Берешит 9:23 Комментарий: Rashi, Chizkuni, Kli Yakar & Sforno

ויקח שם ויפת AND SHEM AND JAPHETH TOOK — (literally, “And Shem took and Japheth”) It is not written here ויקחו ‘‘And they took”, but ויקח “And he took”, in order to teach regarding Shem that he devoted himself to this duty with more eagerness than Japheth. Therefore have Shem’s sons received the privilege of wearing the cloak that has fringes, and the sons of Japheth were privileged to receive honorable burial, as it is said, (Ezekiel 39:11) “I will give unto Gog (a descendant of Japheth) a place fit for burial [in Israel]”. But as for Ham who despised his father — of his descendants it is said (Isaiah 20:4) “So shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia (these were peopled by the children of Ham) young and old, naked and barefoot and with buttocks uncovered etc.” (Genesis Rabbah 36:6 and Tanchuma 1:2:15).

ויקח שם ויפת, “Shem and Yephet took the bedcloth, etc;“ according to Rashi, Shem’s initiative in this instance resulted in the Jewish people, a nation descended from him, being rewarded with the commandment to wear fringes, ציציות on four cornered garments. (Numbers 15,37) According to the statement in the Talmud Sotah 17, the origin of that commandment had been when Avraham refused to accept as much as a thread or shoelace from the loot of the war against Kedorloomer, (Genesis 15,23) this refers to the specific kind of “threads” used in the tzitzit.

And Shem and Japheth took the garment. Rashi explains that because of this, Shem merited the tallit with tzitzit. The Re’em raises a difficulty from what our Sages said (Sotah 17a) that in the merit of from a thread to a shoe strap [which Abraham refused to take from the King of Sodom], they merited the thread of techelet. However, it appears there is no difficulty at all, because in the merit of covering with a garment, they merited the garment, and in the merit of the thread, they merited the thread. For a person cannot fulfill the commandment of tzitzit until the Holy One, Blessed be He, first gives him a garment, as is found in Midrash Tanchuma and the Yalkut bring at the end of the book of Job on the verse Who has preceded Me, that I should repay him? (Job 41:3) — who made tzitzit before I gave him a garment? This is its simple meaning. As for the allegorical interpretation, it seems to me that since it is known that the commandment of tzitzit protects a person from promiscuity, as is found in Menachot 44a regarding the one who hired a prostitute for four hundred zuz but was ultimately saved from transgression through his tzitzit. And one who is saved from promiscuity is also saved from poverty, for one who shepherds prostitutes loses wealth, and as our Sages said (Sotah 4b), “Anyone who consorts with a prostitute will ultimately seek a loaf of bread and not find it.” Therefore, tzitzit protects from two things: from the sin of promiscuity and from poverty. And Israel merited these two things through two merits: Through the merit of And Shem and Japheth took the garment to cover their father’s nakedness, they merited tzitzit which protects from sexual immorality. And through the merit of from a thread to a shoe strap, where Abraham did not covet others’ money, he merited the second reward that comes from the thread of tzitzit, which is protection from poverty, for “who is rich? One who is happy with his portion.” And in the portion Shelach Lecha (Numbers 15:38), it will be explained, God willing, regarding what our Sages said (Menachot 43b) that techelet resembles the sea, and the sea resembles the sky, etc., following the Midrash that concludes in Yalkut on the portion Ha’azinu: Look at the heavens — have they changed their nature? … And similarly look at the sea that does not exceed its boundaries… Through the appearance of techelet, one will remember the sky and the sea, and from them he will see and do likewise — not to exceed the boundaries of proper measure even by as much as a thread. They merited this through the merit of if so much as a thread, as Abraham did not exceed the boundaries of contentment even by as much as a thread. This is an appropriate allusion.

ופניהם אחורנית AND THEIR FACES WERE BACKWARD — Wherefore is it written a second time (that they turned themselves backward)? It is to tell us that when they came near to him and it was necessary for them to turn round in order to cover him they kept their faces turned away (Genesis Rabbah 36:6).