Em LaMikra: Continuously Adjusting Clothing

Here is something from last week’s sidra, Ekev, in Devarim 8:4, Moshe discusses how the clothing of the Israelites did not wear out.

שִׂמְלָ֨תְךָ֜ לֹ֤א בָֽלְתָה֙ מֵֽעָלֶ֔יךָ וְרַגְלְךָ֖ לֹ֣א בָצֵ֑קָה זֶ֖ה אַרְבָּעִ֥ים שָׁנָֽה׃

The clothes upon you did not wear out, nor did your feet swell these forty years.

A famous midrash, made famous especially by Rashi citing it, has the clothing always freshly laundered as well as the clothes growing with the children as the children aged.

שמלתך לא בלתה. עַנְנֵי כָבוֹד הָיוּ שָׁפִים בִּכְסוּתָם וּמְגַהֲצִים אוֹתָם כְּמִין כֵּלִים מְגֹהָצִים, וְאַף קְטַנֵּיהֶם כְּמוֹ שֶׁהָיוּ גְדֵלִים הָיָה גָּדֵל לְבוּשָׁן עִמָּהֶם, כַּלְּבוּשׁ הַזֶּה שֶׁל חֹמֶט שֶׁגָּדֵל עִמּוֹ (עי' ילקוט שמעוני תת"ן):

שמלתך לא בלתה THY RAIMENT DID NOT WEAR OUT — the clouds of Divine Glory used to rub the dirt off their clothes and bleach them so that they looked like new white articles, and also, their children, as they grew, their clothes grew with them, just like the clothes (shell) of a snail which grows with it (cf. Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:11; Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 850).

The derasha seems to come from the word מֵֽעָלֶ֔יךָ, upon them (see Shir HaShirim Rabba), or else via comparison to בָצֵ֑קָה / swelling for the feet (see Midrash Aggadah).

Anyway, I recently discussed this “controversial” commentary authored by one of Shadal’s “frummer” contemporaries, Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh. Read there for some more background.

He had an interesting comment on the verse, which perhaps can help us understand why his commentary was so controversial. It is a השמטה, omitted remark, and we might understand why. He wrote:

That is:

Chazal said that their clothing grew with them, like the snail whose clothing is from it. And this was a very early tradition, which was well spread in our nation. So much so that the early Christians relied upon it and wrote it in their books, and among them is Guistino volume II page 528 (Justin Martyr). And also before this [לכן] a bit, from the early gospels, they wrote this about Jesus of Nazereth. And this rule should be in your hand — that the events of the nation of Israel in Egypt and in the wilderness was as a sign and symbol before the early Christians to inform about the founder of their faith, all that happened to Israel, and with this you will understanding many matters in their books.

He is referring to Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho, where some suggest that the Jewish Sage Trypho was Rabbi Tarfon, but others reject it. In chapter 131, the relevant quote is this:

Again, when you desired flesh, so vast a quantity of quails was given you, that they could not be told; for whom also water gushed from the rock; and a cloud followed you for a shade from heat, and covering from cold, declaring the manner and signification of another and new heaven; the latchets of your shoes did not break, and your shoes grew not old, and your garments wore not away, but even those of the children grew along with them.

This seems like a reworking of the pasuk, but with the midrash as part of it. (I don’t know which early gospels he’s referring to.)

For Benamozegh, these midrashim are (I think) intended literally, are true, and are historical. They are an ancient received tradition. Furthermore — not that Benamozegh deems the Christian works holy — they might inform about Jewish thought and sources. (Related, see what I said about Tertullian and how his condemnation of theaters and the spectacles matched Chazal’s, including interpretations of certain peskum.)

Also, this is an interesting idea, that early Christians had an approach akin to maaseh avot siman labanim, except that it was all predictive of Jesus. That’s an interesting observation, and I agree that many of these sources should be viewed as midrashic in nature. They imagine and apply earlier Biblical descriptions and events to their main character. Later, others take these works of midrashic character and say “look at how these earlier Biblical works all anticipated our guy!”