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Tractate Sanya
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2 Tractate Sanya Chapter One (Textual Source: JTS Rab. 2404, folios 1–2 and Notes of Rav Abraham Ha-Laḥmi— hnjkv ovrct cr ,uvdv) I:I 1. A. “Now Moses was tending (the flock of his father-in-law Jethro), etc. An angel of the Lord appeared to him (in a blazing fire out of a bush), etc.” (Exod. 3:1–2):1 B. R. Shimon b. Yoḥai says, “Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, appear from the highest heavens and speak with Moses from within the bush? Because just as this bush was the thorniest of all the trees in the world, in that any bird that entered into it could not manage to exit without tearing itself limb from limb, likewise was the slavery of Israel in Egypt the most oppressive slavery in the world. C. “[Moreover, so oppressive was Egypt that] no male or female slave ever left Egypt a free person, except for Hagar. As it says in Scripture, ‘And Pharaoh put men in charge of him, (and they sent him off with his wife and all that he possessed)’ (Gen. 12:20).2 D. “And how does one know from Scripture that the slavery of Israel was more oppressive than any slavery in the world? As it says in Scripture, ‘And the Lord said, “I have marked well3 the plight of my people (in Egypt, and have heeded their outcry on account of their taskmasters)”’ (Exod. 3:7). E. “And why does Scripture state ‘I have seen’ twice?4 Because after [the Egyptian taskmasters] drowned their5 sons in water, they would then embed them [into the walls of a] building. 1 It is intriguing that the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon b. Yoḥai begins with this series of interpretations associated with Exodus 3, particularly when compared to its tannaitic counterpart, the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, which is commonly assumed (based upon its manuscript evidence) to begin with an interpretation of Exodus 12. The fact that the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon b. Yoḥai begins with earlier chapters of the Book of Exodus compels the scholarly community to consider two possibilities: either that the early “canonization” of these texts in antiquity was not as stable or as absolute as the later medieval manuscript and printed evidence for these texts suggests or that our evidence for the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael might not attest the text accurately or completely. 2 1.C is clearly disjunctive to the interpretive progression of this unit between 1.B and 1.D, which compels one to view it as an editorial interpolation and augmentation. Nonetheless, it is attested in all the available sources for this unit of tradition. The gist of the interpretation is clear: Gen. 12:20 indicates that Abraham departed Egypt with his wife and all that he possessed—which included his future concubine, the Egyptian maidservant Hagar. 3 Emphasis added. Utilizing a routine, midrashic hermeneutic ploy, the text is focusing its attention on the scriptural employment of the infinitive absolute—h,htr vtr (I have marked well)—in Exod. 3:7, assuming that the apparent doubled form of the verb requires interpretive explication. The text, therefore, determines that the doubled verb indicates a doubled form of oppression by the Egyptian taskmasters. 4 See note 3. 5 I.e., the sons of the Israelites. 2 thbxs t,fxn ĝ /wufu uhkt wv ltkn trhu wufu vgur vhv vanu hnan v"cev vkdb vn hbpn rnut htjuh ic iugna wr vbxv vn tkt /vbxv lu,n van og rcsn vhvu ourn ,xbfba rupm kfa okugca ,ubkht kfn vae ²vzv³ ,f,j,na sg oukac ufu,n ,tmuh vbht vfu,k ohrmnc ktrah ka isucgha vhv lf /ohrcht ohrcht ohrmnn tmh tk okugnu ĝ /okugca sucgha kfn vae wtba sckc rdv tkt ihruj ic vjpa tku scg ²tk³ ĝ /@f ch wrc# wudu vgrp uhkg umhu sucgha kfn vae ktrah ka isucgha vhva ihbnu ĝ /wudu hng hbg ,t h,htr vtr wv rnthu wtba okugca ihghean uhva rjtn /ohngp hba h,htr vtr k", vnu ĝ /ihbcc o,ut ohacufu whrzuj uhv ohnc ivhbc ,t I:I A 1 B C D E [3.145.36.43] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 19:09 GMT) 3 MEKHILTA DE-RABBI SHIMON BAR YOḤAI F. “They told a parable: To what is the matter alike? It is like one who took a staff and struck two people with it, such that the two of them received a wound from the blow...