Tzvi Daum brought up the example of Rivkah marrying at 3 as an example of a bizarre Rashi that "has to be dealt with" as otherwise students will be turned off. A fair enough, concern.
His solution (also concurred with by Avi Billet) is to cite an "alternative midrash" based on the Talmud (Yevamot 61b) and a Tosafot that cites a Sifrei (Devarim 397:7) that indicates Rivka was 14 at the time of her marriage So the argument is why not quote it or at least mention it to avoid problems.
This sounds good: But there are two problems with such an approach
#1) We are teaching children "Rabbinical opinion shopping." We are in effect telling them, "If you don’t like the sound of something (that a 3 year old was married) simply shop around for an alternative that makes more sense. Isn't this a Conservative approach, albeit in a non-halachic setting?
#2) What about Rashi who explicitly states that his goal was to explain the simple meaning of the text! Did Rashi believe that Rivkah was 3? If not, why does he even mention the midrash seeing that he only mentions midrashim **when** they aid in understanding the Peshat.
At least two Lookjed discussants in this thread, Jessie Abelman and Debbie Libschitz, addressed this issue. While Jessie advocates teaching Peshat and Drash as methods of interpretation (fair enough) how does that help us with this Rashi seeing that Rashi identified his goal as teaching peshat. While Debbie suggested that Rashi’s commentaries usually explain far-out midrashim they don’t in this case.
I would like to therefore show how this Rashi is dealt with on the Rashi website (www.Rashiyomi.com) where we reduce all Rashi's to 30 skill based rules that naturally group into 10 categories. I would like to show that Rashi is Peshat. Most of what I say in terms of method has already been stated by Avi Billet or others; it is not original with me. As I proceed through the explanation I will explain what is new (contributed by me) and what is cited by others.
Step 1: On the Rashi website I identify one skill competency Rashi used in this verse as the "non verse" method which includes such methods as "diagrams, numerical calculations, use of other languages etc." There are three biblical verses which explicitly state that
#1) Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born
#2) Sarah was 127 when she died
#3) Isaac was 40 when he married.
Step 2: As Avi Billet also concludes, these 3 facts explicitly stated in biblical verses imply
A) Isaac was 37 when Sarah died
Isaac married three years afterwards.
Step 3: A second skill competency used by Rashi is "paragraph juxtaposition" (An interpretive technique which doesn't lead to only one conclusion but is accepted in all cultures). We have the following three biblical paragraphs (Avi mentions only i) and iii); I have also mentioned ii)
i) The Akdaydah
ii) News that Rivkah was born (This paragraph is often overlooked when discussing this midrash) The bible explicitly says that this news reach Abraham **after** the Akaydah
iii) Sarah's death.
Step 4: Before proceeding: Items #1,#2,#3 and #i),#ii) and #iii) are explicitly stated. The rest is inference. This is one aspect of teaching Rashi that I emphasize on the Rashi website: a clear identification of what is known and explicit, vs inferences of a definite nature (e.g. A,B above) and inferences of a plausible nature (As caused by juxtaposition). So anything I now say is “plausible” (but could be otherwise)
Step 5: I would argue that
a) Isaac was 25 at the time of the Akaydah (I will lightly defend this below)
b) Juxtaposition suggests that Rivkah was born then
c) Juxtaposition suggests (as one midrash has it) that Sarah had a non-fatal heart attack when she found out that Abraham sacrificed Isaac, which resulted in her death 12 years later (Avi Billet also uses a delayal; my contribution here is to relate this assumed delayal to explicit and plausible biblical inferences)
d) So Rivkah was 12 and Isaac was 37 when Sarah died.
e) Three years later, Abraham sends Eliezer. Rivkah was 15 and Isaac was 40 and they got married. The verses mentioning Abraham’s surety that Eliezer would find a wife reflect his knowledge of Rivkah being 15, which is why the news of Rivkah’s birth was mentioned in an intervening paragraph.
Step 6: Notice (and this is a contribution of mine) that I explain the verses **first** and only **then** seek to reinterpret Rashi: I interpret Rashi’s statement “Rivkah was “3” when she got married” to mean “Rivkah was 3 years into puberty (or 3 years of marriageable age) when she got married.” I reinterpret Rashi *because* the verses seem to suggest that is what Rashi is describing.
I could say more about this interpretation but it would lengthen the posting too much. Let me simply conclude that it is plausible (but not necessary) that Isaac was 25, 25 being the age at which Levites entered Temple service (an apt symbol for the akaydah).
Russell Jay Hendel; Phd ASA; Dept of Math; Towson University; [
www.Rashiyomi.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2012 07:48AM by mlb.
