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Why does the Torah (תורה) specify that Yaakov placed his sons on the camels before his wives, while Eisav reversed the order? Rashi (רש"י) shifts the language from "sons/wives" to "males/females," prompting an exploration of different priorities: Yaakov prioritizing builders who create Jewish infrastructure in new places, versus Eisav prioritizing cultural adaptation and assimilation into local society.
This shiur examines a striking Rashi (רש"י) on Parshas Vayeitzei that changes the Torah (תורה)'s terminology when describing the order in which Yaakov and Eisav placed their families on their animals. The Torah states that Yaakov put his "banim" (sons) before his "noshim" (wives), while Eisav did the reverse. Rashi, however, reformulates this as "males before females" for Yaakov and "females before males" for Eisav, a significant departure from the Torah's own language. The Maharal in Gur Aryeh offers an interpretation: Eisav married primarily for companionship and physical intimacy, with children being merely a consequence. Therefore, his wives came first in his priorities. Yaakov, by contrast, married primarily to have children and build the Jewish people, making his sons the central purpose of marriage and thus placing them first. The shiur raises a fundamental challenge to this interpretation: if this were Rashi's intent, why didn't Rashi simply say "Yaakov put sons before wives, Eisav put wives before sons"? By deliberately changing the language to males/females, Rashi seems to be conveying something different than the Maharal's explanation about the purpose of marriage.
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Bereishis 33:2, 36:6
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