Commento su Genesi 30:8

נפתולי אלהים WRESTLINGS OF GOD — Menachem ben Seruk explains in his Machbereth (Dictionary) that the word נפתולי is of the same root as פתיל in (Numbers 19:15) “a covering (פתיל) closely bound upon it”, so that the words here mean: By bonds from God have I been joined to my sister (made equal to her) to merit the privilege of having children. I, however, explain it in the same sense as (Deuteronomy 32:5) “perverse and crooked (עקש ופתלתול)”. I have been persistent and have made many importunities and wrestlings with God that I may become like my sister.

נפתולי אלוקים נפתלתי, this formulation is partly due to literary considerations, so that the letter נ at the beginning of the word נפתולי is due primarily in order to match the latter נ in the word נפתלתי. We encounter something similar is the construction of Samuel I 20,28 נשאל נשאל דוד,

נפתלי אלוהים נפתלתי, the word נפתולי is a variant of the word פתיל as in צמיד פתיל, a tightly fitted lid (Numbers 19,15) Rachel meant that her cleaving to her husband was an attachment containing spiritual, religious dimensions, making the bond between them immeasurably stronger.

ותהר...ותאמר נפתולי אלוקים, “I have engaged in a difficult contest with my sister;” the root פתל means to twist or be twisted as in פתיל תכלת, a string made of blue wool, i.e. two strands of yarn combined to make a cord, twisted. By pulling the two strands together the whole string becomes stronger. ותהר...ותאמר נפתולי אלוקים, “I have engaged in a difficult contest with my sister;” the root פתל means to twist or be twisted as in פתיל תכלת, a string made of blue wool, i.e. two strands of yarn combined to make a cord, twisted. By pulling the two strands together the whole string becomes stronger.

נפתולי אלוקים נפתלתי, “I have writhed repeatedly in prayer before G’d, etc.” (a prophetic pronouncement) I have become closer to G’d through him (Naftali) as Chirom of the tribe of Naftali did for the construction of Solomon’s Temple what Betzalel had done for the building of the Tabernacle in Moses’ time. (Kings I 5,24,32) Other commentators view Rachel’s struggles with G’d as concerning the inclusion of Bilhah’s sons in the 12 tribes, “the tribes of the Lord.”

Menachem ben Saruk explains it in the Machberes as צמיד פתיל... Meaning: In his work that connects words of the same root, he connects נפתולי אלהים נפתלתי with צמיד פתיל.

פתל. Lautverwandt mit , בטל ,בתל ,בדל ,die alle ein Scheiden und Sondern von anderem bedeuten, heißt פתל: eine von allem andern abschließende Ver- bindung. So פתיל die feste, zusammengedrehte Schnur, wodurch die verschiedenen Fäden zu einem gesonderten Ganzen werden. So צמיד פתיל: der fest aufliegende Deckel, wodurch das Gefäß von allem anderen abgeschlossen wird. הִפָתֵל wäre demnach das Bestreben, den Körper des andern so fest mit dem seinigen durch Umschlingung zu verbinden, dass er dadurch von jedem anderen Halt losgelöst, ganz in seine Gewalt kommt und so zum Falle gebracht wird. Es ist dies ganz der Kampf des Ringens. נפתולי אלקים, ein göttlicher Ringkampf, ein Kampf, der nicht um Gemeines ringt, dessen man sich zu schämen hätte, sondern: um göttliche Ziele habe ich mit meiner Schwester gerungen, um auch meinen Beitrag zum geistigen Aufbau unseres Hauses zu leisten; das habe ich damit bewiesen, dass ich selbst meine Sklavin meinem Manne zum Weibe gab, um so nahe als möglich Spenderin eines Kindes zu unserem Hause zu werden, dem ich dann ganz als dem meinen alle Mutterpflichten erfüllen könne.

נפתולי אלוקים נפתלתי עם אחותי, “I have wrestled mightily with my sister;” Rachel meant that she had managed to put up with a great deal of pain in her struggle with her sister but had managed thus far to hold her own. An alternate explanation: the expression נפתל is similar its meaning to the line in Deuteronomy 32, ,5: דור עקש ופתלתול, “a crooked and perverse generation.” She had to behave in a perverse manner through making allowance for her sister’s fertility. Nonetheless, she felt that she had prevailed seeing that she now had also two children to her credit. A third approach to this statement by Rachel: the word is related to the word פתיל as in צמיד פתיל in Numbers 19,15, where it means “a close connection,” She hinted that whereas Betzalel, the chief artisan that would build the Tabernacle in the future of whom the Torah stated that he was endowed with a great deal of wisdom, (Exodus 31,3) would be descended from Leah, her sister, at least his chief assistant Oholiov, would be descended from the tribe of Dan, one of her descendants through Bilhah. (Exodus 31,6) She would enjoy the vicarious satisfaction of having a share in that undertaking. She would also prevail, יכולתי, when it would come to the building of Solomon’s Temple when Chirom from the tribe of Naftali helped Solomon greatly. (Kings I, 7,14).

נפתלתי עם אחותי, “I have struggled mightily with my sister;” first she had been judged by the attribute of Justice of G-d; as a result of realising her error, she had now become closer to her sister. This is reflected in history. Though Betzalel, from the tribe of Yehudah (son of Leah) became the primary architect of the Tabernacle in the desert, his second in command was Oholiov, from the tribe of Dan, i.e. from Rachel’s servant maid. She felt that in a measure she had also prevailed over her sister in her rivalry, as the permanent Temple in Solomon’s time would be constructed by a descendant of Naftali, from her family. (Compare Kings I7,1314: וישלח המלך שלמה ויקח את תירם בן אשה אלמנה הוא ממטה נפתלי, “King Solomon sent for Chirom and brought him down from Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naftali, and his father had been a Tyrian, a coppersmith. He was endowed with skill, ability, and talent, for executing all work on bronze.” He came to King Solomon and executed all his work.”

גם יכלתי AND I HAVE PREVAILED — He has yielded to my importunities. Onkelos translated it in the sense of prayer (תפלה), in this way: נפתולי אלהים נפתלתי means prayers that were pleasing to God I offered and I was accepted and was answered like my sister.

עם אחותי, I did this jointly with my sister, both of us having liberated our respective handmaids in order to enable them to become mothers of the founding fathers of the Jewish people. This is what they meant when considering the sons of these former handmaids as בנים instead of as עבדים. Accordingly, Leah had already liberated her handmaid Zilpah before Bilhah had given birth to Naftali. How else could 8 of the 12 tribes have been born within 7 years of Yaakov’s getting married? 6 of these sons were Leah’s and 2 were Zilpah’s. Assuming each pregnancy lasted 9 months, and further assuming that none of these pregnancies occurred simultaneously, 8 times 9 months amounts to 72 months, i.e. 6 years. Unless Leah had given her handmaid to Yaakov before Naftali was born there would not have been enough time for Joseph to have been born at the end of the second 7 years of Yaakov’s service. At that time, after Joseph’s birth, Yaakov requested permission to go home to his parents.(3,26). The only alternative to our calculation would be that all the children were born after only 7 months pregnancy, and that none of the mothers observed even basic days of ritual impurity before again sleeping with their husbands.

אלוהים. The use of the word אלוהים is symbolic of the fierceness of the sisters’ competition, When we want to emphasise something as being extraordinary, we sometimes use the word “elohim” to do this, as for instance in the description of the size of the city of Nineveh in Jonah 3,3 where it is described as עיר גדולה לאלוהים. A similar expression in Psalms 36,7 כהררי א-ל describes towering mountains by using the word elohim as the appropriate adjective to describe this. Psalms 80,11 Jeremiah 2,31, and Song of Songs 8,6 are some more examples of the use of the word el or elohim as such an adjective.

נפתלתי means my prayer was accepted. There are many Midrashic explanations in the manner of Notaricon (i.e. making the letters of the word the initial letters of phrases having reference to the matter in question) (Genesis Rabbah 71:8).

גם יכולתי, I have achieved what I had planned by giving my maidservant to Yaakov.