SUCCINCT SUMMARY
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One of Rashis tasks is the explanation of POETIC
passages. Most of the meaning of a poetic passage
can be obtained by using the following simple techniques
- BULLET the phrases in the poetic passage
- Identify the MAIN THEME of the passage
- How SHOULD that MAIN theme DEVELOP
- What phrases seem to coincide with this DEVELOPMENT
- Interpret the other phrases using the NEEDED DEVELOPMENT
Another way to look at this is to differentiate between
POETRY and PROSE.
- In PROSE we FIRST interpret the words and then combine
the words into sentences
- In POETRY we FIRST identify the sentences with the
main theme and then interpert the words based on the main them.
Using this basic approach of the
- THEME sentence
- SENTENCE 1st, WORDS 2nd
greatly facilitates the translation of a poetic passage.
EXAMPLE Dt33-02:06
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Rashi first provides an overview of the
entire chapter of Dt33-02:29
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VERSE GENERAL THEME DETAILS
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Dt33-02:05--Jewish nation accepts Torah
Dt33-06:26-- Blessings to each tribe
Dt33-27:29--Blessings to whole nation
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Rashi comments (Dt33-29a Dt33-02a)
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Jews accepted the Torah and therefore the whole nation
deserves blessing---that is although each tribe has
its own strength, the strengths of each tribe are shared
by the nation as a whole.
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We next study Dt33-02:06. The
- GENERAL THEME is GOD GAVE ISRAEL THE TORAH
- We follow the outline above
we have BULLETED the phrases.
Each separate sentence is a separate BULLET.
Next we identify the MAIN THEME
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VERSE BASIC THEME KEYWORDS IN VERSE OTHR VRS
------- ---------------------------- -------------------- --------
Dt33-02 GOD GIVES TORAH Sinai law of fire
God came from Sinai-Dt33-02b Nations receives God Ex19-17
Law of Fire (Dt33-02h)*10 God on Sinai in Fire Ex19-18
Dt33-03 HOLY JEWS ACCEPT TORAH YOLK Holy,accept
Holy Make yourself holy Ex19-10
Jews BEAR Gods word We DO then LISTEN Ex24-03
Jews BEAR Gods word-Dt33-03d We DO then LISTEN Ex24-07
Dt33-04 TORAH IS PERMANANT Torah=inheritance
Dt33-05 GOD IS KING;UNITED NATION King;United nation
United--Heads of nation Unified acceptance Ex19-08
United One voice--accept Ex24-03
United Nation camped as one Ex19-02
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The CAPPED phrases indicate the main ideas
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- GOD GIVES TORAH
- JEWS ACCEPT TORAH YOLK
- ACCEPT TORAH PERMANANTLY
- GOD IS KING; UNITED NATION
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The KEYWORD column shows the KEYWORDS confirming our
interpretation. For example, the KEYWORDS, SINAI and
LAW OF FIRE indicate that we are talking about the
acceptance of the Torah.
The OTHER VERSE column shows OTHER VERSES that echo
the poetic metaphors used---for example Ex19-17 speaks
about MOUNT SINAI SMOKING BECAUSE GOD DESCENDED IN FIRE
thus confirming the metaphor in Dt33-02, LAW OF FIRE.
LIST110c,LIST110d summarizes this POETIC INTERPRETATION
LIST110d also examines the consequences of the above
interpretation on the obscure passages in Dt33-02:06
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