Комментарий к Берешит 46:7

ובנות בניו HIS SON’S DAUGHTERS — these were Serah, the daughter of Asher, and Jochebed, the daughter of Levi.

AND HIS SONS’ DAUGHTERS. These were Serah, the daughter of Asher, and Jochebed, the daughter of Levi. This is the language of Rashi. But what will Rashi include in the term, his daughters, [which is also plural, although Jacob only had one daughter, Dinah]? Rather, it is the way of Scripture, when mentioning the genealogy of many people, to refer to an individual in the plural form, as for example, And the sons of Dan: Hushim;¹⁸¹Verse 23 here. And the sons of Palu: Eliab.¹⁸²Numbers 26:8. The same is true here: “daughters” refer to Dinah. “His sons’ daughters” refers to Serah the daughter of Asher, but Jochebed [Moses’ mother] is not mentioned by Scripture [as being among the persons who went down to Egypt], as it is said, All the souls were threescore and six.¹⁸³Verse 26 here. She is, however, hinted at, according to the opinion of our Rabbis.¹⁸⁴Baba Bathra 123a. See also Ramban, next Verse.

בניו ובני בניו אתו, his sons and grandchildren with him, etc. Since we have been told in the previous verse that Jacob arrived in Egypt with all his descendants, why did the Torah have to tell us that he took his children and grandchildren with him?

בנותיו, his daughter Dinah and his daughters-in-law.

His granddaughters. See Rashi. This would mean, however, that Yaakov’s sons fathered only two daughters. It seems more likely only those whose biographies affected the nation are mentioned by name.

ובנות בניו, “and the daughters of his sons.” According to Rashi the “daughters” mentioned here are Serach, daughter of Asher, and Yocheved, daughter of Levi. Nachmanides writes that the expression בנותיו presents a difficulty, seeing that according to Scripture, Yaakov had only one daughter, Dinah. Why then would the Torah speak about בנותיו, “his daughters” (pl.)? We must remember that it is the style of the Torah to treat subjects (such as offspring, children) in the plural mode, as for instance ובני דן חושים, “Dan’s sons were Chushim.” (verse 23) He had only that one son, and no daughters. Or, for instance, ובני פלוא אליאב, “and the sons of Phallu were Eliav.” There is therefore no reason to wonder why the subject of “daughters” should be treated differently. The same applies to the plural mode used for granddaughters, the only one being named in the text being Serach. Yocheved was not mentioned directly, although the Torah speaks about 70 souls of Yaakov’s descendants arriving in Egypt, whereas only 69 (including Joseph and his two sons) have been named. Some commentators explain the plural mode as references to daughters-in-law. Many people refer to their daughters-in-law as “daughter.”

Asher’s daughter, Serach and Leivi’s daughter, Yocheved. You might ask: Why does Scripture write “his daughters” in the plural form? He had only Dinah! We cannot answer that this is in accordance with R. Yehudah who said that a twin sister was born with each of Yaakov’s sons, and the sons married them [i.e., each married another’s twin]. This cannot be, for the twin sisters died before coming to Egypt, as Rashi explains on v. 26. Neither can we answer that it is in accordance with R. Nechemiah who said that the wives of Yaakov’s sons were [born of fathers from other nations and mothers who were] Canaanites, and Scripture calls them Yaakov’s “daughters” because people call their sons-in-law “son” and their daughters-in-law “daughter.” Rashi cited these two conflicting opinions on the verse, “All his sons and all his daughters rose to console him” (37:35). Accordingly, [also here] “his daughters” will mean his daughters-in-law. But this cannot be, for Scripture is counting Yaakov’s own offspring here [as it says in v. 26]. It seems the answer is: When Scripture treats the genealogy of many people, it speaks in plural even for one person. [Examples are:] “The sons of Don were Chushim” (v. 23), and, “The sons of Palu were Eliav” (Bamidbar 26:8). Although [it might infer that] “his daughters” means Dinah alone, we still would prefer to include [other descendants] where possible, rather than relying on stretched explanations. Thus Rashi explains [“his granddaughters” as] Serach and Yocheved, [even though Yocheved is not expressly mentioned in this section]. And so it seems from Bava Basra 143b. We need not ask then on the contrary: [If this is true, then] on the verse, “They rose to console him” (37:35), why did R. Yehudah say they were twins, and R. Nechemiah say they were daughters-in-law? Perhaps it was only Dinah! For [the answer is:] It is different there, because it is written, “All his daughters.” Alternatively, it is different in this case, because here it is treating the genealogy of many people, as mentioned above. (Nachalas Yaakov)

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.

בנותיו, “his daughters;” the plural mode is used although Yaakov had only one daughter. This is a customary way of the Torah referring to descendants, and we find a parallel in referring to male descendants in verse 23 of our chapter i.e. ובני דן חושים, “Dan’s sons were called Chushim,” as well as in Numbers 26,8 where the children of Palu are called Eliav, even though each of the fathers had only one son.

ובנות בניו, His daughters-in-law and Serach the daughter of Asher

Why did the Torah interrupt the report by the word אתו at the end of verse six and again mentioned אתו between listing male and female offspring respectively in verse seven? The report could have been considerably condensed without omitting any of the details.

The Torah tries to tell us that there were ideological differences between the sons of Jacob. Some agreed willingly to migrate to Egypt and to accept the burden of G'd's decree that their children would become slaves in Egypt. Others strove to delay as long as possible the descent to the land which would be known as the "iron crucible" of the Jewish people. The Torah tries to describe who was who by mentioning separately בניו ובני בניו אתו on the one hand, meaning that those did not have to be persuaded to undertake the journey with Jacob. On the other hand, when the verse continues to speak separately about Jacob bringing with him "his daughters, granddaughters and all his descendants," these are the people who did not go down to Egypt voluntarily.

In this connection it is important to pay attention to the statement in Shemot Rabbah 1,5 that as long as any of the people who descended with Jacob at the time remained alive the Jews lived in Egypt as totally free people. This is based on the Torah telling us in Exodus 1,6 that "Joseph and all that generation died." The words "and all that generation" refer to those who came to Egypt from Canaan. Perhaps the Torah teaches us that the people who had accepted G'd's decree willingly were spared realisation of that decree during their own lifetime. Perhaps the best proof of this is the fact that Yocheved and Serach, daughter of Asher, who both arrived in Egypt with the family of Jacob did experience the enslavement. The reason was that they were not around when a decision had to be made to descend to Egypt. They were still in their mother's wombs (compare Bereshit Rabbah 94,9). It is worth- while to peruse what the Zohar on Vayakhel 198 has to say on the subject. He quotes Psalms 146,5 "hail to him who has the G'd of Jacob for his help, because his hope was in the Lord."