Комментарий о цитате к Берешит 23:16

However, [it comes] with this condition: Your offspring shall be strangers in a land not their own (Genesis 15:13). Initially [it is written in] the singular form your offspring, but afterwards it states and they will serve them in the plural form. This is because the state of being strangers began when Isaac was born and the forefathers were individuals, but the servitude began after they had multiplied. Regarding what is said in a land not their own, some say this refers to the people of the land [Egypt], for they too were strangers in their own land, as learned from the verse And he transferred the people to cities (Genesis 47:21), so that they would not call the Israelites exiles. And regarding the mention of four things — being strangers, servitude, affliction, and the distance of the Divine Presence in a land not their own — this will be explained, God willing, later in Parshat Va’era (6:6). And the reason for the number four hundred will be explained, God willing, in Parshat Chayei Sarah (23:16).

Search for the Lord and His might The Sanctuary and Ark are called “His might,” as it is written (Ps. 78:61): “And He delivered His might into captivity,” i.e., He delivered His Ark to bring it into captivity, and it is written (ibid. 132:8): “Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the Ark of Your might.” For that reason, Eleazar, its watchman, was called Uzza, because he guarded the Ark, which was called might (עֹז). An example of this is that [Ephron was called by this name] because of the four hundred silver shekels, which is the numerical value of the name Ephron. And so, many others [as in] (Gen. 49:16): “Dan (דָן) will champion (יָדִין) the right of his people”; (ibid. verse 8): “Judah, (יְהוּדָה) you are the one; to you your brothers do homage (יוֹדוּךָ).”

אם מאן ימאן אביה לתתה לו – I might think that only the father has the right to refuse but our sages indicate that the repetition of מאן ימאן means that the girl also has the right to refuse the marriage. (See Ketuvot 39b) If the father or the girl refuse the marriage, if her father steadfastly refuses to let her be married to her seducer, her seducer must nonetheless pay the price paid for virgins who become married for the first time. That price is 50 shekel, and this is the reason why the word: ישקל “he must weigh it,” is used here. This is also the amount of compensation paid for having raped a virgin. (Ketuvot 38b) and the amount that is required to be written in the marriage contract for a virgin (Ketuvot 10a) [We are familiar with this expression from when Avraham weighed the silver pieces to Efron in Genesis 23,16 in order to acquire Sarah’s burial plot, the cave and field of Machpelah. Ed.]