[NGFP-BookClub] from BBS to AOA - from avigdor shinan

[avigdor shinan]

Shalom shalom -

 

Purim is over. The road to Pesach is now clear! <in Israel we still have to elect a new Knesset, but it should not interfere with our class>

 

After HLA (the Aramaic introduction to the Seder: Ha Lachma Aniya) and after BBS (the Bene Berak story) – a late addition to the Haggadah and, at least for me, still an enigma – we move to the probably most ancient part of the Haggadah: the discussion of 4 verses from Deuteronomy, starting with “Arami Oved Avi” (which can be translated I many ways, and we shall deal with this phrase). Hence AOA as the acronym for out next week discussion.

 

The AOA unit is the longest and most important part of the talk done around the Seder table. By taking Deuteronomy 26, verses 5-8, apart – almost word by word – the story of the people of Israel in Egypt is told, expanding the biblical verses with many aggadic traditions, some explicit and some implicit.

 

We put on the web 2 translations of these verses with their interpretations / expansions / elaborations / midrashizations [to midrashize is a term which I found in recent literature and like a lot]. The issues that I would like to discuss – along with any other that you may find interesting and worth dealing with – are:

 

[1] The Image of Laban (Lavan) the Aramean. How come that the father-in-law of Jacob became such a villain? Worse than Pharaoh?! Where in the Bible (or elsewhere) do we find a base for such a harsh “accusation”?

 

[2] The verse from the book of the prhphet Ezekiel: “By your blood you shall live”. How is it connected to the story of Exodus?



[3] The idea of separating men from women as the interpretation of “God looked upon our affliction”. What is the text talking about? [the Hebrew is: Perishut Derech Eeretz] 

 

[4] Why is the text so eager to state, more than once, that “not by an angel” etc.? is it a polemic against any other explanation of the exodus story?

 

[5] What do we know about Moses’ staff which is mentioned later on in the text?

 

[6] The last but one question (so far): why use verses from Deuteronomy to tell the story of the book of Exodus? Could they not find enough verses in this very book to use for telling the story of Yetziat Mitzraim?

 

[7] Please look at Deuteronomy 26, verse 9. Would you phrase my last question for me? Thanks.

 

I hope that we have enough issues to deal with. Please respond to all or some of them, and – especially – raise any more questions which the AOA unit brings into our minds.

 

Enjoy!

 

Shabbat shalom

 

avigdor

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ngfp.org/pipermail/ngfp-bookclub/attachments/20060317/e34cb30a/attachment.htm