Hillel Lichtman's interest in secondary Tanach characters is an important area to study and develop further. I look forward to his work on the topic being shared in this forum.
On a simple level, vague terms that refer to anonymous secondary characters like "Naar" or "Ploni" in Rus may be indicators of individuals who missed opportunities. The "Ploni" character in Rus passed on the opportunity to build a family with Rus and remained anonymous and irrelevant to posterity except perhaps as a nick name in Chazal for anonymous people, unlike Boaz who capitalized on the opportunity to marry Rus and was immortalized by name for his heroic efforts.
The more vague a term is, the more open ended it seems to be for possible explanations. Chazal say the "Ish" who guided Yosef was none other than Eliyahu HaNavi himself!
Another possible reason for use of vague descriptors like "Ish" or "Ish Mitzri" can be to allow for a variety of Parshanut for a given Passuk on various levels of Pardes. Chazal say the Ish Mitzri who saved Tziporah on a Pshat level was Moshe (perhaps describing his clothing or language). On a deeper hinted to Remez level, Chazal explain that the Ish Mitzri was the anonymous Egyptian man Moshe killed in Mitzrayim. Perhaps it can extend even further to the previous mention of the phrase in Chumash when the text of the Torah describes Potiphar as "Ish Mitzri". It could be on a Drush level that the Ish Mitzri that helped save Yisro's daughters was Potiphar who bought Yosef and indirectly caused the entire story of Shmot which led to Moshe being in Midyan at the very moment needed to save Tziporah.
In a Bibliodramatic way of approaching the emotional state of the character one could expand referring to Moshe as Ish Mitzri in the context of the aggadic reference equating Mitzrayim (Egypt) with Meitzarim (narrow straits) or Mtzaar (from pain). Perhaps the Torah is explaining that Tziporah understood Moshe was in a very dire straits or was in deep pain and conveyed that feeling to her father in her description of Moshe which may be why he was moved to intensely respond in an empathetic way.
It is not only the ambiguous pronouns and characters that are interesting to explore, it is also the vague adjectives describing main characters as well. Another Rus example is using a phrase to describe a main character with a particular adjective. When Boaz calls Rus an "Ayshet Chayil" it could simply be a Pshat reference to her valor. It could also be hinting to the identity of the anonymous "Ayshet Chayil" written about by Shlomo HaMelech at the end of Mishlei that we recite on Friday nights. Chazal say that woman of valor refers to Sarah or Shlomo's wife or mother. Perhaps the use of the term "Ayshet Chayil" is a veiled reference to his family Matriarch Rus who is lauded by Shlomo as the ideal female role model.
Shalom,
Elisha Paul
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2018 06:44AM by mlb.
