Commento su Deuteronomio 33:24

ברוך מבנים אשר LET ASHER BE BLESSED AMONG SONS (or, “on account of sons”) — I have found in the Sifrei Devarim 355:19 the following: You will find none of the tribes who was so blessed with children as Asher, but I do not know how this was so.

BLESSED ‘MIBANIM’ BE ASHER. If the letter mem [in the word mibanim] serves to signify greater status [meaning that Asher is singled out from among the tribes for greater blessing] as indicated by the mem in these expressions: blessed ‘minashim’ (from among all other women) shall Jael be;²⁵¹Judges 5:24. In other words, Jael shall be more blessed than other women. they [the ordinances of the Eternal] are to be desired ‘mizahav’ (more than gold), yea ‘umipaz rav’ (even more than much fine gold),²⁵²Psalms 19:11. and other similar expressions — then one may wonder: how could Moses diminish the rest of the tribes by saying that Asher be blessed more than all the sons of Jacob? Moreover [if such was his intent], his blessing was not fulfilled, for it did not come to pass. And Rashi wrote: “I have seen in the Sifre:²³⁹Sifre, Brachah 355. ‘You will find none of the tribes as blessed with children²⁵³“Of children.” In our text of Rashi: “with children.” as Asher.’ But I know not how this was so.” Now, our Rabbis meant to explain blessed ‘mibanim’ that Asher be blessed with the many children that he will beget, similar to the usage of the letter mem in the expression Blessed of the Eternal be his land, ‘mimeged’ (of the precious things) of heaven, ‘mital’ (of the dew).²⁵⁴Verse 13. Therefore, the Rabbis said that Moses blessed all the rest of the tribes with strength or with their inheritance, and Asher alone was blessed with children. And our textual version of the Sifre²³⁹Sifre, Brachah 355. reads: “You will find no one who was as blessed with children as Asher.” But how this blessing was fulfilled has not been explained. Perhaps it relates to what is written in [the Book of] Chronicles, All these were the children of Asher, heads of the fathers’ houses, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the princes. And the number of them reckoned by genealogy for service in war was twenty and six thousand men.²⁵⁵I Chronicles 7:40. Such praise is not mentioned there about the rest of the tribes.
In line with the simple meaning of Scripture, Blessed ‘mibanim’ be Asher is similar to the blessing let him be the favored of his brethren,²⁵⁶In Verse 24 before us. the verse stating that Asher be blessed by all the sons of Jacob their father and be favored by all his brothers. The reason is that his land is rich and from there will come all royal dainties²⁵⁷Genesis 49:20. for all the tribes, and they will all constantly say, “May G-d bless this land which brings forth such fruits.” The letter mem in the word mibanim will be like the mem in: ‘mei’Hashem’ (‘from’ the Eternal) proceedeth the thing;²⁵⁸Ibid., 24:50. ‘mei’E-il’ (‘from’ the G-d of) thy father²⁵⁹Ibid., 49:25. [so that our verse means: “Blessed will be Asher ‘from’ the sons” of Jacob].
And Onkelos translated: “The blessing of Asher will be from the blessings of the sons” [of Jacob]. It appears that Onkelos meant to say that all of the tribes will come to Asher to buy oil, and Judah, and the Land of Israel, will be his merchants for wheat of Minnith, and balsam, and honey, and oil²⁶⁰Ezekiel 27:17. and all choice fruits of the land²⁶¹Genesis 43:11. all of which they will bring to sell him, and they will buy oil. Thus Asher will be blessed with all the delicacies available to all the tribes, this being the sense of the expression favored of his brethren,²⁵⁶In Verse 24 before us. for they will sell to him and buy from him what they desire. Then I found in Bereshith Rabbah:²⁶²Bereshith Rabbah 71:13. “And Leah said: ‘For my happiness! for daughters will call me happy,’ [and she called his name Asher].²⁶³Genesis 30:13. Rabbi Levi said: In all his days Asher never lodged in an inn.²⁶⁴Rabbi Levi is thus interpreting the word b’oshri as meaning “in my resting place,” i.e., in my home, from the Aramaic root sharah, meaning “resting.” Asher inherited palaces on the heights, [heights great in area] more than the land inherited by Judah. The sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah and Beriah, and Serah their sister. [And the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel,] who was the father of Birzaith.²⁶⁵I Chronicles 7:30-31. Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Simon said [with reference to the name Birzaith which contains the word zayith — olive] that the daughters of Asher were beautiful, and they were married to priests²⁶⁶In our version of Bereshith Rabbah Rabbi Levi says that they were married to priests; and Rabbi Simon says that they were married to kings, because the name Malchiel contains the word melech — king. Rashi here quotes both: “his daughters were married to High Priests and kings who were anointed with olive oil.” See Exodus 30:33 (Vol. II, pp. 531-533). who were anointed with olive oil etc.”

ברוך מבנים אשר, Asher will enjoy an exceptional blessing, not shared by the other tribes. It is in the nature of things that wealthy people attract the jealousy of those who are not so blessed with wealth. Asher will not be subject of jealousy, but, on the contrary, will be well liked by all the other tribes.

ברוך מבנים אשר. "Asher is the most blessed of the children." I have explained this statement in Numbers 7,72 where the prince of this tribe is mentioned (page 1381).

ברוך מבנים אשר, the Israelites blessed him as he waded in oil, (they benefited from his abundance of olive oil.)[It is not clear whether the comments by Rash’bam quoted on verses 18 and 24 are indeed attributable to him. Ed.]

ברוך מבנים אשר, “Asher is more blessed than any of the other tribes;” Nachmanides writes that if the letter מ in front of the word בנים is meant to introduce a comparative, i.e. “more than,” similar to the expression תבורך מנשים in Judges 5,24 where it means that Yael was more blessed than other women, we have a problem, as Moses would then have portrayed all the other tribes as at a disadvantage when compared to the blessings received by Asher. Surely, Moses did not mean to arouse the other tribes’ jealousy? Furthermore, and even more to the point, if that had been what Moses meant, history did not bear out what Moses promised or predicted. Rashi writes that he had seen a comment in the Sifri, according to which none of the other tribes had been blessed with children as abundantly as had the tribe of Asher. [It is strange that Nachmanides did apparently not know of that comment in the Sifri. Ed.] Nachmanides contents himself with considering that statement as unsupported by evidence of any kind. Nachmanides writes that our sages understood these words to mean that whereas all the other tribes’ blessings referred in some manner to the blessed nature of the piece of land they would inherit, in the case of Asher Moses emphasized the quality of the children that the tribe of Asher would be blessed with. The versions of the Sifri that were in circulation at Nachmanides’ time did not have the line quoted by Rashi. There is no record of the prediction made by Moses here being fulfilled. Perhaps Chronicles I 7,40 which commences with the words כל אלה בני אשר, having given details of descendants of Asher to the ninth generation, is some hint that the tribe developed exceedingly well. [Compare relative tables in the דעת מקרא edition of Chronicles by Mossad Harav Kook, and edited by Yehudah Kil. Ed.] The 26000 officers of varying rank listed in Chronicles as Asher’s contribution to the army is not matched by any of the other tribes. According to the plain meaning of the text, the פשט, Moses expresses a prayer that seeing that the land granted to the tribe of Asher is exceedingly productive, he hopes that the tribe will enjoy the blessing of G’d to ensure that they can benefit from this to the full extent possible, seeing that this land has a greater potential than that of the other tribes. The tribe should nonetheless be so well liked by the members of the other tribes, that instead of being jealous, they formulate a blessing when they bestow it, by using Asher as the model of someone being blessed by Hashem. Onkelos translates the phrase above as אשר יהי רעוא לאחוהי, “may he be well liked by his brothers, etc.” As a result of Asher’s popularity, the other tribes would make a point of buying their olive oil from that tribe’s ample supplies.

וטובל בשמן רגליו, “and he dips his foot in oil.” The choice of the word טבל was meant to indicate the abundance and even surfeit of oil (olive oil) in the part of the land allocated to Asher (Ibn Ezra). This is why Moses said: “his foot,” instead of saying: “his hand.” The simile is similar to the one we find in Genesis 49,11: “he washed his garments in wine.” At that time Yaakov mentioned “laundering” to indicate how abundant the wine in Yehudah’s territory would be if one could afford to use it as water is used in laundering. Both expressions do not have to be understood literally.

He found favor with his brothers with oil, etc. It was taught in a Beraisa: R’ Yehudah says, “אנפיקינון is oil of olives that had not reached a third [of their size]. And why do they anoint with it? Because it removes the hair and beautifies the skin (Pesachim 43a).

V. 24. ולאשר וגו׳. Es ist zweifelhaft, wie das מ in מבנים zu verstehen wäre, ob als Komparativ: gesegneter als Söhne, d. h. als die übrigen, oder vielmehr als manche der übrigen Söhne Israels, oder wie מברכת וגו׳ ממגד וגו׳: gesegnet durch Kinder, gesegnet an Kindern, oder endlich, wie wohl auch תברך מנשים יעל וגו׳ (Richter 5, 24): von Brüdern gesegnet. Da es in der Tat nicht אחים, sondern בנים heißt, so scheint die mittlere Auffassung dem Wortlaute gemäßer und wäre damit für den Stamm Ascher ein Segen an Kindern ausgesprochen, sei es an Zahl oder an Tüchtigkeit. Ebenso lässt das רצוי אחיו schwanken zwischen einem seinem und seiner Kinder Charakter sich zuwendenden Wohlwollen, das eine Verbindung mit ihnen anstrebt, oder einer durch die Vortrefflichkeit seines Bodens verursachten Verkehrsverbindung. Jedenfalls bezeugt das טובל בשמן רגלו die übergroße Fruchtbarkeit seines Bodens.

ברוך מבנים אשר, “Asher is blessed more than the other sons.” The reason for this is that all the other tribes also bless the tribe of Asher, as we know from the words יהי רצוי אחיו, “let him be favoured by his brethren.” (our verse) Moses goes on to explain the reason for this when he says: וטובל בשמן רגלו, “and let him dip his foot in oil.” His territory is so full of oil (from his olive groves) that it provides a surfeit for all the other tribes. Rabbi Eliyahu the priest, quoting his uncle, Rabbi Moshe, points out that tin the latest census the numbers for the tribe of Asher were 30% higher than in the previous census. Seeing that the total number of army aged males had practically not changed over 39 years, this is most remarkable, and the reason why Moses describes that tribe as more blessed than any of the others. (Compare Numbers 1,41 and Numbers 26,47)

ברך מבנים אשר, “Asher be blessed more than the other sons (of Yaakov).

יהי רצוי אחיו LET HIM BE ACCEPTED OF HIS BRETHREN — and this was so for he pleased (רצה) his brother-tribes with oil of unripe olives (used for anointing the body) and fine fruits, and they paid him (רצה) with grain. — Another explanation of יהי רצוי אחיו HE WILL BE ACCEPTABLE TO HIS BRETHREN — because his daughters were beautiful (and were much sought in marriage), and this is what is stated in Chronicles (1 Chronicles 7:31) [”The sons of Asher … Malchiel] who was the father of ברזית”, which is explained to mean: that his daughters were married to High Priests and Kings who were anointed with olive oil (זית) (Genesis Rabbah 71:10; cf. Rashi on this verse).

The reason is that he will sell the abundance of olive oil over which he disposes at low prices to his fellow tribes.

Another interpretation: “He shall be favored by his brothers,” since his daughters were beautiful, etc. Because according to the first interpretation you might ask why he was more favored to his brothers than his brothers were to him, since they found favor with him through produce [they supplied him with]. And according to the other interpretation you might ask that the verse should say, May Asher be blessed with daughters since his daughters were beautiful, or at least include the daughters with the sons and write, May Asher be blessed with sons and daughters. Therefore he also gives the first interpretation.

He receives these blessings from the other tribes, as proved from the end of this verse, where Moses concludes with יהי רצוי אחיו, “let him be the most favoured among his brothers.” What is the reason why all the other tribes bless Asher? He is able to bathe his feet in oil, i.e. this tribe enjoys an abundance of oil harvested from the olive trees on his territory. All its members can anoint themselves with this oil at minimal cost.

וטבל בשמן רגלו AND LET HIM DIP HIS FOOT IN OIL — it means that his land flowed with oil as a fountain: once it happened that the people of Laodicia were in need of oil; they appointed an agent (to purchase a large quantity and were able to do so only at a city of Asher; see Rashi on Genesis 49:20), as it is related in Menachot 85b.

“He was the father of Birzayis,”as his daughters were married, etc. You might ask that if so it should have said [his name was] Baszayis (daughter of olive)? The answer is that the children of his daughters were like his own children, because grandchildren are [considered] as one’s own children, and regarding them it says Birzayis (son of olive). (In the name of the Maharitz)

ברוך מבנים אשר, according to Rashi, the interpretation of this line is that there is no other tribe that has enjoyed being as fruitful, having so many children. (Rashi quotes Sifri as his source, adding that he does not know the reason for this.) If we consider the numbers of the tribes’ male children provided by the Torah, Menashe appears to have been equally blessed if not more so. The latter, of course was not a son but a grandson of Yaakov.

They appointed an emissary. Meaning an emissary, and he went and found much oil in his land.

יהי רצוי אחיו, according to tradition, when Reuven had defiled the couch of his father, it was Asher who told his other brothers about this. When hearing this, the brothers chided him for badmouthing their oldest brother. They ostracised him forthwith. Moses now revoked this ostracism. Seeing that when someone is ostracised this is introduced by the word: “be cursed,” Moses reversed this by now introducing his blessing of this tribe with an additional word of blessing, i.e. ברוך. When someone has been officially ostracised he is not allowed to engage in marital intercourse. He is also not allowed to anoint his skin with oil, nor to wear normal shoes; hence Moses refers to this tribe’s feet being shod with exceptionally string shoes, i.e. his shoes are as strong as iron. [According to Rabbi Chavell, this interpretation is found in Tossaphot. Ed.]