The Haftorah for Naso is from Shoftim/Judges
13:2-25. It tells the story of the birth
of Shimshon (Samson) who was a lifetime Nazir (Nazirite). (Naso contains
the laws of the Nazir.) The Haftorah begins: “And there was one man from
Tzorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoach. His wife was barren and
had not borne children. An angel of the L-rd appeared to the wife and said to
her, ‘You are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and
bear a son.’”
The angel tells Manoach’s wife (who is unnamed in the text)
that her son will be a Nazir from conception, so from now on she must abstain
from wine, other intoxicants, grapes and ritually impure foods because a Nazir
is prohibited from indulging in these. The angel also reveals that the son will
begin to save the Jewish people from the Philistine oppressors.
Upon hearing the good news, the future mother goes to tell
her husband. Manoach prays to G-d to send the messenger again so he can hear
the instructions himself. The angel reappears to the wife and she runs to get
her husband. The angel repeats the instructions. Manoach invites the messenger
for a meal. The angel declines and tells Manoach to make the meal as a sacrifice
to G-d. The angel ascends into the flames that burn the sacrifice and is not
seen again.
Finally recognizing that he has seen an angel, Manoach is
frightened and fears that he and his wife will die. His wife, showing exceptional
emunah (faith), reassures him, saying, “Had the L-rd meant to take
our lives, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a meal offering from
us, not let us see all this and He would not have had us hear this.”
The Haftorah concludes: “The woman bore a son and she
named him Shimshon. The boy grew up and the L-rd blessed him.”
The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 10:5) gives the name of
Shimshon’s mother, Hatzlelponi. (The Talmud in Baba Basra 91a slightly
varies the name as Tzelfonis.) This name is one of the few women’s names listed
in the genealogy Divrei haYamim/Chronicles 4:3 and places Hatzlelponi in
the most prestigious family/tribe of Yehuda (Judah). This is of interest
because Manoach is from the least important family, Dan.
The name Hatzlelponi refers to seeing an angel. Tzel
is the word used in Torah when Lot sees an angel. Since she saw the angel
twice, Hatzlelponi’s name has an additional lamed (L). Poni is
related to panim (face) and refers to seeing the face of an angel or
coming face to face with an angel.
The noted lecturer Vivienne Frank surmises that
Hatzlelponi’s name is omitted from the text to emphasize the importance of her
dual roles, wife of Manoach, and as she later is called in Shoftim, mother of
Shimshon.
There is a discussion
about Manoach in Talmud (Berachos 61a). Rav Nachman characterizes him as
an am ha-aretz, (literally, man of the earth, an unlearned man). In the
Haftorah, it says that Manoach “walked behind (followed) his wife” when
she took him to see the angel. While Rav Nachman claims this means that Manoach
was ignorant of the accepted practice for men to avoid walking behind women
(lest the men become aroused), Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says it means that
Manoach follows “after his wife’s words and advice.”
The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 10:5) puts
forward that Manoach may not have trusted his wife’s words. Indeed, Manoach asks
for the angel to reappear “to enlighten us what we should do with the child
that is to be born.” Note that Manoach’s request is in the plural, on
behalf of the couple. In deference to Hatzlelponi, the angel merely repeats the
previous instructions that apply exclusively to Hatzlelponi.
Why did the angel
appear to Hatzlelponi and not to Manoach? Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum:
“Perhaps it was because the angel appeared without prayer or preparation and
these kinds of spontaneous prophetic experiences happen more often to women
than to men. Malbim explains that the angel didn’t appear to Manoach because his
wife was more ready than he was for the angel’s appearance.”
Otzar haMidrashim includes Hatzlelponi as one of 23
upright and righteous women. Bereishis Rabbati, Chayei Sarah lists Hatzlelponi
among 22 worthy women. Yalkut Shimoni relates that verse 22 of Eishet
Chayil (Mishlei/Proverbs 31:24) refers to Hatzlelponi.
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