Rashi-Is-Simple Mailing List
(C) Dr Russell Jay Hendel, 1999
http://www.shamash.org/rashi
Volume 4 Number 7
Produced Nov, 17 1999
Topics Discussed in This Issue
------------------------------
v1a29-6
A root whose 3rd letter is HAY has an ACCENT ON 2nd
syllable in past, 3rd person while a root whose 2nd
leter is vav has ACCENT ON 1st syllable (eg 2-10-23 RAOO
vs KAMU). Similarly 1st vs 2nd syllable accent
distinguishes PAST vs PRESENT in 1v3 roots.
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (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: v1a29-6
======
v1a29-6 and Rachel is coming
v1b18-20 The screams of Sedom & Amorah are ALREADY to big
v1e15-17 And the sun had already come down....
v1b42-21 That is why this tragedy had come to us
v1b34-29 They bootied
v1-46-26 all soul(s) coming with Jacob
RASHI TEXT:
===========
v1a29-6 The 2 syllable word BA-HH (COMES) occurs in
>1-29-6, SHE IS COMING, with accent on LAST syllable
>1-29-9, SHE HAD COME, with accent on FIRST syllable
This is consistent with the Aramaic translation
v1b18-20 The screams of Sedom & Amorah are ALREADY to big
The word BIG (RVH) is usually accented on the
first syllable and is therefore translated GROWING
In this verse however, 1-18-20, it is accented on
the first syllable and is therefore translated as
HAVE ALREADY BECOME TO BIG
v1e15-17 And the sun had already come down....
The word BA-AH is accented on the first syllable
and is therefore translated THE SUN HAD SET.
If however the word BA-AH was accented on the 2nd
syllable it would be translated as AS THE SUN
WAS SETTING.
This 2nd interpretation (AS THE SUN WAS SETTING) is
not possible here because it already had said in
1-15-12 AS THE SUN WAS SETTING... Consequently
1-15-17 must be translated as THE SUN HAD SET
(Rashi gives other examples of this rule that
ACCENT distinguished between PAST and PRESENT)
v1b42-21 That is why this tragedy had come to us
The word COME is accented on the first syllable
and hence the verse is translated THEREFORE
DID THIS TRAGEDY HAD COME UPON US
v1b34-29 They bootied--the word SHVU has its accent on the
second syllable--it therefore comes from the ROOT
SHVH (BOOTY) and the verse is translated..THEY
PLUNDERED AND BOOTIED.
v1-46-26 all soul(s) coming with Jacob to Egypt
The first count in 1-46-26 refers to the souls
COMING from Canaan to Egypt (and therefore
the word BA-AH is accented on the 2nd syllable
since it means COMING). There were 66 such souls
The second count in 1-46-27 refers to the souls
who actually came into Egypt (and therefore the
word BA-AH is accented on the 1st syllable since
it means WHO HAD COME). There were 70 such souls
The difference between these two numbers (66 vs
70) is 4 people and refers to 1) Joseph, 2-3)
his two sons and 4) Yocheved (Moses Mother) who
was born on the Egyptian border as they came in.
(In passing, the opinion that each tribe had
a twin sister born with them whom they married
would have to concede that these twin sisters
died since they are not numbered in the 70).
BRIEF BUT COMPLETE NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
=========================================
Rashi teaches grammar here. To show the innovation in Rashis
pedagogic methodology we must review how Grammar is currently
taught.
Everyone knows that Grammar starts with the ROOT. By specifying
appropriate criteria we can then CONJUGATE the verb. This is
done thru using the CONJUGATION tables that are taught in Schools
and that can be learned from both technical and popular grammar
books.
A simple example will suffice. ShMR means to WATCH. Suppose
I want to say
>SHE WATCHED
Then I would list the criteria that we are talking about
>3rd person (She vs You, I)
>Singular (She vs they)
>Female (She vs He)
>Past tense (watched vs will watch)
>Ordinary mode (not causative, reflexive or intense)
Upon looking up in my favorite table I would find that SHE WATCHED=
>Sh M R T
The list of criteria questions for conjugating a verb is reviewed
in {LIST1}
The above basic rule is enriched thru the various TYPES of roots.
Every root is considered to have 3 letters which we call 123. Thus
in ShMR we have that
>letter 1 = Sh
>letter 2 = M
>letter 3 = R
If the last two letters of the root are the same we have a 122 verb.
If the last letter is a HAY we have a 12H verb. Similarly if the
2nd letter is a VOV we have a 1v3 verb. There is then a separate
set of conjugation tables for each TYPE of verb.
Now it is easy to LEARN a CONJUGATION table and this is the way
education proceeds in schools. But Rashi ingeniously reverses the
process. Instead of
>teaching conjugation tables and then
>asking how to conjugate various verbs
Rashi uses the more challenging approach of
>teaching how to conjugate various verbs
>asking us what conjugation table it comes from.
Thus Rashi starts where grammar school ended. By doing so he
enriches our understanding of nuances.
Let us give some examples. Suppose I give the grammatical form
> BA AH (B A H)
Rashi points out that the word can come from
>a 1v3 conjugation table, 3rd person, singular, female, PAST
or
>a 1v3 conjugation table, singular, female, PRESENT
Rashi further points out that
>the PAST 1v3 conjugation has accent on the 1st syllable
>the PRESENT 1v3 conjugation has accent on 2nd syllable.
Thus we have the two sentences
>1-29-6 SHE IS COMING (BA-AH, accent on 2nd syllable)
>1-29-9 SHE HAD COME (BA-AH, accent on 1st syllable)
This is further illustrated in {LIST2}
Another example is given by Rashi on the form
>ShVU
Rashi points out that the word can come from
>a 1v3 table: 3rd person, plural,past--accent on 1st syllable
or
>a 12H table: 3rd person, plural,past--accent on 2nd syllable
In other words it is the position of the accent in the word that
enables us to tell if we are dealing with a 1v3 vs a 12H root.
Hence 1-34-29 is translated as BOOTIED from the root SVH rather
than RETURNED from the root ShOV. We can tell this difference
from the accent.
In summary by using the pedagogic technique of reversibility we
can gain enrichments of our grammatical appreciation.
COMMENTS ON RASHI'S FORM:
=========================
A great deal of ink has been spilled on the Rashi on 1-46-26.
Allow me to succinctly state the problem and show how Rashi
cleverly chose the most logical of 6 alternative solutions
presented in the Midrash Rabbah.
1-46 mentions that
>66 people came with Jacob into Egypt (1-46-26)
>70 had come into Egypt (1-46-27)
The difference between the 66 that came with Jacob and the 70 that
were in Egypt is accounted for in 1-46-27 by
>Joseph
>+His two sons.
Thus we immediately see the problem.
>Joseph + His Two Sons = 3 people
>3 people + 66 = 69 not 70
>How then does the verse say there are 70 people?
Rashi appears to just flippantly say that Moses Mother, Jocheved
was born on the Egyptian Border (Hence she is
>not in the 66 that came
>not in the 3 people who were already there (Joe+2 sons)
>but increased the 66+3 one more to 70.
But Rashi is Simple and never does anything flippantly. In fact
Rashi chose between at least 7 competeing solutions---naturally
he chose the simplest. Let us enumarate them.
APPROACH #1--The famous ROUNDING ROSH
-------------------------------------
A famous ROSH gathers several examples of similar problems and
simply says that the Torah rounds numbers ending in 9 to the
nearest 10. The Rosh brings 3 examples exhibited in {LIST3}--
thus the Torah in 3-23-15:16 says to count 7 full weeks which
are 50 days!! (So we see that the 49 days are rounded to 50!)
But the ROSH can be refuted by the opening in Genesis Rabbah 94:9
that
>if the Torah first says 66 adds 3 and says this is 70
>then we are not dealing with rounding (Because a principle
>of rounding would only apply when one number is specified
>without detail...but when so much detail is given other
>principles must be operant).
The Genesis Rabbah now gives 6 other approaches.
APPROACHES #2, #3--The Famous YOCHEVED on the BORDER APPROACH
-------------------------------------------------------------
This approach is deceptively simple (and hence Rashi chose it)
We see that
>66 people came INTO Egypt (1-46-26)
>3 people were already in Egypt (1-46-27)
>70 ended up in Egypt
So we must assume that one person was born in Egypt but was
not already there and did not come in.
Who could this be? Again using the simple but powerful technique
of OTHER VERSES the Midrash notes the explicit verse
>..Yocheved...who WAS BORN IN EGYPT (2-6-20).
There are two versions of what happened.
One version suggests that Yocheved's mother was pregnant with
her when they left for Egypt and she gave birth on the border
A second version suggests that Yocheved's mother became pregnant
on the trip (and as consistent with Jewish law, a foetus can
have legal status in certain circumstances before birth (See
Eg Rambam Sales 22:10-11).
APPROACH #4---DAN'S SON CHUSHIM WAS THE 70th PERSON
---------------------------------------------------
It explicitly says that
>The sonS of Dan were CHUSHIM (1-46-23)
The Midrash ascribes to Rabbi Meir the point that the word
SONS (SonS of DAN) is plural. Combining some well known
historical facts with a simple approach of the Midrashic
commentary the MARZU I would suggest the following--
--Dan had a son who died
--He then went and gave birth to another son
--Dan named the 2nd son after the first one
--to emphasize the first son Dan made the name plural
--so the first son's name was CHUSH while
--the 2nd son's name was CHUSHIM (Plural of CHUSH)
--The verse summarizes this by saying
>The sonS of Dan were called CHUSHIM
--Thus even though he had one live son THEY are called CHUSHIM
--Rabbi Meir knew of this because of his own personal experiences
--Rabbi Meir lost two sons when they were 12
--A famous story shows how Bruriah comforted him
--He probably had other sons afterwards which he named after them
--Thus he was familiar with the idea of naming sons after the dead
--It is logical that Dan's dead son was alive when going to Egypt
--He then died shortly after arriving in Egypt
--so the dead son was the EXTRA 4th person who made the 70
The above explanation was based on textual readings of the MHRZU
and avoids some of the Midrashic problems of the MtNoth Chunah
We also have avoided making Rabbi Meir differ from the Midrash.
The trouble with the above approach is that if DAN really had
2 children then the counts should be
>67 (not 66) coming to Egypt
>3 already in Egypt
>Total of 70
Nevertheless the approach has support since CHUSHIM is called the
>SonS of Dan
but is initially only counted as one person.
APPROACH #5---GOD WAS THE 70th PERSON
-------------------------------------
The trouble with this approach is that God is never referred to
as a SOUL in all of Tnach. Nevertheless there is philosophical
merit to it since it explicitly says in the Midrash that
>God goes into exile with the Jews
APPROACH #6, #7---Jacob, Serach was the 70th person
---------------------------------------
To understand these approaches we must look at the subtotals{LIST4}
1-46-15 Children of Leah = 33 includes the female Serach
excludes Jacob
includes Judah's 2 sons who died
1-46-19 Children of Rachel=14 includes Joe+ 2 sons
1-46-18 Children of Zilpah=16
1-46-25 Children of Bilhah= 7
---------------------
Total 70 includes female Serach
excludes Jacob
includes Judah's 2 sons who died
includes Joe+2 sons
So now we see APPROACH #1,#2. If we discount the 2 sons of Judah
who died then to make the count 70 we have to
>include Jacob
>include Yocheved
Furthermore,Serach is already explicitly included(In Leah's children
If we INCLUDE the 2 dead sons (as children who WERE COMING TO
EGYPT but who DIED before getting there) then either
>we keep Serach
>Do not add Yocheved
or
>we throw out Serach (because she is a female?)
>and Include Jacob
Again the trouble here is that this would explain the 70 but
not fully explain the 66 ( It should be 67 came in and the
total was 70).
In summary the easiest way to explain is
>66 came with Jacob into Egypt
-Include Jacob, Serach
-Exclude Judah's two dead sons
>3 people ALREADY in Egypt (Joseph + 2 sons)
> Yocheved was BORN IN EGYPT but
-was not already there
-did not come into Egypt with the others
Thus Rashi is Simple.
The above is an excellent example of how Rashi selects between
competing Midrashim.
LISTS {For ADVANCED students and for those with more time}:
===========================================================
{LIST1} {The 7*1 criteria for conjugating a verb. We use for
an example ShMRTCHAH = SHE WATCHED YOU}
CRITERIA EXAMPLE CONTRAST
======== ======= ========
Person 3rd = she you, I
Plurality Single=she They
Gender Female Male
Time Past Future
Mode Active Passive, Causative..
Object watched you watcher them, watched him...
Preposition ETH you FOR you, TO you
FOOTNOTES
*1 Most grammar books only give 5 or 6. We give the full 7
{LIST2} {Examples where accents change meaning in verbs *1}
VERSE WORD MEANING ACCENT ROOT CONJUGATION
======== ====== ========= ============ ==== ======================
v1a29-6 BA AH COMING 2nd syllable 1v3 present,single,female
v1a29-9 BA AH HAD COME 1st syllable 1v3 past,single,female,3rd
v1e15-17 BA AH HAD SET 1st syllable 1v3 past,single,female,3rd
v1b42-21 BA AH HAD COME 1st syllable 1v3 past,single,female,3rd
v1-46-26 BA AH COMING TO 2nd syllable 1v3 present,single,female
v1-46-27 BA AH HAD COME 1st syllable 1v3 past,single,female,3rd
v1b18-20 RA VAH ARE BIG 1st syllable 1v3 past,single,female,3rd
1-34-29 ShVU Bootied 2nd syllable 12H past,plural,3rd
2-10-23 R OO See 2nd syllable 12H past,plural,3rd
2-10-23 K MOO Get Up 1st syllable 1v3 past,plural,3rd
FOOTNOTES
*1 We use the following notation. Eg 12H means the 3rd root letter
is HAY. Similarly 1v3 means the 2nd root letter is a vav.
Rashi gives further examples but we believe the above should suffice
{LIST3} {The Famous Rosh...The Torah rounds numbers ending
in 9 to the nearest 10. *1}
VERSE NUMBER ROUNDING TEXT
========== ================= =============
1-46-27 69 people came in 70 came in
3-23-15:16 7 weeks 50 days
5-25-3 39 lashes maximum 40 lashes
FOOTNOTES
*1 The Genesis Rabbah 94:9 suggests that 1-46-27 does not
belong in this list since
>THERE IS TOO MUCH DETAIL TO SUGGEST ROUNDING
Thus we have
>66 coming in
>3 already there
>70 alltogether
The ROUNDING suggestion appears too simplistic
{LIST4} {Balance sheet for 70 people who came to Egypt}
To achieve a balance of 70 this list suggests 3
approaches
>Leave the list as is(with Serach)(you get 70)
>Exclude Serach and Include Jacob
>Exclude Judahs 2 dead sons; Add Jacob, Yocheved*1}
VERSE SUBTOTAL # Include Include Exclude
======= ================= == ======= ================== =======
1-46-15 Children of Leah 33 Serach Judahs 2 dead sons Jacob
1-46-19 Children of Rachel 14 Joe+2 sons
1-46-18 Children of Zilpah 16
1-46-25 Children of Bilhah 7
------------------ --
1-46-27 Grand Total 70
FOOTNOTES
*1 As noted above in the text..the trouble with most approaches
is that while they explain the number 70 they do not explain
the number 66 vs 70. How did 4 extra people wind up in Egypt
if only 66 came and 3 were there. We should have a count of
67 coming in and 70 remaining. The Yocheved theory is the
only account of someone NOT in those coming, NOT in those
already there but in Egypt. Hence Rashi chose it.
CROSS REFERENCES:
=================
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
=================
RULE CLASSIFICATION {See the web site for comparable examples}:
===============================================================
GRAMMAR
QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS:
=======================
HW #2: Add more examples to {LIST2} (Words whose meaning
changes from accent).
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
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