How Did Manoach Know It Was a Heavenly Angel?

Shoftim 13:20-21:

ויהי בעלות הלהב מעל המזבח השמימה ויעל מלאך השם בלהב המזבח ומנוח ואשתו ראים ויפלו על פניהם ארצה. ולא יסף עוד מלאך השם להראה אל מנוח ואל אשתו אז ידע מנוח כי מלאך השם הוא.

Rabbi Touger’s translation:

And it was, when the flame went up from upon the altar toward heaven, and the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground. And the angel of the Lord did not continue to appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.

Radak:

ולא יסף עוד, שלא נראה להם פעם אחרת עוד וטעם אז ידע מנוח דבק עם ויעל מלאך ה’ בלהב המזבח ולא עם ולא יסף או יהיה פי’ ולא יסף כלו’ כשראה שנסתלק מעיניו ידע כי מלאך ה’ היה ויש לפרשו דבק עם ולא יסף ויהי פי’ ולא יסף להראה על המראה ההיא בעצמה כלומר עלה בלהב המזבח ולא נראה להם עוד אז ידע כי מלאך הוא שהלך מעיניהם ולא ראוהו עוד במרא’ ההיא.

Alternatively, if it was a trickster or punishing poltergeist, it would have returned. When nothing changed, and yet, it did not return, Manoach knew it was specifically a heavenly angel. “The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime”.

By the way, the commentaries seem bothered by Manoach’s fright, unlike Yehoshua who was only afraid because of the unsheathed sword and deem this as proof of Manoach’s being an ignoramus, etc. But Gideon was afraid, too.

Shoftim 6:22-23:

וירא גדעון כי מלאך השם הוא ויאמר גדעון אהה השם אלקים כי על כן ראיתי מלאך השם פנים אל פנים. ויאמר לו השם שלום לך אל תירא לא תמות.

Some of Us Are Already Preparing Animals for Sacrifice…

Raising Sheep for the Beis Hamikdosh

  

At a small outpost on Har Chevron, Shabtai Kushlevski and his dedicated crew are raising sheep fit for korbanos to be ready when the Beis Hamikdosh is rebuilt.

Kushlevski says that today’s sheep are generally invalid for korbanos for a number of reasons, including the tags inserted in their ears almost the day they are born.

To cover costs, Kushlevski has arranged for sponsors. For $4 monthly, they will have a sacrificial sheep available the moment Beis Hamikdosh is rebuilt.

{Matzav.com Israel}

From Matzav.com, here.

Why Israeli Real Estate Prices Rise and Rise

“Here is a principle to use in all aspects of economics and policy. When you find a good or service that is in huge demand but the supply is so limited to the point that the price goes up and up, look for the regulation that is causing it. This applies regardless of the sector, whether transportation, gas, education, food, beer, or daycare. There is something in the way that is preventing the market from working as it should. If you look carefully enough, you will find the hand of the state making the mess in question.”

Jeffrey Tucker

Against ‘Folk Scholarship’

Acronym Ending Letters

In Hebrew, we find regular letters –

אבג…כלמנ

And then there are Ending Letters, like these –

ךםן…ףץ

When writing Hebrew acronyms which employ last letters like Mem, Chaf, Nun, etc., which form should the final letter take?

Some acronyms simply use Middle Letters –

ה”מ, ש”מ, עאכו”כ, נפק”מ

Many others have Ending Letters, like these –

תנ”ך, רמב”ן, עכו”ם, רמב”ם

So, what is the rule? When is the last letter an “Ending Letter”, and when is it not?

Of course, one could just follow one’s “intuition” (as in: “When does one add the connective ‘Es’?”). This ‘folk scholarship’ seems to substitute for formal knowledge of many literary Torah fields, unfortunately.

As I see it, there are two options:

  1. Nouns or concepts get finalized letters, phrases, however common, do not.
  2. The more commonly used acronyms get finalized letters, while all others do not.

I do not own a huge list of acronyms to verify either theory.

I may have a way to gain better clarity. Perhaps one of our readers can check out Arabic or Greek. These languages, too, possess final forms for some letters in their alphabet. What is their standard operating procedure for initialisms/acronyms?

Have something to say? Write to Avraham Rivkas: CommentTorah@gmail.com