{"id":37366,"date":"2018-08-09T16:29:40","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T13:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=37366"},"modified":"2022-03-05T22:34:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T20:34:32","slug":"milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-21\/","title":{"rendered":"MiliMiliM – The Hebrew Corner – Gen 21"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[301,361,369],"acf":{"old_id":"37366","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34011,"related_cahpter":"21","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"\u05e6\u05d7\u05e7 - Tzachak - Laughter","content":"

The root <\/span>tz-ch-k<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>\u201claugh,\u201d the root of the name \u201cIsaac\u201d (<\/span>Yitzchak<\/span><\/em>) has appeared prominently throughout these stories, cropping up in different forms for the past five chapters. Here in Chapter 21 we are presented with three additional instances of its use. While we may think of laughter as one thing, these texts show just how emotionally complex and multifaceted the act of laughing can be.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first instance of laughter in the Tanakh is in chapter 17, when Abraham expresses doubt and even derision at the idea of a child being born to him and Sarah, aged as they are: \u201cAbraham threw himself on his face and <\/span>tzachak<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>laughed, as he said to himself, \u201cCan a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?\u201d (v. 17). It is a cynical life of disbelief – the same one Sarah laughs in the following chapter: \u201cAnd Sarah <\/span>tzachakah<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>\u00a0laughed to herself, saying, \u201cNow that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment\u2014with my husband so old?\u201d (v. 12). They each doubt their own fertility – and that of their spouse. For some reason, only Sarah\u2019s laugh bothers God, and only she gets nailed for it (see vv. 13-15 there). <\/span><\/p>\n

The next instance of <\/span>tz-ch-k<\/span><\/em> is in the following chapter, with a different meaning altogether, for when Lot urges his sons-in-law to leave the doomed city of Sodom, they think he\u2019s kidding: \u201cBut he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who <\/span>metzachek<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> jests\u201d (v. 14).<\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s chapter we have the baby-naming, and find out that the son born to Sarah and Abraham is to be called <\/span>Yitzchak<\/span><\/em>, \u201che who laughs.\u201d (Or as my grandmother used to joke, little boy \u201cLafayette\u201d). But lest we think he is named for the laughter of derision or disbelief, Sarah is quoted as saying: (v. 6). \u201cGod has brought me <\/span>tzchok<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> laughter; everyone who hears <\/span>yitzchak<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>will laugh with me.\u201d This time, a laughter of pure joy, celebration.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the story doesn\u2019t end there. Only three verses later (v. 9), it is reported, \u201cSarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham <\/span>metzachek<\/span><\/em>.\u201d This incenses Sarah, leading to her final banishment of Hagar and Ishmael. What bothered her so much – wasn\u2019t he just playing around? To explain Sarah\u2019s wrath, commentators come up with different interpretations of this \u201c<\/span>metzachek<\/span><\/em>,\u201d going so far as to insinuate even sexual harassment. (They actually have a prooftext for this, since in 26:8, Isaac was reported in sexual play with Rebekah: \u201cAbimelech king of the Philistines, looking out of the window, saw Isaac <\/span>metzachek et,<\/span><\/em> fondling his wife Rebekah\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Alter (in his translation and commentary of The Five Books of Moses, W.W. Norton, 2004) makes an intriguing suggestion, proposing another meaning of <\/span>tz-ch-k<\/span><\/em>. Of Ishmael\u2019s actions he writes: \u201c…construe it as \u2018Isaacing-it\u2019 – that is, Sarah sees Ishmael presuming to play the role of Isaac, child of laughter, presuming to be the legitimate heir\u201d (p. 103, n. 9).<\/span><\/p>\n

Artwork by: Ben Schachter<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":37367,"id":37367,"title":"G21-laughter-BSchachter","filename":"G21-laughter-BSchachter.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-21\/g21-laughter-bschachter\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"g21-laughter-bschachter","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":37366,"date":"2018-08-09 13:28:59","modified":"2018-08-12 04:30:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1448,"height":1214,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter-300x252.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":252,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter-768x644.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":644,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter-1024x859.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":859,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter.jpg","1536x1536-width":1448,"1536x1536-height":1214,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter.jpg","2048x2048-width":1448,"2048x2048-height":1214,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter-1200x1006.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1006,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/G21-laughter-BSchachter-501x420.jpg","home_baner-width":501,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":"

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