Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Vayishlach
Yaakov told them: "Hashem was matzil your father’s livestock and gave them to me" (Bereishit 31:9). They responded: "All of the riches that Hashem was matzil from our father is for us and our children, and now all that Hashem has told you, you shall do" (ibid. 16). Usually the root of matzil means to save, but how was he saving the flock?! Perhaps it relates to the later use of the animals in Yaakov’s attempt to be "matzil" him from Eisav (ibid. 32:12), but that still does not explain what the usage of matzil is here.
Rashi and the Radak interpret the root as meaning to set off to the side. Actually, even the word saving means separating the potential victim from the source of the danger that affects him. Here, then, it would mean that the flock that might have been with Lavan was now moved to Yaakov. The Ibn Ezra explains the similar form of the root in regard to the riches that Bnei Yisrael got from the Egyptians before they left (Shemot 12:36).
The root also comes up in Shmuel (II, 20:6). The context is that David’s forces were having difficulty handling the revolt of Sheva ben Bichri, and David expressed concern that he would escape to a fortified city and be "matzil our eyes." There, Targum Yonatan translates it as "they will cause us pain." My student and colleague, Rav Dayan Menachem Jacobowitz suggested that since in Aramaic the letters tzadi and lamed can be interchangeable, the word can be used like matzir, which would really mean to cause pain. It is also possible that it is related to the word tzel (shade), implying darkness, which is often a metaphor for painful times (see Yeshayahu 8:22 and Tzofnat Yeshayahu, p. 257).
Rashi explained in the opposite direction, saying that there is an implied but missing word, and the concern was that Sheva would save himself from before David’s troops’ eyes. The Radak adds possibilities: he will remove our sight and knowledge, i.e., draw the people’s heart after him. The Ralbag understands that this latter approach can also be applied to our pasuk about Yaakov and Lavan.
We humbly present another two suggestions in regard to David and Sheva ben Bichri. It can mean tzel but not from the perspective of darkness but of protection. It is also possible that the pasuk uses lashon sagi nahor, i.e., it is written as a positive, which is a hint of an opposite negative that the pasuk would rather not mention.
This word is one more example of the richness of the Hebrew used in Tanach, which makes the learning of p’sukim more challenging … and rewarding.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
