, according to Pablo de Santa María (Scrutinium Scripturarum); according to other writers he took this step soon after he was graduated in medicine. According to the statements of his contemporaries, such as Narboni, he converted, not from spiritual conviction, but for the sake of temporal advantage. Something of the apostate's pricking conscience seems to have remained with him, however, although he was immediately rewarded with a sacristan's post in the prominent Metropolitan Church in Valladolid (whence he took the name of Alfonso of Valladolid). The argument that Abner converted for material gain is put in to question by the fact that his post as a sacristan was extremely modest and he never, throughout his long and public polemical career after conversion (ca 1320-1347) advanced in his post to something more lucrative.

The "problem" with this Avner being the student of the Ramban in question is that Abner of Burgos was born in 1270 in Spain, while Ramban died in 1270 in Eretz Yisrael. They would not have met, and so certainly he would not have been a student. Furthermore, there are no records of this Avner of Burgos repenting and going off on a boat, never to be heard from again. Still, I would stand by the identification, and say that whoever composed the story figured that this was someone who lived a generation after the Ramban in Spain, so it makes sense to make him a student of the Ramban. Also, because apparently Ramban did make a statement about everything in Jewish history being contained in Haazinu, so it just worked out so perfectly.

Rabbi Joshua Hoffman discusses this story here.

The Sifrei praises the shira, or poem, of Ha'azinu, because it includes the present, the past, the future, and the world to come. Ramban and Rabbeinu Bachya both write that all of Jewish history is included in the parsha of Ha'azinu. Ramban, in fact, writes that it is called 'shira' because the Jews had a practice of reading it regularly as a song, with joy, and Rambam, in his Mishneh Torah, Laws of Prayer, 7:13, mentions a practice of reading Ha'azinu every day. Rabbi Yechiel Halperin,an eighteenth century ancestor of the famed Rabbi Gavriel Zev Margolis, whose seventieth yahrzeit was observed on the tenth of Elul this past year ( 5765), mentions, in his Seder HaDoros, a story regarding a student of the Ramban, Abner of Burgos. Abner became an apostate and told the Ramban that it was this teaching of his, that every person can find a hint to himself in parshas Ha'azinu, that led him to abandon the Jewish faith. Ramban then demonstrated to Abner that his name is, indeed, alluded to in the verse, "I said I will scatter them, I will cause their memory to cease from man" (Devorim, 32:26). Abner was so overwhelmed by this proof, so the story goes, that he sailed off alone on a boat, never to be heard form again. it [sic] While this story, as many of the stories found in Seder HaDoros, may be apocryphal, it bespeaks a profound truth, as we will see. 

(A bit about Rabbi Hoffman and his Netvort:

Netvort, founded by Rabbi Josh Hoffman in 1998/5758, is an essay on the weekly Torah portion ("parsha") that aims to find a message meaningful to the contemporary reader through use of rabbinic commentators from throughout the ages. Netvort currently has some 600 email subscribers.

Known for decades as "The Hoffer", the author studied in Skokie Yeshiva, Yeshivat Mercaz HoRav, and Brisk Rabbinical College, where he received semicha from Rav Aharon Soloveichik. He also studied under Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik at Yeshiva University, as well as in YU's Kollel Elyon. He received an MA in Modern Jewish History at YU's Bernard Revel Graduate School, where he is currently pursuing a PhD.

)

Thus, he agrees with the identification of R' Avner with Avner of Burgos, and also that this story, along with many stories in Seder HaDoros, may be apocryphal. "Apocryphal" is the scholarly term. We would simply say that it is a bubbe mayseh.

If I had to guess, the story began as someone (a random person, perhaps a rabbi) finding a negative encoding of this sort for Avner in Haazinu. (Did this Avner ever criticize this rabbinic statement?) They promulgated this as a response to the apostate that everybody hated. And the story developed from there.

It is, perhaps, an effective story, to convey important lessons. Still, it would be nice if it were actually, you know, true.