UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: translations
“arami oved avi” and Vav Hahefuch (Deuteronomy Ch 26: 3-10)
The famous
“arami oved avi” passage, found in the Passover Seder Haggadah, is taken
from the declarations every Jewish farmer is to make when he annually
brings a basket of the first produce of the Promised Land to the
Kohen at the
Mishkan and Temple thereafter (Deuteronomy Ch 26: 1
-10)
The
three opening words“arami oved avi” אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי and their more than 5 possible ‘understandings’ and translations have been discussed in a
previous blog.
What
is of interest here is the rest of the historical passage and why, of the 3 separate
sections of the famer’s declaration, it alone
is in Vav Hahefuch form.
The 3
parts of the declaration are: the second half of verse 3; the longer “arami oved avi” section, verses 5 -9; and verse
All
3 are to be said by all Jewish famers in the Holy Land as a personal declaration
and from the farmer’s own, first person
point-of-view, replete with “I” and ”my” and “we” terms.
The
first section, in verse 3, and the last section, verse 10, are in normal Hebrew verb tense form without any vav hahefuch.
ג וּבָאתָ,
אֶל-הַכֹּהֵן, אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה, בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם; וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו, הִגַּדְתִּי הַיּוֹם לַיהוָה
אֱלֹהֶיךָ, כִּי-בָאתִי אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה לַאֲבֹתֵינוּ
לָתֶת לָנוּ.
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3 And
thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto
him: 'I profess this day
unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the land which the LORD swore unto
our fathers to give us.'
{Literally: I have professed this day to the
Eternal, your God, that I have come to the land which the Eternal
promised to our fathers to give to us.}
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י וְעַתָּה,
הִנֵּה הֵבֵאתִי אֶת-רֵאשִׁית פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-נָתַתָּה לִּי, יְהוָה; וְהִנַּחְתּוֹ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ,
וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.
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10 And
now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the land, which Thou, O
LORD, hast given me.' And thou shalt set it down before
the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God.
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Similarly,
the subsequent Tithing declaration in the third year, that is
found just 2 verses afterward, verses 13-15, only uses normal verb tenses as
well.
יג וְאָמַרְתָּ
לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בִּעַרְתִּי
הַקֹּדֶשׁ מִן-הַבַּיִת, וְגַם נְתַתִּיו לַלֵּוִי וְלַגֵּר לַיָּתוֹם
וְלָאַלְמָנָה, כְּכָל-מִצְוָתְךָ, אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתָנִי: לֹא-עָבַרְתִּי
מִמִּצְוֹתֶיךָ, וְלֹא שָׁכָחְתִּי.
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13 then
thou shalt say before the LORD thy God: 'I have put away the hallowed things out of my house,
and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the
fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Thy commandment which Thou
hast commanded me; I have not transgressed any of Thy commandments, neither
have I forgotten them.
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יד לֹא-אָכַלְתִּי
בְאֹנִי מִמֶּנּוּ, וְלֹא-בִעַרְתִּי מִמֶּנּוּ בְּטָמֵא, וְלֹא-נָתַתִּי
מִמֶּנּוּ, לְמֵת; שָׁמַעְתִּי, בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהָי--עָשִׂיתִי, כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר
צִוִּיתָנִי.
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14 I have not eaten thereof in
my mourning, neither have I put away thereof, being unclean, nor given
thereof for the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, I
have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me.
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טו הַשְׁקִיפָה
מִמְּעוֹן קָדְשְׁךָ מִן-הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבָרֵךְ אֶת-עַמְּךָ אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל,
וְאֵת הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּה לָנוּ--כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲבֹתֵינוּ,
אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ. {ס}
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15 Look forth from Thy holy
habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel, and the land which Thou
hast given us, as Thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk
and honey.' {S}
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But
in the “arami oved avi” passage, every verb – all 12 of them –are in the vav hahefuch form; which is normally used in the Chumash as the special voice of the
narrator – God dictating.
The “arami oved avi” passage is NOT a repeat of some
narrative passage earlier on in the Chumash to be quoted by Jewish farmer in perpetuity.
And there is no doubt that the Vav (ו ) prefix before the future tense verbs
refers to the past – i.e., is a vav hahefuch usage, because the passage
summarizes 300 odd years of past Jewish history: from Jacob’s stay with Laban
through Egyptian servitude to the (anticipated) conquest of the Promised Land.
So
why are humans commanded by God to use His unique verb form/voice when saying this part of the declaration
before the Kohen
at God’s
Mishkan and Temple?
ה וְעָנִיתָ וְאָמַרְתָּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי,
וַיֵּרֶד מִצְרַיְמָה, וַיָּגָר שָׁם בִּמְתֵי מְעָט; וַיְהִי-שָׁם, לְגוֹי
גָּדוֹל עָצוּם וָרָב.
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5 And
thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God: 'A wandering Aramean was my father, and he went
down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a
nation, great, mighty, and populous.
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ו וַיָּרֵעוּ
אֹתָנוּ הַמִּצְרִים, וַיְעַנּוּנוּ; וַיִּתְּנוּ עָלֵינוּ, עֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה.
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6 And the Egyptians dealt ill
with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.
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ז וַנִּצְעַק,
אֶל-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵינוּ; וַיִּשְׁמַע יְהוָה אֶת-קֹלֵנוּ, וַיַּרְא
אֶת-עָנְיֵנוּ וְאֶת-עֲמָלֵנוּ וְאֶת-לַחֲצֵנוּ.
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7 And we cried unto the LORD,
the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction,
and our toil, and our oppression.
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ח וַיּוֹצִאֵנוּ
יְהוָה, מִמִּצְרַיִם, בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה, וּבְמֹרָא
גָּדֹל--וּבְאֹתוֹת, וּבְמֹפְתִים.
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8 And the LORD brought us
forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with
great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.
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ט וַיְבִאֵנוּ,
אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה; וַיִּתֶּן-לָנוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת, אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב
וּדְבָשׁ.
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9 And He hath brought us into
this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
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י וְעַתָּה,
הִנֵּה הֵבֵאתִי אֶת-רֵאשִׁית פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-נָתַתָּה לִּי, יְהוָה; וְהִנַּחְתּוֹ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ,
וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.
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10 And now, behold, I have
brought the first of the fruit of the land, which Thou, O LORD, hast given
me.' And thou shalt set it down before the LORD thy
God, and worship before the LORD thy God.
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I
suggest that the intent is to remind the farmers and Kohen and all present that
Jewish history: from
our forefathers through the Exodus from Egypt and conquest of the
Promised Land --
and its bounty,
are all acts of special Divine intervention and providence.
I
suggest the unique vav hahefuch usage in this text was understood to mean -- and should
best be translated as:
“arami oved avi” אֲרַמִּי
אֹבֵד אָבִי. He descended to Egypt (by Divine providence) and stayed there
(by Divine providence) with a few of his people and became there (by Divine
providence) a nation that was great, strong and numerous. The Egyptians mistreated us (by
Divine providence) and afflicted us (by Divine providence); gave us hard labour
(by Divine providence). We cried out (by Divine providence) to the Eternal, the God of our ancestors. The
Eternal listened (by Divine providence) to our voices. He saw (by Divine
providence) our affliction and our suffering and our oppression. The Eternal
took us (by Divine providence) out of Egypt by a strong hand and outstretched
arm, with great awesomeness and signs and wonders. He brought us (by Divine
providence) to this place. He gave us (by Divine providence) this land, a land
flowing with milk and honey.”
The
unique, constant use of vav hahefuch in this portion of
the verbal declaration only makes sense if it was there to reaffirm
God’s role in human affairs and acknowledge the invisible divine hand in the various
steps and stages of Jacob and his family’s life and destiny.
Put
simply, the Chumash’s hallmark of God as narrator, vav hahefuch, has here gained a second usage: a usage by humans when affirming divine intervention in the
affairs of mankind and history.
This
second usage of vav hahefuch is, in fact, common in the rest of the Tanach -- with the exception of King Solomon’s three works -- and is the ‘thinking’ behind its continual use by human writers from Joshua through Chronicles
1 and 2 and as
late as the Book of Esther.
For
a more detailed elaboration of this secondary usage of vav hahefuch, see my
blog on Psalm 34, and Psalm 30 and Psalm 19.
Deuteronomy Chapter 26 דְּבָרִים
1 And it
shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee for an inheritance, and dost possess it, and dwell therein;
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2 that thou
shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt
bring in from thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee; and thou shalt put
it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall
choose to cause His name to dwell there.
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3 And thou
shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him: 'I profess this day unto the
LORD thy God, that I am come unto the land which the LORD swore unto our
fathers to give us.'
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4 And the
priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the
altar of the LORD thy God.
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5 And thou
shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God: 'A wandering Aramean was my father, and he went down
into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation,
great, mighty, and populous.
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6 And the Egyptians dealt ill
with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.
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7 And we cried unto the LORD,
the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction,
and our toil, and our oppression.
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8 And the LORD brought us
forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with
great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.
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9 And He hath brought us into
this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
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10 And now, behold, I have
brought the first of the fruit of the land, which Thou, O LORD, hast given
me.' And thou shalt set it down before the
LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God.
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11 And thou
shalt rejoice in all the good which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee,
and unto thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in the
midst of thee. {S}
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12 When thou
hast made an end of tithing all the tithe of thine increase in the third
year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, to the
stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy
gates, and be satisfied,
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13 then thou shalt say before
the LORD thy God: 'I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and
also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the
fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Thy commandment which Thou
hast commanded me; I have not transgressed any of Thy commandments, neither
have I forgotten them.
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14 I have not eaten thereof in
my mourning, neither have I put away thereof, being unclean, nor given
thereof for the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, I
have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me.
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15 Look forth from Thy holy
habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel, and the land which Thou
hast given us, as Thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk
and honey.' {S}
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16 This day
the LORD thy God commandeth thee to do these statutes and ordinances; thou
shalt therefore observe and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul.
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17 Thou hast
avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and that thou wouldest walk in His
ways, and keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances, and
hearken unto His voice.
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18 And the
LORD hath avouched thee this day to be His own treasure, as He hath promised
thee, and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments;
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19 and to
make thee high above all nations that He hath made, in praise, and in name,
and in glory; and that thou mayest be a holy people unto the LORD thy God, as
He hath spoken. {P}
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http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0526.htm
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