parshaמפרשי הפרשה

רמב"ן — מלא שבע זאת ונתנה לך גם את זאת

When Lavan justifies the switch with 'ונתנה לך גם את זאת' in plural, who is the 'we' that will give Rachel? Rashi: simply a stylistic plural like 'נרדה ונבלה'. Ibn Ezra: the verb is actually passive nifal — 'and she shall be given.' What does Ramban hear in the plural?

והנכון בעיני כי דברי לבן בערמה, אמר ליעקב, 'לא יעשה כן במקומנו', כי לא יניחוני אנשי המקום לעשות כן, כי נבלה הוא אצלם, אבל תמלא שבוע זאת וניתן לך אני וכל אנשי המקום גם את זאת, שכולנו נסכים בדבר ונעשה לך כבוד ומשתה כאשר עשינו בראשונה.

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רמב"ן

רמב"ן על בראשית כ״ט:כ״ז

Ramban on Genesis 29:27

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Q — When Lavan justifies the switch with 'ונתנה לך גם את זאת' in plural, who is the 'we' that will give Rachel? Rashi: simply a stylistic plural like 'נרדה ונבלה'. Ibn Ezra: the verb is actually passive nifal — 'and she shall be given.' What does Ramban hear in the plural?

A — It is the plural of community pressure — Lavan's ערמה. He frames the bait-and-switch as forced by local custom: 'לא יניחוני אנשי המקום לעשות כן, כי נבלה הוא אצלם.' Then the 'we' who will give Rachel is 'אני וכל אנשי המקום' — meaning Lavan plus the consenting community, who will host another wedding feast. The local norm is invoked as both excuse and promise, manipulating Yaakov by appeal to social consensus. The chiddush identifies the rhetorical move: a deceiver hides behind 'the community wouldn't allow it'.

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