פירוש על בראשית 9:26

ברוך ה' אלהי שם BLESSED BE THE ETERNAL, THE GOD OF SHEM, who will in days to come carry out his promise to his descendants to give them the land of Canaan.

BLESSED BE THE ETERNAL G-D OF SHEM, AND MAY CANAAN BE SERVANT TO THEM. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that to them means that Canaan be servant to G-d and to Shem since Shem will compel him to worship G-d. And the second time [this expression is repeated — in Verse 27: May G-d enlarge Japheth, and may He dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be servant to them — Ibn Ezra] explained that Canaan would be a servant to Japheth and Shem. But if this be so, Noah came to curse his enemies, and behold he blessed²⁵³See Numbers 24:10. Canaan that he be a servant to G-d!
But Rashi wrote: “Blessed be the Eternal G-d of Shem, Who will in days to come carry out His promise to the descendants of Shem to give them the land of Canaan, and may Canaan pay them tribute. This is repeated again [in Verse 27, as explained above], in order to state that even when the children of Shem will be in exile, the children of Canaan will be sold to them as slaves.” [Thus Rashi interprets to them as referring to the descendants of Shem.]
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that at first he [Noah] cursed him that he be a servant of servants to the entire world, and whosoever will find him will enslave him, for the meaning of unto his brethren²³³Verse 25 here. is “unto all men,” just as in the verse, For I will set all men every one against his neighbor,²⁵⁴Zechariah 8:10. and as is the sense of the expression, Every man his fellow.²⁵⁵Isaiah 3:5. It may that unto his brethren²³³Verse 25 here. refers to Shem and Japheth for his father’s brothers are called “his brothers,” just as in the expression, that his brother was taken captive,²⁵⁶Genesis 14:14. [which refers to Lot who was a son of Abraham’s brother]. And some say — as found in Ibn Ezra — that unto his brethren means his father’s children [namely, Cush, Mitzraim and Phut, who are his father’s children].²³¹Further, 10:6. Thus, after being made a servant to his father’s children and to Shem and Japheth, he was a servant to the whole world. Now Noah first blessed the G-d of Shem, thereby letting it be known that Shem will be a servant of G-d while Canaan will be subject to him. And to them alludes to the seed of Shem who were many. It is possible that to them reverts also to his brothers already mentioned. Then he blessed Japheth with an enlargement of the boundary, he blessed Shem with the dwelling of G-d in his tents, and finally said that Canaan be a servant to them, meaning to the two of them. He made Canaan subservient to Shem twice, [in Verses 26 and 27, as explained above], thus hinting that the seed of Shem will inherit his land and all that he has, for that which a slave acquires belongs to his master.²⁵⁷Pesachim 88b.
This section was written in Scripture in order to make known that it was on account of his sin that Canaan became a servant forever and that Abraham was favored with his land. The subject of the wine’s effect on Noah was written because it contains a greater warning against drunkeness than that of the section on the Nazirite:²⁵⁸Numbers 6:1-21. even the perfectly righteous man — whose righteousness saved the whole world — even he sinned on account of wine, and it brought him to disgrace and the cursing of his seed.

ויהי כנען, his offspring [seeing that the word ויהי is in the future tense; Ed.]

ויאמר ברוך ה' אלוקי שם, Noach said this as a prophecy. He used the most holy attribute of G’d in conjunction with the regularly mentioned attribute of G’d when blessing in His name. The reason he did this was that he foresaw in his vision that the descendants of Shem would serve G’d in His capacity as the “Lord, the Eternal,” i.e. as Hashem. When we recite our major prayers we always combine mention of these two attributes of G’d; Noach foresaw this already. We encounter this combination in connection with the Jewish people, the descendants of Shem for the first time in Exodus 3,6. G’d has described Himself as being especially אלוקי ישראל, the G’d of Israel. (Exodus 5,1)

ויהי כנען עבד למו, “and Canaan will be a slave to them.” Ibn Ezra explains this to mean that in verse 25 the words עבד עבדים mean that Shem will force Cham to be a servant to G’d and to himself, whereas in verse 26 the words עבד למו refer to Cham being in a state of dependency to him. Nachmanides writes that if that were correct Noach would have cursed his enemies after first having blessed Canaan by declaring him to be a servant of G’d. Rashi explained that the phrase ברוך ה' אלוקי שם, refers to the time when the Jewish people by their conquest of the land of Canaan would prove that Canaan is the subordinate, the slave. Personally, I believe that in verse 25 Noach cursed Canaan to be a slave to all the rest of mankind, and the words עבד עבדים refer to the descendants of Shem, of whom there would be many. Uncles of Canaan would also be called “brothers,” as we know from Lot who was called “brother” by his uncle Avraham on repeated occasions, both by Avraham and by the Torah. (Genesis 13,8; 14,14) Seeing that Canaan would be a slave to his uncles, he would automatically have that status regarding the whole of mankind. Noach blessed Shem first to indicate that Shem would be a true servant of the Lord, whereas Canaan would be a servant of Shem’s offspring of whom there would be many. It is also possible that the word.למו refers back to the word לאחיו, “to his brothers,” and that Noach continued his blessing to his other two sons granting Yephet large portions of the earth as his domain, and Shem the privilege of being host to the Presence of G’d in the land at his disposal. He declared Canaan as a slave of Shem twice, as a hint Shem would eventually inherit land belonging to the descendants of Canaan, seeing that all the property once owned by a slave becomes the master’s. The reason why this whole paragraph has been recorded in the Torah, was to go on record that Canaan’s sin made him into a slave of the whole of mankind and that it was Avraham who eventually became the owner of what had been meant to be Canaan’s. The reason why the cause of all this has been recorded, i.e. Noach’s state of inebriation, is a warning to all mankind to keep their distance from strong drink, wine in particular, as if even a man of the stature of Noach was victimized by drinking too much of it, how would lesser individuals fare, people who possess far less self control than Noach. Some commentators are of the opinion that Noach was obliged to bless Shem after he had cursed Canaan to be a slave so as to indicate that Shem was free and not subservient to anyone else (creature) on earth.

His promise to his seed. The verse is explained as referring to Sheim’s seed, rather than to Sheim himself, because it is written: “May Canaan be their (למו) slave.” If it referred to Sheim himself, it should say, “May Canaan be his (לו) slave.” Alternatively, it must refer to Sheim’s seed because it is written, “Elokei [God of] Sheim,” and Scripture does not say “Elokeif” regarding an individual. Hashem places His Name only on a nation, such as “Elokei Yisrael” or “Elokei the Hebrews.” (Kitzur Mizrachi)

ויאמר. Es ist dies ein zweiter Absatz, ein neuer, fernerer Ausspruch, darum wiederholt אלקי שם — .ויאמר. Wie überall אלקי אברהם nicht in dem Sinne des vermeintlichen Partikularismus gesagt ist, den man so gerne dem jüdischen Gottesgedanken andichten möchte, sondern diese Bezeichnung deshalb die gewöhnliche ist, weil 1) Gott sich in Abrahams, Isaaks, Jakobs, Israels Geschichte und Leitung besonders offenbart, 2) weil sie ihn erkannt und verkündet, und diese Bezeichnung aus dem Grunde eine höchst notwendige ist, weil unter dem Namen, "Gott" so vieles und so mancherlei verstanden wird, — von dem rohen und pantheistischen Fetischismus bis zur spekulativen Idee, die die Wesenheit Gottes zu einer leeren Abstraktion verflüchtigt —, und es zur entscheidenden Bezeichnung des wahren und wahrhaftigen Gottes von allen übrigen Gotteslarven des Wahnes und der Phantasie gar kein anderes Mittel der Bezeichnung gibt, als "der Gott Abrahams, Isaaks und Jakobs", d. h. der Gott, wie sie ihn erkannt und gelehrt: so wird er hier אלקי שם genannt. Abrahams, ja Jakobs Gotteserkenntnis war ja in der Schule Schems gereift, und lange ehe Abraham zum Werkzeuge der Verkündigung Gottes erwählt wurde, hatte Schem ihn erkannt. אלקי שם heißt: der Gott, den Schem erkannt, verehrt, dessen Priester Schem ist. Also im Gegensatz zu dem ארור des Kenaan, wird ברוך וגוי wird die Anerkennung des von Schem gelehrten Gottes einen immer größeren Umfang gewinnen, sich verbreiten, immer fortschreiten und zuletzt dasjenige Prinzip werden, dem endlich alles Materielle sich unterordnet. Während Cham die unveredelte, nackteste und keckste Sinnlichkeit repräsentiert, lehrt Schem einen Gott, der nicht bloß einmal dem Himmel und der Erde als Urkraft zum Ursprung gedient, sondern noch קונה des Himmels und der Erde ist, noch in der Gegenwart alles beherrscht, dem somit jede Fiber unseres Daseins und jede Regung unseres Wollens angehört; somit das Cham diametral entgegengesetzte Prinzip. Auf das ויהי כנען עבר למו kommen wir noch unten zurück. Hier nur die Bemerkung, dass der Plural למו ein Beweis ist, dass hier Schem und korrespondierend auch Kenaan nicht als Individuen, sondern als die künftig von ihnen stammenden Völker angeschaut werden.

ברוך ה' אלוקי שם, “Blessed be the Lord, G-d of Shem;” Noach blessed his G-d Who had also proven to be the G-d of his son Shem who served no other deity; being a servant of the Lord is being truly free, as opposed to Canaan, who was cursed to be truly subservient even to slaves.

ויהי AND MAY HE BE — Canaan — their servant serving and paying tribute (Cp. Josh. 16:10).

... 2. Blessed be Hashem the God of Shem - behold, the mitzvah of honoring one's father brings reward and fruit in this world as it is known from the story of Dama ben Netina. Yet that there is a practical difference between one who does this mitzvah because this is the Holy One's will, and not due to human [natural] feelings; and between one whose common sense forces him to. So, Shem, who did this mitzvah because it was a mitzvah, was blessed to have among his children people who serve Hashem and His Torah, even up to having the laws of nature apply to them through HaVaYaH Himself, and this is why the text says "Blessed is Hashem the God of Shem" - behold the Holy One of Blessing Himself leads the ways of nature and He is Blessed and Magnified through nature [or through Shem / through the one who does God's will, text unclear.]

ויהי כנען עבד למו, Canaan is to be a servant to the descendants of Shem.

עבד למו, to the G’d as well as to the offspring of Shem. The formulation is parallel to Joshua 9,27 where the Gibeonites are condemned to be “hewers of wood and carriers of water” for the Israelites (having duped them into thinking that they were not Canaanites)

ויהי כנען עבד למו, “whereas Canaan will be a slave to them.” He will be a slave both to Shem and to His G-d. He will be a slave to the Lord by having to carry water and kindling for the altar when the descendants of Shem would offer sacrifices to their Lord. [This is a reference to the Gibeonites, a Canaanite tribe who had duped Joshua into accepting them as converts. (Joshua chapter 9) Ed.]