[Mesorah] Mishtaleiach

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I was hoping that if the word had appeared in Tanach, then one of the meforshim might have commented on the verb form. Oh well.

R' Micha Berger asked

> Am I wrong, or does "mishtaleiach" mean "that sent itself"?

No one else has suggested anything, so here's my idea, though I'll admit from the beginning that it is something of a stretch:

Perhaps it is an error to presume that hitpa'el is used exclusively for actions done *by* oneself and *to* oneself. Perhaps it is sufficient that there is no outside force imposing this action.

Of course, you'll say that there *is* an outside force, namely the person who sends the se'ir on its journey. But I'll point out that the se'ir was selected for this task by a deliberately random lottery. A human did send it on its journey, but no human selected it for this task.

Perhaps the randomness and automatic result of the lottery work into this somehow. I can't really tie it together, but maybe someone else can.

R' Zev Sero pointed out another use of this word:

> Also Negaim 14:5 (about the tzipor hamishtaleach)

I'm not familiar enough with this case. Anyone else? What do the birds have in common with the seirim?

Akiva Miller

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