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VERSE: Lv25-25a

RASHIS COVERED: Lv25-25a Lv25-25b LV25-25c Lv25-26a Lv25-27a
                Lv25-27b Lv25-27c Lv25-28a Lv25-28b


============== Lv25-25:28 Redeeming Real estate =================

 We introduce a new Rashi Rule: The RULE of FILL-IN:

   According to this rule a Biblical text may have a MINOR
   PROBLEM---the text may have 2 or 3 possible references
   and Rashi simply clarifies, based on context, which
   meaning is operative.

   For example if the Bible says HE WILL DO SUCH & SUCH
   the Rashi may clarify WHO is the HE referring to.

   Similarly if the Bible says A, AND B, AND C AND D
   then Rashi may clarify whether the word AND can
   mean OR, IF THEN etc (Examples of this are given below)

   Similarly in discussion of computations Rashi may
   clarify the computed items with clear definitions or
   examples

   To introduce this principle we use Lv25-28, which deals
   with the law of redeeming real estate. Here is an overview:

   If you sell your estate then there are 3 possibilities:
   --a relative can help you redeem the field
   --you yourself acquired money and can redeem the field
   --no one can redeem the field (So God does in Jubilee)

   The LIST below presents the
   --BIBLICAL VERSES on the left
   --and RASHIS CLARIFICATIONS on the right
   --Since the CLARIFICATIONS are stated tersely the footnotes
     further clarify

   I have also added SECTION HEADINGS to facilitate reading
   the Biblical text


=================================================================
The Biblical Text Lv25-25:28        Rashis clarification
=================================== =============================
------THE CASE-------------         --------THE CASE----------
If your brother becomes poor        Only sell estate if poor*1
and sells [PART of] his estate      SELL FROM= SELL PART*2
------SITUATION #1---------         ------SITUATION #1*3------
[IF] is his relative redeemer comes The word AND means IF *3
[THEN] he can redeem the field      The word AND means THEN *4
------SITUATION #2---------         ------SITUATION #2 *3-----
IF [SITUATION #1] DOESNT HOLD *4    No relative AND no redemption
THEN IF he personally can pay off
THEN compute the YEARS              YEARS from SALE to JUBILEE *5
and return the DIFFERENCE*6         Years to Jubilee-Years he had
to whom [THE ORIGINAL BUYER] sold   The word HE= ORIGINAL BUYER*7
and [THE ORIGINAL BUYER] returns
------SITUATION #3---------         -----SITUATION #3------
IF [SITUATIONS #1,#2] dont hold     Cant pay off whole value *8
THEN the buyer will keep the field
till the [BEGINNING OF THE]*9       Contracts read restrictively
year of the Jubilee
but the field exits at Jubilee
and returns to the owner

NOTES
=====
*1 Lv25-25a
   See the LIST below. There are many Biblical Paragraphs
   dealing with sales. Some begin with the phrase
   --------------------------------------
   If your brother becomes poor and sells
   --------------------------------------

   while some begin
   -------------------
   If you sell
   -------------------

   Rashi explains that when the beginning phrase is
   ---------------------------------
   If your brother becomes poor
   ---------------------------------
   the Torah indicates the typical case, that one should
   only sell real estate when he is poor.

   Actually Rashi only teaches this on Lv25-25a but based
   on Jewish Law it is proper to generalize it to other
   cases.

   A LIST below compactly presents several such paragraphs
   and their opening sentences. Thus this Rashi uses the
   concept of DOUBLE PARSHAS (Alignment of Parshas)

*2 Lv25-25b
   The Bible actually says
   ---------------------------
   and he sells FROM his estate
   ---------------------------

   but Rashi interprets this as
   -------------------------------
   and he sells PART of his estate
   -------------------------------

   Remarkably this is the only time in the Bible when the
   preposition FROM is used with SELL. THe normal usage
   is SELL AN OBJECT. Hence Rashi interprets SELL FROM
   HIS ESTATE to mean SELL PART OF HIS ESTATE

   The LIST below shows several examples of verses with
   SELL. Thus this Rashi uses the rule of ROOT+PREPOSITION

*3 Lv25-25c

   The actual Biblical text consists of a series of phrases
   separated by the word AND (VAV). However Rashi skillfully
   interprets the word AND as meaning IF/THEN.. as appropriate

   Rashi does this by studying the OVERALL STRUCTURE of
   the paragraph (Perhaps the Malbim rule of usage of KI
   vs IM might help here).

   In general the Hebrew word VAV can mean any BOOLEAN
   CONNECTIVE such as OR, AND, IF, THEN etc. Its meaning
   is therefore determined by context.

   Although Rashi only mentions this principle at the
   beginning of the paragraph it applies to all VAV
   in the paragraph.

   Aaron Bitman of my Shomrey Emunah class was fond of
   seeking out those VAVs that have meanings other than
   AND  and OR.

   Although Rashi uses the rule of FILL-IN here, we
   can be more specific and perceive Rashi as using
   the rule of SPECIAL MEANINGS here since VAV has
   special meanings.

*4 Lv25-26a
   3 points will clarify this Rashi

   1st: The OVERALL STRUCTURE of the paragraph clearly
   shows 3 SITUATIONS:
   --a relative redeems the field
   --the original owner redeems the field
   --noone redeems the field

   2nd: The verse actually says
   ------------------------------------------
   and if the original owner have no redeemer
   ------------------------------------------

   3rd: Rashi deviates from the literal meaning of the text
   and interprets the above phrase as follows
   --------------------------------------------------------
   and if the original owner have no redeemer OR
   he has a redeemer-relative but that relative has no money
   --------------------------------------------------------

   Thus Rashi reinterprets the verse to be consistent with
   the OVERALL STRUCTURE.


*5 Lv25-27a
   Rashi here uses the rule of FILL-IN:

   According to this rule a Biblical text may have a MINOR
   PROBLEM---the text may have 2 or 3 possible references
   and Rashi simply clarifies, based on context, which
   meaning is operative.

   Thus the verse says
   ---------------------------------------
   Let him compute THE YEARS
   ---------------------------------------

   Which YEARS?

   Rashi answers: The years FROM the sale TILL the Jubilee

   So if he sold the field in year 10 then there are 40
   years (50-10=40) left to the Jubilee year (Year 50)


*6 Lv25-27b
   Rashi here uses the rule of FILL-IN:

   According to this rule a Biblical text may have a MINOR
   PROBLEM---the text may have 2 or 3 possible references
   and Rashi simply clarifies, based on context, which
   meaning is operative.

   Thus the verse says
   ---------------------------------------------
   And the Original owner returns the DIFFERENCE
   ---------------------------------------------

   What DIFFERENCE?

   Rashi answers: You do the following

   ----------------------------------
   Subtract: Total years to jubilee
   minus:    years buyer had the field
   ----------------------------------

   So if he sold the field in year 10 and redeems it in year
   30 then

   * Years of sale = Years  to Jubilee = 40 (50 - 10)
   * Years he had the field = 20 (30-10)

   * The Difference = 40-20=20.

   OR, there are 20 years of usage left to the buyer which
   the original owner has to redeem and pay off.

   Implicit in here is use of a straight line method.

   So if the field cost $400, was sold in year 10 and
   redeemed in year 30 then the redemption price is $200.

*7 Lv25-27c
   Rashi here uses the rule of FILL-IN:

   According to this rule a Biblical text may have a MINOR
   PROBLEM---the text may have 2 or 3 possible references
   and Rashi simply clarifies, based on context, which
   meaning is operative.

   Thus the verse says
   -------------------------------------------------------
   And HE returens the difference to the person HE sold to
   -------------------------------------------------------

   Who is HE referring to?

   Rashi answers: HE refers to the original owner.


   So the verse reads
   ------------------------------------------------
   And the ORIGINAL OWNER returns the difference to
   the person that the ORIGINAL OWNER sold to
   ------------------------------------------------


*8 Lv25-28a
   Recall that we allow REDEMPTION. For example, if the field
   cost $400 and half the time had elapsed you need $200
   to redeem it.

   But you need $200 to redeem the WHOLE FIELD.

   Can the owner pay $100 to redeem HALF OF THE FIELD?

   In other words is REDEMPTION an ALL-OR-NOTHING option.

   Rashi answers this by using the rule of DOUBLE PARSHAS
   and comparing the two verses that speak about redemption

   ----------------------------------------------------------
   Lv25-26 And he acquires money   and finds enough to redeem
   Lv25-28 ---------------------       finds enough to redeem
   ----------------------------------------------------------

   The alignment clearly suggests that the issue is
   * NOT acquiring money but rather
   * FINDING ENOUGH to redeem

   Hence the rule: REDEMPTION is an ALL-OR-NOTHING option.

*9 Lv25-28b
   This is one of the Rashis that causes the greatest confusion
   The verse simply says
   -----------------------------------------------------
   The buyer shall keep the field UNTIL THE JUBILEE YEAR
   -----------------------------------------------------

   This could have 2 interpretations:
   * The buyer keeps the field TILL THE BEGINNING of Jubilee
   * The buyer keeps the field TILL the anniversay of buying

     (So if he buyer bought the field on Purim then the buyer
     keeps the field till Purim of Jubilee)

   Rashi says that the buyer keeps the field till JUBILEE

   The question is how does Rashi know this?

   Many people seek to find some obscure grammatical
   point.

   I would however use the Rashi rule of REASONS/IMPLICATIONS

   Rashi is not bothered by anything, he has no problem
   and he is not deriving anything from the verse.

   Rather Rashi is simply reporting something EXTRA.

   In other words the interpretation of the verse as referring
   to the beginning of the Jubilee year is NOT a derivation
   from the Bible. Rather it is derived from the following
   Talmudic logic found in Chapter 25 of Rambam, Loans.

   --------------------------------------------------------
   A general principle of Jewish law is that a contract
   is always interpreted restrictively. Indeed, the person
   who owns the contract is using the contract to obtain
   funds or objects from this fellow man. The general
   principle then is that the burden of proof is on the
   person who wants to extract money. For this reason
   all contract language is interpreted restrictively
   since the owner of the contract seeks to extract funds
   then it is he who must prove his case (and if not he loses)
   --------------------------------------------------------

   So we now easily understand Rashi and easily understand
   that nothing grammatical is happening here.

   There are two intepretations to BUYER KEEPS THE FIELD
   TILL JUBILEE YEAR and therefore we interpret this
   phrase restrictively and make him return it at the
   Beginning of the Jubilee year. True, there is another
   possible interpretation, but we have no proof for it

   Thus Rashi is Simple: The derivation is something extra
   beyond the Biblical text and is derived from contract
   law
=============================================================


============== A COMPARISON OF PARAGRAPHS DISCUSSING SALES ======

  As can be seen from the listed paragraphs some paragraphs
  begin a description of a sale with IF YOUR BROTHER IS POOR
  AND SELLS while others just begin IF YOUR BROTHER SELLS.

  Rashi explains the difference: Those Chapters beginning
  with IF YOUR BROTHER IS POOR AND SELLS indicate proper
  business manners; a person should only sell HIS ESTATE
  or HIMSELF if he really needs to and is poor. Similarly
  a person is only obligated to loan to his friend if
  his friend is POOR.

=================================================================
VERSE   IS POVERY MENTIONED BEFORE SALE   TEXT OF SALE
======= ================================= =======================
Lv25-25 Your brother becomes impoverished and sells his estate
Lv25-29 --------------------------------- One sells a walled city
Lv25-35 Your brother becomes impoverished and you loan him
Lv25-39 Your brother becomes impoverished and sells himself

==================================================================


=============== PREPOSITIONS USED WITH THE VERB SELL =======

 We review several verses that speak about a SALE

 The usual phraseology is SELL AN OBJECT

 In one verse we have the phrase SELL FROM AN OBJECT

 Rashi therefore interprets SELL FROM AN OBJECT to mean
 SELL PART OF AN OBJECT

============================================================
VERSE   TEXT OF VERSE WITH SALE         PREPOSITION USED
======= =============================   ====================
Ps44-13 SELL your nation                SELL OBJECT
Gn28-33 he SOLD his birthright          SELL OBJECT
Ex21-07 When a man SELLs his daughter   SELL OBJECT
1S12-09 God SOLD them                   SELL OBJECT
Lv25-25 sell FROM his estate            SELL FROM AN OBJECT
Ex07-13 The SELLer OF the sale          OF*1

NOTES
=====
*1 I brought this in for completeness. I should also
   mention Ex22-02,SELL WITHIN THE THEFT,another rare
   preposition (The law interprets the B in Ex22-02 as
   SELL WITHIN--in other words if the sale value
   of the thief is $100 and the theft is $200 then
   the thief sells himself as a servant to pay off
   the debt --  by contrast, if the sale value of
   the thief is $300 and the theft is $200 then the
   theif is NOT sold to pay off the debt since this
   would not be a SELL WITHIN THE THEFT)
============================================================

RASHI RULE USED: FILL-IN
---------------------------------------------------
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Volume 10 Number 5


#*#*#*#*#  (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 10 Number 5