Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Netzavim #1- Wood Choppers and Water Carriers
Perek 29 pussukim 9-10 say that everyone is gathered together- all the men of Israel. The pussuk after says, your children and women- which we can understand why they aren't included in the "Men of Israel" but then the pussuk says the convert in your midst who are the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. Rashi then asks who are these water drawers and wood choppers and why are they mentioned separately? Rashi notes how this relates to another story in Tanakh- what is the message of these people?
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According to ohr.edu, the wood choppers and water drawers were כנענים who joined bnei yisrael under intentional misinterpretation. They were counted separately because they were not considered to be apart of bnei yisrael. The message of the wood choppers and water drawers (according to ou.org (who quotes rashi)), is that already at this point in time there were groups of converts and that these were the roles the converts filled. These converts decided to convert because they saw the unyielding bond between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael, when Moshe stresses to them that even though their strong connection between them and Hashem might not be present individually, it's present as a community and each individual makes up the community.
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Rashi says that the converts are separated from the men and women because back in those days, people converted to Judaism. The converts had tried to trick Bnei Yisrael into sinning, and Moshe eventually found out. He did not let them because Jews after this, and he then made them water drawers and wood cutters.
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ReplyDeleteThe Shem M'Shmuel (is mentioned on toratreva.org) says that the wood cutters and water drawers are mentioned so to include all member of Bnei Yisroel. He says that we (B"y) can only inhabit eretz yisroel once all of the Jewish people work together. This parsha takes place right before they cross the yarden into Israel and is when bnei yisroel became responsible for eachother. In the land of israel, bnei yisroel are and must be united.
ReplyDeleteThe Shem M'Shmuel also adds that this parsha is always read before Rosh Hashana because it is a day of unification. It is on this day that every Jew must focus on the fact that they are a member of a much larger community. He also writes that that is one reason for the parsha beginning with the word kulchem-all of you. I like his explanation given and really appreciated that he tied it into Rosh Hashana.
This clarifies that if someone thought the torah was speaking about the general whole of the nation- it is however it is purposely using more words to specifically mention these people who may be thought of as pashut members of Bnei Yisroel to show how each and every individual needed to come together and unite
DeleteAccoridng to the Seforno, when pasuk 9 perek 29 mentions wood choppers and water drawers it is saying that every type of Jew was their. From the highest ranking wood chopper to the lowest Ranking water drawer, every Jew was there. The torah uses these types of comparisons often. For example when it says מגמל ועד חמור, “from the camels down to the donkeys.”
DeleteRashi says that the woodcutters and water drawers are the Canaanim. Because in the days of Moshe, the Canaanim came to convert to be Jewish, like the Givonim in the days of Yehoshua. The Givonim pretended they were foreign people to trick Bnei Yisrael to do bad things, and when it was discovered that they were not, Yehoshua made them be woodcutters and water drawers for Israel. It is the same here, the Cannanim tried to trick Moshe but were discovered and Moshe did not let them convert, instead Moshe made them woodcutters and water drawers.
ReplyDeleteAccording to our.edu the wood-choppers and water carriers are canaanites who joined the jewish people under false pretenses. Furthermore, the woodchoppers and water carriers represent two different types of torah scholars. The woodchoppers cut the torah into pieces, therefore they are considered the torah scholars who analyze. The water carriers go down beneath the surface, therefore they are considered the torah scholars who access the inner torah. This weeks parsha is about teshuvah, and one of the best ways to do teshuvah is by learning torah. When we learn torah we can change ourselves in a fundament way.
ReplyDelete( http://dunnkaufman.com/clients/mrc/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/netzavim-vayeilech-5774.pdf)
- Rachel Malek
The Sforno helps us understand the message of the leaders of the wood choppers and the lowly water carriers by bringing in a quote from pasuk 3, perek 15 of Samuel I; “Infants as well as the sucklings”. He also brings in a quotes from the Torah with the same types of expression; “משור ועד שה", “Oxens as well as lambs”, oxens being the most expensive animals in ones livestock to lambs being the least, and “מגמל ועד חמור”, “From the camels down to the donkeys”, having the same idea as the other pasuk, the camels being the most expensive out of the traveling animals to the least expensive, the donkeys. According to the Sforno, these pasukim, all from different Sefers, all both the same idea behind them. The Torah is creating here, and there, a comparison in order to emphasize the difference between lowliest positions, the low-grade water carriers, within its category to the highest position, the bests of wood choppers. The Torah is giving a great prominence to the wood choppers and more lowly identification to the water carriers.
ReplyDeleteThe mention of these people separate to the main community of Israel] teaches us that in the days of Moshe people from cannan converted, just as the Giboanim converted by the time of Yehoshua. they acted like they had come from far away and When they were discovered, Yehousha made them woodcutters and water drawers for Bnei Yisrael. Just like here, the Canaanim attempted to deceive Moshe,but they were not able to, and Moshe did not accept them to be Jews Moshe made them woodcutters and water drawers= slaves.
ReplyDeleteThese people that are mentioned specifically were Jewish converts. Like the erav rav, these converts tried to convince Bnei Yisroel to sin. (Many sins in the Torah are blamed on these concerts-certain opinions believe that these people were the erav rav). These people were not counted as men,women or children because they were not 'real good Jews' so they have their own name-separated from the rest of clal yisroel. This is similar to what we learned about seeing people as individuals vs. as a group. This group was singled out showing that they were bad people.
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Rashi says that these people were converts. In Yehoshua's time Canaanites were coming to convert to Judaism just like the Givonim, but they pretended to be from a far off country. When they were discovered they were made into woodcutters and water drawers. Now the Canaanites are trying to trick Moshe, but they failed and Moshe made them into water drawers and wood cutters.
ReplyDeleteThe possuk specifies to gather the wood cutters and the water drawers because in the time of moshe the cananim converted, and moshe assigned them to be drawers of water and wood cutters. (in the time of yehoshua the gibonites converted) The passuk specifically mentioned the wood cutters and the water drawers to teach us that not only the people who were born into bnei yisroel need to be gathered, but also the people who conveted need to be gathered.
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Rashi says that the woodcutters and water drawers mentioned here are Canaanim that converted to Judaism. Rashi then draws a parallel to the Givonim during the times of Yehoshua. The Givonim were a people who pretended to be foreigners to Bnei Yisroel in order to trick them into doing sins. When they were discovered, they were forced by Yehoshua to be woodcutters and water drawers for Bnei Yisroel. Rashi connects this story to the Canaanim, because they too tried to trick Moshe into letting them convert for the wrong reasons, and Moshe punished them by making them the woodcutters and water carriers for Bnai Yisroel.
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