(C) Dr Russell Jay Hendel, 1999
http://www.shamash.org/rashi
Volume 3 Number 7
Produced Aug, 13 1999
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^ THE GOLDEN ^^
^^ Rambam Rashi Series ^^
vv Gold series #1 vv
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Topics Discussed in This Issue
------------------------------
v5a19-3 Gold-Rambam-Rashi series #1. Murder 8. Refuge cities
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
***************************
*** READING TIPS ***
***************************
IF YOU ARE IN A HURRY WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
* VERSE:
* RASHI TEXT:
* BRIEF BUT COMPLETE NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
"HOW DO I FIND QUICKLY A SPECIFIC SECTION?"
ANSWER: Use your FIND menu
For example: FIND VERSE:
takes you to the beginning of the next section.
Similarly
FIND NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
takes you to the brief explanation of Rashi.
"IS THERE AN EASY WAY TO GO TO EACH VERSE AND POSTING?"
Yes. Use your FIND menu.
"FIND #*#*#*#" takes you to the next posting
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
VERSE: v5a19-3
v5a19-3 When God destroys the nations you are inheriting..
then you should separate 3 cities in your land...
prepare the highway..
v5b19-3 Divide in 3 your borders
and let these cities be for accidental murderers
to flee
v5-19-6 Less the blood-avenger pursue the accidental
murderer who might have to journey alot (to flee)
..if the blood-avenger kills the accidental
murderer there is no death penalty for him...
Therefore I am commanding you to designate 3 cities
v5-19-8 And when God widens your borders--the way He
promised your fathers--
v5-19-9 ..then you will add 3 more cities on these 3 cities
v4-35-11 And you shall designate cities, cities of refuge
v4-35-14 3 (refuge)cities are in Israel and 3 in Transjordan
RASHI TEXT:
v5a19-3 The text says "You should prepare the highway"
by having highway signs pointing TO REFUGE CITIES
v5b19-3 The text says "Divide in 3 your borders "
The 3 cities (and 2 end borders) should all be
equidistant (you should divide exactly in 3)
v5-19-6 The following two verses form one long sentence
"Less the blood-avenger pursue the accidental
murderer who might have to journey alot (to flee)
For then
..if the blood-avenger kills the accidental
murderer there is no death penalty for him...
Therefore I am commanding you to designate 3 cities"
v5-19-8 The text speaks about "Widening your land the way
God promised your fathers"; This refers to the
promise to Abraham to give him 10 lands 1-15-18:21
v5-19-9 The text says "..then you will add 3 more cities
on these 3 cities". This gives a total of 9: 3 in
TransJordan, 3 in Israel and 3 in Messianic times
v4-35-11 The text says "And you shall designate (KRH)cities"
The root KRH means to designate/prepare (cf 1-27-20
"For God designated/prepared hunting venison for me"
v4-35-14 The text says "3 cities in Israel and 3 in Jordan"
Even though Jordan had only 2 1/2 tribes while
Israel had 9 1/2 tribes nevertheless it was equitable
that they both received 3 cities since TransJordan
had more murderers (cf Hos6-8)
BRIEF BUT COMPLETE NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
Welcome to the 1st issue of the Golden-Rambam-Rashi series. This
series will feature Rashi-is-Simple digests in which it is shown
that an entire chapter of law in the Rambam's Mishneh Torah
corresponds law by law ¶graph by paragraph to Rashis commentary
That is, {LIST1} exhibits all paragraphs in a chapter of Rambam
AS WELL as the verses where Rashi derives these laws.
The purpose of this series is to show that the Mishneh Torah is not
only a halachic work but also a midrashic work. We also show Rashi
not only as a Midrashic scholar but also as a legal scholar. Finally
we show that BOTH Rashi and Rambam used Agaddic folklorish material
to supplement legal studies. This Golden series will afford us a
glimpse of how these two great minds although agreeing most of the
time nevertheless approached the same topic with complementary views
This issue studies Chapter 8 of Murder.
Some statistics may be enlightening--
--There are 11 paragraphs in Chapter 8; 10 of them are derived
from verses
--Rambam cites verses on 8 out of the 11
--Rashi cites verses on 5 out of the 11 but 3 of the remaining
6 were so explicit that no commentary was needed. Thus Rashi
also cites 8 out of 11 (The 8 out of 11 of Rashi and 8 out of
11 of Rambam are not identical!)
--Rambam brings agaddic material in one law while Rashi brings
agaddic material in 2 laws.
These statistics probably appear very strange to students
who do not think of murder law as midrash halacha.
The {LIST1} below and footnotes speak for itself.
{LIST1} gives all the halachas in Chapter 8 of Rambam,
along with the verses supporting these laws and whether
Rashi, Rambam, Gmarrah or Sifray cites them. We first
lightly go over the reasons for the Rashis.
v5a19-3 could read "Prepare a road (to the cities)". Instead
it says "Prepare THE road". We have already seen in v5c11-12
in v3n6 that "THE" denotes a proper noun {LIST2}. Thus
a Year beginning is the beginning of a year while "THE Year
Beginning" refers to the Jewish New Year. In this case "THE
Road" refers to THE Main road, the main highway.
v5b19-3 uses the technique of EXTRA SENTENCES. It says both
PREPARE THE HIGHWAY and "DIVIDE THE BORDER INTO 3". Hence
PREPARE THE HIGHWAY refers to removing obstacles from the
HIGHWAY or placing signs there while DIVIDING THE BORDER
INTO 3 means the border should be divided into 3 pieces.
Further details are presented below in {LIST1}
v5-19-6:7 forms one long sentence from two verses. {LIST3}
gives a list of such MULTI-VERSE sentences.
v5-19-8 invokes a cross reference to a promise God made to
Abraham. So Rashi Is Simple and cites the verse 1-15-8:21
where God made that promise. In v5e11-25 in v3n3 we have
listed all the cross references of statements of God.
v5-19-9 is also a cross reference but of a different kind.
Rashi gathers all the sets of "3 refuge cities" in the Bible--
there are 3 such "3 refuge cities" (TransJordan, Israel, and
King Messiah's Time)
In v4-35-11 Rashi gives a unified approach to KRH {LIST4}.
Rashi appears innocuous but he is actually contradicting the
Ibn Ezra who translates KRH from KIRYAH meaning WALLED CITY
a direct contradiction to the Halachah. Further support for
the halachah can be found in the footnotes.
Finally on v4-35-14, Rashi gives MORAL REASONS and ETHICAL
INSIGHTS into the Mitzvah.
We now urge the reader to carefully study {LIST1} for a
very beautiful analysis of the unity of approach between
Rashi and Rambam.
COMMENTS ON RASHI'S FORM:
LISTS {For ADVANCED students and for those with more time}:
{LIST1} {Of all laws in Murder Chapter 8. We show the verses
on which these laws are based as well as the Rashis
associated with these verses. We see how both Rashi
and Rambam covered the same laws}
Verse Is Is
From Verse Verse
Which Cited Cited
Paragraph By By
Par Text of Paragraph Note Is Inferred Rambam Rashi
=== ================================== ==== =========== ====== =====
1 Its a mitzvah to make *1 5-19-1:2 Yes No
3 refuge cities
2 3 cities in Transjordan; *2 4-35-14 Yes No
3 cities are in Israel
3 Refuge cities afforded asylum
only after all were built *3 4-35-13 Yes Yes
4 3 more cities will be built *4 5-19-8:9 Yes Yes
in the times of the Messiah
5 (a)No obstacles in Highways (b)
(b) There are HIWAY Signs to cities *5 5-19-3 Yes Yes
(c) Highways had 8 lanes
6 Hiway inspection every Adar 15th *6 No verse NO NO
7 Refuge cities at equidistant border *7
border points 5-19-3 Yes Yes
8 (a) Cities are not villages or *8 4-35-11 No Yes
Metropolises;
(b) cities have supermarkets &
water; (c) cities are
well inhabited..
9 42 Levite cities also give refuge *9 4-35-6 Yes No
10 (a) 6 refuge cities are rent free *10 4-35-6 No No
and (b)don't require intention by
accidental murderer while the 42
Levite cities (although giving
asylum) do allow rent and do
require intention
11 The refuge city borders give refuge *11 4-35-25 Yes No
but the murderer should not live
there
FOOTNOTES
*1 Rashi does not comment on this verse since the verse
is explicit and clear ("When you go into Israel make 3 cities")
and not in need of clarification
*2 Rashi did not comment on this verse since the verse
is explicit and clear. Note how Rashi gives Agaddic material
on this verse while the Rambam does not: Rashi explains that
3 cities were given to 9.5 tribes and 3 cities to 2.5 tribes
because the 2.5 tribes had more murderers
*3 This has been explained in v4-35-13, v2n23. The verb
HYH denotes PERMANANCE.Thus the 6 cities form one unit.
A second point made in v4-35-13 is the folowing---
I compared 3 mitzvoth there: Lulav (4 species), Chanukah
(8 candles), Sefirah (50 counts), and noted that in Lulav
you need all 4 species (you can't make a bracha on 1 or
2 species) while on Chanukah you can make a blessing on
Wednesday night even though you didn't make one on Thursday
night. So the point of Rashi/Rambam is that there is one
commandment of a UNIT of 6 refuge cities (not 6 separate
commandments to make 6 cities). A 3rd approach to this
Rashi is to note the EXPLICIT verse 5-19-1:2--"(Only) When
you conquer the land and inhabit it (only then should you)
separate out 6 cities".
Note how Rambam gives Agaddic material here but Rashi does not.
Rambam states that Moses separated out 3 cities (even though
they would not be effective till the other 3 were built) because
Moses was excited about the ability to perform even part of
a Mitzvah".
*4 Note how both Rashi and Rambam both cite these two verses
as well as the cross reference where God promises to give
Abraham the 3 lands of the Kenizi, Kayni and Kadmoni (1-15-18:21)
This uses the technique of OTHER VERSES or CROSS REFERENCE
(cf v5e11-25 in v3n3)
Note that Rashi brings Agaddic material on v5-19-6:7; he
emphasizes that the reason we will get 3 more refuge cities
in the Messiah's time is because there will be more people
and more possibility of murder.
*5 Both Rashi and Rambam cite this. The Gmarrah (See Kesef Mishnah)
derives this from the word THE ("Prepare THE Highway" vs "Prepare
a road"). The word THE always denotes a proper noun (in this case
the MAIN road vs any road. {LIST2} reproduces a list of PROPER
NOUNS indicated by THE.
Based on a Rashbah in Baba Bathra I explain the difference
between an 8,16, and 32 Amah roads. The Rashbah points out that
the standard wagon took up 4 amoth. Hence we have that
an 8 amah road = a 2 way street
a 16 amah road = an avenue (2 lains each side)
a 32 amah rad = a highway (4 lains each side)
In other words a STREET allows traffic in both directions.
An AVENUE allows both a LOADING and TRAVELLING lane.
A HIGHWAY allows a LOADING and TRAVELLING lane and allows 2 of each
so as not to retard other drivers if there is a wagon breakdown.
This illuminates why we need a 32 amah road---we must make
sure that accidental murderer is not slowed down by a possible
breakdown or ordinary commerce.
*6 Obviously this is a historical fact (that they inspected roads
on the 15th). Hence there is no verse in either Rashi or Rambam
*7 Note how both Rashi and Rambam explain that "dividing the border
into 3 parts" means dividing it into 3 equidistant parts. Thus
BOTH Rashi and Rambam disagree with the Raavad who says "What is
the point in saying this".
To answer the Raavad note the subtle point that whereas Rashi cites
the obvious verse "Divide the land into 3" to prove his point that
we divide it into 3, nevertheless Rambam cites the verse "Prepare
the highway" and not "Divide the border into 3". Why?
Because "Divide the border into 3" could be accomplished by dividing
up the border at 3 non equidistant points. Hence the Rambam
ingeniously cites the first phrase "Prepare the highway"to emphasize
that the "Dividing the border into 3" is done with the "preparation
of the highway"---that is it is a CAREFUL (prepared) division of
the border into 3.
Rashi would also take it that way using the technique of EXTRA
SENTENCES---"Prepare the Highway" ***and*** "(Using that
preparation) Divide the border into 3"--hence the border
division must be exact.
*8 Note how Rashi partially gives a verse but Rambam gives none
To appreciate Rashi we cite the Controversy between the Rashi
and the Ibn Ezra---Ibn Ezra takes the root KRH to come from
KRH=wall so that 4-35-11 means "Make walled cities". This
however is against the halacha.
Rashi based on {LIST4} says that KRH means to designate/prepare
(The popular English translation is "happen"). Thus Rashi
contradicts the Ibn Ezra since what he says is against halachah.
The Rambam is silent on what verse is used. Presumably the Rambam
considers the requirements of "Not a village, not a metropolis,
food available, not sparsely inhabited" to be extensions of the
verse "Prepare the Highway"--in other words do whatever is
necessary to prevent the Blood avenger from killing the accidental
murderer (However no special verse teaches the SPECIFIC items
mentioned here such as "not a village etc").
My own opinion is that the laws are learned from the constant
unnecessary repetition of the word "city,city" ---13 times
in 4-35 and 3 times in 5-19. The principle of DOUBLE NOUNS
says that if a word is repeated and repeated and repeated then
it has its most specific meaning and not a general meaning. Thus
the word CITY means CITY and not VILLAGE or METROPOLIS.
Nevertheless, despite this, we still need to know the reason for
the law--to prevent the blood avenger from overtaking the
murderer. And while Rambam just pegs this onto "Prepare the
Highway" Rashi EXPLICITLY emphasizes this reason in the text
5-19-6:7.
*9 The Rambam mentions the verse while Rashi does not since
it is explicit.
*10 Neither Rambam nor Rashi mentions the verse but the Talmud
explains the problem: Does 4-35-6:7 read "And you will give
the LEVITES the 6 refuge cities and also the 42 cities" so
that the emphasis is on LEVITIAN ownership/benefit (and hence
they can charge rent) or do we read 4-35-6:7 as "And you will
give the Levites the 6 refuge cities WHICH ARE ACCOMPANIED
BY the 42 Levite cites" so that the emphasis is that the 42
cities are like 6 cities (no rent etc).
Obviously this controversy is logical and not textual(it cannot be
backed up by a list) and neither Rambam nor Rashi thought a verse
would help
*11 This paragraph contains subtle points (What to do if the
trunk of a tree is inside the city borders but the branches
are outside and the murderer is standing outside the city under
the branches of the tree whose trunk is inside the city!!!!).
Rashi in general avoided such hair splitting. The conclusion
of the Gemarrah (brought by the Rambam) is that the murderer
receives asylum under the branches but should not live there
and derives it from the preposition IN --"You shall dwell IN it"
used in 4-35-25 4-35-28).
{LIST2} {Of verses with words which are proper nouns because
they are preceded with THE}
VERSE PHRASE PROPER NOUN ENGLISH ANALOGY
======= ============ =============== =============================
5-11-12 THE New Year Rosh Hashanah New Year vs new year *1
5-6-17 THE Masah Name of a place Long Island vs long island *2
1-1-31 THE 6th day Shavuoth July 4th *3
1-28-11 THE Place God, Moriah The Lord vs lord *4
5-21-2 YOUR Elders Sanhedrin Rabbis The Rebbe vs a rebbe *5
FOOTNOTES
*1 "new year" refers to any 12 month period; New Year refers to
January 1st in America and Rosh Hashanah in Jewish circles
*2 "long island" can refer to ANY Island that is long and narrow
Long Island refers to a specific place in New York
*3 Both July 4th and Shavuoth (The 6th) are Holidays named by
the date they occur on
*4 "lord" refers to any distinguished person (eg the British
house of lords) while Lord refers only to God
*5 "rebbe" can refer to any rebbe while in Lubavitch circles
The Rebbe refers to the 7th Lubavitch Rebbe.
{LIST3} {Of 2 verse sentences}
VERSE 1 VERSE 2 TEXT
======= ======= ====
5-2-16 5-2-17 And when all the people had died God spoke to me..
1-1-29 1-1-30 God said:"I give TO you vegetation &TO the animals
Ecc7-20 Ecc7-21 When everyone is sinning don't pay attention to
all the things that people say *1
5-14-15 5-14-16 When you inherit the land and want a King like all
other nations have Kings then select a King picked
by God *2
5-19-1 5-19-2 When God destroys the nations that you inherit and
you inherit this land, then you will separate 3
cities for you
FOOTNOTES
*1 This follows Rashi. The verse is not saying that all men sin
but rather it is saying that "When all men sin, don't pay attention
to the things that people say"
*2 Note that this way of taking these two verses solves the
famous problem in Samuel-1 on why God was upset that the Jews
wanted a King---because they wanted a King "like all the other
nations" and did not want to be led by a miraculous existence
by God
{LIST4} {KRH = To designate/prepare (not to happen) *1}
VERSE TEXT NOTE
======= ============================================ ====
5-25-18 Who PLOTTED against you on your journey *2
1-44-29 A PLOT will be made on him *3
4-11-23 We will see if My promise is PREPARED or not *4
1-24-12 PREPARE for me today *5
3-26-21 If you PLOT against walking with me *6
5-23-11 A person is TAMAY from fantasy PREPARATIONS *7
FOOTNOTE
*1 The popular meaning is certainly "to happen". But as the
examples (cited by the Radack) show "designate/happen" is a
better translation.
We will go thru this list of examples and show that
PREPARE/DESIGNATE/PLOT is a better translation then HAPPEN
*2 Amalek did not "HAPPEN" to come upon us. The PLOTTED war on us!
*3 Jacob saw a plot here---there was no real reason to keep Shimeon
Furthermore he never believed Joseph was dead. He also feared
reprisals from the conquest of Schem by Levi and Shimon (1-34-30)
So it is reasonable that he was worried about a PLOT against
Binyamin (the usual English translation is that Jacob was worried
that something will HAPPEN to him
*4 God's promises don't "happen". They are PREPARED and sent by God
*5 This is the verse that Rashi cites as proof. Clearly Jacob
wasn't saying that he happened to bump into God. He is rather
saying that God prepared for him an animal so that he could fulfill
his fathers wishes
*6 It explicitly says in 3-26-14:15 "If you despise my judgements"
Thus we are not talking about perceiving things as chance but
rather about PLOTTING against God
*7 This is usually translated as a nocturnal accident. A better
translation would be a noctural FANTASY PREPARATION. Indeed,
Jewish Law looks at the seminal emission as occuring because
of one of 7 possible stimulants (fantasy, food, drink, exercise
etc).
CROSS REFERENCES:
v4-35-13, v2n23 The verb TO BE denotes EMPHASIS
v5e11-25, v3n3 A list of places where God cross references
v5c11-12, v3n6 A list of places where THE means PROPER NOUN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
RULE CLASSIFICATION {See the web site for comparable examples}:
USAGE
EXTRA SENTENCE
OVERALL STRUCTURE | MULTI-VERSE SENTENCE
OTHER VERSES
OTHER VERSES
UNIFIED MEANING
MORAL REASONS
SQL {Database query comments for those who know Database theory}:
SELECT verse FROM Bible
WHERE verse.content "Accidental Murder Refuge"
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
COMMUNICATIONS
--------------
Send via email SUBMISSIONS/responses/contributions to
rashi-is-simple@shamash.org
If you want your communication published anonomously (without
mentioning your name) simply say so (and your wishes will be
respected). All other submissions (whether thru Shamash or ANY
of my email addresses are made with the understanding that
they can be published as is or with editing)
NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS
----------------------
e.g. v5b2-1 means as follows:
The "v" means verse
The "5" means Deuteronomy--the 5th book
The "2" means The 2nd chapter
The "1" means The 1st verse
The "b" means The second rashi on that
verse ("we rounded mount
Seir)
Similarly v5-2-1 would mean Dt 2:1 and probably refer to all
Rashis. (These conventions start with issue 14---beforehand
the notation is similar and will be updated retroactively
in the future)
Asterisks (*,#) in a list usually refer to footnotes that follow it
Parenthesis with the word List and a number--[LIST3] refers to
LISTS in the LIST section of each posting.
THE WEB SITE
------------
To review all past issues as well as to see all principles go to the
web site HTTP://WWW.Shamash.Org/Rashi/Index.Htm. You can download all
past issues from this website.
THE ARCHIVES
------------
Alternatively to get PAST ISSUES goto
http://www.shamash.org/listarchives/rashi-is-simple/
To retrieve a specific past issue email to listproc@shamash.org and type
in the body of the message: get rashi-is-simple rashi-is-simple.v#.n#
Issues 5,10,12 are not located here but can be retrieved from the
web site.
SUBSCRIBE & UNSUBSCRIBE
-----------------------
To UNSUBSCRIBE send mail to listproc@shamash.org and type in the body
of the message: unsubscribe rashi-is-simple email-address.
To SUBSCRIBE send email to listproc@shamash.org, and type in the body
of the message: subscribe rashi-is-simple email-address FName LName
OUR GOALS
---------
RASHI-IS-SIMPLE
* will provide logical explanations to all 8,000 Rashis on Chumash.
* the preferred vehicle of explanation is thru list of verses and exceptions
* These postings will be archived in Shamash in Quartuplet
-- By Volume and Number
-- By Verse
-- By Grammatical Rule
-- By quicky explanation
* Rashi-Is-Simple should prove useful to
layman, scholars, rabbis, educators, and students
* Although this list is orthodox we welcome all logical
--explanations
--contributions
--modifications
--questions
--problems
provided they are defended with adequate examples.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
----------------------
For further information on the character of this list
* read your welcome note from Shamash
* read PESHAT and DERASH: TRADITION, Winter 1980 by Russell Hendel
End of Rashi-Is-Simple Digest
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*