The 15th of Ave-take 4, differing accounts and group numbers
When I started this topic, I wasn't planning on a fourth post on it. But I really would like to share the textual variations on what the women would say on the days they gathered in the vineyard.
In Mishna Taanit (4:8) only a single speech is recorded: "Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you are choosing for yourself. Don't look only at physical beauty - look rather at the family," and this is also the way the account appears in Midrach Eicha Rabba 33, though the word noy rather than yofi is used for beauty and the cross reference to "hevel hayofi" from Mishlei does not appear.
The Gemara, as presented in http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/08/there-are-more-lines-ascribed-to-girls.html
identifies 3 groups who say different things, one promotes beauty, the second family, and the third -- who are ugly, and apparently without the virtue of prominent family, say to marry for the sake of Heaven and adorn them with gold.
But the Yerushalmi learns differently. In its account there are only two types who present themselves -- the beautiful and the ugly. The way the original Mishna quote is rendered as follows: "The ugly ones would say, do not look toward beauty [noy], and the beautiful ones would say, look toward family." Thus, the ugly ones offer only a negative statement of "don't look for beauty," without a positive directive of what virtue can be gained by looking elsewhere. Though the Korban Haedah offers a gloss on the text that the statement would finish with "rather look for a woman who would find favor in your eyes because of her deeds," the text itself does not indicate what virtue the ugly ones have to offer. Only the beautiful ones say what to look toward. Instead of the "look toward for family" becoming a redirection for those who may have looked toward beauty initially to look beyond, it is a less boastful way of the beautiful ones to direct attention to the beauty they have to offer. In a way this makes sense, as physical beauty is largely genetic as parents pass on their physical traits to their offspring. Still, it does really wrench apart the way the Mishna quoted in the Yerushalmi reads, "do not look toward beauty but rather to family."
There is yet a fourth variation on this account, which actually identifies 4 groups speaking in the Eyn Yaakov. While it preserves the Gemara's account with the 3 groups, it also inserts another after the ones who cite the virtue of family in parentheses: ashiros shebahen omros, tnu eynechem bebaley mammon [the rich ones among them would say, look at masters of wealth]. Of course, the parentheses indicate that you skip that part of the text. Still, it is interesting that the one category that looms so large today was added in.
While the accounts of 2 and 4 group are interesting to note, the Gemara's 3 groups would seem to be generally accepted. in my take 3 : http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/08/15th-of-av-take-3-allegory-significance.html
I offered a view on significance for these 3 groups, and I thought of 2 more over the weekend. In the order of the Gemara, the beautiful ones speak first, followed by those with family, and then the ugly ones. The arguments would seem to work from various perspectives. The beautiful ones argue for what appeals to the man immediately -- the attraction of beauty. The ones with family argue for a man's concern for his future -- in the form of his progeny. The ugly ones argue for a longer term view -- that of doing something not for any immediate benefit or even for the somewhat nobler benefit of children, but to do it lishma, the rewards for which have much greater reach.
Another division of 3 is that of tov, arev, and moil [good, sweet, and yielding other benefit] The beautiful ones offer something arev, with an immediate pleasure of attraction. The ones with family offer something moil -- the benefit for children. The ugly ones, though, offer the ultimate tov in an option to do something purely good with no ulterior motive.
In Mishna Taanit (4:8) only a single speech is recorded: "Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you are choosing for yourself. Don't look only at physical beauty - look rather at the family," and this is also the way the account appears in Midrach Eicha Rabba 33, though the word noy rather than yofi is used for beauty and the cross reference to "hevel hayofi" from Mishlei does not appear.
The Gemara, as presented in http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/08/there-are-more-lines-ascribed-to-girls.html
identifies 3 groups who say different things, one promotes beauty, the second family, and the third -- who are ugly, and apparently without the virtue of prominent family, say to marry for the sake of Heaven and adorn them with gold.
But the Yerushalmi learns differently. In its account there are only two types who present themselves -- the beautiful and the ugly. The way the original Mishna quote is rendered as follows: "The ugly ones would say, do not look toward beauty [noy], and the beautiful ones would say, look toward family." Thus, the ugly ones offer only a negative statement of "don't look for beauty," without a positive directive of what virtue can be gained by looking elsewhere. Though the Korban Haedah offers a gloss on the text that the statement would finish with "rather look for a woman who would find favor in your eyes because of her deeds," the text itself does not indicate what virtue the ugly ones have to offer. Only the beautiful ones say what to look toward. Instead of the "look toward for family" becoming a redirection for those who may have looked toward beauty initially to look beyond, it is a less boastful way of the beautiful ones to direct attention to the beauty they have to offer. In a way this makes sense, as physical beauty is largely genetic as parents pass on their physical traits to their offspring. Still, it does really wrench apart the way the Mishna quoted in the Yerushalmi reads, "do not look toward beauty but rather to family."
There is yet a fourth variation on this account, which actually identifies 4 groups speaking in the Eyn Yaakov. While it preserves the Gemara's account with the 3 groups, it also inserts another after the ones who cite the virtue of family in parentheses: ashiros shebahen omros, tnu eynechem bebaley mammon [the rich ones among them would say, look at masters of wealth]. Of course, the parentheses indicate that you skip that part of the text. Still, it is interesting that the one category that looms so large today was added in.
While the accounts of 2 and 4 group are interesting to note, the Gemara's 3 groups would seem to be generally accepted. in my take 3 : http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/08/15th-of-av-take-3-allegory-significance.html
I offered a view on significance for these 3 groups, and I thought of 2 more over the weekend. In the order of the Gemara, the beautiful ones speak first, followed by those with family, and then the ugly ones. The arguments would seem to work from various perspectives. The beautiful ones argue for what appeals to the man immediately -- the attraction of beauty. The ones with family argue for a man's concern for his future -- in the form of his progeny. The ugly ones argue for a longer term view -- that of doing something not for any immediate benefit or even for the somewhat nobler benefit of children, but to do it lishma, the rewards for which have much greater reach.
Another division of 3 is that of tov, arev, and moil [good, sweet, and yielding other benefit] The beautiful ones offer something arev, with an immediate pleasure of attraction. The ones with family offer something moil -- the benefit for children. The ugly ones, though, offer the ultimate tov in an option to do something purely good with no ulterior motive.
Comments
Answer: they didn't have to go out dancing.