I was never a fan of haggadic (allegoric) interpretation of the Torah. Look at this week’s chapter, Genesis 45.
In Gen45:14, Yosef weeps on Benyamin’s neck – but the Hebrew for neck, tzavrei, is plural. RaShI, based on a midrash, interprets that as a prophecy of destruction of the two Temples (in the Song of Songs, tzavar, neck, allegorically means the Temple, located at the boundary between Judah and Benyamin). Yosef thus weeps about Benyamin’s two necks (the Temples) which would be destroyed.
RaShI’s view is not congruent with the fact that Yosef has also wept while embracing other brothers. It is not logical to surmise that Yosef’s tears at meeting Benyamin were with hidden meaning, but at meeting other brothers he only wept with straightforward joy.
Figures in the Torah commonly weep when meeting their long-gone relatives. Thus, Esau weeps upon meeting Jacob (Gen33:4).
In Gen45:14, Yosef weeps at Benyamin’s neck (plural in Hebrew), and Benyamin weeps at Yosef’s neck (plural, pausal elongation). RaShI takes Benyamin’s neck (plural) for the two Temples, but cannot find any two objects in Yosef’s land for Benyamin to weep for. RaShI, therefore, has to treat tzavaraiv (Benyamin’s neck) as plural of majesty (semantic singular, “We, Louis XIV…”). RaShI, therefore, arrives at an implausible assertion that in the same phrase one instance of tzavrei is plural, but the second instance of the very same form (possessive suffix added) is singular.
The word tzvr (Hebrew for neck) is often employed in plural while referring to a single person even though context doesn’t call for plural of majesty. Hebrew doesn’t normally employ plural of majesty in the reference to bodily parts. It is plausible that tzvr means not specifically neck, but the upper shoulders area. The letter aleph in tzavar is mater lectionis (consonantal representation of vowel [a]), and suggests the word’s very ancient origin. Ancient nouns tend to be a bit vague rather than denoting the objects precisely.
Hebrew word catef, often translated as shoulders, is unlikely to have such meaning. Hebrew normally uses duplicative suffix -aim for paired bodily parts (einaim for eyes). The root ctf has a cognate ctr, “turn around.” The form kamatz-tzere (cAtEf) denotes a result of action, while shoulder refers to a static object and must be a noun. Overall, catef seems to mean side (the result of turning around), usually a backside, and only later acquired the shoulder meaning.
The meaning of tzvr as “upper shoulder area” explains its use both as singular (the narrator mentally concentrates on neck) and plural (he thinks of shoulders). Weeping normally takes place on shoulders rather than neck, thus tzavrei (plural) in the context of weeping. Golden chain, depending on its size, can be worn on neck (singular tzavar) or shoulders (plural tzavrei).
Yosef and Benyamin wept on each other’s shoulders rather than necks.
Another question about the same chapter Genesis 45.
After Joseph ascended to the top of Egyptian society he understandably bore grudge against his brothers who sold him into slavery, but why didn’t he try reestablishing contact with his loved and loving father, Jacob? Joseph’s behavior seems cruel until we understand the Torah’s message here. Jews live as a nation rather than a loose assembly of individuals. The higher a Jew is, the more his behavioral balance must tilted from individualism toward communal responsibilities. Forefathers lived only for the sake of the future generations of Jews. Everything Joseph does only serves as a lesson and illustration for the Jews to come. Joseph, therefore, suppressed his natural urge to meet his father in order to set the scene for their future encounter during the famine – the account tremendously instructive and poignant with meaning.
