Comentários de Citação sobre Gênesis 18:9

The reason the Torah describes Dinah as ”Dinah the daughter of Leah went out,” when we all know she was Leah’s daughter is because she was trying to attract attention to herself; she had bedecked herself (Bereshit Rabbah 80,1). She proved to be a true daughter of her mother who had also attracted attention to herself by leaving her tent as we have been told in 30,16. Scripture is critical of women who leave the security and modest environment of their homes unnecessarily. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 7,11-12 “She is loud and rebellious, her feet would not stay home. Now outside, now in the streets, she lurks at every corner.” David had written about a woman who stays at home. that “the true measure of a princess is found in the fact that she remains indoors.” (Psalms 45,14) When the angels asked Avraham where Sarah was, he answered: “here she is in the tent (Genesis 18,9).”

והנה שלשה אנשים AND BEHOLD THREE MEN — one to announce to Sarah the birth of a son, one to overthrow Sodom, and one to cure Abraham, for one angel does not carry out two commissions (Genesis Rabbah 50:2). You may know that this is so because throughout this section it (Scripture) mentions them in the plural — “and they ate” (Genesis 18:8), “and they said unto him” (Genesis 18:9) — whilst in the case of the announcement it states, (Genesis 18:10) “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee”, and with regard to the overthrow of Sodom it says (Genesis 19:22) “For “I” cannot do anything” and (Genesis 19:21) “that “I” will not overthrow [the city]”. Raphael who healed Abraham went thence to rescue Lot; that explains what is stated (Genesis 19:17) “And it came to pass when they had brought them forth, that he said, Escape for thy life”, for you learn from this that only one of these acted as Deliverer

It seems that he mentioned “the women who assembled [tzav’ot]” because the women established many hosts [tzeva’ot] in Egypt, and they were saying, “We believe that the Egyptians did not rule over them, for their husbands were afflicted with hard labor that decreased fertility and procreation, so surely they became pregnant from the Egyptians.” Therefore, the women wanted to reveal their righteousness, because since they established many hosts, they needed to reveal their purity. They brought those mirrors through which they established those hosts in order to make from them the basin, as if to say, “Look and see, and test us in this matter, whether we established those hosts in purity or not,” because the basin was made to test them like suspected adulteresses [sotot]. And it says, who assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. But the Tent of Meeting had not yet been made, so the commentators explained that this refers to Moses’ tent, as explained by Ibn Ezra and Rabbeinu Bachya. But it seems to me that this all speaks of the modesty of the women, as it says Behold, in the tent (Genesis 18:9). Rashi explains, “She was modest.” Similarly, those hosts that they established assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, meaning in their own tents. And it mentions entrance because it is said of a prostitute, And she sat at the entrance of Einayim (Genesis 38:14). Therefore, it says of modesty, entrance of the tent. And it uses the term meeting [moed] because there they met together with their husbands who were in the fields all day, because the term moed refers to those who come from elsewhere to gather [lehitva’ed] in this place.

By the women of the tent. Sarah, of whom it is said, "Here she is, in the tent."⁴³Bereishis, 18:9. Rivkah, of whom it is said, "Yitzchak brought her to the tent."⁴⁴Ibid, 24:67. Rachel and Leah, of whom it is said, "He left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent."⁴⁵Ibid, 31:33.