Комментарий о цитате к Мишлей 23:22

They also decreed that a person should greet his fellow in God’s name, as it says, “And behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, ‘May the Lord be with you.’ And they answered him, “May the Lord bless you’” (Ruth 2:. And it also says, “The Lord is with your, you valiant warrior” (Judges 6:12). And it also says, “And do not despise your mother when she grows old” (Proverbs 23:22). And it also says, “It is time to act on behalf of the Lord, for they have violated Your teaching” (Psalms 119:126). Rabbi Natan says: [this means] “They have violated your teaching It is time to act on behalf of the Lord.” The sages also decreed that it was permitted, and even worthy, to greet one’s fellow human being by using the name of God, as did Boaz and the other reapers. Usually decrees are meant to change a prior practice. Here the historical background is slightly unclear. My guess is that earlier generations thought that it was improper to use God’s name in greeting a mere human being. In contrast, according to the sages, since human beings were created in the image of God, there is a little bit of divine in every human being. In a sense then, greeting one’s fellow human being by using God’s name is like greeting God by using God’s name. Hence it is not only permitted, it is encouraged. The final two midrashim are not specifically related to the two decrees mentioned above but are rather general exhortations to heed the decrees of the sages. “And do not despise your mother when she grows old” means that one should learn from the elders and one should learn from what previous generations did. The last midrash is brought because of Rabbi Natan’s interpretation of the verse. Rabbi Natan switches around the order of the verse. When others, such as the Sadducees, have broken God’s laws, it is time to act for the Lord by making decrees. Congratulations! We have finished Berakhot! It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. Berakhot is perhaps the most religious relevant of all the tractates because its three major topics, the Shema, the Amidah and blessings, are all still practiced today. I hope that learning the roots of these rituals and prayers will enrich your own personal prayer experience, be it at the home or in the synagogue. We have only just begun Seder Zeraim. Tomorrow we begin Tractate Peah.

DID I ‘HARITHI’ ALL THIS PEOPLE? In the opinion of Onkelos [who rendered it: “Am I ‘the father’ of all this people?” the word harithi] is like [the expression] beyond the blessing of ‘horai’ (my progenitors),¹⁷⁰Genesis 49:26. for a father is called horeh [of the root haroh, “to conceive” or “become pregnant”] because it is he who causes conception and brings about the pregnancy [of the mother]. Thus Moses is saying: “Am I their father [who has caused their conception], or am I their mother who has given birth to them?”¹⁷¹The double question in the verse — Did I ‘harithi’ all this people? … Have I born them? — is thus explained as referring to the separate functions of father and mother. But the masters of the plain meaning of Scripture¹⁷²Ibn Ezra here. See also in Sefer Hashorashim of the R’dak, under the root haroh. interpreted the verse in the opposite manner: “Am I their mother who was pregnant with them and gave birth to them?” Similarly, ‘Vatahar’ eth Miriam v’eth Shammai¹⁷³I Chronicles 4:17. means “she was pregnant with them and gave birth to them.” “Or am I their father who begot them?” [the word y’lidetihu being] like: ‘vayoled Noach’ (and Noah begot);¹⁷⁴Genesis 6:10. thy father that ‘y’ladecha’ (begot thee),¹⁷⁵Proverbs 23:22. and other similar expressions. And Moses said, as ‘ha’omein’ carrieth the sucking child, [the word ha’omein] being a reference to the [nursing-] father or mother. In my opinion the whole verse is a figurative reference to the mother, and the meaning thereof is as follows: “Have I conceived all this people and have I given birth to them?”¹⁷⁶Ramban thus interprets the two questions (see above Note 171) as one, both referring to the mother. Moses mentioned it in this way [speaking as the mother] because it is the woman who suffers the pain of raising children, remembering what she suffered for them from birth, pregnancy, and conception.¹⁷⁷See Hosea 9:11. But Moses said omein [in the masculine] since he is speaking of himself as a nursing-father, since he is not an omeneth (a nursing-mother).