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Finger in the Ear

Written by Rav Eliezer Chrysler

“To Ozni, the family of Ozni” (26:16).

In the opinion of Rashi, this is synonymous with the family of Etzbon (from the root ‘Etzba’, meaning ‘finger’).

What, one may well ask, is the connection between these two names?

The Sh’loh connects them via the Chazal (see kesuvos 5a), who explain that a person’s fingers are shaped the way they are, long and thin, so that when he hears something that he shouldn’t, he can immediately place them in his ears, to prevent him from hearing what he ought not to hear. Hence the ears and the fingers serve one and the same purpose.

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