[Avodah] Titles Before Names

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 10:36:07PM -0500, Yitzhak Grossman wrote:
:> I'm not sure how the alufei benei Eisav are relevent. There the chiefs 
:> aren't named. "Aluf Teiman" names who the person was aluf of, and not
:> calling Teiman the aluf.

: That's certainly not the plain meaning of the text; the names of the
: Alufim correspond (more or less) to those named earlier as the sons and
: grandsons of Esav.

Every beis av, named for the avos of Eisav's various batim, had an aluf.
Thus, "Aluf Teiman" isn't calling Teiman an aluf, but saying that the
house of Teiman had its own aluf. That's the difference between the list
starting at pasuq 10, which is a geneology, and the alufim list which
starts at 15. Thus making it a bridge to the list of kings starting at
31. Notice also the repeated reference of their being the alufim in
eretz Edom.

It's therefore very much peshat in the pasuq.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
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