[7] (Gen. 25:1:) THEN ABRAHAM TOOK ANOTHER WIFE. This text is related (to Eccl. 12:1): REMEMBER YOUR CREATOR. What is the meaning of YOUR CREATOR? This is the Holy One. Aqavya ben Mahalal'el says: Look at three things [and you will not come to the point of transgression, etc.:1 Where have you come from? From a fetid (seminal) drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, worms, and maggots. Before whom are you going to render account and reckoning? Before the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He.] R. Joshua of Sikhnin said in the name of R. Levi: And the three of them are in this verse: REMEMBER YOUR CREATOR (BWR'K, rt.: BR'). This is the Holy One. YOUR {WELLS} [WELL] (rt.: B'R). This is a well that comes forth out of fetid (seminal) fluid. {YOUR CREATOR} [YOUR PIT (BWRK)] < corresponds > to the place where you are going to render account and reckoning.2 Ergo (in Eccl. 12:1): REMEMBER < all the above >.
[(Eccl. 12:1, cont.:) IN THE DAYS OF YOUR YOUTH.] Do not wait until you have grown old, [but] (ibid., cont.): BEFORE THE EVIL DAYS COME. R. Isaac said: These are the days of old age,3 when one intends to do something and is not able. And why are the days evil? R. Simeon ben Johay < answered in > a parable: To what is the matter comparable? To an individual who dwelt by the road and robbed those who passed to and fro. The king told him to repent, but he did not repent. When he grew old he said: I will make peace with the king. They said to him: The king is not grateful to you. Why? Because you did not repent willingly. Ergo (in Eccl. 12:1): REMEMBER < YOUR CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF YOUR YOUTH BEFORE THE EVIL DAYS COME >.
(Ibid., cont.:) AND THE YEARS DRAW NEAR [WHEN YOU WILL SAY: I HAVE NO DELIGHT IN THEM]. These are the afflictions (of old age).
(Eccl. 12:2:) BEFORE [THE SUN, THE LIGHT], < THE MOON AND THE STARS > ARE DARKENED. [THE SUN] represents the facial appearance,4 THE LIGHT represents the eyes, THE MOON represents the cheeks, and THE STARS represent the teeth.
(Ibid., cont.:) AND THE CLOUDS RETURN AFTER THE RAIN. When the rain comes, the clouds come; not (as one would expect), when the clouds come, the rain comes. It is simply that after one's eyes water, one's eyelids descend over them. Ergo: AND THE CLOUDS RETURN < AFTER THE RAIN >.
(Eccl. 12:3:) IN THE DAY THAT THE GUARDS OF THE HOUSE TREMBLE. These are < the old > one's knees. R. Hiyya ben Nehemiah says: These are < the old > one's bones.
(Ibid.,cont.:) AND VALIANT ONES ARE BOWED. These are < the old > one's arms.
(Ibid., cont.:) AND THE GRINDERS CEASE < BECAUSE THEY ARE FEW >. These are < the old > one's teeth.
(Ibid., cont.:) AND THOSE WHO ARE LOOKING < THROUGH THE WINDOWS > BECOME DIM. These are the eyes. (Eccl. 12:4:) AND THE DOORS TO THE STREET ARE CLOSED. These are the feet. Why? When one has become old, he does not stretch his legs in the street. Thus his feet are disappearing from the street. (Ibid., cont.:) WHEN THE SOUND OF THE MILL IS LOW, because one tarries over the food. (Ibid., cont.:) AND ONE ARISES AT THE SOUND OF THE BIRD. R. Levi b. R. Shallum said: Even though < an old > one hears the sound of a bird chirping, he is thinking that perhaps there are robbers.
Another interpretation: AND ONE ARISES AT THE SOUND OF THE BIRD. Just as the offspring of a bird lean toward their father when he comes to put < food > in their mouths, so one < who is old > waits for somebody to come and put < food > into his mouth. (Ibid., cont.:) AND ALL THE DAUGHTERS OF SONG ARE BROUGHT LOW. These are the lips. Thus all the days that one is a youth his voice issues forth; but when he becomes old, they (the lips) become flabby, and his voice does not travel.
(Eccl. 12:5:) ONE ALSO IS AFRAID OF HEIGHTS. They say to him: Do you wish to come and visit this sick person? He says to them: Is there a ladder there to go up? There is a steep place there. < An old person talks so > because he is afraid of heights.
Another interpretation (of Eccl. 12:5): ONE ALSO [IS AFRAID] OF HEIGHTS [AND TERRORS IN THE WAY]. They say to him: Come and let us go to the synagogue, but he breaks up the journey and makes it little by little.
(Ibid., cont.:) AND THE ALMOND TREE BLOSSOMS. This is the nut (coccyx) which is at its end of the spine.
(Ibid., cont.:) AND THE GRASSHOPPER DRAGS ITSELF ALONG. These < the old > are one's feet when they are swollen. (Ibid., cont.:) AND THE CAPER BUSH FAILS.5 Even sexual desire ceases. All these things happen to the one who is old. But in the case of Abraham, although it is written of him (in Gen. 24:1): NOW ABRAHAM WAS OLD, his sexual desire had not ceased. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 25:1): THEN ABRAHAM TOOK ANOTHER WIFE.
[8] Another interpretation (of Gen. 25:1): THEN ABRAHAM TOOK ANOTHER WIFE. This text is related (to Eccl. 11:6): SOW YOUR SEED IN THE MORNING, < AND DO NOT WITHHOLD YOUR HAND IN THE EVENING >, because you do not know which of them {will protect you} [will be made to succeed for you].6 If you have learned a lot of Torah in your youth, do not become idle in your old age. Why? (Ibid., cont.:) BECAUSE YOU DO NOT [KNOW WHICH WILL SUCCEED]. R. Joshua says: If a religious obligation presents itself to you in the morning, SOW YOUR SEED. Do not say no. And if [a religious obligation] presents itself to you in the evening, DO NOT WITHHOLD YOUR HAND IN THE EVENING, BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH of them will endure for you, whether that of the morning, that of the evening, (ibid., cont.): OR WHETHER THEY BOTH [ARE EQUALLY GOOD]. R. Aqiva says: SOW YOUR SEED IN THE MORNING. If you have raised up disciples in your youth, do not become idle in raising others up in your old age.7 < There is > a story about R. Aqiva, who had three hundred disciples in his youth, and all of them died. If he had not raised < others > up in his old age, he would not have had a single disciple. But he had applied < Eccl. 11:6 > to himself: SOW YOUR SEED IN THE MORNING < … >.
Another interpretation: R. Dostay
8 said: If you take a wife who bears < a child > and dies, do not be idle in your old age without a wife. Why? (Eccl. 11:6:)
BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH WILL SUCCEED. From whom do you learn < this fact >? From Abraham, who in his youth only sired one < child > but in his old age sired twelve. R. Levi said: He is the one to whom the Holy One said: (in Gen. 12:3):
AND IN YOU ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED. Thus God arose in the generation of the dispersion and dispersed them into thirty families, as stated (in Gen. 11:8):
SO THE LORD DISPERSED THEM…. R. Levi said: The Holy One said: I am producing them out of you. He is the one to whom the Holy One had said:
AND IN YOU < ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH > SHALL BE BLESSED. So from him he produced thirty families; and they are the following: twelve princes which he produced from Ishmael
(Gen. 25:13-16), the sixteen descendants of Keturah
(Gen. 25:1-4), and (according to Gen. 25:23)
TWO NATIONS ARE IN YOUR (Rebekah's)
WOMB, for a total of thirty families. Ergo (in Gen. 25:1):
THEN ABRAHAM TOOK ANOTHER WIFE.
[9] What is written before this passage
(Gen. 25:1)? (Gen. 24:62:)
NOW ISAAC HAD COME BY WAY OF BEER-LAHAI-ROI.
9 And afterwards < it is written > (in Gen. 25:1):
THEN ABRAHAM TOOK A WIFE AGAIN.
10 It is simply that when Isaac took Rebekah, Isaac said: Let us go and bring a wife to my father. Hagar and Keturah are the same person < according to > the words of Rabbi, but our masters say he took another wife. What is the logic of Rabbi? Hagar and Keturah are the same person because it is written (in Gen. 24:62):
NOW ISAAC HAD COME BY WAY OF BEER-LAHAI-ROI. < Here is a reference to > the same woman about whom it is written (in Gen. 16:14):
THEREFORE THE WELL WAS CALLED BEER-LAHAI-ROI.
11
[10] (Gen. 25:1:)
THEN ABRAHAM TOOK AN ADDITIONAL12 WIFE. This text is related (to Job 8:7):
THOUGH YOUR BEGINNING WAS TRIFLING, YOUR END SHALL GREATLY FLOURISH. R. Simeon ben Laqish said in the name of R. Eleazar: You learn from here that an addition of the Holy One is more than the original.
13 Abraham had previously sired no one but Isaac. When the Holy One made an addition for him, he made his addition < even > more, as stated (in Gen. 25:2):
AND SHE BORE HIM < ZIMRAN, JOKSHAN, MEDAN, MIDIAN, ISHBAK, AND SHUAH >. Thus you find in the case of the first Adam that when < Eve > gave birth, she bore Cain
(Gen. 4:1). Then afterwards (in Gen. 4:2):
AND IN ADDITION SHE BORE < HIS BROTHER ABEL >. And so you find in the case of Rachel that she bore Joseph and said (in Gen. 30:24):
MAY THE LORD ADD ANOTHER SON FOR ME. He added Benjamin for her and his twin sister. Where is it shown to be so? Here (in Gen. 35:17), < where > "This is a son for you" is not written, but
FOR THIS ALSO IS A SON FOR YOU. And so you find in the case of King Hezekiah, all the days of his reign were fourteen years; but when the Holy One made an addition for him, he added fifteen years. (Is. 38:5; cf. II Kings 20:6:)
SEE, I AM ADDING [FIFTEEN YEARS] TO YOUR LIFE. Now when the prophets saw that an addition of the Holy One was more than the original, they began to bless Israel with an addition. Moses said (in Deut. 1:11):
MAY THE LORD [GOD OF YOUR ANCESTORS] ADD TO YOUR NUMBERS A THOUSAND TIMES [MORE THAN YOU ARE]…. David said (in Ps. 115:14):
MAY THE LORD ADD TO YOUR NUMBERS. Also in the world to come the Holy One has procured an addition (rt.:
YSP) for his people, as stated (in Is. 11:11):
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY, THE LORD WILL EXTEND (rt.: YSP) HIS HAND A SECOND TIME < TO PROCURE THE REST OF HIS PEOPLE >.
The End of Parashat Hayye Sarah.
[Parashat Toledot]
[1] (Gen. 25:19:)
THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM.
14 This text is related (to Prov. 17:6):
GRANDCHILDREN ARE A CROWN FOR ELDERS, AND THE GLORY OF CHILDREN IS THEIR PARENTS.
15 Who caused Abraham to be magnified? Jacob, as stated (in Is. 29:22):
THUS SAYS THE LORD UNTO THE HOUSE OF JACOB, WHICH REDEEMED ABRAHAM. Why? Because, if one is meritorious as a Torah scholar together with his son and his grandson, it will never again be cut off from him. Thus it is stated (in Deut. 4:9f.):
AND MAKE THEM (the statutes and ordinances) KNOWN TO YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN AS ON THE DAY THAT YOU STOOD < BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD AT HOREB >. Just as the gift of < the > Torah did not become cease on the day it was given; so for one who teaches his son and his grandson Torah, it shall never again depart from him. And so it was when the Holy One saw Abraham was busy with the Torah. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Gen. 26:5):
BECAUSE ABRAHAM HEEDED MY VOICE < AND KEPT MY CHARGE: MY COMMANDMENTS, MY STATUTES, AND MY LAWS >. It is also written (above, in 18:19):
FOR I HAVE KNOWN HIM. Then Jacob arose up and did not move from the Torah, as stated (in Gen. 25:27):
BUT JACOB WAS A PERFECT MAN WHO SAT IN THE TENTS (i.e., in the academies).
16 What stipulation did the Holy One make with them? (According to Josh. 1:8:)
< THIS > BOOK OF THE LAW SHALL NOT DEPART < FROM YOUR MOUTH >…. It is also written (in Prov. 10:1):
A WISE SON SHALL MAKE A FATHER GLAD. This is Isaac, since it is stated (in Gen. 21:12):
FOR IN ISAAC SHALL YOUR SEED BE NAMED. (
Prov. 10:1, cont.:)
BUT A FOOLISH SON. This is Ishmael. Thus it is written (in Gen. 25:12):
NOW THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISHMAEL BEN ABRAHAM. There are children who suffer disgrace through their parents. Josiah suffered disgrace through his father, as stated (in II Chron. 33:23):
FOR AMON INCURRED A LOT OF GUILT. Hezekiah suffered disgrace through < his father > Ahaz, as stated (in Is. 8:16):
BIND UP THE TESTIMONY.
17 There are also parents who suffer disgrace through their children. Eli suffered disgrace through his sons, [as stated (in I Sam. 2:12):
NOW ELI'S SONS WERE SCOUNDRELS. And Samuel also suffered disgrace through his sons], as stated (in I Sam. 8:3):
BUT HIS SONS DID NOT WALK IN HIS WAYS. It did not, however, turn out in this way for Abraham. Instead he was magnified through Isaac, as stated (in Gen. 25:19, cont.):
ABRAHAM SIRED ISAAC. Did he sire no one but Isaac? Now look, it is written {(in Gen. 25:19):
THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISHMAEL.} [(in Gen. 16:15):
SO HAGAR BORE A SON TO ABRAM.] And in addition < there are > the sons of Keturah: Zimran and Jokshan, < etc. >
(cf. Gen. 25:2). But it does not say that Abraham sired anyone but Isaac, simply because Isaac was righteous. It is therefore stated (in Gen. 25:19):
ABRAHAM SIRED ISAAC.
{(Gen. 26:1:) NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE. This verse is related (to Prov. 18:3): WHEN A WICKED ONE COMES, THERE IS ALSO DESPISING. Who was this < wicked > one? This was Esau the Wicked, who came upon his feet to Abbadon (i.e., to hell, the place of damnation). What is written?} 18
[2] (Gen. 25:27:) WHEN THE BOYS GREW UP, ESAU BECAME A CUNNING HUNTER, < A MAN OF THE FIELD; BUT JACOB WAS A PERFECT MAN WHO SAT IN THE TENTS >. R. Berekhyah the Priest said: R. Levi said:19 Both of them went to the elementary school, and both of them were equal until the age of fifteen. To what were they comparable? To a myrtle and a thorny plant.20 As long as they are small, no one < can > distinguish one from the other. After they have grown up, the one awakens (in bloom), AND (in the words of Gen. 1:12) IT WAS GOOD; but the other brings forth its thorns. Thus, so long as Esau and Jacob were small no one distinguished between them. After they were grown up, they were distinguishable. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Gen. 25:27): WHEN THE BOYS GREW UP…. JACOB WAS A PERFECT MAN WHO SAT IN THE TENTS (of learning).21 < But what about Esau? (According to ibid.:) ESAU BECAME > A CUNNING HUNTER, < A MAN OF THE FIELD (SDH) >. R. Abbahu said: What is the meaning of CUNNING HUNTER? That his hunting was by entrapment (SWDN').22 He hunted at home [and he hunted] in the field. BUT JACOB WAS A PERFECT MAN WHO SAT IN THE TENTS. The Holy One said to him: You are the first to sit in the tents (of learning). By your life, when I return to Jerusalem, I will return through your virtue. Thus it is stated (in Jer. 30:18): THUS SAYS THE LORD: BEHOLD, I AM RESTORING JACOB'S TENTS FROM CAPTIVITY. "Abraham's tents from captivity" is not stated < here >, but JACOB'S TENTS FROM CAPTIVITY.
[3] (Gen. 25:29:) NOW JACOB HAD BOILED < A STEW >. Esau came in from the field and saw that Jacob's face was blackened. He said to him: What are you doing? He said to him: Do you not know that our grandfather Abraham is dead, and I am cooking food?23 Now he was going to prepare the mourner's meal on his behalf. Esau said to him: My friend and my enemy, < both > alike have died. Abraham has died, and Nimrod has died. SO (according to Gen. 25:32) WHAT IS THE USE OF THIS BIRTHRIGHT TO ME? What was he cooking? Lentils, because from ancient times they had brought lentils (on account of) [unto] the mourner and lentils to the house with a wedding. (Gen. 25:29:) THEN ESAU CAME.24 They have said: This wicked man committed three transgressions on that day. He robbed, since it is written (of Edom in Obad. 5): IF THIEVES HAVE COME TO YOU, PLUNDERERS (rt.: ShDD)25 OF THE NIGHT. He also seduced a maiden who was betrothed, as stated (in Gen. 25:7): < EDOM BECAME A MAN > OF THE FIELD. A field is nothing but a maiden, since it is stated (in Deut. 22:25): IF IN THE FIELD [THE MAN FINDS A MAIDEN] < WHO IS BETROTHED, AND THE MAN SEIZES HER AND LIES WITH HER >…. And he took a life, since it is stated (in Gen. 25:29): AND HE WAS EXHAUSTED. EXHAUSTED can only < imply > "killing." Thus it is stated (in Jer. 4:31): WOE UNTO ME, NOW! FOR MY LIFE IS EXHAUSTED BEFORE THOSE WHO KILL.
The Holy One said: I made a stipulation with Abraham (in Gen. 15:15): YOU SHALL GO UNTO YOUR ANCESTORS IN PEACE; YOU SHALL BE BURIED AT A GOOD OLD AGE. Now this was a good end; for when one who is righteous passes away, they say to him: Look at what your grandson is doing! David said (in Ps. 63:4 [3]): FOR YOUR STEADFAST LOVE IS BETTER THAN LIFE. Therefore, Abraham passed away because of Esau. You know yourself that it is so. Isaac, who came from the fecundity of Abraham, lived to one hundred and eighty; but Abraham only lived to one hundred and seventy-five. The Holy One said: Lest he see Esau committing transgressions and voice a complaint over him, for that reason, let five years be deducted from the life of Abraham.
[4] [(Gen. 25:30:) PLEASE LET ME GULP DOWN SOME OF THIS RED RED STUFF.] What is the meaning of LET ME GULP DOWN? R. Johanan said: From you and from those like you, < i.e., > from the righteous who are like you.26
Another interpretation: LET ME GULP DOWN. "Give me" is not written here, but LET ME GULP DOWN. He said to him: LET ME GULP DOWN < SOME >. He gave him < some > in a saucer. He said: You are giving it to me in a saucer. Pour from the pot < directly > into my mouth. Now the word for "gulping down" (rt.: L'T) is nothing but the word for "pouring"; for so have our masters taught (in Shab. 24:3): ONE DOES NOT STUFF THE CAMEL NOR CRAM IT BUT FEEDS IT FULLY (rt.: L'T).27 He therefore said (in Gen. 25:30): LET ME GULP DOWN (in the sense of POUR INTO ME).
(Gen. 25:31:) THEN JACOB SAID: SELL ME YOUR BIRTHRIGHT FOR TODAY. He said to him: Are you requesting my birthright? Do you request my share in the world to come? He said to him: I do not know whether you have a share in the world to come, but sell me the birthright since it is public knowledge28 FOR TODAY. SELL… FOR TODAY (KYWM): R. Aha said: Whoever knows how to {reply} [calculate] properly, knows that Israel received < the birthright > in this world only for a thousand years, because a day (YWM) for the Holy One is a thousand years. It is so stated (in Ps. 90:4): FOR A THOUSAND YEARS < IN YOUR EYES ARE LIKE THE DAY (KYWM) WHICH IS YESTERDAY >.29
(Gen. 25:32:)
AND ESAU SAID: LOOK, I AM GOING TO DIE. Abraham is dead; yet the Holy Spirit says (in Jer. 22:10):
DO NOT WEEP FOR ONE WHO IS DEAD < … >
WEEP BITTERLY FOR ONE WHO IS GOING AWAY. (
Gen. 25:32, cont.:)
SO WHAT IS THE USE OF THIS BIRTHRIGHT TO ME? Now the Holy Spirit says (in Ps. 109:17):
SINCE HE LOVED A CURSE, IT HAS COME UPON HIM; SINCE HE DID NOT FIND PLEASURE IN BLESSING, IT IS FAR FROM HIM. How did the first-born sacrifice? (
Zev. 14:4:)
BEFORE THE TABERNACLE WAS ERECTED < … > THE SACRIFICIAL SERVICE WAS < PERFORMED > BY THE FIRST-BORN.
30 Moreover, everyone who offered sacrifice was worthy of being blessed, as stated (in Exod. 20:21 [24]):
< YOU SHALL MAKE ME > AN ALTAR OF EARTH…. < AND IN EVERY PLACE WHERE I HAVE MY NAME MENTIONED > I WILL COME UNTO YOU AND BLESS YOU. Esau said: This man wants neither to sacrifice nor to be blessed. The prophet said to him (in Ezek. 35:6):
SURELY YOU HAVE HATED BLOOD; SO BLOOD SHALL PURSUE YOU. R. Levi said in the name of R. Hanina ben Hama: This is the blood of the sacrifices which he hated to sacrifice to the Holy One. But our masters say: This is the blood of circumcision, since he stretched his foreskin (to undo his circumcision). Thus it is stated (in Ps. 55:21 [20]):
HE HAS PUT FORTH HIS HAND AGAINST HIS WHOLENESS AND PROFANED HIS COVENANT.
Another interpretation (of Ezek. 35:6): SURELY YOU HAVE HATED BLOOD. Now Esau hated blood. His father had blessed him through blood, and he had confidence in blood, as stated (in Gen. 27:40): YET BY YOUR SWORD YOU SHALL LIVE. Still it < actually > says to him (in Ezek. 35:6): SURELY YOU HAVE HATED BLOOD! It is simply that he hated a person's life while it was placed in his body. It is therefore stated (in Gen. 25:32, end): SO WHAT IS THE USE OF THIS BIRTHRIGHT TO ME?
(Gen. 25:34:) SO ESAU DESPISED. < He was > of the opinion that he was joking with Jacob, but the Holy One gave his concurrence from above.31 It is so stated (in Exod. 4:22): THUS SAYS THE LORD: ISRAEL IS MY FIRST-BORN SON.
(Gen. 25:34:)
SO ESAU DESPISED < HIS BIRTHRIGHT >. (Prov. 18:3:)
WHEN A WICKED ONE COMES, THERE IS ALSO DESPISING. This refers to Esau, about whom it is stated:
SO ESAU DESPISED. (
Prov. 18:3, cont.:) {
AND WHEN DISGRACE COMES},
[AND WITH DISGRACE, SHAME], since the famine came in his footsteps. Thus it is stated (immediately after the verse about Esau despising his birthright, in Gen. 26:1):
NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND.
1. Avot 3:1; Lev. R. 18:1; Eccl. R. 12:1:1. See also ySot. 2:2 (18a), which does not list the three things.
2. For a more logical proof text, see Lev. R. 18:1; Eccl. R. 12:1:1.
3. Shab. 151a.
4. Gk.: prosopon.
5. The caperberry was considered to be an aphrodisiac.
6. See Tanh., Gen. 5:6; Gen. R. 61:3; Eccl. R. 11:6:1.
7. Yev. 62b.
8. Gk.: dositheos.
9. See Tanh., Gen. 5:8; cf. Gen. R. 60:14; 61:4.
10. This translation of the verse, which is somewhat more literal than the usual English renderings, suggests how Rabbi could interpret it to mean that Abraham had remarried Hagar.
11. The context suggests that Beer-lahai-roi might have been where Hagar had settled.
12. Again the translation of the verse has been changed to fit the midrashic context.
13. Below, 7:20; see Gen. R. 61:4.
14. Except for most of the last section (# 24), Toledot is not found in Buber’s Oxford MS. Buber has filled in the gap mostly from Codex Vaticanus Ebr. 34.
15. Cf. Gen. R. 63:2; Tanh., Gen. 6:4.
16. For this interpretation, see Gen. R. 63:10; Targum Onqelos, Gen. 25:27; PRK 5:7.
17. According to Gen. R. 42:3; Lev. R. 11:7; Ruth R., proem 7; and Esther R., proem 11, this verse alludes to Ahaz, who had seized (ahaz) the synagogues and the academies.
18. As these braces indicate, Buber believed the whole paragraph to be superfluous.
19. See Gen. R. 63:10.
20. ‘TsMWNYT. Gen. R. 63:10 reads ‘TsBWNYT (“wild rose bush”) here.
21. See above, 6:1.
22. In accordance with a suggestion from Midrash Tanhuma (Jerusalem: Eshkol, n.d.), vol. I, appendix, p. 38, n. 1, the text here is slightly emended from SWRN’. So emended the midrash is interpreting FIELD (SDH) of the biblical text as “entrapment” (SWDN‘). For a similar interpretation, see Gen. R. 63:10. See Buber’s note, ad loc.
23. See Gen. R. 63:11 ; BB 16b; (bar.); Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Gen. 25:27; PRE 35.
24. See Gen. R. 63:12; PRK 3:1; cf. BB 16b; PR 12:5.
25. The midrash may also see an allusion here to Gen. 25:27: A MAN OF THE FIELD (SDH).
26. Gen. R. 63:12. The repetition of RED suggests that ESAU was not only making demands of Jacob, but that such demands would be repeated against the righteous in future generations.
27. Since this root never appeals in Sctipture apart from Gen. 25:30, its meaning is doubtful. The context in the Mishnah implies that the verb in question is something that one does to the camel. Thus “gulping down” must have been something that Jacob did to Esau. See Gen. R. 63:12; PRK 6:2.
28. Rt.: PRSM; cf. Gk.: parresia (“boldness of speech”).
29. The Israelites knew only a millennium of true independence. See also Gen. R. 63:13.
30. The complete sentence from the Mishnah is quoted in Bekh. 4b; below, 6:12; PR 5:9; Gen. R. 63:13; Numb. R. 4:8. See also PRE 8.
31. Gen. R. 63:14.