Comentario sobre Génesis 9:25

ארור כנען CURSED BE CANAAN — You have brought it about that I cannot beget a fourth son to serve me; cursed, therefore, be your fourth son (see Chap. 10:6) to serve under the descendants of these elder ones upon whom the duty of serving me will devolve from now on. Why did Ham maltreat him in this manner? He said to his brothers, “Adam Harishon had two sons and one killed the other in order that he might possess the whole world(Genesis Rabbah 36:7): our father already has three sons, and he wishes to have yet another “.

עבד עבדים יהיה לאחיו, his being in a position of dependence to his senior brothers, i.e. a plain עבד, was merely natural, and would not have been a special curse, especially in view of his disgraceful conduct. Solomon paraphrased this in Proverbs 11,29 when he spoke about ועבד אויל לחכם לב, that “a fool is a slave to the wise-hearted.”

ויאמר ארור כנען, he cursed Canaan by invoking his prophetic vision, so that his curse would take lasting effect. All he patriarchs were extremely careful not to marry women descended from these cursed tribes. Avraham had already warned Eliezer his servant, against taking a wife from these tribes for Yitzchok, and so had Yitzchok as well as Rivkah expressed their opposition to such liaisons.

You caused me. This is proof for those who say Cham castrated Noach. For it is written, “Cursed is Canaan.” Why did Noach curse Canaan? Because Cham castrated Noach, who then said, “You caused me... may your fourth son...” And the proof for those who say he sodomized him is from (9:22): “Cham the father of Canaan saw.” And it is written (34:2): “She was seen by Shechem.” Just as there, Shechem had relations, so too here, Cham had relations. If so, why did Noach curse Canaan? Because Cham did both: he sodomized him and castrated him. Tosafos explain in Sanhedrin 70a that the reason Noach did not curse Cham himself is because it is written (9:1), “Elohim blessed Noach and his sons.” And a curse cannot be effectuated where there is a blessing. (Maharshal)

Das in diesen Versen Ausgesprochene enthält vielleicht das tiefste und weitest reichende, was je das von Gott geöffnete Auge eines Sterblichen geschaut, und Gott durch dessen Mund zum Ausspruch hat kommen lassen. Die ganze Geschichte der Menschheit, ihr Anfang, ihr Ende und ihre Mitte liegt in diesen drei Sätzen.

ויאמר (נח) ארור כנען, “Noach said: “Canaan be cursed and become a lowly slave to his brothers" Our sages in B’reshit Rabbah 36,7 state that already when Noach entered the ark, he had been upset that he did not have a young son who could perform for him many chores that it had now become his task to perform personally. He therefore had resolved that when he would sire more children after leaving the ark, he would train some as his servants. Upon hearing him say something of that nature, his grandson Canaan went ahead and castrated him to prevent him from having more children. Noach therefore decided to treat Canaan as if he had been his fourth son and decreed that he should become a servant to his brothers. If you were to ask why he cursed Canaan more than anyone of Cham’s other children, a question which is justified according to the opinion that it had been Canaan who had castrated him, [Canaan could not have been even one year old when Noach left the ark, so that Noach must have failed to impregnate with wife until he had grown up, Ed.] how do we answer the problem according to the opinion that it was his son Cham, and not his grandson who had castrated him? A sage by the name of Rabbi Aaron, found a Midrash that Cham had discovered his father in a state of nudity, and told his brothers about it in a derogatory manner, and he had been overheard by Canaan, who had decided to castrate his grandfather. This is the meaning of the puzzling words: את אשר עשה לו בנו הקטן, “what his son the minor had done to him” (9,24) Grandchildren are often referred to in the Torah as if they were children, not grandchildren. Actually, the line could not have referred to Cham, as he was not Noach’s youngest son, as the Torah lists him as his middle son. (10,1) The Torah, in referring to Canaan as Noach’s youngest son, meant his grandson. [At that time he only had one grandson, so that he did not have to be named. Ed.] We find proof that grandsons may be called younger sons in Ovadiah: 1,2: הנה קטון נתתיך בגוים, “here I will make you the least among the nations;”Furthermore, according to Pirkey de rabbi Eliezer, chapter 23, the line in Malachi 1,6: בן יכבד אב ועבד אדוניו, “a son is expected to honour his father, and a servant his master,” is interpreted as follows: when a son honours his father, all is well; if not, he will wind up as a servant to his master. [not found in my edition of the Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer. Ed.] An alternate interpretation. The reason why Noach chose as punishment that the person who witnessed his disgrace become a slave was that seeing he was the one who saw his state of nudity first, it was his duty to do what any servant would to, i.e. to cover his nudity. Seeing that he had neglected to perform the duty of a servant, he was now condemned to remain a servant all the time. This is also why he used the expression עבד עבדים, “a servant of servants,” instead of simply עבד “servant.” Both Cham and his son Canaan were condemned to be servants to Cham’s brothers.

ויאמר ארור כנען, He said: “cursed be Canaan, etc.” Concerning Canaan, the prophet Yoel said (Yoel,4,8) “and they will sell them to the people of Sh’va, to a far distant nation.” The slaves will in turn sell the Canaanites to an even more degrading status.

עבד עבדים, even his brothers would be slaves too; but he, Canaan, would be a slave even to them.

Why did Cham... You might ask: How did Cham know that Noach desired a fourth son? The answer is: It is written, “He uncovered himself (ויתגל) in his tent (אהלה).” It is read אהלו (his tent) but is written אהלה (her tent). And Rashi explained there that ... ויתגל is the reflexive form. Thus, the verse is saying that Noach acted with himself [“reflexive”] as if he was engaged in relations with his wife [“her tent”]. I.e., his organ had the requisite hardness as if he was engaged in relations. Cham thereby recognized that Noach desired a fourth son. See the other answer I wrote on v. 20 (ד"ה זמורות וייחורי תאנים); both are good.

Wir haben schon früher in den Namen der Söhne Noa׳s deren Charakteristik und die wesentlichen Nuancen zu erblicken geglaubt, welche die von ihnen stammenden verschiedenen Völker kennzeichnen, je nachdem bei ihnen der Geist, die Sinnlichkeit, oder das Gemüt vorherrscht. Hier stehen sie in ihrer doppelten Bedeutung als Individuen und als Wurzeln der einstigen Völkerstämme.

עבד עבדים, “a slave for evermore.” What caused him this terrible curse? It was all because he had shamed his father. As a punishment, in future his descendants would be put to shame, as we know from Isaiah 20,4: כאשר הלך עבדי ישעיהו ערום ויחף שלש שנים אות ומופת על מצרים ועל כוש, “just as My servant Yeshayahu had to go naked and barefoot, the captives of Egypt and the slaves of Nubia young and old will have to go naked and barefoot.” But Yephet who honoured his father will be honoured by G–d in the days of the wars preceding the final redemption when G–d will reward him by humbling Gog and Magog, and by covering the shame of Yephet. (Compare Ezekiel 39,11).” He will also compensate Shem, at the time when the two priests, sons of Aaron, prepared to offer their unauthorised incense in the Temple, when only their souls were burned, but their bodies as well as their garments were left intact by the heavenly fire and were buried in a dignified manner. This was because they had also been descendants of Shem. (Leviticus 10,2-7)

ארור כנען, Cham sinned and his son Canaan was punished. Why? Seeing that G-d had already blessed Noach and all of his sons, Noach’s cursing Cham would have been totally ineffective. [Compare what G-d said to Bileam when He told him that seeing that the Jewish people had already been blessed by Him, he, Bileam, could not undo this by cursing them. (Numbers 22,12) Ed.] Some commentators say that actually Cham had not done anything; he had only viewed the exposed body of his father, and had failed to cover him as did his brothers subsequently. However, he had told others about it without intending to cover his father. Had he intended to cover his father, why did he tell his brothers about what he had seen without at least first having covered his father’s shame? This is why Noach cursed him when he found out. These commentators cite the line: “what his younger son had done to him,” as proof for their interpretation. (Since the son’s name had already been mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, there was no need to repeat it.) The word: הקטן does not refer to the youngest son of Noach seeing that Cham was not Noach’s youngest son, the eldest being Yephet and the youngest being Shem, as already pointed out earlier. Noach blessed the two sons who had treated him as was proper, whereas he remained silent concerning Cham. Canaan who had shamed him, he cursed.

Als Noa erwachte und Cham׳s Handlungsweise erfuhr, war sein erster Gedanke: das Prinzip, das sich in Cham hier herausgestellt, das kann und darf und wird nicht — (denn es ist durchaus nicht notwendig, dass in ארור immer in gewöhn lichem Sinne des "Fluches" ein Wunsch ausgesprochen sei, vielmehr, und hier zumal, ist׳s wohl eher eine Verkündigung) — das Herrschende werden. Die rohe "heiße" Sinnlichkeit, die sich selbst nicht beherrscht, die alle Scheu vor dem geistig Höheren verloren hat, ist zur Herrschaft, ja der Freiheit unfähig; sie ist in sich unfruchtbar, saft- und macht- und kraft- und kinderlos; sie trägt das Verderben in sich. — עבד עבדים, nicht: der tiefste Knecht, sondern, wie אלקי האלהים nicht der höchste Gott, sondern der Gott der Götter heißt, so auch עבד עבדים; auch die anderen sind עבדים, Kenaan aber wird: עבד עכדים. Indem ferner wiederholt von Kenaan עבר prädiziert wird, liegt unzweifelhaft ein tiefer Nexus zwischen dem Kenaan-Charakter und dem עבד-Geschick. Und in der Tat, wie in Kenaan ארור liegt, so dass nur dem Reinen, Veredelten die Zukunft angehöre, dem Rohen aber nicht, so erringt und bewahrt auch im sozialen und nationalen Leben, in dem Verhältnis des Menschen zum Menschen, der Völker zu Völkern, nur das die Freiheit, was sich selbst beherrschen kann. Die Leidenschaft, die sich nicht beherrschen kann, wird die Lockspeise, durch die man in die Knecht- schaft gegängelt wird. Wer zu aller Zeit sich selbst beherrscht, wer auf Befriedigung seiner sinnlichen Natur leicht verzichtet, den kann man nie bestechen, verlocken, ihm nicht aus dem Golde goldne Fesseln machen; er kann untergehen, sterben, — aber nicht geknechtet werden. So Menschen, so Völker. —

ארור כנען, “cursed be Canaan,” he cursed him by referring to his name, meaning that his very name which indicated something negative, suppressed, downtrodden, should become his curse. He would become subservient to his brothers. Whenever a servant does not carry out the wishes of his master he attracts a curse to himself.

עבד עבדים יהיה, “he will become a slave to slaves.” His fate will not be determined by warfare, but when the Jewish people would conquer the land of Canaan, they would be instructed not to let any Canaanite survive on that land. (Deuteronomy 20,16)