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5dEdited

This seems to be related to your recent post regarding the scope of the attribution of the brother's sale of Yosef to God.

Off the bat, I would say that Shadal means righteous vis a vis the particular harm someone seeks to inflict on them.

His position seems to align with that espoused by Chovos hal'vovos (Sha'ar habitachon) and Chinuch (421) that a person cannot harm or benefit another unless the fellow has it coming due to sin or earned via meritorious behavior.

Personally, I've always had a hard time with that approach and am somewhat taken aback to see Shadal's apparent embrace of it.

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