{"id":705,"date":"2012-11-15T00:36:15","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T22:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shaareihoraah.org\/wordpress\/?p=705"},"modified":"2012-11-15T00:36:15","modified_gmt":"2012-11-14T22:36:15","slug":"parshas-toldos-appreciating-rashi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shaareihoraah.org\/?p=705","title":{"rendered":"Parshas Toldos-Appreciating Rashi"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first came to learn in Eretz\u00a0Yisroel as a young bachur<\/em>, I learned in the Brisker Yeshiva of HaRav\u00a0Dovid\u00a0Soloveitzik shlita<\/em>. One of the highlights of Yeshiva is Reb Dovid\u2019s Friday night Chumash Shiur<\/em>, where he would frequently instruct us regarding important lessons for life, interwoven with pithy observations regarding the weekly Parsha<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One of the more memorable occasions was a Parshas\u00a0Toldos<\/em> some 20 years ago. Towards the beginning of the Parsha<\/em>, 26:2 to be precise, the Torah relates that there was a famine in Eretz\u00a0Yisroel<\/em>. Hashem\u00a0appeared to Yitzchok\u00a0Avinu\u00a0and enjoined him to refrain from escaping to Egypt as his father had done under similar circumstances decades earlier. Rather, Yitzchok was required to remain in the Holy Land.<\/p>\n

Rashi explains that since Yitzchok\u00a0Avinu had achieved the status of being an \u201cOlah\u00a0Temima<\/em>\u201d, an unblemished sacrifice, at the Akeida<\/em>, it was improper for him to exit to Chutz l\u2019Aretz<\/em>. The Brisker Rav, Reb Dovid\u2019s father, asked in his Sefer<\/em> on Chumash<\/em>, \u201cWhere do we find relevance of the limitations on a Korban<\/em> leaving its designated location alive? While it is forbidden to remove a sacrifice from the Beis<\/em> HaMikdash<\/em> or Yerusholaim<\/em>, depending on its level, this exclusively applies after it was slaughtered.\u201d He replied that the relevant defining factor it not specifically the life or death of the animal, it is whether its purpose has already been fulfilled. Once the Mitzva<\/em> of shechting<\/em> a Korban<\/em>\u00a0has been conducted, it may no longer be removed from its domain, until then there is no restriction. Regarding the Binding of Yitzchok, the commandment was never to \u201cslaughter\u201d him; Avraham was merely commanded to \u201cbind\u201d Yitzchok. Once that was completed, Yitzchok Avinu achieved the status of a fulfilled Korban<\/em> that could not depart its boundaries.<\/p>\n

However, Reb Dovid was not satisfied with this response. While this resolves the question of the timeframe, it leaves other serious issues unresolved. There are two basic categories of Korbanos<\/em>, Kodshei\u00a0Kodshim<\/em> and Kodshim\u00a0Kalim<\/em>. The prior designation applies to an Olah<\/em> or Chattas<\/em>, and they may not be removed from the Beis\u00a0HaMikdash<\/em>. The latter classification includes the Todah<\/em> and Shlomim<\/em> which may not depart the city of Yerusholaim<\/em>. Yet we never find any boundary in the laws of Korbanos<\/em> restricting them specifically to Eretz\u00a0Yisroel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, on 25:26 Rashi explains that Yitzchok refrained from following his father\u2019s precedent in marrying a maidservant after 10 years of childlessness due to the Akeida<\/em> as well. In Rashi\u2019s words, \u201cHe did not wish to marry a maidservant, as he had been consecrated on Har\u00a0HaMoriah<\/em> as Olah\u00a0Temima<\/em>.\u201d Reb Dovid dramatically flipped through the Rambam\u2019s Laws of Korbanos<\/em> and feigned surprise that there was no mention made in the entire Sefer<\/em> of any prohibition applicable to a Korban<\/em> marrying a servant.<\/p>\n

My initial impression was that he was being humorous and theatrical, obviously Rashi simply meant to illustrate that Yitzchok\u00a0Avinu was especially holy; until one of the senior Avreichim<\/em> enlightened me to Reb Dovid\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n

Rashi is not known for his poetic language and colorful figures of speech. On the contrary, Rashi tends to be precise and succinct.<\/p>\n

He explained that Reb Dovid wanted us to analyze every word in a Rashi to examine its exact import. We shouldn\u2019t gloss over an unusual or extraneous phrase, dismissing it as a minor detail; we should strive to understand the significance of its choice.<\/p>\n

While Reb Dovid\u00a0did not answer his questions, and I never found a good answer to why Rashi did describe Yitzchok as an Olah\u00a0Temima<\/em> relating to these two decisions, his lesson that no word in Rashi is imprecise has remained with me for life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first came to learn in Eretz\u00a0Yisroel as a young bachur, I learned in the Brisker Yeshiva of HaRav\u00a0Dovid\u00a0Soloveitzik shlita. One of the highlights of Yeshiva is Reb Dovid\u2019s Friday night Chumash Shiur, where he would frequently instruct us … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-parsha","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t