Fox reads it as "double". #ParshaChat

Now I want to go see how Fox reads this, because that translation is generally the most literal.
#ParshaChat

Wow, I'd forgotten about that! #ParshaChat

Yes, and: It's also a problem if you condition yourself to be unable to notice things like drunkenness, bad faith, and/or hate when they really are present.

We have to get better at seeing what's really there and course-correcting when we make a mistake.
#ParshaChat

R. Eliana Jacobowitz this morning taught that it also shows how people can interpret what they see using their own unconscious biases. If they lean toward being suspicious of people's motives, they will see evidence of bad intentions everywhere! And the reverse, too. #ParshaChat

...how nice it can be to be in spaces like First Night where there's an expectation that drunkenness is not part of the event.

And how on Simchat Torah and Purim, I like to be in the kinds of synagogues that don't think drunkenness is ok.
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A2: I'm thinking about this in part from the direction of how many spaces I've been in that got ruined by a certain kind of drunken obnoxiousness being tolerated, and.... #ParshaChat

Both/and! #ParshaChat

A2: I think that's absolutely a possible way to read him, and that's how I usually have. This year I'm wondering about another possibility too: What if he was actually regularly dealing with drunk and boundary-stomping people in his workplace? #ParshaChat bsky.app/profile/ruti...

Interesting fact: other translations give "achat apayim" not as "only one" but as "double"! #ParshaChat

A2: One question this raises for me is how much of an ongoing problem the ancient sanctuary had with drunk and obnoxious behavior.

Would this story land differently if it turned out that Eli had been regularly contending with drunk people harassing him while he was at work?
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A2 Eli seems like the sort of priest who is too wrapped up in their status and the ritual they are officiating to notice what people may be feeling. #ParshaChat

In our service, the translation included a mention of Hannah being given a special portion by Elkanah because he loved her more. #ParshaChat

A1: It also makes me wonder who actually got to eat the portion — is this in addition to whatever the son was getting? Or was it shared? #ParshaChat

And also: Having kids is a really big deal and there are reasons it's important to people who it's important to. #ParshaChat

Yes, and also: She would have been very vulnerable without a child. Her husband *even while alive* wasn't protecting her, *even though he liked her better than he liked his other wife*. If she'd become a childless widow, that would have been even more dire. #ParshaChat

A1 One question I have is is Elkanah only giving one portion to Hannah because it's the ritual if she has no children or is it because Elkanah is holding her in lesser regard than Penninah? #ParshaChat

I think you could generously read him as truly loving and trying to be a consolation to her but ignoring how the rest of society (starting with her co-wife) is going to ook at her. It's the equivalent of "I don't see color." Yeah, but everyone else does! #ParshaChat

I appreciate that. Chronic illness is especially hard around holidays, but also extra lonely, too #ParshaChat

Q2: What's going on here? What might lead Eli to assume that Hannah was drunk and to speak to her so harshly? #ParshaChat