ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף במדבר 34:23

למטה יוסף, למטה מנשה, “of the tribe of Joseph, i.e. the tribe of Menashe.” Even though on numerous occasions the tribe of Joseph is equated with the tribe of Ephrayim (seeing that Yaakov had told Joseph that he outranked Menashe the older), here Joseph and Menashe are paired, seeing that both had become guilty of slander. Joseph had slandered his brothers to his father, and the prince of Menashe had slandered the land of Israel. There are several instances where Joseph and Menashe are equated precisely because the context of the story supports that interpretation. (Compare Numbers 34,23, Joshua 17,1) In Joshua 17, the subject is the distribution of the land to the various tribes, and it was these lands that the prince of Menashe had slandered in joining the majority report of the spies.

יראה כל זכורך, “everyone of your males shall appear, etc.” The females are exempt from this commandment (Chagigah 2).The blind and the lame are also exempt from this commandment. The mystical dimension of all these exemptions is related to the cloud of G’d’s attribute of כבוד which accompanied the Jewish people and which was so bright and pure that it reflected the image of the beholder much as a mirror reflects it and these images were seen by all the Israelites. Whatever was inside the cloud could not be seen outside it. Seeing that it is not seemly for the image of the pilgrims which were afflicted with the handicaps we mentioned to be seen as reflected by the cloud, they were exempted from this legislation. This is the meaning of the peculiar wording in verse 24 “when you go up to see the face of the Lord your G’d, etc.” Although the spelling of the word is לראות, “to see,” it is read as if it had the vowels of le-ra-ot, i.e. “to be seen.” Our sages (Chagigah 2) rule that even a one-eyed person is exempt from the requirement to make this pilgrimage. They base this on the word יראה in verse 23 which is understood to mean that the person who comes to be seen must also be able to see.[the spelling of the text allows for either vocalisation. Ed.] Just as a person comes to be seen by the Shechinah which has two eyes (is not defective), so he himself is subject to this legislation only if he has two serviceable eyes. Avraham already used this expression יראה after his Mount Moriah experience when he proclaimed that at that mountain of G’d man is seen by the Shechinah (which has two eyes) compare Genesis 22,14.

ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כואבים, “It was on the third day when they are in pain:” they were all in pain and regretted having agreed to undergo circumcision: when Yaakov’s sons heard about this and they also heard that Chamor and Sh’chem had altered the conditions they had agreed to with them, i.e. that no one was allowed to leave the town before he had undergone circumcision, plus their having presented the whole agreement as due to enhancing the honour of the people of Sh’chem instead of in response to an ultimatum by the sons of Yaakov, plus the fact that they boasted that henceforth the herds and flocks of Yaakov’s family would (verse 23) be theirs, they decided to attack the city’s inhabitants. The reason they had waited until the third day was that it took the people of Sh’chem until that day to complete the process of circumcising all the men and boys. On that day those who had been circumcised on the first day were still suffering from pains and relatively weak. This is why the Torah writes: ויבואו על הער בטח, “they came into the city unopposed, without having to worry.” This is also how Onkelos translated it. A different exegesis: Shimon and Levi entered the town while the inhabitants were sitting, feeling themselves secure.