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(C) Dr Russell Jay Hendel, 2000
Volume 5 Number 5
Produced Feb, 06 2000
WARNING: USE FIX WIDTH FONTS (eg COURIER (NEW) 10)
Verses/Topics Discussed in This Issue with quicky explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------
v6-2-6
We will break single topics with more than a dozen
rashis into 2 to 3 postings. This is easier to read.
v2a20-3
Rashi brings PAIRS of VERSES agreeing in almost all
respects but have minor word differences(eg 1 verse says
IF A MAN while another says WHOEVER..). The word
differences allow INTERMEDIATE INTERPRETATIONS and
resolve ambiguity(so MAN means ADULT not minor
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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: v6-2-6
======
BREAKING LONG TOPICS INTO SHORTER PARTS
I continuously experiment with new forms to make reading these
digests easier.
The attached two issues really cover 1 topic---Rashis Treatment of
double verses with minor word differences. In the past I would
simply place all 13 verses in one issue. Even if I am short on
each verse this creates a bulky appearance.
So I am breaking the 1 topic into 3 parts which will go into
two digests. You still get all 13 examples and you still get
the same 7 or so Rashis per issue. But you don't have to read
them all in one sitting.
As usual reader comments are always welcome on ways to make
these digests more readable.
Russell Hendel; Moderator/Owner Rashi Is Simple
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VERSE: v2a20-3
======
[Moderator:This is part 1 of 3.See v2z20-3 and v2y20-3]
v2a20-3 Don't HAVE other gods in my presence
v2b21-16 He who steals a man & sells him & is found
v5b24-7 If a person is found stealing a soul..& using him
v3a20-5 & I will place my face against him & his family
v3b20-5 & I will place my face against him & his family
v3a19-14 Don't curse a deaf-mute
RASHI TEXT:
===========
[Moderator: In all these verses Rashi compares the given
verse to another verse (which is lined up beneath it). The
2 verses usually differ in 1 or 2 places. Rashi then explains
why the 2 verses differ in these places.
For example the first example below has two verses with one
prohibiting
>HAVING idols
while the other prohibits
>MAKING idols
This difference is marked with a *1 (1st difference). Rashi
then explains this difference. Since we explain everything
below we did not repeat the whole of Rashi here]
v2a20-3 Don't HAVE other gods in my presence
2-20-4 Don't MAKE other idols
*1
v2a21-16 He who steals a man & sells him & is found
v5b24-7 ..a man stealing a soul..& use him & sells him
*1 *2
v3a20-5 & I will place my face against him & his family
v3b20-5 & I will place my face against him & his family
& I will cut off him & his followers
*1 *2
v4-19-20(a TAMAY person) shall be cut off..he defiled the TEMPLE
4-19-13(a TAMAY person) shall be cut off..he defiled the MISKAN
*1 *2 *3
v3a19-14 Don't curse a deaf-mute
2-22-27 Don't curse a king
*1
BRIEF BUT COMPLETE NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
=========================================
In this and the next issue we study the Biblical technique of DOUBLE
VERSES. We have already used this technique many times. We now
examine about 13 Rashis were Rashi comments on a
>pair of verses that
>almost look alike
>but differ in 1 or 2 words.
Our goals are to explain the simple meaning of the text and to show
what Rashi did and WHY he did it. We will do this in 3 stages.
STAGE 1
-------
If the two verses say
>TWO DIFFERENT THINGS
then Rashi is simple and will simply point out that there are 2
components to the law.
EXAMPLE 1-v3-20-5
-----------------
In discussing the person who offers his children to the Molech gods
we find the following verse
>I will place my face against him & his family
>I will cut him & his followers off
> *1 *2
Notice the two differences between these verse phrases. The 1st
phrase says I WILL PLACE MY FACE AGAINST HIM while the 2nd phrase
says I WILL CUT HIM OFF. We have marked this spot with a *1 on the
3rd row so the reader can identify it. Similarly we have marked
the 2nd difference with a *2--the 2nd difference is WHO is punished-
one phrase says HE & HIS FAMILY while the other phrase says HE & HIS
FOLLOWERS.
Why this difference? Rashi is simple---the person who sinned is
actually CUT OFF while his family only SUFFERS but is not cut off.
Rashi also gives a reason why the family (who did not sin) should
be punished at all---they obviously knew that he had worshipped
Molech (since this involves passing children thru fire) and yet
they covered it up.
The other examples are treated similarly
v4-19-20(a TAMAY person) shall be cut off..he defiled the TEMPLE
4-19-13(a TAMAY person) shall be cut off..he defiled the MISKAN
*1 *2 *3
The verses discuss a person who is ritually impure (TAMAY) and
enters the temple--there is a prohibition against this and the
person is cut off from his people. Looking at difference *3 we
see that Rashi is Simple--the prohibition and punishment apply
whether one enters the Temple (in Solomon's time) or the Miskan
(in the wilderness). (More comments are made in the COMMENTS
ON RASHIS FORM SECTION)
EXAMPLE 3-----v2a21-16
----------------------
v2a21-16 He who steals a man & sells him & is found
5-24-7 ..a man stealing a soul..& use him & sells him
*1 *2
The verses are speaking about kidnap-theft of humans for sale. There
is a death penalty for this. Rashi is Simple and says that a death
penalty only applies if all acts mentioned in both verses apply--
that is the thief must
>steal a person
>the stolen person is found in the thiefs possession
>the thief USES the person
>the thief sells him.
An English mnemonic is PUSSY-Tea(Theft, Possession, Usage, Sale).
(More comments are made in the COMMENTS ON RASHIS FORM SECTION)
EXAMPLE 4---v2a20-3
-------------------
When discussing the prohibition of idolatry the Torah says
v2a20-3 Don't HAVE other gods in my presence
2-20-4 Don't MAKE other idols
So Rashi is simple--there is a prohibtion BOTH on
>MAKING idols (eg for sale)
>POSSESSING idols (eg buying standardized idols)
EXAMPLE 5---v3a19-14
----------------
We have
v3a19-14 Don't curse a deaf-mute
2-22-27 Don't curse a king
*1
So Rashi is Simple--the prohibition of cursing applies equally to
a
>King (who minds such insults)
>A Deaf-mute who can't hear the curse
Rambam in the book COMMANDMENTS brilliantly points out that there
are two prohibitions in cursing
>it is prohibited to hurt the persons feeling by cursing
>it is prohibited to be verbally agressive (even if
>the other party does not know about it).
Based on this analysis the prohibition of cursing applies to
anyone alive (FROM deafmute TO King). This type of argument
(generalizing a law from two extremes) is calle GENERALIZING
FORM TWO ARGUMENTS in the RabbiIshmael hierarchy of methods of
inferences.
COMMENTS ON RASHI'S FORM:
=========================
We add 3 comments on the above.
#1) Differences not explained
------------------------------
v4-19-20(a TAMAY person) shall be cut off..he defiled the TEMPLE
4-19-13(a TAMAY person) shall be cut off..he defiled the MISKAN
*1 *2 *3
We did not explain differences *1 and *2. Difference *1 refers to
the orders of the verse (Which we have covered up for reasons of
space). One verses says IF YOU DEFILE YOU WILL BE CUT OFF while
the other verse says YOU WILL BE CUT OFF IF YOU DEFILE.
Difference *2 again has not been mentioned for reasons of space
In one verse it says HE WILL BE CUT OFF FROM THE JEWS while
in the other verse it says HE WILL BE CUT OFF FROM THE
COMMUNITY.
Rashi only explains reason *3. It is out custom in this email group
to explain all differences. These other two differences will be
explained at a later date when we discuss the Red Heiffer laws
in connection with the Rambam-Rashi Golden series
#2) Meaning of AMR
-------------------
In the following pair of verses
v2a21-16 He who steals a man & sells him & is found
5-24-7 ..a man stealing a soul..& use him & sells him
*1 *2
Rashi adds further explanatory material. For example regarding
difference *1 Rashi explains that the Hebrew word
>AMR
means
>To use somebody
In fact this verb only occurs a few times in Tnach and means to
>BUNDLE SHEAVES
>TO USE (5-21-14)
At the time of this writing I do not see a (clear) unified meaning
behind these two meanings.
#3) Meaning of "& is found on his hand"
----------------------------------------
v2a21-16 He who steals a man & sells him & is found
5-24-7 ..a man stealing a soul..& use him & sells him
*1 *2
On the phrase
>& is found on his hand
Rashi says
>is found in his possession.
There are several verses where
>HAND
means
>POSSESSIONS.
These verses are brought down by the Mechilta; Radack in his book
ROOTS also brings down many such verses.
--------------------------------------
|QUESTION 1: |
|=========== |
|Can you find verses where |
| >hand |
|means |
| >possession |
|What tool would you use? |
|See {LIST1} below for a partial |
|answer. |
--------------------------------------
LISTS {For ADVANCED students and for those with more time}:
===========================================================
{LIST1} {Verses where HAND means POSSESIONS. Although a CD-ROM
or Konkordance could be used such devices are inferior
since they are classifed by SPELLING and not by MEANING
The following LIST comes from the RDK's book ROOTS which
lists Biblical words by MEANING}
VERSE TEXT
===== ===============================================
4-31-49 The soldiers in our POSSESSION (hand)
1K14-3 And take in your POSSESSION (Hand) 10 camels ..
5-21-26 And he took his land from his POSSESSION(hand)
1-24-10 & his masters goods were in his POSSESSION(hand)
4-31-6 the temple vessels were in his POSSESSION(hand)
CROSS REFERENCES:
=================
v2a20-3
v2z20-3
v2y20-3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
=================
RULE CLASSIFICATION {See the web site for comparable examples}:
===============================================================
DOUBLE PARSHAS
DOUBLE PARSHAS
DOUBLE PARSHAS
DOUBLE PARSHAS
DOUBLE PARSHAS
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End of Rashi-Is-Simple Digest
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