Bereishit Rabba 39 Supplementary Texts To be used with https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/351291

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) We would have healed Babylon . . .—This is the dramatic answer of the Israelite exiles to the prophet’s appeal. They have done what they could, but all was in vain. The guilt could not be washed away, the punishment could not be averted. The “judgment” is measureless as is the distance from heaven to earth. This is also reproduced in Revelation 18:5. For the phrase, as applied to Nebuchadnezzar, see Daniel 4:20. Possibly there may be an allusive reference to the tower of Babel, “reaching unto heaven,” as the type of Babylonian greatness (Genesis 11:4).

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Babylon, certainly, in its former power and greatness, was a golden goblet, by means of which Jahveh presented to the nations the wine of His wrath, and intoxicated them; but now it is fallen, and broken without remedy. Isaiah 21:9 finds an echo in the expression, "Babylon is fallen." The figure of the cup refers us back to Jeremiah 25:15., where, however, it is applied in a different way. The cup is said to be of gold, in order to point out the splendour and glory of Nebuchadnezzar's dominion. "In the hand of Jahveh," i.e., used by Him as His instrument for pouring out His wrath to the nations. But Babylon has suddenly fallen and been broken in pieces. At this point Jeremiah drops the figure of the cup, for a golden cup does not break when it falls. The fall is so terrible, that the nations in Babylon are summoned to participate in the lamentation, and to lend their aid in repairing her injuries. But they answer that their attempts to heal her are fruitless. (On צרי, cf. Jeremiah 46:11 and Jeremiah 8:22.) The terrible and irreparable character of the fall is thus expressed in a dramatic manner.

From Theodicy to Anti-theodicy: Midrashic Accusations of God’s Disobedience to Biblical Law

In: Crossing Boundaries in Early Judaism and Christianity

6 It is stated in Ex, xii, 41, that the Exodus took place at the end of 430 years, which can be proved, by comparing various figures mentioned in the Bible, to mean 430 years after the Covenant with Abraham ; and this figure can be right only if Abraham was then 70 years old. Thus it precedes his departure from Haran, though it is recorded later. (The 400 years mentioned in the Covenant are calculated from Isaac's birth, 30 years later.) Therefore the Midrash states that God made him fly from the Covenant of the parts to Haran.

Aram-Naharaim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aram-Naharaim (Classical Syriac: ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ‎, romanized: Aram Nahrayn; "Aram between (the) rivers")^[1][a] is the biblical term for the ancient land of the Arameans referring to the region of Mesopotamia.^[2] Aram-Naharaim is also mentioned as Nahrima of the Arameans in the El-Amarna letters.^[3] The northern part of Aram-Naharaim was called Paddan Aram, the region where Abraham settled with his family.

It is mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible^[4] or Old Testament. In Genesis, it is used somewhat interchangeably with the names Paddan Aram and Haran to denote the place where Abraham stayed briefly with his father Terah's family after leaving Ur of the Chaldees, while en route to Canaan (Gen. 11:31), and the place from which later patriarchs obtained wives, rather than marry daughters of Canaan.

Both the Septuagint (early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and Flavius Josephus translate the name as Mesopotamia.^[5] Ancient writers later used the name "Mesopotamia" for all of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. However, the usage of the Hebrew name "Aram-Naharaim" does not match this later usage of "Mesopotamia", the Hebrew term referring to a northern region within Mesopotamia.

The translation of the name as "Mesopotamia" was not consistent - the Septuagint also uses a more precise translation "Mesopotamia of Syria" as well as "Rivers of Syria".

During the Late Antiquity and throughout the Early Medieval period, regional dialect of Aramaic language was called Nahraya, an endonymic (native) term, derived from choronym (regional name) Bet-Nahrain, a variant Aramaic name for Mesopotamians regions in general.^[6][7]

Aram (Aramaic: ܐܪܡ, Orom‎), also known as Aramea, was a historical region including several Aramean kingdoms covering much of the present-day Syria, Southeastern Turkey and parts of Lebanon and Iraq.^[1][2] At its height, Aram stretched from the Mount Lebanon range eastward across the Euphrates, including parts of the Khabur River valley in northwestern Mesopotamia on the border of modern Iraq. The rise of the Aramean states throughout the Middle East even caused a language shift. The Aramaic language eventually replaced Akkadian as the lingua franca of the entire region and became the administration- and commercelanguage of several empires such as the Achaemenid Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire.^[3][4]

After the final conquest by the rising Neo-Assyrian Empire in the second half of the 8th century and also during the later consecutive rules of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BCE) and the Achaemenid Empire (539–332 BCE), the region of Aram lost most of its sovereignty. During the Seleucid period (312-64 BCE), the term Syria was introduced as Hellenistic designation for this region, but the native name (Aram) persisted in use among Arameans, up to the Arab conquest in the 7th century CE.^[5][6] By the beginning of the 5th century, that practice also started to affect terminology of Aramean ecclesiastical and literary elites, and Syrian labels started to gain frequency and acceptance not only in Aramean translations of Greek works, but also in original works of Aramean writers. Following the example of their elites, it became common among Arameans to use not only endonymic (native), but also exonymic (foreign) designations, thus creating a specific duality that persisted throughout the Middle Ages, as attested in works of prominent writers, who used both designations, Aramean/Aramaic and Syrian/Syriac.^[7][8]

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) This difficult verse runs, literally, Thy people willingnesses (or, willing offerings) in the day of thy force in holy attire, from the womb of morning dew of thy youth.

The first clause is tolerably clear. The word rendered force means either "strength" or "an army;" and the noun willingnesses appears as a verb in Judges 5:9, to express the alacrity with which the northern clans mustered for battle. We may therefore translate: Thy people will be willing on thy muster-day.

As to the next two-words there is a variation in the text. Many MSS. read, by the slightest change of a Hebrew letter, "on the holy mountains" (this was also, according to one version, the reading of Symmachus and Jerome), and, adopting the reading, we have a picture of the people mustering for battle with alacrity on the mountains round Zion, under the eye of Jehovah Himself, and in obedience to the outstretched sceptre.

The second clause is not so clear. By themselves the words "from the womb of morning dew of thy youth," would naturally be taken as a description of the vigour and freshness of the person addressed: "thine is the morning dew of youth." With the image compare--

Abram Makes the Enemies Flee Who Hold His Nephew (1613 etching by Antonio Tempesta at the National Gallery of Art)

1 Tfcu: this may mean the mountain of Moriah out of which, according to tradition, the world was made to grow.

2 This may mean either the Mount of Moriah (v. preceding note), or, from the very creation of the world.

3 To her body and rests on it.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/715236/photographer-bird-one-wing-flying-Brent-geese-optical-illusion

Ladder of Tyre (Aramaic: Sûlama de Ṣôr), (Greek: ̔Η κλίμαξ Τύρου), also known as the Ladder of the Tyrians and the Promontory of Tyre, is a geographical feature mentioned in Greek and Hebrew sources, distinguished by a littoral mountainous range, the highest point of which is distant 18.5 kilometres (11.5 mi) north of Acre in northern Israel. The range stretches beyond Tyre in southern Lebanon. Along its Mediterranean coastline, the Ladder of Tyre skirts an area of about five miles wide at its greatest width, and is distinguished by capes that jut westward into the sea from the ridge which runs parallel to the general line of the coast. These capes project more than a mile into the sea, and rise precipitously at a mean elevation of 250 feet (76 m) above sea level. The Ladder of Tyre is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud,^[1] in the Jerusalem Talmud,^[2] in the First Book of Maccabees (11:59), and in the writings of Josephus.^[3]

According to the Babylonian Talmud, the waters of the region were formerly known for the marine mollusk (Murex), harvested for its blue-dye.^[4][5] The 1st-century historian Josephus puts 100 stadia (c. 11½ mi.; 18½ km.) from the north of Acre to the highest point (massif) in the promontory known as the Ladder of Tyre.^[6] This high place is now associated with Rosh HaNikra grottoes (Scala Tyriorum), and which marked the southern pass into Phoenicia proper, and formed the boundary between that country and Palestine.^[7][8][9] According to Josephus, a place nearby was also known for its fine, crystalline sand used in glass making.

A. Neubauer and Tristram thought that the Ladder of Tyre was to be identified with Cape Blanco (Ras el-Abyad), about 9.6 kilometres (6.0 mi) north of Râs en-Nakûrah and belonging to the same mountain range.^[10][11] According to historical geographer Joseph Schwarz, where the Mount Amana range terminates at the rock cliffs of Râs en-Nakûrah, "on this rock is a narrow ascent, shaped somewhat like steps, by which its summit can be reached; hence it is called in the Talmud the Ladder of Tyre."^[12]

1 Once here, and again when he was commanded to go and sacrifice Isaac (Gen. xxn, 2). z This is apparently incomplete.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/compassion-tzedakah/ - Rabbi Louis Jacobs

Compassion is fellow-feeling, the emotion of caring concern; in post-biblical Hebrew rahamanut, interestingly from the word rehem, ‘womb’, originating in the idea of either motherly love or sibling love (coming from the same womb); in biblical Hebrew rahamim. The Talmudic rabbis (Yevamot 79a) considered compassion to be one of the three distinguishing marks ofJews. A Talmud ic term frequently used for God, particularly in legal discussions, is the Aramaic Rahamana, ‘the Compassionate’, denoting that the Torah, the Law, is God’s compassionate gift to Israel.

Jewish Encyclopedia

NATIONS AND LANGUAGES, THE SEVENTY:

By: Kaufmann Kohler, Isaac Broydé

The haggadic assumption that there are seventy nations and languages in the world is based upon the ethnological table given in Gen. x., where seventy grandsons of Noah are enumerated, each of whom became the ancestor of a nation. The earlier Christian writers also took this table as determining the number of existing nations and languages; but reckoning with the Septuagint, which counts seventy-two grandsons of Noah, there must be seventy-two nations and languages (see Augustine, "De Civitate Dei"; Anio, in his commentary on the second book of Berosus; comp. Azariah dei Rossi, "Me'or 'Enayim, Imre Binah," xlviii.). The Haggadah seems to have followed in this case the theory of the Hellenists, who regarded the ethnological table as a scientific and complete division of mankind into three races, distributed among three separate zones. This theory is expounded in the Book of Jubilees; "and at the beginning of the thirty-third jubilee they divided the earth into three parts between Shem, Ham, and Japheth, according to their inheritance" (ch. viii.).

The majority of Palestinian and Babylonian scholars considered the ethnological table to be a simple historical narrative, enumerating, without any pretense to completeness, the descendants of Noah, and indicating the places they had chosen for their respective residences. This is clearly expressed by R. Huna of Sepphoris, who, interpreting Canticles vi. 8 as an allusion to the nations and their languages, says: "Sixty and eighty are one hundred and forty. Of these, there are seventy nations, each of which possesses a separate language but not a separate script, and seventy other nations, each of which possesses both a separate language and a separate script; as to the nations which possess neither a separate language nor a separate script, they are numberless" (Cant. R. l.c.).

5 This may refer either to his circumcision or to his change of name to Abraham, through both of which he may have been regarded as a new creation.

6 V. xii, 2 f . Actually ' greatness * is only mentioned twice. Some explain that 'I will make thee' counts as one; others include Gen. xvni, 18: Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation.

The Lydian Lion coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver but of variable precious metal value. The royal lion symbol stamped on the coin, similar to a seal, was a declaration of the value of the contents. These directly preceded ancient Greek coinage, through which Rome begot all Western coinage, and through which the Seleucids, Parthians, and Sassanians begot all Islamic coinage. Indian coinage has largely been a product of Greek, Roman, and Islamic influences.^[3] Chinese coinage, though it probably developed independently, was succeeded by Western-style coinage in the late nineteenth century.^[4] Other countries in Asia, in Africa, and elsewhere^[which?] have adopted the Western approach to coinage as well.

The Lydian Lion was minted by Alyettes of Lydia, 610–560 BC.^[5] However, it took some time before ancient coins were used for commerce and trade. Even the smallest-denomination electrum coins, perhaps worth about a day's subsistence, would have been too valuable for buying a loaf of bread.^[6] The Trojan Horse had become synonymous with the name of Agamemnon and the symbolism of the horse was stamped on the coins from Cyme in Aeolia, presumably in reference to the power of their lineage. Indeed, the daughter of Agamemnon of Cyme, Hermodike II, is credited with inventing coined money by Julius Pollux after she married King Midas - famed for turning everything he touched into gold.^[7]

The most rational explanation of this fable seems to be, that he encouraged his subjects to convert the produce of their agriculture, and other branches of industry, into money, by commerce, whence considerable wealth flowed into his own treasury... though it is more likely, that what the Greeks called invention, was rather the introduction of the knowledge of them [coins] from countries more advanced in civilization.^[8]

However, as with all fables, there is a problem with the dates. A real King Mita of Phrygia lived in the 8th century BC^[9] but coins were not invented until well after the Phrygian kingdom collapsed. Aylettes’ association with the Midas mythology came about because Lydian electrum came from the river Pactolus in which King Midas supposedly washed away his ability to turn all he touched into gold.^[10] Aylettes’ tax revenue may be the real ‘Midas touch’ financing his and his son's, Croesus, conquests. There were some pre-coin types, with no recognisable image, used in the Ionian city of Miletus and the island of Samos^[11] but it is noteworthy that the coins from Cyme, when first circulated around 600-550 BC, utilised the symbol of the horse - tying them to the house of Agamemnon and the glory of the Greek victory over Troy. Cyme, being geographically and politically close to Lydia, took their invention of 'nobleman's tax-token' to the citizens - thus making Cyme's rough incuse horse head silver fractions, Hemiobols, a candidate for the title of the Second Oldest coins - and the first used for retailing on a large-scale basis by the Ionian Greeks, quickly spreading Market Economics through the rest of the world.^[12] For a timeline graphic showing the progression from pre-coin, to lion, to horsehead imagery on the earliest coins, see Basic Electrum Types.^[13]

Since that time, coins have been the most universal embodiment of money. These first coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring pale yellow mixture of gold and silver that was further alloyed with silver and copper.

However, the Persian daric was the first gold coin which, along with a similar silver coin, the siglos, (From Ancient Greek σίγλος, Hebrew שֶׁקֶל (shékel)) represented the bimetallic monetary standard of the Achaemenid Persian Empire which has continued till today.^[14] Also, the Persian coins were very well known in the Persian and Sassanids era. Most notably, in Susa and in Ctesiphon.

What are yayin nesech and stam yainum and what is the difference between them?

Yayin nesech (lit., “poured wine”) refers to wine which was poured in the service of idolatry. The Torah prohibits drinking or deriving any benefit (isur hana’ah) from such wine (Avoda Zara 29b).

Stam yainum refers to wine which might have been poured for an idolatrous service, but we did not see it happen. In the days of the Mishnah, there was a pagan ritual to pour off some wine from every bottle in honor of an idol. Because of the uncertainty, the rabbis decreed that wine that was produced by a nachri, or even kosher wine which was left unattended with a nachri, is forbidden for drinking and benefit because it may have been poured for idolatry. After the rabbinic decree was enacted we treat stam yainum as if we saw it being poured (Tur Y.D. 123).

Even if the nachri who touched the wine was a monotheist, and he would therefore certainly not serve an idol, the rabbis still forbade the wine, for another reason—because sharing wine can lead to intermarriage. However, in this case, it is only forbidden to drink the wine, but one may benefit from this wine in other ways (e.g., it may be bought and sold). (See Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 123:26 and Shach 123:51.)

Maimonides, Letter to Ovadia to Convert

Thus says Moses, the son of Rabbi Maimon, one of the exiles from Jerusalem, who lived in Spain:

I received the question of the master Obadiah, the wise and learned proselyte, may the Lord reward him for his work, may a perfect recompense be bestowed upon him by the Lord of Israel, under whose wings he has sought cover.

You ask me if you, too, are allowed to say in the blessings and prayers you offer alone or in the congregation: “Our God” and “God of our fathers,” “You who have sanctified us through Your commandments,” “You who have separated us,” “You who have chosen us,” “You who have inherited us,” “You who have brought us out of the land of Egypt,” “You who have worked miracles to our fathers,” and more of this kind.

Yes, you may say all this in the prescribed order and not change it in the least. In the same way as every Jew by birth says his blessing and prayer, you, too, shall bless and pray alike, whether you are alone or pray in the congregation. The reason for this is, that Abraham our Father taught the people, opened their minds, and revealed to them the true faith and the unity of God; he rejected the idols and abolished their adoration; he brought many children under the wings of the Divine Presence; he gave them counsel and advice, and ordered his sons and the members of his household after him to keep the ways of the Lord forever, as it is written, “For I have known him to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Gen. 18:19). Ever since then whoever adopts Judaism and confesses the unity of the Divine Name, as it is prescribed in the Torah, is counted among the disciples of Abraham our Father, peace be with him. These men are Abraham’s household, and he it is who converted them to righteousness.

In the same way as he converted his contemporaries through his words and teaching, he converts future generations through the testament he left to his children and household after him. Thus Abraham our Father, peace be with him, is the father of his pious posterity who keep his ways, and the father of his disciples and of all proselytes who adopt Judaism.

Therefore you shall pray, “Our God” and “God of our fathers,” because Abraham, peace be with him, is your father. And you shall pray, “You who have taken for his own our fathers,” for the land has been given to Abraham, as it is said, “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give to you” (Gen. 13:17). As to the words, “You who have brought us out of the land of Egypt” or “You who have done miracles to our fathers” – these you may change, if you will, and say, “You who have brought Israel out of the land of Egypt ” and “You who have done miracles to Israel.” If, however, you do not change them, it is no transgression, because since you have come under the wings of the Divine Presence and confessed the Lord, no difference exists between you and us, and all miracles done to us have been done as it were to us and to you. Thus is it said in the Book of Isaiah, “Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, ‘The Lord has utterly separated me from His people'” (Is. 56:3). There is no difference whatever between you and us.

You shall certainly say the blessing, “Who has chosen us,” “Who has given us,” “Who have taken us for Your own” and “Who has separated us”: for the Creator, may He be extolled, has indeed chosen you and separated you from the nations and given you the Torah. For the Torah has been given to us and to the proselytes, as it is said, “One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourns with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord” (Num. 15:15).

Know that our fathers, when they came out of Egypt, were mostly idolaters; they had mingled with the pagans in Egypt and imitated their way of life, until the Holy One, may He be blessed, sent Moses our Teacher, the master of all prophets, who separated us from the nations and brought us under the wings of the Divine Presence, us and all proselytes, and gave to all of us one Law.

Do not consider your origin as inferior. While we are the descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, you derive from Him through whose word the world was created. As is said by Isaiah: “One shall say, I am the Lord’s, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob” (Is. 44:5).

Leviticus Rabbah 29:1

In the first hour Adam ascended in [God's] thought. In the second he discussed with the angels. In the third he collected his dust. In the fourth he kneaded him. In the fifth he formed him. In the sixth he made him a Golem. In the seventh he blew in him the soul. In the eighth he put him in the Garden of Eden.

Commentary of R Joseph ben Shalom Ha-Arokh on Sefer Yetzirah[i]

[Abraham and Sarah] combined the letters and [were] successful in creating a creature [Golem] as it is said "The soul they made in Haran" (Gen 12:5).

The classic narrative: The Golem of Prague[edit]

Rabbi Loew statue at the New City Hall of Prague

Old New Synagogue of Prague with the rungs of the ladder to the attic on the wall. Legend has Golem lying in the loft

The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks" and pogroms.^[17][18] Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead.^[18] Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem before the Sabbath (Saturday) began,^[7] so as to let it rest on Sabbath.^[7]

One Friday evening, Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath.^[7] A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage.^[18] The rabbi then managed to pull the shem from his mouth and immobilize him^[7] in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces.^[7] The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue,^[18] where it would be restored to life again if needed.^[19] Rabbi Loew then forbade anyone except his successors from going into the attic. Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, a successor of Rabbi Loew, reportedly wanted to go up the steps to the attic when he was Chief Rabbi of Prague to verify the tradition. Rabbi Landau fasted and immersed himself in a mikveh, wrapped himself in phylacteries and a prayer-shawl and started ascending the steps. At the top of the steps, he hesitated and then came immediately back down, trembling and frightened. He then re-enacted Rabbi Loew's original warning.^[20]

According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic.^[7][18] When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found.^[21] Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague's Žižkov district, where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic, but he died instead under suspicious circumstances.^[22] The attic is not open to the general public.^[23]

Beit El (Hebrew: בֵּית אֵל) is an Israeli settlement and local council located in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Jewish town is located in the hills north of Jerusalem, east of the Palestinian city of al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah. In September 1997, Beit El was awarded local council status. The head of the local council is Shai Alon. In 2019 its population was 5,973. Its current population is 6,500 residents.^[2]

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.^[3] The Ulpana neighbourhood was evacuated when it emerged that it was built on private Palestinian land. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) halted land transactions in the Aleph neighbourhood of Beit El after it emerged that some 250 buildings there were constructed illegally, and fraud was suspected.^[4

Bethel ("House of God") is mentioned in the Bible as the site where Jacob slept and dreamed of angels going up and down a ladder (Genesis 28:19).^[5] Some scholars identify Beit El with the site of the biblical Bethel. The first to establish the village of Beitin as the site of Bethel was Edward Robinson, in 1838.^[6] Henry Baker Tristram repeated this claim.^[7] J. J. Bimson and David Livingston proposed el-Bireh as the site of Bethel, a view rejected by Jules Francis Gomes, who wrote that "The voices of Livingston and Bimson have hardly been taken seriously by those who worked on the excavations of Bethel."^[6]

^--

Beitin[edit]

Edward Robinson identified the Arab village of Beitin in the West Bank with ancient Bethel in Biblical Researches in Palestine, 1838–52. He based this assessment on its fitting the location described in earlier texts, and on the philological similarities between the modern and ancient name, arguing that the replacement of the Hebrew el with the Arabic in was not unusual.^[5] Most academics continue to identify Bethel with Beitin.^[3]

*’uhl + a + hū = *’uhlahu > ’ohlau > ’ohǒlō.

Elision of the original /h/ between vowels + diphthong contraction gives you the final ō (in the base form *qutl gets slightly altered and the hatef is added because of the guttural). Some older texts – such as first temple Epigraphy (Landis Gogel 1998: 156) – preserve the original orthography, e.g. Gen 49:11; you also get it is names (which are more conservative than common nouns) such as שלמה, retaining the historical form. The <w> orthography is a later feature, used after the contraction of the diphthong when the original form was no longer conspicuous to scribes. The midrash seems to follow in these lines, going by orthography rather than tradition (much like Beruriah's חטאים ולא חוטאים, against the reading tradition).