What an unusual Rashi in the first aliyah! Yaakov has a dream and declares that the place where he had the dream is the Shaar Hashomayim, the Gate of Heaven. This place is identified as Beis-El, formerly known as Luz. Rashi is not pleased with this location and does everything he can to convince the reader that somehow, the place was not Luz, but rather, Yerushalayim! Considering that the city of Luz/Beis-El is rather well-known, what could Rashi possibly say to convince us otherwise?
Take a look at the unusually lengthy comment Rashi makes: It's here, at verse 17. When I learned it, I thought of the metaphor of throwing spaghetti against a wall, hoping something will stick.
Rashi's goal is to transform the Biblical Beis-El into the Midrashic Jerusalem.
More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment