ה"ד אי דאיכא עדים כי אתא אחר ואפסקיה לקלא מאי הוי אלא לאו דליכא עדים וטעמא דאתא אחר ואפסקיה לקלא הא לאו הכי מפקינן
is because another man stepped in and checked the rumour, but had that not happened she would have been taken away from him?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' How then could Rab maintain that she is taken away Only where there are witnesses?
');"><sup>38</sup></span> — Rab can answer you: The same law, that where witnesses<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra note 3.
');"><sup>35</sup></span> are available she is taken away from him and that where no witnesses are available she is not taken away, applies also to the case where no other man stepped in and checked the rumour, but this it is that was meant: 'Even if another man stepped in and checked the rumour it is not proper for him<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The paramour.
');"><sup>39</sup></span> to marry her'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Only if he already married her may she in this case remain with him.
');"><sup>40</sup></span>
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
I have explained the word סם-אל as being composed of סם, poison, something harmful and of א-ל, something godly, i.e. good and wholesome. We can divide the expression מלאך המות, angel of death, similarly. The מות, i.e. death part of the expression is something negative, whereas the מלאך, i.e. angel part of the word is something good, positive. The good is mixed in with the bad. This is the mystical dimension of Esau's offer in 33, 15: אציגה נא עמך מן העם אשר אתי, "Let me assign you some of the people who are with me." There is a hidden reference in this to the proselytes and their influence on the Jewish people. Esau made this suggestion after Jacob had said to him in verse 14: עד אשר אבא אל אדוני שעירה, "until I come to my lord in Se'ir." Jacob's comment was a reference to Messianic times described in Ovadiah 1, 21, where Israel is described as ascending the mountain of Se'ir, home of Esau, preparing to execute final judgment on Esau. When we look at the respective last letters in the words אבא אל אדוני שעירה, we have the word אליה, as pointed out by Baal Haturim. This was Jacob's reply to Esau's suggestion for his people to convert to Judaism at the time the Messiah would arrive. Jacob hinted that we have a rule that we do not accept converts when there is reason to suspect that these converts only want to reap the benefit of a period of good fortune of the Jewish people (Yevamot 24). Jacob answered at the end of verse 15: למה זה אמצא חן בעיני אדוני The word חן is an allusion to the potential convert's motivation for becoming a גר, proselyte.
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