The Weekly Shtikle - Vayeira
This week's shtikle, as per tradition for parshas Vayeria, is dedicated le'ilui nishmas my brother Efrayim Yechezkel ben avi mori Reuven Pinchas, whose 47th yahrtzeit was yesterday, 18 Cheshvan.
As well, this coming Sunday, 21 of Chesvan, is the 24th yahrtzeit of my great uncle, Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits. The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Yisroel ben Yoel.
After Avimelech mistakenly takes Sarah from Avraham, HaShem comes to him in a dream at night and tells him that he will die for his sin. Avimelech then proceeds to plead his innocence after which HaShem responds and lets him off the hook. The response begins (20:6) "Elokim said to him in the dream..." From pasuk 3 we are already aware that HaShem was speaking to Avimelech bachalom halaylah, in a dream of the night. Why is it necessary to repeat this point?
On a separate occasion, we have discussed the many differences in the conduct of Avimelech as opposed to Par'oah in just about the same circumstance. In addition to those points, Paroah was not even given the honour of a visit or warning from God, presumably because he simply was not worthy of such a revelation. Avimelech, on the contrary, did merit that visit. Instead of mere hints that something was not right, he received a message directly from HaShem, much in the way, it would seem, that any other prophet did. Yet, we do not ever see Avimelech referred to as a prophet. Wouldn't this dream constitute a prophecy?
I therefore suggest, albeit without any textual source to support this theory, that true prophecy consists not only of a message from HaShem but the ability to converse with Him in the context of that prophecy. What happened here is that Avimelech actually awoke after receiving the message from HaShem in his dream. His words, quoted in the pasuk, were exclamations uttered while awake. He then went back to sleep and HaShem answered him in yet another dream. There was never an actual two-way conversation going on within the dream itself. Contrarily, when HaShem comes to Bil'am in his dream (Bemidbar 22:9-12) there is a clear dialog. Nevertheless, due to this nuance, Avimelech is not considered a navi. For the same reason, Lavan is also not considered a navi after HaShem spoke directly to him (31:24).
Have a good Shabbos.
Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com
Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
AstroTorah: A Scratch on the Wall
AstroTorah: Witnesses to Sedom's Destruction
AstroTorah: The Mysterious Midrash by R' Ari Storch
AstroTorah: Lot's Twilight Escape by R' Ari Storch
AstroTorah: I Can't Believe it's not Fresh by R' Ari Storch
Dikdukian: Different Forms of Yirash
Dikdukian: Be'er Shava
Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to shtiklelist+unsubscribe@weeklyshtikle.com.
posted by Shtikler | 3:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home