Parshat Vayishlach: Who Are These Children to You? By Rabbi James Kennard

every body this week's para is V and we have the momentous meeting of yov and asov and we have in number one the following he lifted up his eyes that's as and he saw now nashim can be translated as women or wives and the children so he sees yov and he said me a who are these to you so we'll come back with a better explanation better translation of that later for and he said yob replied the children whom Hashem has and Kanan we're going to translate but somebody we've given or favored your servant I.E me yov so his question asked by asov is me a Who these to you and the answer given by yov is the children whom Hashem has something to do with given to your servant so there are two particular maybe three questions on which I want to focus uh the second one is going to be what's the meaning of the word Kanan uh why didn't yov say Natan given so what's the meaning of the word kanam um perhaps the third is what what's really y Asa question um but the second well actually the first I'm going to get to is Yakov only gives half an answer because as sees the and he says presumably referring to the nashim and the yadim and yakov's answer isim he answers about the children he doesn't answer about the wives and this focuses the minds of some of him and I think I'll go straight to number three ran says Etc he asked just as I said this is where I got the question from not from me but from the ran and others asov asked about the women and the children and yov answered and he answered that and the ramban is highlighting the fact he didn't mention the wives in his answer and he says this is Der this is an appropriate way to behave because he did not want to say to as that these four women were his wives and as will work out that they are the mothers of the children okay so why didn't he want to say about the wives well leave that for a moment because we're going to see others who will answer that um so I'm sorry we're we're going to draw the Freds together one by one why he didn't want to mention that they are the wives we will come to um a couple of suggestions as to why that should be but the last words of the ran will realize that they are the mothers of the children at this point I'm going to ask people to make sure their phones are put on silence so we don't have a disturbance um I think I'll just jump to I'll go out of order a little bit and go to number five to Rav hush um RAV hush is 700 years after the ramban in number three whom we just read and yet his answer his explanation is totally complimentary to the ramban okay for everyone could check their bags and their pockets and make sure their phones are on silent okay ravers number five says yov answers these are the children whom Hashem has given only mentioned the children but his answer also relates to the question about the women how we will come to in just a moment ROV Yakov hints but do not with great sensitivity to give thanks doubled he has two things to give thanks for who he's thankful he's merited the great wealth that's in his hands both in physical matters and in spiritual matters he acknowledges he thanks the kindness of Hashem and he also thanks or acknowledges his wives and then the r says gab as far as he is concerned the women are the mothers of his children now raush is speaking actually pretty much as far as I can see the same as the ramban he's just 700 years later and he's writing in German which is translated into Hebrew here and I think what he means is when he says Yim as opposed to Bim the word yadim means people who are born and Who Bore them the mothers so by saying yadim he's alluding to the role of the women I.E who be bore the children and says rers he's thanking Hashem by saying the words um elim elim and he's thanking the wives by saying the word which alludes to the fact that these wives bore him the children okay one more time okay so ravers disagrees with you ravers thinks he's not ignoring them he's delicately alluding to them okay you don't like that answer yes a very quick one okay so one of the answers we're going to is that he doesn't trust asov and he doesn't trust aso's intentions um but we can't say that the women were in hiding because we have the explicit P theob sorry asov lifted up his eyes and he saw the women so they can't be in hiding there's a story that there's a mid that Dina was hidden um and it reminds us of a story that Sara was hidden and but but here you can't say they were hidden but you could say perhaps and I don't want to preempt what we're going to read but the reason he doesn't want to mention the wives is he doesn't want asov to get ideas about them but but that's not what the ramban and rers who I think are saying the same thing are saying ramban going back to number three the second the last few words sorry asov would understand that they are the mothers of the children now the ramban doesn't give any more words so it's up to us to struggle to understand the ramban and I think what the ramban means is by calling them Yim it's alluding to the women who gave birth to to them okay not totally satisfactory but that's what I think the ramban is and rers are saying well he doesn't use the word Bim that's my point he used the word Yim which literally means people who were born that's what a is from noad are children and are wom but I think the word because the word yed literally means those who are born from NAD I think that's why he chooses that word I think at least that's what the ramban and R are saying let me move on um I'm going to have to be a little bit more ruthless about accepting and not accepting questions I love the interaction but uh I think we also need to make sure we we move forward let's see number four R Abraham Ben Haram so the rambam was the rambam and the rambam had a son called Abraham H and I've often heard it said that if Abraham were not the son of the rambam he'd be very much known as a Rishon in his own right because he certainly was but he's known as the son of the rambam because that was his illustrious father so the ra Abraham Ben Ram says in number four that's so our question Yakov answered about the children but he missed out an answer about the women even though the question was about everyone asov lifts up his eyes asov sees the women and the children and asks who are these referring to the women and the children and the benam here in number four is spelling out our question uh that Yakov doesn't answer the second half of as's question and he says second line it's for two reasons one is embarrassment about mentioning his relationship with the women and the second reason is when he mentions the relationship of the Y that they are his children then will work out the the these are the children using the word yeled and I think again that's significant no but the that that's that's the benav benar Ram's translation the original word is yeled which means bav but I think it's significant but he doesn't use the word bav he uses the word yadim so Yakov will say these are my yadim and then asov will work out but these women must be the mothers of the ym and it must be the wives okay let's jump to number seven which will answer the question that people are wondering why doesn't he mention the wives so number seven the actually we can start with number six we'll give one answer there and we'll give another answer in number seven in number six the says Etc the answer is these children whom you see they are the ones whom Hashem has given me and he didn't say just answer your question is these are the ones who sorry who asov says who are they and Yakov could have said to save words Hashem has favored me with these children but he doesn't he says these are the children which Hashem has favored me with so actually no I'm saying it wrong sorry he could have said the question is who are these and yakob could have answered Hashem has favored me with them but he doesn't he said that's the point that is making and the end of line one of number six he doesn't want to he wants to disabuse ASA of the notion that the women are also his children shov because they weren't so old we don't know exactly their age but we can see from various indications in this paraa that they are much younger than Yakov so asov might have thought that they were his CH his daughters the his to kahem and then asov would have lifted up his eyes to gaze at them and I think the implication is not in a wholesome manner maybe he'll want to marry them for himself but when yob used the word so they're all saying and I can hear I can hear a little bit of resistance here and I can see a bit of resistance here nobody seems to like this idea that I think is born out by many of our commentators that Yakov is alluding to the fact that they are in wives without mentioning specifically But Here Comes the abarbanel and this will give an answer you might not like the answer but it will give an answer to what's going on here number seven says behold asked about the women and the children and he says he says who are they to you he sorry as sees this large group of people can I it's a big family and he thinks some of them are his wives some of them are his sons some of them are uh other female relatives uh and so from the gathering around them Yakov doesn't mention the women in his answer so this is taking a more literal approach um unlike the attempts we've seen to say that he's sort of subtly including the women the Abel says he doesn't mention the women by the way sorry the first line was to spell out what's the question the question is who are all these people that's the Abel's understanding of the question of asov who are all these people are they your relatives are they your sisters are they your daughters are Etc anyway Yakov doesn't want to mention the women in his answer end of line two but he just wants to mention the children alone the not mentioning the wives was to cover the embarrassment of Yakov why was Yakov embarrassed to say that he has four wives that's embarrassing pen I love asov maybe if he mentions I've got four wives asov will make fun of him for your and he will say I'm sorry we haven't got any more we've run out of sheets I'm sorry if you can share with somebody else oh okay there are sheets here thank you uh sorry we just lost the thread there um he's worried that asov will make fun of him middle of line four but Y and he will will say who you you claim to be the great sad you who live your life according to fear of God you're not satisfied with one wife or two an as behold I as harha I'm the wicked one if you look at the end of the para we have the whole of of asov we know he only had three wives so yov is embarrassed to say I've got a more wives which implies I need more wives than you do with only three continuing the imagined words of asov End of Line five I asov only got three wives for and you've got more than that and because of this concern yov only answered his question about the children and then asov could conclude that of these four women some of them are wives and some of them are wet nurses who are there to help with the child rearing and so Yakov doesn't want to spell out he's got four wives so that is an answer maybe it's more satisfactory than some of the other answers the ababel meets head off on the fact that Yakov doesn't mention the wives at all doesn't allude to them and the reason is because there's four wives and four wives Yakov thinks of himself might be seen as a bit excessive bit over the top especially to asov asov Har Russia who's got who manages with three wives and that according to Abell is why he doesn't mention itel yeah I I think yeah I don't know if asov would call himself a Rasha but I think he's adding the uh little bit of color there you're the sadic I'm the Russia um certainly I think asov might have said you're supposed to be the more faithful one and I'm supposed to be the wild the one who got passed over for the blessings something like that but the barel puts it in a bit of a Starker phraseology he had two wives well he didn't have four W yeah okay and was he not accustomed to have whatever you them well okay so first of all your right sometimes they are referred by kazal as four wives sometimes they're four two wives and two concubines but they were all the they were no but they're all mothers of his children mothers of his children and they're all people with whom he had relations okay I think that's the point and whereas asov apparently at least he only marries three he only like formalizes three many yeah okay so the answer the answer to the question of why not mention the wives is the Abel's answer that he was embarrassed to admit he had four wives because he thinks it doesn't look quite right the right behavior for a study just by the way I'll just throw out this before it was forbidden about the year 1000 by RAB n gersam polygamy was allowed but what's remarkable to me is how few instances we see of polygamy in the Tanakh it clearly is not the Norm it's not the norm even though it was lowed it wasn't the norm and after the tanak in the m and the gumar it's clearly not the norm so I think for Yakov to say I've got four wives we can understand I can understand the barell thinking that Yakov would think it's a bit over the top yes no yes afraid of and trying to take a lower position do just I think you're right and thank you and the context of this the trouble of picking out one pos even though I like to focus keenly on on on one par or one instance is we do need the context as well and the context clearly is he is bowing down literally to asov seven times we're told he's very much trying to appease asov trying not to give asov any excuse to get angry so I think you're right this very much fits in this AB barell fits in with that context but he's trying to downplay anything that would give asov any excuse to make a fuss yes I think it's it's not L as in feminite it's the pausal form because it's the end of the Clause so it's not it's l it's a funny rule of Biblical Hebrew yes you're right it's not quite the words of the barell but you're right it was a complicated family setup as we know he only really wanted one wife called Rael and he gets another wife called Le then they bill her and Zila come in so it's complicated yes that's that's not complicated okay let's let's move on a little bit to the question of uh well we're allude to the question of what's being asked but the use of the word Kanan and for the next part of the show I want to focus on y's answer elim sorry sorry what is this so the sorry the Ezra in number eight the izra starts off on the words me we'll just read that IM who are these people with you or me sh um I'll come back to that bit later I think what the about what is saying with that second suggestion I think it deserves a look at later on but the first thing he says is the words the problem with the words is it doesn't quite make sense what these to you what what's the question going on there so the first answer of the izra is me a im who are these people with you who's this crowd okay let's go into the second line number eight says the Ezra it's equival to Natan Natan means he gave and Kanan says the izra is equivalent to he gave and he gives other examples of how we see it used in a similar sense now that's AAS from the end of shim just after there's been a war between shamim and the rest of the Kalel and then there's a Reconciliation and then chevet bamin um need to have wives and and they sort of they they complain um it's actually in the negative in the full quote you haven't given them to us or but when then the Ezra says there's also an idea of what does mean and he quotes the where laan says to yov you shouldn't have to work for me for free so the word Kanan says izra has connotations of giving but it also means giving for free and let's expand that idea a little bit in number nine so back to the Abraham benam whom we saw quoted earlier in number four on on the first question now it's the same benam on the second question what's meant by the wordan so he says the statement of yov why does he use that phrase he understood he believed that they are a gift from God um he's right by the way um at this point I want to say you every Jewish mother thinks their child is a gift from God or every Jewish young man usually thinks they're a gift from God they're actually right they're actually right they are a gift from God that's what children are and says the benh harambam yob uses the word Kanan to give but give perhaps graciously or maybe even give for free like the word because yov believed that they are they are a present from himem and a gift for free because of's humility he didn't want to suggest in his own soul Shah that he is fitting for this gift from God the word means not just giving but giving to somebody who doesn't deserve it as my father has explained Bor in the guide in the book the guide for the perplex which we'll see in just in a moment so where as the IB Ezra in number eight said Kanan is the same as Natan I think you can allow perhaps it's not exactly the same even in the ib's mind but he says straight off Kanan the benam says that's not really what Kanan means or it's not the whole story of what Kanan means Kanan is a word that means giving something to somebody who does not deserve it or a mat a present for free mat is a something that is given from Natan but is a present for free a present for somebody who does not deserve it so Yakov says these are the children elim not that Hashem is given but Hashem is given to me who does not deserve it and rakov even though we presume he did deserve it because he's Yakov aino in his modesty in his humility regarded himself or described himself as somebody who does not deserve it yes today is a part that they give to a prisoner called and it's not deserved by definition yeah yeah y now um the benam does from time to time refer to his father and says go and look at my father's book and you can see what he's written there so let's do that he says my father has described this word Kanan in this form and he's described it in the guide for the perplexed uh Section 1 chapter 54 which we have here in number 10 and so the Ram himself now by the way this is a translation from the Arabic as is as is the benam so um there are there are various ways of translating it and this is one version and he says in number 10 um when you give something to a person who has no claim on us in the sense of right that's called in our language means giving something to somebody who does not deserve it kha and now he quotes the same POS from shtim that we saw quoted earlier by the ibra the words and another example is our exactly our words and another example is the POS that comes a few Pim later which we'll look at in a moment we'll come back to that one and there are many examples like this see Hashem creates and guides somebody who has no claim on him to be created or to be guided and that is called kanun so kanun says the rambam and the son of the rambam say kanun is something it's not just the same as giving it's giving to someone who does not deserve it giving for free and in a minute we'll have an example from our um which we might recognize that might guide us in in what we're govering for but let's see the words of or the Torah referring to what Moshe did in number 11 so that is the opening words of the par and mosha is recalling how he mosha implored let's leave it as that for a moment Hashem to allow him to enter erit Israel because it had been decreed that can't enter Isel and when mosha describes his own role he says I what does mean let's look at Rashi number 12 turn over the page says Rashi there's no in every place take out a double negative to make it sound better English in every place means a a gift for free a gift which is undeserved and then he says even though sikim could make their claim thank you based on their Good Deeds they only request from Hashem something given for free which is not deserved so Moshe rabenu certainly could have said to Hashem listen I've got lots of merits I really deserve what I'm asking for I'm asking to get into ER Israel and you should give it to me but he doesn't say that for mosha describes his nature of his plea asan I was asking for something which I don't deserve I was asking for because sikim do not come and claim that they have enough rights to what they're asking for sikim on the contrary say we don't deserve anything but rather uh by using the wordan which means mat mosha was saying that he was asking for something he didn't deserve okay let's get a little bit more Technical and see an interesting comment of unus so unus translates our posk in number 13 and just look at the end of the pem just the end of number 13 Sons children which obviously is the Aramaic translation of Kanan for which Hashem has Kanan given to your servant now a few Pim later in our parha Yakov and asov discuss the present that Yakov is giving to asov and uh it's a collection of vast numbers of animals which are listed earlier in the peric and asov says look I don't need it um I've got lots of animals myself um then yob replies in number 14 please my my present which has been brought to you because Hashem has and I have everything just by the way since I've read the P it's famous that yov says yes call and asov says yes and they're very different someone who says I've got everything doesn't want anymore somebody says I've got a lot usually wants much more than what they've already got just to finish the pass yov implored asov and asov took it but what's interesting from our point of view is we have the word in the middle Hashem has given me favored me something like that and look at the Tas on that par in number 15 um and just in the middle of the line just we don't need to get stuck in all the Arab just in the middle of the line AR Hashem Hashem has what's raahim Mercy Hashem has been merciful to me same word in in Hebrew but uncus translates in two different ways into Aramaic in our about the children uncus uses the word KH directly related to Ouran and in the second p in number 14 about the animals uses the word Kan but the unas translates the word raahim has been merciful to me so I saw a suggestion that when Hashem gives something for free that's Kanan in Aramaic but when Hashem just generally benefit somebody and with the animals where did all the animals come from the animals came from yakov's wealth and yakov's wealth came from all his business with the speckled and spotted uh sheep um in last week's para and that was Hashem generally not giving yakob something for free but ra Al giving him Mercy helping him with his Endeavors in a more General sense and if you look carefully at the various pum that contain this word Kanan and how unus translates it it seems that there's two types of Kanan there's Kanan which is hashem's hasem helping generally somebody to prosper and there's Kanan which is a which is a gift for free which is not just part of hashem's General help but is a specific gift for free and that's the one that unas translates Asam okay let's move on to number 16 yes please yeah as opposed to Elohim yeah I think uncas doesn't distinguish um and the Y is probably is not necessarily UNC the answer is I'm not quite sure Y is not necessarily uncus his own words yud is is is like a kinu for Hashem it might have been put in by a subsequent scribe so I'm not sure but thank you for the question okay number 16 ra Herz visel now T Herz visel is an interesting character I'll just give a little bit of biography um 18th century Germany um he was a muscul um part of the Enlightenment um which is often considered sort of the enemy of Torah true Jews and indeed most cases it was but raali visel was an example of a muscal who was from he was um interested in wider uh learning uh he did advocate for the inclusion of secular studies into the Jewish school curriculum um and like many musum he was into Hebrew grammar and precise readings of Hebrew words which we will see now here in number 16 um for the full disclosure he he produced four major pamphlets in his life and the last one was about Jewish Education and he was very strong on the involvement in secular studies uh perhaps more than might be acceptable um and in that respect perhaps he didn't quite tow the line in the last years of his life but he wrote a perish on the Kish which is quoted by others um and is valuable and you'll see in number 16 how he integrates his precise analysis of Hebrew grammar and structure and syntax with a explanation of what yob is saying here so in number 16 he says quoting [Applause] the if the question had been are they your children or are they your members of your household I.E servants then yako could have just answered baiim they are my children just by the way um I missed out theun in number two because I thought it wasn't all that exciting but theun suggest yes that is indeed's question let's look at it now since I referred to it in number two or exactly the question that the is referring to and and saying is not the right question according to theun asov is asking what is the role of these young people are they your natural children are are they your servants and that fits well with yakov's answer they are the children whom Hashem has gracious ly given me but if we go back to the number 16 um tell a long bit of a schlep to say that every time but he doesn't really have an acronym um if that had been the question are these children your children or your servants then Yakov could have just answered benim they are my children now there is a precedent that actually comes after but there's another example in thees where a somebody asks who are these to you and and ysep is the one who's asked who are these two children whom you uh have brought out they weren't Children of the time but they were descendants of ysep Y answered to his father B they are my children and Yakov could have answered Bim but he didn't because there was a deeper meaning to the question End of Line two according to our explanation as wasn't asking who they are but was asking about their nature so this is the big um and you'll see a new interpretation of the word Kanan coming from naaliel yov as's question is tell me about these children what's their nature what's their behavior because that was the question what's the nature of these children it was good for yov to answer in full the children whom hasem has who has given given graciously given for free at to your servant now here comes a new interpretation of or a revised interpretation middle of line end of line three it is a good let's just leave it untranslated for a minute a great of Hashem that Hashem gave me children like these yob here is being a Jewish parent and he's saying I don't just have children I have wonderful children and that is Aina let me just finish this I'll come back to you that's Aina that's a I'm going to translate that as a great gift maybe there a better translation but I think visel is pointing us to the idea that is the noun for giving is a great gift it's not just a gift it's a super gift because I have children like these line four they're good they're intelligent everything I want is in them and that's why he used the word as says Hashem has favored me like your kindness because what Y what David was asking for in that P is the the the great gift of settled mind and happiness of the heart to release to save y sorry David from the uh sadness of his heart because of his sin a pause there so what is saying the question was what sort of children are these are they good are they not good are they super good um I spent a long time as a school principal I never met a parent who did not think their children were wonderful sometimes parents would say I know he's not an angel which meant but he's a SF or some other Celestial being but he's mashiah anyway so that's the question that asov is asking his brother Yakov tell me about your children and yakob says they're super and you know what me what how I sum up they're super hash has Hashem has given me such great children it's a great gift your question that they were birthed by these women that b would have been much more personal they're my children so although but that's what he wanted to say why didn't say well maybe at this point I will defend the ramban and the ravers who got a bit of a pummeling before that Yakov does want to allude to the role of the women that well maybe maybe he could say they are not just mine but they also are a function of the women Who Bore them and maybe their greatness and their their wonderfulness is partly due to their mothers and that's why he uses the word yellow maybe yes Rel I think this response way bringing to emphasize that keep God's on my side God's on my side he give me such great children okay interesting interesting okay just for those who didn't hear the suggestion is to contextualize yov is saying to asov don't mess with me and don't mess with me because Hashem has given me great great children to show that hashem's on my side okay um let's just finish off with number 16 because I pause deliberately um End of Line five last word Adam um and kazal instituted when they formulated the words of the Shon straight after we've thanked Hashem or acknowledged hashem's greatness we hit the requests in the middle of the amida and the first words of the requests are so based on what we saw before we got to number 16 means you have given for free knowledge to man uh and we should use it in the best possible way by learning learning Torah says in in the eyes of what we're learning here in number 16 raali Herz it's more than that you've given not just a present for free you've given an amazing present you've given us Dart you've given us intelligence and the ability to learn what could be a greater gift than that and the implication therefore of course is we should use that gift and go out and learn and then he says line six middle line six and he's alluding that these children are the ones that hasem has given favorably the a in other words that's the answer to your question asov you're asking tell me about these children I can sum up how great these children are they are a from Hashem they are a present from Hashem but more than just a present they are a super present they're first class and they're really really good children and then he says end of line six for Parish the re abrah benra we don't need the explanation of the izra as you remember Ian Ezra said as is izra style don't get too complicated the word Kanan is equivalent to the word Natan sesra no it is not the full statement of ysep when on close to yakov's deathbed not quite but close when yov wants to bless ysf and ysf brings manasha and Ephraim and Yakov says mysteriously who are they and presumably yob would have known that so we need to find a deeper meaning for the question um but y y replies B elim he doesn't use the word Yim and he doesn't use the word Kanan he uses the word Natan and I think what's going on here is the Ezra as is his style will say it says Kanan here it says Natan here don't get too excited about it the Torah speaks in the language of man sometimes people use the word Kanan sometimes people use the word Natan what we're seeing here in raali Herz is a rejection of that if there's two different words in the similar context then there must be two different meanings if ysf can say Natan and Yakov chooses not to say Natan but he says Kanan it must be a difference there must be a different meaning and that's the meaning we've explained nanas means to give Kanan means to give for free but according to what we're seeing here he gives more than give for free it's a super gift a very high level gift and it's a gift of children not just any old children but really special children so what's the in okay so I'd have to go back and then check what natal Herzel says about that Natan but the based on what I've seen so far and this is not a complete picture and I haven't done that homework um yov ysv is not saying there special they're saying they're yeah ordinary okay indeed indeed okay we'll have to leave that if I'm giving a rather I'll come back to that correct correct okay so that doesn't really work so we'll have to we'd have to to to come back on that one okay number 17 is a bit of a different style number 17 is a midrashic approach and I haven't got a deep explanation for it but it's rather interesting and as say very different and I'm happy to share it the which is really a compilation of of mid it's a bit late to be called a mid itself but quotes the following why did yov use this expression or the noun form because the the word or a equivalent form is in the very middle of which has 15 words Etc if you count all the words you'll get to 15 and the middle word number eight with seven before and seven after is the word um there's seven words before and seven words after and is in the middle and if you don't believe me here is the out then and then is and you should favor him Hashem should shine his face on you and you give you or give you and seven words after so we have seven and then the crucial middle word and seven after what does seven and seven relate to middle of line three laan so seven before and seven after alludes to the seven the 14 years that Yakov worked in the house of Lavan and we know the first seven years were for Leah and the second seven years were for Rael or maybe it should have been the other way around but that's how it went out so we have two distinct groups of seven and we have one word in the middle of B which is so that's why it's a special word to use because it alludes to the seven before and the Seven after and that's why yov used oh sorry the uses the word noov uses the word and there's another point when Yakov said this um when Yakov made this announcement to asov he had 11 children the last one had not yet been born so every one of those 11 children Dina is also there but hidden according to the midash everyone of those those children gets the BR of Kanan however was one who hasn't got it yet because hasn't been born but D wasn't born and where is it said on him elim um when ysep uh reveals himself to his brothers and he meets bamin and he says Hashem should favor you my son um that is where bamin gets his of which didn't get when yov announced to asov that all the children were Aina were a gift that didn't include bamin so binyamin gets it especially in a different context okay that's what the midash says as I say in this particular case I don't have a deeper meaning for the midash I think there is one uh I think there's there's particular significance in what it's saying not quite sure what that significance is but I thought it's worth sharing because it's a very different approach to what we've seen in the we haven't yet seen Rashi so where's Rashi number 18 on asa's question Rashi rephrases it as sh sh sh what has Rashi done he's added one word and one letter and sometimes these very short rashies are the hardest to really understand what rashi's getting at he takes the three words in the Kish and replaces them by four words the first two are the same they're untouched he adds the word leot and he puts a shin before the L what is he doing there so we can see the maral it's a bit complicated I'm not sure I fully understand it I want to jump to a contemporary safer in number 21 called Rashi K it's a series of five books which I like a lot which gives you a simple straight forward explanation of what Rashi is doing the other MIM the classical MIM often give you an explanation of what Rashi is doing which would not be considered simple and straightforward but this book Shashi by R SCH G gilbard who I think is contemporary um he says as follows on number 21 me quoting Rashi rash's explained above just a few earlier that sometimes you have a l at the beginning of the word and the L stands for the word shell which means belonging to or of let's just jump to number 22 and 23 where you can see Rashi expound this principle in number 22 still from Ala uh few him earlier Yakov sends three delegations in the direction of asov um with gifts and he also commands them what to say number 22 he commanded the first group saying when meets you and asks you saying what does it mean to who are you says Rashi there in number 23 sh me who has sent you which means of whom are you but look at rashi's opening words he takes two words and replaces them by sh what's Rashi doing he's just replaced the lamard with the word shell if you that's exactly what he's done no more no less and what does he mean that me is equivalent to Shell me and says the Rashi in number 21 Rashi is establishing a rule here that lard is equivalent to Shell not all the time obviously because that wouldn't make sense but where you just see a word like that can be explained as the L is replaced by shell because that's what it really means so let's just finish off go back to number 21 um middle of line to here in our the word the meaning of the word is of yours how are they of yours and the means to say as we saw before the root really was the that we saw in number two I know that they are yours in what way are they yours are they your children or are they your servants so Lei means of yours or sh how are they of yours so without Rashi we might have been stuck because we wouldn't have understood what me means because as I said at the beginning doesn't really make sense but me how are they to be of yours I know they're yours but in what way are they yours makes more sense and Y Rashi is suggesting or rather Rashi explaining is suggesting that Rashid says that Yakov says to asov sorry asov says to Yakov I know they're yours but in what way are they yours which brings me to an explanation I want to share with you which I humbly offer as my own k um but I rather like it and I think it's rather um it's actually rather precious to me and it's a drer that I said at my first son's bmitzvah and I've actually said many other times and I want to suggest that okay I want to suggest that this PK and this question of asvs is similar to a point made in last week's paraa by Lavan Lavan and asov they're not the same but there is an overlap of their agenda what might be described as the most terrifying pasuk in tanak is number 24 last week's paraa Yakov lives with laan raises a family runs away and takes his wives and takes his children with him and eventually Lavan meets up with him and they have an argument about who stole with traim uh and they prepare to finally on relatively good terms um and they prepared to depart but La says number 24 La answers and says to yov Hab the daughters are my daughters the habanim Bai and the sons are my sons for and the flock is my flock who and everything you see belongs to me and what can I do to my daughters to them today or or to Children whom they were born why do I say this is the most terrifying P because yakov's whole mission has been to raise the first Jewish family we can see many instances in the midash and in thees yob wants to have children he wants to be Jewish he wants the children to be his children and laven comes along and says you know what you think they're your children they're my children they're my daughters they're my sons they belong to me don't think that you can keep them separate isolated in some limited denominational Jewish life they really belong to me they are citizens of the world and this is the antithesis of what Yakov and every Jewish parent is trying to achieve I would suggest that asov is giving a similar point and asov says me who are these to you on what basis do you claim that they belong to you and they're not citizens of the world like lvin said on what basis do you say they're yours you want to raise them in this sheltered isolated fromy sort of environment but on what basis let them choose for themselves let them experience the world let them belong to everyone why are they yours and that's the question that Yakov answers you know who they are they're the gift that hes has given me and when somebody gives you a gift particularly a or maybe we can say even a great gift which makes them so special when somebody gives you a gift you say thank you and you treasure the gift and you look after the gift and you treat the gift in the way that you think the donor would want you to treat it if these are the children whom Hashem has given me as a then I'm going to look after these children and my looking after these children means I'm going to keep them away from you asov away from you Lavan away from the dangers of the world I'm going to raise them as Jews that's my answer to your question me on what bases do you think they're yours I'll tell you what bases they think they're yours they are a gift from God literally and I'm going to look after that gift and I'm going to raise them as Jews thank you very much