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<p>Sometimes even the most knowledgeable of us make mistakes. I am by far not the most knowledgeable, and I make mistakes all the time.</p>
<p>But I am a devoté of Aramaic, and have been from my youth, and in the Teimani shul here I hear the Targum read every Shabbos. So I will take the liberty of pointing out a small error in R. Zero's exposition:</p>
<p>When one wants to say "they made them work" in Aramaic, the verb p-l-h. is in the Af‘el, as in the last quotation he brings (w'aflah.u). However, the verb in "w'yifl'h.un b'hon" is in P‘al/Qal, and so it must mean "and they worked utilizing them/through
them." Otherwise it would be "w'yafl'h.u yas-hon."<br>
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<div class="PlainText"><font size="3" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel<br>
Rabbinic Coordinator<br>
The Orthodox Union<br>
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Voice (212) 613-8330 Fax (212) 613-0718 e-mail mandels@ou.org</font></div>
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<div id="x_divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000" face="Calibri, sans-serif"><b>From:</b> Mesorah <mesorah-bounces@lists.aishdas.org> on behalf of Zev Sero via Mesorah <mesorah@lists.aishdas.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 4, 2017 10:07 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Akiva Miller; mesorah@aishdas.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Mesorah] Va'avadum v'eenu osam</font>
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<div class="PlainText">On 04/08/17 08:02, Akiva Miller via Mesorah wrote:<br>
> But I'm very fuzzy on what "eenu" means in this pasuk. Perhaps it<br>
> means "they (Mitzrayim) will torture them (Yisrael)", as in Shoftim<br>
> 20:5. But then the words in Bereshis would have to switch<br>
> subject/object in the middle of the pasuk: "They (Yisrael) will serve<br>
> them (Mitzrayim), and they (Mitzrayim) will torture them (Yisrael)." I<br>
> suppose this is possible, but it is not a normal way of speaking.<br>
<br>
That is indeed the case, and it is *grammatically* ambiguous, but I put <br>
it to you that it *is* a normal way of speaking because there is no real <br>
ambiguity. If I say "Yossi met Yanki and he hit him", you genuinely <br>
don't know who hit whom, so I shouldn't say that. But if you already <br>
know that one of these is a violent boy and one is not, or if I specify <br>
it in the sentence, "You know that awful Yossi, who's in my Yanki's <br>
class, and who's always hitting other kids? They were sitting together <br>
yesterday and he hit him, and he came home crying", then you know the <br>
subject in both of the last two phrases, and you are not confused by the <br>
sudden switch of subjects.<br>
<br>
Evidence for this: In the first phrase of the pasuk the subject is <br>
clearly "your seed"; and yet you seem to have no problem understanding <br>
that in the second phrase the subject has changed to the owners of the <br>
"land that is not theirs". It's not at all obvious from the formal <br>
grammar that it is the Jews who will serve the Egyptians and not the <br>
other way around, but it's obvious to any normal reader, and you didn't <br>
even notice. So why cavil at changing back to "your seed" as the <br>
subject for the next phrase? Perhaps because "va`avadum ve`inu osam" <br>
is punctuated as a single phrase, so the mind rebels at a change of <br>
subject within it?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
> I suspect that "eenu" actually means that "they (Yisrael) will BE<br>
> tortured BY them (Mitzrayim)", similar to Eicha 5:11.<br>
<br>
I'm not sure what you mean here. "Inu" in that pasuk means the same as <br>
everywhere else. The Bavlim are the subject, and the women are the <br>
object; Tziyon is the location.<br>
<br>
<br>
> However, Onkelos may shed light on this point, because he makes the<br>
> object a standalone word in both cases, and uses different words for<br>
> those objects: "v'yifl'chun b'hon, veeanun yas'hon". I know enough<br>
> Aramaic to equate peh-lamed-ches with ayin-beis-daled, and the second<br>
> verb seems to have the same root in both languages. It is the object<br>
> here that attracts my attention: What is the difference between<br>
> "b'hon" and "yas'hon"?<br>
<br>
Onkelos solves your problem by switching the subject and object of the <br>
first prase. "Veyiflechun behon" means "they will enslave them", so the <br>
land's inhabitants are the subject, and "your seed" are the object of <br>
both phrases. In Hebrew that would be "Veya`avdu bahem", as in Vayikra <br>
25:39, "lo sa`avod bo". Had Onkelos kept the subject/object of the <br>
original he would have written "veyiflechun lehon", which is "veya`avdu <br>
lahem". Note Shemos 1:13, "Ve'aflachu Mitzra'ei *yas* B'nei Yisrael".<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Zev Sero May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,<br>
zev@sero.name be a brilliant year for us all<br>
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