CAPITAL CRIME:Execute Vs Cut Off:#4 of 5
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# 10 YEAR Ayelet DAILY-RASHI-YOMI CYCLE #
# May 14, 2001 #
# Rashis 742-743 Of 7800 (9.5%) #
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GOALS:
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In this short module we compare verses on 5 capital crimes.
in each case we will see a pair of verses.
* One verse says there is a DEATH penalty
* One verse says the person is CUT OFF from his nation
The traditional approach says that a DEATH PENALTY happens
if there are witnesses while if there are no witnesses
then there is extinction.
This module will be a bit different in flavor than previous
modules. The punchy proof of Rashi will not occur till the
end of the unit. In other words the proof will come from
the ENTIRE list and not from any PARTICULAR verse
TODAYS UNIT
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In todays unit we enrich our understanding of blasphemy
by citing 3 and comparing 2-3 verses on the subject.
The grand summary will occur tomorrow.
REFERENCE:
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This module comes from the following references in the
Rashi-is-Simple series.
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/h10n3.htm
#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc., 2001, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#
RASHIS COVERED: Lv24-16b Nu15-30b
================ ALIGNMENT OF 2 VERSES ON BLASPHEMY =============
The LIST below aligns Lv24-15 and Lv24-16 by breaking the
2 verses into 4 PHRASES. A comparison of aligned phrases
facilitates inference of the details of blasphemy. The main
laws learned is that
* cursing the ineffable name of God carries a death penalty
* cursing one of the other names of God results in extinction
The differences between the 4 phrases are examined in the 4
footnotes
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VERSE PHRASE 1 PHRASE 2 PHRASE3 PHRASE 4
======= ================ =========== ======= ====================
Lv24-15 A person cursing ----------- his God will bear his sin
Lv24-16 A person cursing the name of --- God will die---------
*1 *2 *3 *4
NOTES
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*1 There are some subtle differences in the actual Hebrew
which I have translated over (to get everything in one
line). Lv24-15 says A MAN A MAN WHEN HE CURSETH..
while Lv24-16 says WHOSO CURSETH. The Sifrah/Sifray,
the Midrashic commentary gives no comment on this. I would
assume that as usual, this language means that the death
penalty is extended to both men and women.
*2 Cursing the Ineffable Name of God carries a death penalty
while cursing one of Gods other names (such as My Lord)
carries a punishment of extinction.
*3 I would simply say that HIS GOD refers to names of God
that have a POSSESSIVE element in the word: For example,
MY LORD, MY GOD. So Lv24-15 explicitly says that cursing
one of Gods names that have a possesive element, (like
MY LORD), carries no death penalty, but rather a penalty
of extinction.
*4 This has been explained above: There are two types of
blasphemy: A blasphemy that carries a death penalty
and a blasphemy that carries an extinction penalty.
Now as pointed out in footnotes *2 and *3, Lv24-16
dealing with the case of cursing Gods ineffable name,
carries a death penalty, while Lv24-15 shows that
cursing Gods other names (like LORD) carry an
extinction penalty.
Similarly (by analogy with the other crimes
in the list above) cursing Gods ineffable Name
WITHOUT witnesses would also carry a death penalty.
In other words the primary intention of the
2 verses, Lv24-15 and Lv24-16, was to indicate the
distinction between the INEFFABLE and OTHER NAMES
of God. But by ANALOGY with other crimes, cursing the
ineffable name of God without witnesses would also carry
an EXTINCTION penalty.
I think this viewpoint, that certain items are learned
explicitly while other items are learned by analogy
will facilitate seeing all of Rashi as the Simple
inference of the text.
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--------------------------FURTHER NOTES-----------------------
Lv24-15, Lv24-16 and Nu15-30 present 3 different words for
cursing. They give the roots KUF-LAMED-LAMED, NUN-KUF-BETH,
GIMEL-DALETH-FAY. Rashi on Lv24-16b and Nu15-30b brings
LISTS of verses confirming that these roots are synonyms
(that is, different roots with basically the same meaning)
#*#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2001, Dr. Hendel President #*#*#*#*#