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(C) Dr Russell Jay Hendel, 2000
Volume 4 Number 22
Produced Jan, 09 2000
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Verses/Topics Discussed in This Issue with quicky explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------
v2a3-11
BULLETS in Biblical Hebrew are indicated by writing
"THAT" twice. 2-3-11 reads "And Moses said Who am I
(THAT=*=BULLET 1) I That I should go to a King like
Pharoh and
(THAT=*=BULLET 2)That the Jews should have
the merit to leave Egypt. 4 examples cited
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RASHI - IS - SIMPLE
-------------------
GOALS: To grammatically defend all 8000 Rashis on Chumash.
METHOD:Every Rashi will be defended with a LIST of comparable cases
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Laymen, Academicians, Rabbis, Yeshiva students
COMMENTS,QUESTIONS: EMail to address below; (minor edits may occur)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:Always given unless 'anonymous' is explicitly asked
(UN)SUBSCRIBE: Email to above with keyword "(UN)subscribe"
JOURNAL REFERECE: Pshat & Drash, TRADITION, Win 1980, R Hendel
NOTATION: eg v2b1-8 refers to Ex(Book 2) Chap 1 Verse 8 Rashi b(#2)
SPECIALS:...on Rambam,Ramban,Symbolism,Pedagogy,Daily Questions
EMAIL: RJHendel@Juno.Com,rashi-is-simple@shamash.org,
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VERSE: v2a3-11
======
v1b3-5 And you will be like gods
v1b3-6 She saw THAT the tree was good
v1c3-6 ..and THAT it was desirous to the eyes
v1d3-6 ..and precious for understanding
v1a29-12 .THAT he was brother of her father..
.THAT he was son of Rivkah
v1d33-11 ...THAT God has been graceful to me
...THAT he has given me all
v2a3-11 And Moses said to God 'Who am I' THAT I should
v2b3-11 go to Pharoh and THAT I should take the Jews
out of Egypt
RASHI TEXT:
===========
v1b3-5 You will be like gods--'be able to create worlds'
v1b3-6 She saw that the tree was good 'To become godlike'
v1c3-6 ..and it was desirous to the eyes-'opening eyes'
v1d3-6 .precious for understanding--'appreciate good/evil'
v1a29-12 I(Jacob) am the the BROTHER(relative)of your father
Another interpretation--
If your father is deceitful I can be his 'brother'
in deceit
If your father is a good man then I am the son
of Rivkah (a good woman) and be behave good
v1d33-11 Esauv spoke in an arrogant manner
'I have ALOT (more than is necessary)' But
Jacob said I receive God's grace and have what
is necessary for me
v2a3-11 Moses said 'Who am I that I should speak to Kings'
v2b3-11 ..and also even if I am worthy of going to King
Pharoh, what merit do the Jews have to escape
Egypt.
BRIEF BUT COMPLETE NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
=========================================
For purposes of exposition let us begin with v1a29-12 which
Rashi himself says can be understood at TWO levels.
ELEMENTARY LEVEL
----------------
At the elementary level the Chumash is simply repeating itself
>I am the brother (=relative) of your father
>(in fact) I am the son of Rivkah (his sister)
Contrary to popular belief Rashi is not bothered by REPTITION. In
fact Rashi explicitly says that REPETITION is simply a style that
denotes ENDEARMENT. For example, on 1-46-2 where it says
>and God called, Jacob, Jacob
Rashi simply says
>Repetition(of JACOB) denotes endearment of Jacob to God
Similarly in 2-1-1 where it REPEATS the genealogies of the Jews
(which we already knew) Rashi says
>Repetition denotes endearment
{LIST1} from a prior issue presents a list of such REPETITIONS
denoting endearment. It is perfectly normal Biblical style.
-----------------------------------------------------
|QUESTION 1: |
|---------- |
|How would you prove that Repetition denotes |
|endearment? How would you find verses where there |
|is repetition? What tools would you use? |
-----------------------------------------------------
ADVANCED LEVEL
--------------
Since repetition by itself does not indicate TWONESS but rather
endearment, it follows that if you wanted to express TWO aspects
of one concept you would need a special language feature to
indicate this TWONESS. In English we use BULLETS. In English we
would express the verse as follows
* I can be your fathers brother (ie like your father) OR
* I can be my mothers son (ie like my mother)
The point being that Jacobs mother was a fine woman while Laban
was deceitful. It is the BULLETS that emphasize that TWO concepts
are being communicated. Once we know that there is some TWONESS
to the communication it is easy to see that Jacob is saying that
>I can behave like your FATHER or like my MOTHER.
In Biblical Hebrew BULLETS are indicated by a KEYWORD CONNECTIVE
like "THAT" that is repeated. There are in fact 6 sentences in the
Torah that have the form
>...THAT .. AND THAT
The words "THAT" function as bullets. Thus the verse reads
>and Jacob told Rachel
> THAT he was the relative of her father
>&THAT he was the son of Rivkah
As already mentioned, once the idea of TWONESS is known (from the
BULLETS/THAT) it is easy to see that Jacob was saying that
>I can behave like your father or
>I can behave like my mother
-------------------------------------------
|QUESTION 2: |
|=========== |
|How would you find all verses which have |
|the form .. THAT... AND THAT |
|What tools would you use? How would you |
|then confirm the thesis that the DOUBLE |
|THAT functions like bullets? |
-------------------------------------------
{LIST2} contains the 6 double THAT verses in the Torah. This list
does not come from CD ROMS or KONKORDANCES. You can actually find
this list in the micro-print that surrounds good Chumashes. This
micro-print is considered a commentary and is called THE GREAT
TRADITION (MSORAH GDOLAH). It was finalized by the Mesorites a group
of people who lived between the closing of the Gemarrah, the Geonim
and the codification of the Bible. It contains information on all
sorts of word patterns. The work of the Mesorites was used to form
the basis of the modern Konkordances.
Rashi comments on 4 of these 6 "DOUBLE THAT" VERSES. The basic
idea in each verse is that the "DOUBLE THAT" indicates a TWONESS.
We now list each verse and then indicate HOW we would perceive
the verse without the BULLETS/THATS and HOW we perceive the
verse with the BULLETS/THATS.
EXAMPLE 1--v1-29-12
-------------------
WITHOUT THE BULLETS/"THATS": I(Jacob) am your relative
--------------------------
WITH THE BULLETS/"THATS":
-----------------------
* DECEITFUL:I can act like your fathers relative
* NICE: I can act like my mother
EXAMPLE 2-3-11
---------------
WITHOUT THE BULLETS: Who am I that I should go to Pharoh
--------------------& save the Jews
WITH THE BULLETS/"THATS"
-----------------------
* PHYSICAL: Who am I that I should go to Pharoh(a powerful
king that might kill me) and take a nation of
600,000 people out of Egypt
* SPIRITUAL: What merit do the Jews have that they should
be saved
EXAMPLE 1-33-11
---------------
WITHOUT THE BULLETS: I(Jacob) also have everything I need
--------------------(Cf Esauv's statement (1-33-9) 'I have
alot (more than I need)'
WITH THE BULLETS/"THAT:"
----------------------
* I live by Gods grace
* I however have everything (sufficient needs)
In other words Jacobs statement
>I have EVERYTHING
can be understood
>ARROGANTLY (I have ANYTHING I want)
>WITH HUMILITY (I have sufficient for my needs)
By using the two bullets (GODS GRACE, EVERYTHING) Jacob emphasizes
that he is using the
>ALL of SUFFICIENCY
and not the
>ALL of ANYTHING
EXAMPLE 1-3-6
-------------
WITHOUT THE BULLETS: The snake said to Eve--look you don't even
-------------------- know/appreciate that you are naked..by eating
from the tree your eyes will be open(your desires will
increase), & you will understand good and evil
WITH THE BULLET/"THAT:" The snake said to Eve TWO things
--------------------
* If you eat from the tree your EYES WILL BE OPENED
* You will become like Gods and be able to create worlds
The verse says that Eve then saw that
* PHYSICAL:the forbidden fruit would OPEN HER EYES and
give her an understanding of her nakedness and of good
and evil
* SPIRITUAL: it would make her godlike with the ability
to create worlds
The above compactly summarizes the various Rashis on the verse.
Rashi simply took the above concepts and associated them with
the verse phrases. The KEY point to emphasize is that what
motivated Rashi was NOT the repetition but rather the repeat
of the KEY WORD THAT. Further technical comments are given
below.
------------------------------------------------
| STOP! STOP! |
| The remainder of this section is technical! |
| On a FIRST reading you may wish to scroll to |
| the next section which begins with the word |
| VERSE: You can scroll quickly by using the |
| FIND feature in the main menu of your browser|
| or word processor (FIND "VERSE:"). More |
| ambitious readers (or on a 2nd reading) are |
| encouraged to continue for many more |
| interesting details and lists. |
------------------------------------------------
COMMENTS ON RASHI'S FORM:
=========================
We have 3 comments
#1) BROTHER = RELATIVE
----------------------
Jacob says that
>I am the BROTHER of her father
But in fact he was
>the son of the sister of her father
Rashi simply explains that
>BROTHER is a generic word meaning relative.
{LIST3} presents several examples.
-------------------------------------------
|QUESTION 3: |
|========== |
|How would you prove that |
| >Brother = Relative? |
|What tools would you use? |
-------------------------------------------
#2) CREATORS OF WORLDS
----------------------
I have frequently explained that Genesis 1 describes not the
creation of the world but the creation of prophecy. What happened
6000 years ago is that the first prophet was created. See v1-1-4
in v1n25. Using this concept we would understand the dialog in
Genesis 3 as follows
--the snake suggested that by eating of the fruit (which
eg according to some opinions was GRAPES=WINE=LIQUOR)
their eyes would be open (ie they would become aware of
themselves sexually, would know good and evil etc).
--the snake further suggested that prophecy itself as
eg in the 4 beasts of Ezekiel 1 was nothing but a
description of sex--that is the snake denied prophecy
and only perceived the world as dealing with physical
desires. Hence the snake concluded that the visions
they had were derived from sexual (vs spiritual)
experiences and that therefore if they had the forbidden
fruit=graphes=wine that they would acquire not only
sexual understanding but prophetic understanding.(of
course actual prophecy denotes spiritual matters having
nothing to do with physical intimacy).
Rashi derives the second point (that prophecy=sexuality) from
the double bullet (double "THAT") which suggests that besides
trying to "open their eyes"(Make them aware of themselves
physically) the snake also attacked prophecy itself.
#3) 2 BULLETS for THREE SENTENCES
---------------------------------
Note that 1-3-6 and 2-3-11 both have 3 sentences but 2 bullets.
Let us deal with 2-3-11 the treatment of 1-3-6 being similar.
The verse says
>Who am I that I should go to Pharoh
> and that I should take the Jews out of Egypt
As pointed out above, without the double "THAT" I would intepret
both of these physically
>Pharoh is a King and kills people; how can I go to him
>Even if I take the Jews out of Egypt how can I feed
them, provide shelter, deliver their babies etc (This
last point was made by the Exodus Rabbah on this verse)
BUT..with the double BULLETS/"THAT" we have that in ADDITION
to the above physical interpretation there is a SPIRITUAL component
(hence the TWO bullets)
>PHSYCIAL: How can I go to Pharoh who is a king; he'll kill me
>SPIRITUAL: Do the Jews have merit to escape Egypt.
It is interesting how this verse is treated differently by the
Midrash Rabbah and Rashi. Rashi Is simple--there are two bullets
and two comments
>Who am I that I should go to Pharoh
>What merit do the Jews have to escape egypt
But the Midrash Rabbah has 3 components
>How can I go to Pharoh (he might kill me)
>How can I sustain a nation of 600000 people
>What merit do they have to leave
In fact the Midrash Rabbah even has a 4th component. But the
above should be enough for now.
LISTS {For ADVANCED students and for those with more time}:
===========================================================
{LIST1} {Verses where something is REPEATED. In each of them
the repetition is not EXPOUNDED to denote a TWONESS
but rather the REPETITION is expounded to denote
endearment. This LIST is compiled from similar
lists notated by the Mesorites on the Chumash}
NAME: VERSE WHERE THEY WERE REPEATED TWICE
================== =====================================
Abraham 1-22-11 *2
Jacob 1-46-2 *2
Moses 2-3-4 *2
Shmuel Sam-3-10 *2
You're beautiful Songs-4-1 *3
Names of the Jews 2-1-1 and 1-48-8 *1
FOOTNOTES
*1 The identical phrase "And these are the names of the Jews"
is used in both 2-1-1 and 1-48-8. By contrast the repetition
of the names of Noach (in 1-5-32 and 1-10-1) use different phrases
*2 It is hard to appreciate the list until we add the fact that the
other people that God spoke to (Isaac, Aharan, Joshua...) do not
have ANY verses where there a repetition.
*3 Note how Songs-4-1 deals with attributes vs names
{LIST2} {The 6 verses in the Torah where it uses the form
....THAT....and THAT (In other words THAT is repeated
We refer to these in the text as DOUBLE THAT verses.
We interpret these THATS as the equivalent of BULLETS
in English..each one denoting one point. The LIST was
compiled using the work of the Mesorites.}
VERSE THE TEXT BULLET INTERPRETATION
====== ================================== =====================
1-3-6 THAT the tree was good for food Become godlike
&THAT it is a desirous to the eyes Become selfaware
1-29-12 THAT he is the brother of her father Knows Deceipt
&THAT he is the son of Rivkah Knows Brotherhood
1-33-11 THAT God has been graceful to me Started with nothing
&THAT I have enough Now I have sufficient
2-3-11 THAT I should go to Pharoh Physical capability
&THAT I should save the Jews Jews merit?
2-4-31 THAT God remembered the Jews
&THAT He saw their suffering *1
4-5-20 THAT you've strayed from your husband
&THAT you have become impure *1
FOOTNOTES
*1 There is no Rashi on these verses
{LIST3} {Verses where BROTHER denotes a RELATIVE but not a
real brother}
VERSE PERSON1 #2 RELATION TEXT
======= ======= ======= ============ ==============================
1-13-8 Abraham Lot Uncle-Nephew We are brothers
1-29-12 Jacob Laban Uncle-Nephew I am brother of your father
5-18-15 Jews Someone Nation-person ..a prophet from your brothers
Prv19-7 Friends Poor Friends-Poor ..the poor's friends hate him
3-25-46 Jews Jews Nation-Nation ..against your brothers
CROSS REFERENCES:
=================
Volume 1 Number 6, v2-1-1 (Repeatition denotes endearment)
Volume 1 Number 25,v1-1-4 (Gen 1 talks about the creation
of prophecy)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
=================
RULE CLASSIFICATION {See the web site for comparable examples}:
===============================================================
OVERALL STRUCTURE
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