I know, I know, a lot of superlatives in the last two posts' titles. But really, how can you beat Chanana Ha-Nechba's nickname explanation? Why did they call him that? Because he used to lock himself in the bathroom. I mean, that is awesome. I know, Rashi has a different reading; he has two actually. First, he says the words "in the bathroom" should be left out, and second, he says, even if we read "in the bathroom" it just means he hiked up his pants to prevent them from getting, well, bedirted.
But I like the the plain meeting: this is a guy who locked himself in the bathroom. That's what he was known for.
Ain't gemarah great? As R. Robby Harris would say: don't you love Torah!
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3 comments:
I hate to burst your bathroom bubble, but why are you translating "machbi" as "locked out"? We even get a Jastrow bonus with this one (p418) which translates the last line as "because he hid himself (in his modesty)." The real question seems to be how could he even use the bathroom if he also kept himself hidden?
The Jastrow is just Rashi. I looked at Soncino and that's what they went with.
Artscroll (which I realize also follows Rashi) translates it as "he used to conceal himself in the privy." Either way, just take the peshat - the root means hidden - i can't find it meaning locked anywhere.
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