Disclaimer

I'll own up - this blog has a huge amount to do with my own ego, just the pleasure of seeing my thoughts on a screen, looking all official. I'm ok with that. It's helping me learn, and retain what I'm learning. O, the Torah I've seen once and forgotten. Linda Derovan and I went through most of Neviim Rishonim with the Daas Mikra when I was pregnant with Ferri, and I don't remember a thing. I hope at least that it was good for her spiritual formation.

Today, due to student fluctuations at She'arim, I found myself with unexpected time, and Tamar Choleva, another tutor, and I sat down to learn some parasha. It was wonderful. As I'd been hoping to do, we looked at one of the perushim in the back - this time the Rosh on the first few passukim of the parasha. He brings seven (or eight?) lashonot of tefilla, and explains why Moshe Rabbenu uses techina. Because he liked felafel! Hahahaha I kill me. Seriously, that was just awful. Anyway, then we checked out Daas Zekenim, and guess what, he ALSO comes to the same conclusion about the word "v'etchanan," but USES A DIFFERENT LIST of languages of dovening. BH the wonderful Me'or edition brings sources. So as Tamar went to work with her student, I pulled out the Midrash Rabba and Tanchuma. And you know what? Midrash Rabba brings TEN.

So Tamar and I really want to know. Where did the different meforshim get their lists? I'm not super familiar with the Daas Zekenim, but he seems to often follow the Rosh. Why this departure here?

I'm going to bli neder see if I can follow the Rosh along a bit. He's clear, quotes a lot of chazals, and there isn't too much of him on each aliya. Sounds possibly doable and like what I'm looking for.

Then I learned a simply magnificent Ramban. A student in Taste of Torah had requested that we follow the Creation of Man in perek alef with Creation in perek bet, so of course I thought of the Ramban (which I think a famous Jerusalem educator misunderstood, when I heard it given over some fifteen years ago). I looked at it again, and this time went past the first three or so sentences that I remembered, and it is the BOMB. But I only understood some pieces of it (and those, not completely) because of the work Dvarya and I had done on Rambam. So I had to try to figure out how to formulate it for my students, who have not yet learned the Rambam. This meant that some of the Ramban's genius was left out, but that's ok. We had a long talk about "dust," why dust, why not earth, trying to explain that the Ramban is using the Greek elements but that doesn't matter to us. It was great. Then we got into the Chava's curses, and costs and gains of feminism. Fabulous teaching day.

I still have some Daily Nach to do, I think. I'm a bit behind in Esther. IYH this shouldn't be too hard to catch up on.