Comentários de Citação sobre Gênesis 46:26

איש וביתו, “man and wife.” We know this from Genesis 46,26: מלבד נשי בני יעקב, “in addition to the wives of Yaakov’s sons.” (Genesis 46,26) Yaakov was aware that the Egyptians were deeply involved in promiscuity. He was afraid that his offspring would learn to copy these ways of the Egyptians. He had therefore married them off before they could do so.

בנותיו ובנות בניו, “his daughters and the daughters of his sons;” Rashi explains this line as referring to Serach, daughter of Asher, and Yocheved, daughter of Levi. This sounds peculiar as it does not explain who Yaakov’s “daughters (pl)” were. We have been told only about one daughter Dinah, born for him by Leah. She was the only daughter listed as descending to Egypt. The twin daughters born to him had all died before that time. Leah’s descendants numbered 33 as stated explicitly. (verse 15) It is possible to include daughters-in-law, but those were not included in the count. My personal problem with this verse are the words (author writing) כל נפש בניו ובנותיו שלושים ושלש, “the total number of souls his sons and daughters were thirty three.” (verse 15) It is not possible to understand this number as including any daughters-in-law, as these were not counted, seeing that they are specifically excluded in verse 26 as not having been included in the count. Maybe that what Rashi had in mind was to teach us that granddaughters were considered like daughters.

Although we have already quoted the Midrash according to which Yocheved was born "between the walls," i.e. at the time Jacob and his family entered Egypt, there is no proof or even hint of this in the Torah. There is no unanimity on that subject amongst our sages seeing that we have the view that the שכינה should be considered as making up the missing number between 69 and 70. If Yocheved were indeed to be included in the count we would then have a total of 71 instead of seventy. Proof of the accuracy of the statement of our sages is found in verse 27 where the Torah mentions that the total number of persons arriving in Egypt was 70. Why would the שכינה be considered as making up the missing number 33 in verse eight, instead of applying equally to the whole family, i.e. accounting for the difference between 69 and 70? Moreover, if Yocheved made up the number 33 in verse 8, then the number mentioned in verse 27 ought to have been 67 instead of 66. This would comprise 33 of Leah, 16 of Zilpah, 11 of Rachel -excluding Joseph and his two sons who were already in Egypt,- plus 7 of Bilhah. Why does the Torah appear to contradict itself by writing: "all the persons were 66," when in fact there were 67?