Chasidut su I Re 18:7
וַיְהִ֤י עֹבַדְיָ֙הוּ֙ בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְ וְהִנֵּ֥ה אֵלִיָּ֖הוּ לִקְרָאת֑וֹ וַיַּכִּרֵ֙הוּ֙ וַיִּפֹּ֣ל עַל־פָּנָ֔יו וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הַאַתָּ֥ה זֶ֖ה אֲדֹנִ֥י אֵלִיָּֽהוּ׃
E mentre Obadia era in mezzo, ecco, Elia lo incontrò; e lo conobbe, gli cadde in faccia e disse:'Sei tu, mio signore Elia?'
Kedushat Levi
Deuteronomy 17,3 “or to the sun or the moon or to the celestial constellations that I never commanded you.”
Rashi explains this line as if the words “to worship them,” had been left out at the end of this verse, and the reader is expected to add them himself. The Talmud Megillah 9, appears to take the same approach when it tells us that the Septuagint, the 72 scholars forced by the Greeks/Egyptians under King Talmay to translate the entire Torah into Greek while each was incommunicado with anyone else. They all translated the verse in that way. [The reason they had been separated was for the Greeks to point to discrepancies in the translations, and to use these as a pretext to invalidate the Torah. Ed.]
At that time, each one of these scholars added some words of their own being guided by the Holy Spirit. In the case of our verse, they added the word: לעובדם, “to serve them."
In this instance, Rashi presumably bases himself on the meaning of the word השתחוה, not always meaning “to worship G’d.” In Kings I 18,7 we find that term applied to man, when Ovadiah made an obeisance to the prophet Elijah. Although Ovadiah himself was a prophet, he deferred to Elijah. We even find that G’d Himself on one occasion referred to Yaakov as א-ל, “a divine power.” He did so because Yaakov observed all the laws that later were to appear in the Torah. (Compare comment in Talmud Megillah 18) All the righteous people are entitled to this attribute, so that it is permissible to make an obeisance called השתחוויה to them. The same is not true of sun, moon, or the celestial constellations, seeing that they have not been charged with observing the Torah. The meaning of אשר לא צויתי, “that I have not commanded,” is that seeing that G’d did not command these powerful forces in nature to observe the Torah, they do not qualify for any obeisance to them to be made by man, i.e. Israelites, who have been commanded to keep the Torah. [The problem in our verse is that on the face of it, it seems that the words וישתחו and ויעבוד are used to create the impression that when the Torah did not repeat the specific prohibition to make an obeisance through השתחוויה, this form of obeisance might have been permitted. Ed.]
Rashi explains this line as if the words “to worship them,” had been left out at the end of this verse, and the reader is expected to add them himself. The Talmud Megillah 9, appears to take the same approach when it tells us that the Septuagint, the 72 scholars forced by the Greeks/Egyptians under King Talmay to translate the entire Torah into Greek while each was incommunicado with anyone else. They all translated the verse in that way. [The reason they had been separated was for the Greeks to point to discrepancies in the translations, and to use these as a pretext to invalidate the Torah. Ed.]
At that time, each one of these scholars added some words of their own being guided by the Holy Spirit. In the case of our verse, they added the word: לעובדם, “to serve them."
In this instance, Rashi presumably bases himself on the meaning of the word השתחוה, not always meaning “to worship G’d.” In Kings I 18,7 we find that term applied to man, when Ovadiah made an obeisance to the prophet Elijah. Although Ovadiah himself was a prophet, he deferred to Elijah. We even find that G’d Himself on one occasion referred to Yaakov as א-ל, “a divine power.” He did so because Yaakov observed all the laws that later were to appear in the Torah. (Compare comment in Talmud Megillah 18) All the righteous people are entitled to this attribute, so that it is permissible to make an obeisance called השתחוויה to them. The same is not true of sun, moon, or the celestial constellations, seeing that they have not been charged with observing the Torah. The meaning of אשר לא צויתי, “that I have not commanded,” is that seeing that G’d did not command these powerful forces in nature to observe the Torah, they do not qualify for any obeisance to them to be made by man, i.e. Israelites, who have been commanded to keep the Torah. [The problem in our verse is that on the face of it, it seems that the words וישתחו and ויעבוד are used to create the impression that when the Torah did not repeat the specific prohibition to make an obeisance through השתחוויה, this form of obeisance might have been permitted. Ed.]
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