Commento su Genesi 25:6

הפילגשים THE CONCUBINES — The word is written deficient, (without י, but our texts have a י in both places) because he had only one concubine, Hagar, who is identical with Keturah. Wives are those whom a man marries with a marriage-contract (Ketubah): concubines have no marriage contract, as we explain in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 21a) in reference to David’s wives and concubines.

BUT UNTO THE SONS OF THE CONCUBINES, THAT ABRAHAM HAD. By way of the plain meaning of Scripture, since it was said to Abraham, For in Isaac shall seed be called to thee,¹⁶³Above, 21:12. and in no other seed, all his consorts were concubines to him, not as wives since their children would not be among his heirs. Thus, Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid, was his concubine. However, Keturah he took unto himself as a wife for if she whom he took as a concubine had been a handmaid in his house, Scripture would not have said, And Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.¹⁶⁴Verse 1 here. She is called “concubine” in Scripture — it is written in Chronicles, And the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine¹⁶⁵I Chronicles 1:32. — only for the reason that I have explained, [namely, that it had been said to Abraham, For in Isaac shall seed be called to thee]. Thus we note that Abraham took unto himself a wife from the daughters of Canaan! And should you say that she was an Egyptian or from the land of the Philistines, we may yet question why he did not send to his country and to his kindred as he did in the case of his son. But the answer is that he guarded only the seed of Isaac since it was concerning him that the Covenant was made. Furthermore, Scripture does not say, “And Abraham took a wife by the name of Keturah, the daughter of a certain Hivite or Philistine or Egyptian from a certain land,” as it says concerning Esau’s wives¹⁶⁶Further, 26:34 and 28:9. and similar cases. Rather, Scripture mentions only Keturah’s name because she was a Canaanite, and therefore it cut short her genealogy. Scripture does so in many places where it is not concerned with the genealogy.
Perhaps Keturah was called “concubine” because she was a handmaid who was descended from a family of slaves. And if she was a handmaid in his [Abraham’s] household and he had connection with her, Scripture would not mention her genealogy since even among the matriarchs, such as Zilpah and Bilhah, it mentions only their names.
Now Rashi wrote, “Wives are those whom a man marries with a marriage-contract; concubines have no marriage-contract, as it says in reference to the wives and concubines of David, in Tractate Sanhedrin.”¹⁶⁷21a. But the matter is not so. A woman is called a concubine only when there is no betrothal, for a marriage-contract is only a Rabbinic ordinance. And the correct text in Tractate Sanhedrin is: “A concubine has no marriage-contract or betrothal.” However, it is possible that the sons of Noah¹⁶⁸See Seder Bereshith, Note 222. too when they married wives, as is their law, by intercourse, were accustomed to write them a marriage-contract which granted dowry and gift.¹⁶⁹Further, 34:12. However, for one who wished to be a concubine to them, whom he could send away when he pleased and whose children would not be among his heirs, he would not write anything. But according to the opinion of our Rabbis that Keturah is Hagar,¹⁷⁰Bereshith Rabbah 61:4. she was certainly a concubine [since it clearly says that Hagar was Sarah’s handmaid].¹⁷¹Above, 16:1.

הפילגשים, Hagar and Keturah.

Avraham gave gifts. He did not wish to rely on a will, so he distributed his property while he was alive.

ולבני הפילגשים, And to the sons of the concubines, etc. The Torah does not mention that Abraham bequeathed any gifts to Ishmael when he expelled him. We have explained on Genesis 17,5 that Ishmael was himself a slave and as such anything that would be given to him would automatically not be his but his master Isaac's who was the rightful heir of Abraham and Sarah.

ולבני הפילגשים he had no concubines from whom he had fathered children, but the concubines in his household were concubines of male servants in his household. Their children were, of course, members of Avraham’s household who had been of service to Avraham and who had adopted his lifestyle. He gave them gifts consisting of silver and gold and livestock according to his own evaluation of who deserved how much. He most certainly gave even more valuable gifts to Ishmael and to the sons of Keturah even though the Torah does not specifically mentions this. If he gave gifts to people towards whom he had no legal obligation at all, it is obvious that people towards whom he did have such an obligation would receive their due.

ולבני הפילגשים, “and to the sons of the concubines, etc” No doubt Hagar’s status in the household of Avraham had been that of a concubine, whereas Keturah was his wife in the full sense of that term. If she had been a servant maid in his household and he had raised her to the status of concubine the Torah would not have described this as ויקח אשה ושמה קטורה, “He married a woman named Keturah.” If the Torah here describes Keturah as a concubine, this was only since G’d had decreed that Yitzchok would be Avraham’s sole heir, so that sons from any other woman would have to content themselves with gifts handed to them during their father’s lifetime. Avraham had taken these women from the Caaanite women, for if Keturah had been an Egyptian or Philistine by birth the Torah could not have said that Avraham dispatched these sons somewhere to the Far East, but he would have sent them back to Egypt or the land of the Philistines when their mother had come. The prohibition of marrying Canaanite women applied only to Avraham’s heirs, not to children who would not inherit his estate, and thus represent his outlook on life.

It is written lacking... there was only one concubine. Rashi knows this because other concubines were not written of, only Hagar. (source unknown)

Selbst als מלא דמלא, wie in allen unseren Codices, können darunter nur die zuvor genannten Söhne Keturas verstanden sein. Sonst wäre ja gerade über deren Ausstattung gar nichts mitgeteilt. Das אשר bezieht sich auf בני und nicht auf פילגשים, und der Plural resultiert aus בני: Keturas Söhne hatten nur die Pilagschimkindern zukommenden Rechte; denn Ketura war nur Pilegesch. Ein Vergleich der vierbuchstabigen Worte: רטפש ,פרעוש ,עכביש ,חרמש ,חלמיש lehrt, dass das ש auch als Bildungsbuchstabe der Radix angefügt wird. So הלם: stark, gedrungen sein, הלמיש: Kiesel; הרם: iwegfangen, vernichten, הרמש: Sichel; עכב: festhalten, (עקב auflauern עכביש: Spinne; פרע: iungebunden, frei, פרעש: Floh; רטף, verwandt mit רטב: feucht, רטפש: faulen. Somit auch פלג: halb sein, geteilt sein, פלגש: die unvollständige, nicht ganz berechtigte Frau (so auch פלגס, rabbinisch, das Mittel- ding zwischen כבש und איל), ein Verhältnis, in welchem — sei es durch קידושין oder ייחוד, welches unentschieden ist — das sittliche, persönliche Band zwischen Mann und Frau hergestellt ist, d. h. die Frau ausschließlich dem Manne angehört, aber כתובה d. h. die bürgerliche Berechtigung in Beziehung auf Vermögen etc. fehlt.

נתן אברהם מתנות, “Avraham had already given gifts.” According to the Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin folio 91, these “gifts” were the ability to utter the names of the holy name of the Lord without thereby incurring severe harm. Even nowadays, according to our author, the Moslems who are trained in theology are able to do this without coming to any harm thereby. It was difficult for Rabbi Moses to understand how Avraham a great and devout man could possibly have taught the holy Name of the Lord to wicked people. In view of this problem, Rabbi Yaakov, son of Rabbi Nachman, interpreted that line in the Talmud differently by saying that the word טומאה used in the Talmud there refers to the names of certain demons. The names of these demons are associated with the evil spirits making their homes in certain ruins, or certain cemeteries as described by the Talmud in tractate Chagigah folio 3. This is alluded to by the fact that the spelling of the word “matanot” is spelled as if it were a singular, the letter ו having been omitted. As spelled in the Torah here, the numerical value of the letters in the words נתן אברהם מתנת equals the numerical value of למדם להשביע השדים. [I have not quite figured this out. At any rate, the idea is that Avraham taught these sons of his how, when they used the names of deities when swearing an oath, they could do it in such a way as not to be guilty of violating the third of the Ten Commandments. To The reader who is interested in pursuing this further I suggest that he turns to the commentary on Sanhedrin 91 by Rabbi Reuven Margolies, page 136 מרגליות הים. Ed.]

ולבני הפילגשים, “and to the sons of the concubines;” according to Rashi this word has been spelled defectively, the letter י before the final letter ם which would indicate the plural mode, being absent, in order to teach us that there was only one concubine. Concubines refers to Hagar and Ketura. [The fact is that in our Torah scrolls nowadays that letter is not missing. Concubines did not enjoy the financial protection offered by a ketuvah. Ed]

נתן אברהם מתנות ABRAHAM GAVE GIFTS — Our Rabbis explained (Sanhedrin 91a) that he transmitted to them the names of impure things. Another explanation is: all that he had received as gifts because of Sarah — and other gifts that people had given him — all these he gave to them because he did not wish to derive any benefit from these.

מתנות, gifts of large amounts of money.

בעודנו חי, while he had still been alive, as he did not want to rely on written instructions to be carried out after his death.

מעל יצחק בנו, in order that they should not interfere with him after his death and could not quarrel with him about the inheritance.

Wives are with a kesubah, concubines arewithout a kesubah. Rashi is answering the question: If the concubine mentioned here is Hagar, why before (v. 1) is she called a wife? The answer is: Scripture called her a wife because she had a kesubah like a wife. And it calls her a concubine because Avraham took her only for conjugal relations and not for child-bearing. The word פלגש connotes פלג אשה (a half wife): one who is for conjugal relations and not for child-bearing.

Dass wir überhaupt in dem Leben eines Abrahams und Isaaks finden, dass nur auserlesene, wenige ihrer Kinder fähig waren, nicht nur מתנות, sondern auch נחלה, das ganze geistige Erbe, כל אשר לו des Vaters, anzutreten, dass, während von der späteren Zeit verlangt und erwartet wird, alle Kinder in den geistigen Bund eintreten zu sehen, es selbst einem Abraham nicht gelang, alle dafür zu erziehen, das darf deshalb nicht auffallen, weil ja Abraham und Isaak noch mit ihrer ganzen Mitwelt im Kampfe sich befanden. Außer Abrahams und Isaaks Zelt gabs ja keinen Fußbreit für den Geist und die Sitte des Abrahamsbundes und hatte somit die häusliche Erziehung die Wucht des Beispiels einer ganzen Zeitgenossenschaft zu paralysieren! Wie schwer wird es heutigen Tages einem jüdischen Familienvater, alle seine Kinder in seiner Richtung zu erziehen, im Vergleich mit vor hundert Jahren, und doch finden unsere Kinder auch außerhalb der väterlichen Schwelle noch gleichgesinnte Häuser! Ohnehin war diese Entfernung der Kinder Keturas eine Folge der göttlichen Bestimmung, dass ביצחק יקרא לך זרע. Nach der Erklärung der Weisen umfassen מתנות auch geistige Gaben, die sie aus Abrahams Hause mit hinausgenommen, die aber bei ihnen missbräuchlich ins Unlautere hinabgezogen und שמות טומאה wurden.

נתן אברהם מתנות, “Avraham gave substantial gifts;” [in lieu of a share in his estate. Ed.] Our sages (in Sanhedrin 91 understand the word מתנות as referring to the names of different types of pagan deities, i.e. he taught them how to protect themselves against curses uttered in the name of such “deities.” Our author, quoting another source believes that we must understand this as what is taught in Sanhedrin 65, הלן בבית הקברות כדי שתשרה עליו רוח טומאה, “if someone spends the night in a cemetery in order to endear himself to the demon whose domain this is, he is guilty of violating the commandment no to seek advice from the dead.” (Deuteronomy 18,1) The fact that the word מתנות is spelled defectively, (without the letter ו before the final letter) lends support to this interpretation, as the way it is written the numerical value of the word 890) מתנת) is equal to the numerical value of the combined words למדם להשביע השדים, “he taught them how to swear by the demons in order to neutralise their power.”[According to this editor’s arithmetic the numerical value of למדם להשביע השדים totals only 854. The whole subject is wrapped in mystery. The interested reader is referred to the Torah Shleymah by Rabbi Menachem Kasher of blessed memory, who on page 996 of his commentary on this parshah has a great deal more to say about it. Ed.]

קדמה אל ארץ קדם, in order that his sons could take possession of the properties he owned there.

קדמה אל ארץ קדם, he sent them off in an easterly direction. According to another interpretation, the words refer to a specific country among the countries of the East. It could well refer to Charan or Ur Casdim or both, regions which were generally loosely known as ארץ קדם, [just as we speak about the regions of the Middle East, or the Far East in our time. Ed.]

Our sages explained that he transmitted to them impure names... This means [names for] handling demons. Alternatively, it means names [of Hashem] that may be uttered in a state of impurity, as he knew that these sons will not keep themselves pure, so he did not transmit to them Names that require a state of purity.

קדמה, er sandte sie ostwärts, in das Land des Ostens. Das der abrahamitischen Zukunft verheißene Land — Palästina — ist der äußerste westliche Punkt des Morgenlandes an der Grenzscheide des Orients und Okzidents. Westlich liegen die europäischen Länder, auf die sich zunächst dasjenige verpflanzen sollte, dessen Träger Isaaks Nachkommen sein sollen. Alles, was geistig und sittlich, erleuchtend und veredelnd der Menschheit geworden, ist von dieser Grenzscheide aus gekommen. שם und יפת, Judäa und Griechenland, die beiden Länder, von denen Kultur und Religion der Völker ausgegangen, liegen hier "im Nabel der Erde" nahe zusammen. Von da aus geht der Gang der Kultur, der Erleuchtung und Gesittung westwärts. Keturas Kinder werden ostwärts gesandt. Spät erst werden sie in diese geistig sittliche Zukunft eintreten.

וישלחם מעל יצחק בנו בעודנו חי, “he sent them far away from his son Yitzchok while he was still alive. He wanted to prevent them from staking a claim to part of Yitzchok’s inheritance.

He transmitted to them impure names. [Rashi knows this] because Avraham had already given all his possessions to Yitzchok.

אל ארץ קדם, to a country further east to which he had ancestral claims dating back to his father Terach. The region of Aram is east of the land of Canaan. These were the “gifts” he bestowed upon the sons of the concubine(s). (Compare Isaiah 9,11) We have also read in Genesis 22,21 about Utz being one of the sons of Milkah; Job is also known to have originated in the land of Utz, presumably the same land inhabited by Nachor, Avraham’s brother. Job is described there as the most outstanding personality in the whole ארץ קדם, the land given (in part) to the sons of Avraham’s concubine(s). We are entitled therefore to consider the land of Utz as identical with the region of Aram.