There is one question related to Vayera that has been burning in my mind these last few years:
In the parsha, it's stated that Avraham told the angels to wash their feet. Rashi brings a gemara which states:
Rashi actually twists this a bit: In the gemara, the angels are asking Avraham whether he is suspicious that they are idolatrous Arabs. Rashi however understands this to mean that Avraham did, in fact, suspect them of being idolatrous Arabs (see here and here) and apparently the angels subsequently caught on to his suspicions.
What I'm wondering is: What is this form of idolatry that involves prostrating to dust? I suspect that at the very least, the Tannaim were referring to a type of Arab idolatry that was known during their time.
I have previously asked this on Stackexchange and I even asked the BIU Jewish history department head after a class last year (one of his fields of expertise is idolatry in Jewish sources, particularly from the Hellenistic and Roman periods). He gave me some names of Arab deities, but I couldn't connect any of them to dust prostration. I found out a lot of interesting things about pre-Islamic Arab idolatry, but nothing explicit about dust prostration. Earlier today, after the umpteenth search, I came across an essay (here, p. 350) by Samuel Krauss where he suggests that perhaps pre-Islamic Arabs were of the habit of prostrating without a rug. But this explanation seems rather weak.
Ideas and sources welcome.
And you can of course post your own questions on the parsha here.
In the parsha, it's stated that Avraham told the angels to wash their feet. Rashi brings a gemara which states:
"“Let now a little water be fetched and wash your feet” (Genesis 18:4). Rabbi Yannai, son of Rabbi Yishmael, said that the guests said to Abraham: Are you suspicious that we are Arabs who bow to the dust of their feet?"
Rashi actually twists this a bit: In the gemara, the angels are asking Avraham whether he is suspicious that they are idolatrous Arabs. Rashi however understands this to mean that Avraham did, in fact, suspect them of being idolatrous Arabs (see here and here) and apparently the angels subsequently caught on to his suspicions.
What I'm wondering is: What is this form of idolatry that involves prostrating to dust? I suspect that at the very least, the Tannaim were referring to a type of Arab idolatry that was known during their time.
I have previously asked this on Stackexchange and I even asked the BIU Jewish history department head after a class last year (one of his fields of expertise is idolatry in Jewish sources, particularly from the Hellenistic and Roman periods). He gave me some names of Arab deities, but I couldn't connect any of them to dust prostration. I found out a lot of interesting things about pre-Islamic Arab idolatry, but nothing explicit about dust prostration. Earlier today, after the umpteenth search, I came across an essay (here, p. 350) by Samuel Krauss where he suggests that perhaps pre-Islamic Arabs were of the habit of prostrating without a rug. But this explanation seems rather weak.
Ideas and sources welcome.
And you can of course post your own questions on the parsha here.