Emma's Dvar Torah

וענית is an expression for raising one’s voice (speaking loudly) (Sotah 32b).

A WANDERING ARAMEAN. The word oved (wandering) is an intransitive verb. If Aramean referred to Laban then Scripture should have read mavid or me’abbed. Furthermore, what reason would Scripture have had for stating, Laban sought to destroy my father and he went down to Egypt? Laban did not cause Jacob to descend to Egypt. It thus appears to me that the term Aramean refers to Jacob. Scripture, as it were, reads, when my father was in Aram he was “perishing.” That is, he was poor, he had no money. Similarly oved (perish) in Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish (Prov. 31:6). Let him drink, and forget his poverty (Prov. 31:7) is proof. The meaning of our phrase thus is, a perishing Aramean was my father. Its import is, I did not inherit the land from my father, for my father was poor when he came to Aram. He was also a stranger in Egypt. He was few in number. He then became a large nation. You O Lord took us out of slavery and gave us a good land. Let the one who disputes not argue, “How could Jacob be called an Aramean?” Look, we find the same with Ithra the Ishmaelite who, as Scripture clearly states, was an Israelite.

ארמי אובד אבי, my father, i.e. Yaakov, who was for a while a wandering lost person without a home of his own, was not at the time able to establish a nation deserving or fit to inherit this land.

ארמי אובד אבי, “my forefather used to be a wandering Aramean;” this verse has been abbreviated. In full, it should have read: “Yaakov my forefather was a wandering Aramean.” While he was serving Lavan in Aram he was no better than a wandering Aramean, he had no house or land of his own; he was not even a resident in that country.”

ארמי אובד אבי, as if the Torah had written” my father Avraham was an Aramite, lost, and exiled from his birthplace Aram.” G’d had told him in Genesis 12,1 “go forth for yourself from your homeland, etc.” Later on, Avraham himself relates to Avimelech the king of the Philistines, (Genesis 20,13) that G’d had made him wander, away from his father’s house, etc. The meaning of the word אובד here is similar to תועה, the root Avraham used to describe wandering without specific objective, almost like walking because one is lost. The word occurs clearly in that sense in Psalms 119,176 תעיתי כשה אובד בקש עבדך, “I have strayed like a lost sheep; search for Your servant, etc.!” We also find the word in this connotation in Jeremiah 50,6 עמי רועיהם התעום, “My people were lost sheep; their shepherd led them astray.” In other words, the recital by the farmer goes back to the Jewish people’s origin, the farmer saying: ‘our forefathers came to this land from an alien country and now G’d has given it to us.

וירד מצרימה AND HE WENT DOWN INTO EGYPT — But there were others, too, “who came against us to destroy us” (cf. the Passover Haggadah), for afterwards Jacob went down into Egypt with his children and these were enslaved there).

A WANDERING ARAMEAN. The word oved (wandering) is an intransitive verb. If Aramean referred to Laban then Scripture should have read mavid or me’abbed. Furthermore, what reason would Scripture have had for stating, Laban sought to destroy my father and he went down to Egypt? Laban did not cause Jacob to descend to Egypt. It thus appears to me that the term Aramean refers to Jacob. Scripture, as it were, reads, when my father was in Aram he was “perishing.” That is, he was poor, he had no money. Similarly oved (perish) in Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish (Prov. 31:6). Let him drink, and forget his poverty (Prov. 31:7) is proof. The meaning of our phrase thus is, a perishing Aramean was my father. Its import is, I did not inherit the land from my father, for my father was poor when he came to Aram. He was also a stranger in Egypt. He was few in number. He then became a large nation. You O Lord took us out of slavery and gave us a good land. Let the one who disputes not argue, “How could Jacob be called an Aramean?” Look, we find the same with Ithra the Ishmaelite who, as Scripture clearly states, was an Israelite.

FEW IN NUMBER. The word mete (men of) is in the construct, for it is not found in the singular. The word metim is a plural. Rabbi Jonah the grammarian explained it very well under the entry mem, tav, heh.

[2] Another interpretation: "A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the mountains..." (Psalms 121:1) This refers to the time when Jacob fled from Laban, and he went and settled in the mountains. Laban pursued him and caught up with him, as it says, "And Laban caught up with Jacob, and Jacob pitched his tent on the mountain" (Genesis 31:25). Laban intended to kill Jacob, as Moses says, "An Aramean sought to destroy my father" (Deuteronomy 26:5). And who was that Aramean but Laban, who sought to destroy our forefather Jacob? Jacob began saying, "I lift up my eyes to the mountains," and God apparently revealed Himself to the wicked Laban and made himself Laban's emissary in order to fulfill Jacob's needs, as it says, "And God came to Laban...and did not permit him to harm him [Jacob]" (Genesis 31:24). And Jacob was later afraid of Esau, as it says, "And Jacob was greatly afraid" (Genesis 32:8). He said, "Whoever saved you from Laban will save you from me," as it says, "Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord..." (Deuteronomy 33:29).