tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20223795.post8620225585456926965..comments2023-10-28T16:01:04.598+03:00Comments on Torah Thoughts: where he isRafi G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00699851287106903971noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20223795.post-49493348895610237172006-11-09T16:30:00.000+02:002006-11-09T16:30:00.000+02:00Just to echo Josh, the Mizrachi usually assumes th...Just to echo Josh, the Mizrachi usually assumes that Rashi has not problem citing midrashim chalukim, and applies the same principle here. Gur Arye is a good source for the second type approach.Chaim B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02231811394447584320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20223795.post-72705819851231703962006-11-09T00:05:00.000+02:002006-11-09T00:05:00.000+02:00interesting idea that Rashi might just cite differ...interesting idea that Rashi might just cite different midrashim at different times to make different points even though they are inconsistent. I just always assumed he quoted midrashim that fit his understanding of the pesukim which would mean Rashi has to be consistent in some way. Interesting thought.Rafi G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00699851287106903971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20223795.post-70244796516935246542006-11-09T00:00:00.000+02:002006-11-09T00:00:00.000+02:00Even midrash rabba, which Rashi cites in both inst...Even midrash rabba, which Rashi cites in both instances, gives an explanation of צחק as inheritance. Now the midrashim can easily be in dispute. The portion of Bereishit Rabba 53:11 that Rashi cites makes Yismael out to be a Rasha, while in Bereishit Rabba 53:14, Rabbi Simon makes Yishmael out to be a tzaddik.<br /><br />the question is: does Rashi try to be consistent, or does he cite nice midrashim that bring out points at each time. Especially when it is clear that what he is citing are midrashim? It depends on what one's assumptions are about Rashi's derech of parshanut.<br /><br />However, a simple answer. The judgment of Yishmael now was such where he only did relatively "minor" acts, if you could call them that, on a personal scale. If so, a mother's pleas, and Hashem's promise to Avraham, might overcome these faults. What the angels were complaining about were not personal sins, but the fact that his *descendants* would eventually kill many of Benei Yisrael. And what this derasha is telling us is that *that* does not factor into the reckoning.<br /><br />True, Rabbi Simon in his formulation in Bereishit Rabba appears to have taken Yishmael as a total innocent. But the overall message is personal judgment, in which Yishmael prevails, either just barely or obviously, as opposed to judgment based on what descendants might do.<br /><br />Rashi might have been citing this midrash verbatim for the latter point, and did not notice the side-effect inconsistency, or else noticed but did not wish to mangle the existing language of the midrash he was citing.joshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06958375916391742462noreply@blogger.com