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<DIV>Here's a question I meant to ask a couple of weeks ago, from Parshas Lech
Lecha:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In pasuk 16:16 we are told that Avraham was 86 years old when Yishmael was
born, and Rashi comments there that this is written in order to praise Yishmael,
since it proves that Yishmael was 13 when he had a bris and he didn't
object. ("Let's see, if Avraham was 86 when Yishmael was born, and 99 when
he had a bris, then Yishmael was 13....").</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But in 17:25 the pasuk states explicitly that Yishmael was 13 years old
when he had a bris. So we didn't need to do any arithmetic!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What then is Rashi's point? Probably there are Rashi
super-commentaries that address this question but I'll just wait for my friends
here on Avodah to provide an answer. Thank you.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz<BR>t613k@aol.com</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0
color=#ffffff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>..</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
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