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<DIV>In a message dated 12/21/2008, llevine@stevens.edu writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT
size=3>At 06:51 PM 12/20/2008, Rn T. Katz wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">>>>>><BR>I find it
hard to take that medrash seriously because there is simply no
<BR>textual support for the notion that Dinah was sent away or that she had
a <BR>daughter or that "Asnas bas Potiphera" was really "Asnas the
daughter of Dinah and Shechem" or that Eishes Potiphar adopted a
daughter. It's all based on what? And explains
what? [--TK]</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>>>I think the comments of RSRH on Bereshis
40:5 can be used to back up your contention. ...<BR><BR></FONT><B><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><I><BR></I></B></FONT><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>An intelligent person can discern the precise
explanation of a dream,<BR>without being able to guarantee the dream’s
fulfillment.... </FONT><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><BR>RSRH does not
use midrashim to explain pesukim all that often. To me it seems that the above
comments explain why.<< </FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>YL</FONT> <BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV></DIV>>>>>><BR>I was not claiming that every medrash has to
"come from within the pesukim" but a medrash usually answers some obvious
question in the pasuk or adds information based on something that is at least
implied or suggested in the pasuk. To take a very obvious example, why
does the medrash say that Kayin and Hevel were born with twins? The pasuk
doesn't say it, but the fact that they had children certainly suggests that they
had wives and the obvious textual question is, where did those wives come
from?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When the medrash answers an obvious question or fills an obvious hole, then
Rashi often cites it and Hirsch often does, too, sometimes explicitly following
Rashi.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR></B><BR><B>--Toby Katz<BR>=============<BR></B>"If you don't
read the newspaper you are uninformed; <BR>if you do read the newspaper you are
misinformed."<BR>--Mark Twain<BR><BR><B>Read *Jewish World Review* at <A
href="http://jewishworldreview.com/">http://jewishworldreview.com/</A></B></B><BR><BR></FONT><FONT
lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR><BR>--------------------------</FONT></B></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="5782fa49e9d271c8f69744cd553730a6"><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. <a href="http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025">Try it now</a>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>