I will answer two side-questions while awaiting clarification on
/yorenu/ translated as "Let him teach us". (I guess you'd call the
English "let--" construction an imperative? I am understanding
/yore(nu)/ as the 3rd person imperfect of /yarah/ in the hiphil, and
can't see how it could be imperative.)
Who do you think is HIS god, is it also OUR God?
Isaac Fried, Boston University
Yes. In the parable, the Israelites use the quoted expression "his God"
to refer to the Evil Inclination -- the idea being to emphasize that the
E.I. was created by God, who therefore should take some responsibility
for it ... preferably by giving us the willpower/understanding needed to
tame it.
KJV: Is. 28:26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth
teach him.
HH: But the text cited in the Talmud itself also corresponds to typical
translations. Rabbah b. Bar Hana takes it differently, but is he serious
or playing with words? For what do you do with the first half of the
verse, where the object is clearly 3ms.
I think that the wordplay engaged in by Rabbah b. bar Hana is typical of
hundreds of Talmudic passages, where quoted words are given unusual
meanings by shifting the context. This kind of creative interpretation
is playful in form, but I operate on the assumption that there is an
underlying point that is serious.
I could go off on a tangent here... maybe I already have! I am new to
this list so let me know.