The summer is moving by and it is now the first week of August.  On Thursday Aaron Chase came with his two friends, Nadler from LA and Israel, and Tzvi Eliezer Katz from Far Rockaway.  Aaron Chase is named after my brother, his grandfather Aaron Chase or as we called him Arela.  He is Avrohom Shmuel and Malka Chase’s son.  He is 20 and he is learning with his friends in the Passaic Yeshiva by Rabbi Meir Stern.  They were  all in Indianapolis this summer for a SEED program.  Every summer Yeshiva students go to small communities to learn Torah with the community.  

Motzei Shabbos at Ritas.  

Nadler, Tzvi Eliezer Katz, and Aaron Chase (Avrohom Shmuel”s son)

I had a great Shabbos with them.   Nadler’s father, Asher Nadler,  was in my class in Denver for high school.   The son looks exactly like his father.  At the Shabbos table I went through Rabbi Meir Yaakov Solovechik’s speech on “Rabbinic Roots of the Gettysburg address”.

I purchased my new home just so I can have guests sleep over.  These are the first guests that have slept over and I am full of joy.  I love to host people, especially family.

Torah From This Shabbos:

Devorim Verse 7:13

וַאֲהֵ֣בְךָ֔ וּבֵרַכְךָ֖ וְהִרְבֶּ֑ךָ וּבֵרַ֣ךְ פְּרִֽי־בִטְנְךָ֣ וּפְרִֽי־אַ֠דְמָתֶ֠ךָ דְּגָ֨נְךָ֜ וְתִירֹֽשְׁךָ֣ וְיִצְהָרֶ֗ךָ שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּ֥ע לַאֲבֹתֶ֖יךָ לָ֥תֶת לָֽךְ׃

The fulfillment of the covenant with your forefathers will be that He will bestow His love upon you, bless you with riches, and increase you. He will also bless your children and the products of your land: your corn and your wine, your oil, your cowherds, and your sheepherds in the land which He affirmed to your forefathers to give you.

My Torah this week focuses on these 4 words of Verse 7:13 – שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ.  What do these words mean?  For שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ there are two explanations; Onkelys and Rashi.  For עַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ there are also two; one in Onkelyos and Rashi 2 who quotes Onkelyos  and the second explanation is Rashi 1.

Onkelos:

 בַּקְרֵי תוֹרָיךְ וְעֶדְרֵי עָנָךְ – Artscroll translates שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ. as the herds of your cattle and the herds of your flock.  I do not understand why he uses בַּקְרֵי and  עֶדְרֵי to describe the same thing, but I guess that this is a language issue.  Herds of cattle in Aremac are בַּקְרֵי  and herds of sheep are עֶדְרֵי

One thing for sure is that the words שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ by themsleves do not by themselves translate to herds of cattle and sheep.  They are metaphors.    

Rashi:

שגר אלפיך. וַלְדֵי בְקָרְךָ שֶׁהַנְּקֵבָה מְשַׁגֶּרֶת מִמֵּעֶיהָ:

שגר אלפיך means the offspring of thy oxen which the female casts out (שגר) from its womb.

ועשתרת צאנך. מְנַחֵם פֵּרֵשׁ “אַבִּירֵי בָשָׁן” (תהילים כ”ב) – מִבְחַר הַצֹּאן, כְּמוֹ “בְּעַשְׁתְּרֹת קַרְנַיִם” (בראשית י”ד), לְשׁוֹן חֹזֶק, וְאֻנְקְלוֹס תִּרְגֵּם “וְעֶדְרֵי עָנָךְ”. וְרַבּוֹתֵינוּ אָמְרוּ לָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמָם עַשְׁתָּרוֹת? שֶׁמַּעֲשִׁירוֹת אֶת בַּעֲלֵיהֶן (חולין פ”ד):

ועשתרות צאנך –  Menachem ben Seruk explains this expression to be parallel to אבירי בשן, which means: “the strong rams of Bashan” (Psalms 22:13), i.e. the choicest of the sheep, similar to (Genesis 14:5), “Ashteroth (עשתרות) Karna’im”, where also it is an expression for “strength” (so that עשתרות denotes “the strong ones”).

Rashi continues and says a second Pshat -” Onkelos however translates it: “and the flocks of thy sheep”. Our Rabbis said: Why is their name called עשתרות? Because they enrich (עשר) their owner (through the sale of their wool, etc.) (cf. Chullin 84b).”

Rashi’s first Pshat is confusing.  Is it the choicest or the strong ones?  Does he mean that the choicest are the strong ones?

Second question – Rashi quotes the Pasuk in Bereshis 14:5.  There it is clearly the name of a place and there Rashi makes no comment that the place of עַשְׁתְּרֹת קַרְנַיִם is a place of tall peaks and mountain terrain, a harsh and strong place.  Rashi expects us to know that the reason for the name of the place of עַשְׁתְּרֹת קַרְנַיִם  is  that it is one of tall peaks and mountain terrain.

Third Point – Devorim 26:4 uses the same 4 words  שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ .  Rashi explains עַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ  only his second Pshat that it means herds of sheep and mentions the Rabosanu who says that the word itself means riches. A) why does Rashi repeat the explanation and B) if necessary to repeat, why didn’t he repeat the first Pshet rashi used in our verse 17:13?   C) For שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ Rashi does not repeat his translation. 

To sum up the differences between Onkelys and Rashi:

שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ 

Onkelos – herds of your cattle

Rashi – offspring of your cattle

Perhaps Rashi and Onkelys could be the same and they agree on Pshet using slightly different terms.

עַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ

Onkelos – herds of your sheep

Rashi 1  – Choicest or the strong ones

Rashi 2 – like Onkelos

How do the English translators translate these four words of  שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ 

Group 1 –  Onkelos

Chas Kahane 1963- your cowherds and your sheepherds 

Group 2 -שגר אלפיך like Rashi and ועשתרת צאנך like Onkelos which is second Peshat in Rashi 

Artscroll 1995 – the offspring of your cattle and the herds of your flock

SR Hirsch – the litter of your cattle and the abundance of your sheep

Mesudah 1999 –    the offspring of your cattle, and the herds of your sheep

Group 3 – שגר אלפיך like Rashi and ועשתרת צאנך like the first explanation in Rashi – Menachem ben Seruk.

Judaica 1985 AJ Rosenberg / Mesoras Harav – the offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks.

Lubavitch Gutnick 2006 – Your cattle’s offspring and the best of your flocks

Group 4 – שגר אלפיך like Rashi and ועשתרת צאנך  is not known their source.  I guess that they evened out the Pshat for it with שגר אלפיך.  There is logic to it.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan 1981 – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks

JPS 1985 – the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock

JPS 1917 – the increase of thy kine (cattle) and the young of thy flock

Soncino 1947

Clearly the words שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ  are very expressive and meant to invoke imagery.   The Torah does not want you to read these words and just say herds of cattle and sheep.  The Torah purposely uses poetic words to describe mundane objects.   Do not just see mundane animals, but picture the grandeur of a green valley under a bright blue sky with a wisp of a cloud, full of cattle and  sheep.   See the richness, the strength, the best.  It is to bring out feelings and emotions.  

What is the imagery of שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙?  I think it is that when you gaze upon your flocks,you feel a sense of pride. Just like a calf is born after much labor and pain, so too it is when you gaze upon your pastures full of cattle and sheep, you see the result of your labor; the pre-dawn mornings you woke, the late nights, and all your efforts.  It is as if you birthed this wealth.  You feel a sense of great pride and accomplishment.

If one is translating these 4 words of שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ one would have to say offspring/herds of cattle and sheep.  However, in English you miss the beauty of the Torah.  One must read it in Hebrew  with Rashi’s explanation of the words and see the pageantry. 

When Ben Yehudah developed modern Hebrew, he was very careful to get precise meanings of words using Jewish sources from the Tanakh and Chazel.   There is a story in Simcha Raz’s book on Rav Kook, An Angel Among Men, of Ben Yehudah visiting Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok HaCohen Kook on a Shabbos to discuss the meaning and sources of a Hebrew word.  They discussed it and afterwards, Rav Kook said, nu, Ben Yehuda, time to do Tshuva.  Ben Yehuda passed away the next day. This Is from memory, the book does not  have an index and I could not find the story

Similarly, Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah ZTL of Boca Raton, FL, my Rebbe in Chmush and especially Rashi, once was stuck on a word.  Someone gave him an English Chumash.  He said “Fe” and in his mind went through Tanach to see how that word is used.

It is important that when one reads Hebrew, they fully realize the depth, the imagery of the words.