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Friday, November 11, 2011

Insight 5772-07: Sister, Not Wife

For Vayera

Not yet available on the Nishma website.

3 comments:

  1. In reviewing the Insight, I just wanted to add that I also found myself unsure of my description of the society. Could it be possible that a king would take a woman into her palace but refrain from raping her, wishing actual sexuality arising only from consent? Is it possible for a society to have such a disregard for women that they would fully condone abduction yet avoid rape? I really don't know. The true point of my article is really the fact that we are discussing a society of which we have no perception, one with absolute monarchy. My perceptions were really simply an attempt to try and understand what was going on. The truth is that I am more comfortable with the question than the answer.

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  2. I just wish to also mention that when I was originally considering this issue, my original question was the distinction between what happened with Avimelech and what happened in Egypt. Why the various differences? An analysis of this issue may begin with the Ramban on the story with Avimelech.

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  3. Nice

    Here is a modern interpretation I saw years ago

    In Lech Lecha, Avraham passed Sarah off as a "beauty queen" in order to extract an exorbitant dowry. Effectively he priced Sarah out of the market.

    However, the one guy in Egypt who could afford that price was Par'oh and indeed that was what the servants of Par'oh did. Thus Avraham's plan backfired by not eliminating that one super-rich ruler.

    Read the p'sukkim and then it flows lkmaan yittav li etc. was about Avraham looking
    for a "King's Ransom" but he played it so well, that the king himself actually sat up and took notice.

    Shalom,
    RRW

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