ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף בראשית 25:31

That his intentions. . . are peaceful — just as this sun. . . The Re’m was puzzled why Rashi cited the Mechilta, [which says that the sun is an allegory for peace,] and ignored the Baraisa in Sanhedrin 72a, which says: “If it as clear to you as the sun that his intentions towards you are peaceful. . .” For according to the Baraisa, the sun is an allegory for the issue being clear, not for peace. [To resolve this,] it seems that Rashi was answering a question: [If the simple meaning of the verse is as the Baraisa said,] why does the verse not say, “If it shines on him like day,” or simply “day,” as in, “Sell, as the day, your birthright to me” (Bereishis 25:31)? This would have meant that the issue is clear. Therefore Rashi explains [the verse according to the Mechilta:] “Just as the sun represents peace. . .” Yet you might object: Why does Rashi cite the Mechilta, [which does not follow the plain meaning of the verse either]? The answer is: The Mechilta is close to the verse’s plain meaning, and also resolves various difficulties in the verses.

בין הערבים יקטירנה, “he shall bring it up in smoke in the afternoon.” It is a well known fact that the fragrance of incense burned in the late afternoon lingers longer than its counterpart burned in the morning. This is already referred to in Psalms 141,2: “take my prayer as an offering of incense, my upraised hands as an evening sacrifice.” David emphasizes that which is offered in the afternoon/evening. When referring to his offering he did not mention such offerings as sin-offerings or guilt-offerings or even burnt-offerings, but asked G’d to look kindly on his offering of incense. All the other offerings are in expiation of some sin, even sins committed only in one’s thoughts and never carried out which are atoned for by the עולה, the burnt-offering. The incense offering has no connotation of sin associated with it at all. David asked that his prayer be accepted by G’d as if it had been incense. This is also why he said in the verse following שיתה ה' שמרה לפי, “O Lord set a guard over my mouth.” I believe that the word שיתה belongs together with the word לפי, as if David had said: שיתה ה' לפי, שמרה לפי, he meant that G’d should put suitable words in his mouth. David thereby alluded to what G’d had said to Moses in Exodus 4,11 מי שם פה לאדם, “who has provided man with a mouth?” David requested that G’d help him not to utter words which are not appropriate. This is the meaning of the latter half of the verse in Psalms 141,3 נצרה על-דל שפתי, “set a watch at the door of my lips.” The word דל is short for דלת שפתי. The idea of a mouth having a door is already described in Micah 7,5 where the prophet says שמר פתחי פיך, “be guarded in your speech.” He used the word פתח to describe the mouth which opens and closes just like a door. G’d uses similar language in Job 41,6 saying of Leviathan: דלתי פניו מי פתח, “who can pry open his face?” The word נצרה in Psalms 141,3 is in an imperative form just like מכרה in Genesis 25,31, or in Genesis 43,8 when Yehudah told his father Yaakov שלחה הנער אתי, “send the lad (Binyamin) with me!” The dagesh in the letter צ of the word נצרה is merely for aesthetical purposes to make the reading of the word more pleasant-sounding. It is similar to the dagesh in Exodus 15,17 in the letter ק of the word מקדש of the line מקדש ה' כוננו ידיך. It results in doubling the sound. The psalmist could have written נצור just as easily as he wrote נצרה.
Concerning the words משאת כפי מנחת ערב, “my upraised hands as a gift of the evening,” David requests here that his prayer at this time be even more welcome to G’d than an offering of incense in the morning. The reason he describes his prayer as “his outstretched palms,” is to compare it to the incense which is born on one’s hands, having in mind Leviticus 16,12: “and his cupped handfuls of finely ground incense.” Another thought David may have had in mind when he referred to מנחת ערב may have been related to the meaning of the word ערבות, “pleasing,” as in Maleachi 3,4, וערבה לה' מנחת יהודה וירושלים, “then the offerings of Yehudah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, etc.” Seeing that of all the sacrifices none is as welcome to G’d as the incense, its smoke begins to rise heavenwards immediately it is placed on the altar. This is why at the beginning of this hymn David describes it as קראתיך חושה לי, “when I call You hasten to me.”

כנגדו, she should be constantly present to attend to his needs; the prefix letter כ is to be understood as in Samuel I 9,13 כהיום, and as in Numbers 11,1 כמתאוננים, and as in Hoseah 5,10 כמסיגי גבול, in all of which instances the letter כ serves to emphasise what follows. (compare Genesis 25,31 where Yaakov insists that the sale of the birthright be effective immediately with the words כיום, “as of today”) Other explanations of the word כנגדו are that if and when her husband would embark on a sinful path of action, it would be woman’s task to prevent him from doing so by opposing it; these are familiar to all my readers, I am sure. The basic difference between man the species and woman his mate who were not initially created as two separate individuals as opposed to all the other living creatures, is to distinguish him favourably from all those other creatures. It draws attention to the fact that man is made from superior raw materials, and that as opposed to the other creatures among whom the male does not enjoy an advantage over the female, man, i.e. the male of the human species, does enjoy such an advantage. The male of the human species enjoys a position of authority vis a vis his female counterpart. The reason that he enjoys this right is the fact that woman is –after all- one of his own original limbs, and a person does have control over the various parts of his body. Seeing that the male of the human species had been the principal creation, woman became an adjunct to him, so that it is logical that man possesses superior strength to woman, and that also the power of his intellect is more manifest than that of his female counterpart.