Guidelines for Poetic Verses:#5 of 10
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# 10 YEAR Ayelet DAILY-RASHI-YOMI CYCLE #
# Oct 11, 2000 #
# Rashis 357-360 Of 7800 (4.5%) #
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# Written by Dr. Russell Hendel #
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Todays posting, part of the poetry series, deals with the
4 PHASES OF CREATING A NATION
* Having a LEADER
* Obtaining GUIDANCE
* MAKING it as a nation
* Developing the nations own STYLE
OVERVIEW:
--------
RULE: We have frequently indicated that POETIC verses are
governed by the Rabbi Ishmael rule of CONTEXT. Very often poetic
verses REPEAT the same theme several times. In interpeting these
verses the following guiding principles are helpful:
GUIDELINES FOR INTERPRETING POETIC VERSES
-----------------------------------------
* First, find the overall UNIFYING principle
* Next, try and recognize the WORDS that YOU do KNOW
* Further try and find the SPECIAL NUANCES in the words you know
* Then infer the meanings of other words using PARALLEL STRUCTURE
* Try and find all SUBCATEGORIES of the UNIFYING theme
* Make a ONE TO ONE CORRESPONDENCE between the subcategories of
The unifying theme and repeated stanzas of the verse based on
the nuances you recognize in the repeated words.
In a nutshell whereas legal language is analytic, poetic language
is evocative The phrases don't define properties by themselves but
rather evoke an image.
Those who wish to see this posting on the website should
visit http://www.rashiYomi.com/h7n20.htm
NOTE: Because this posting has 4 Rashis, double the usual amount
this posting will suffice for 2 days. Those who wish too may
therefore read it lightly today and more seriously tomorrow
In accordance with the RashiYomi Charter there will be no NEW
RashiYomis during Succoth. Have a wonderful holiday. I will
try and summarize this poetry series. I am also planning to
complete work on the Dilbert like RashiYomi calendar (This
will be a web page that looks like a calendar...you can click
any day and get the Rashi Yomi for that day---Summaries will
be shaded differently for easy identification).
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
EXAMPLES:
VERSE: Dt32-06d
RASHIS COVERED: Dt32-06d Dt32-06e Dt32-06f
RULE: We have frequently indicated that POETIC verses are
governed by the Rabbi Ishmael rule of CONTEXT. Very often poetic
verses REPEAT the same theme several times. In interpeting these
verses the following guiding principles are helpful:
GUIDELINES FOR INTERPRETING POETIC VERSES
* First, find the overall UNIFYING principle
* Next, try and recognize the WORDS that YOU do KNOW
* Further try and find the SPECIAL NUANCES in the words you know
* Then infer the meanings of other words using PARALLEL STRUCTURE
* Try and find all SUBCATEGORIES of the UNIFYING theme
* Make a ONE TO ONE CORRESPONDENCE between the subcategories of
The unifying theme and repeated stanzas of the verse based on
the nuances you recognize in the repeated words.
EXAMPLES
1) Dt32-06
----------------------------
Is He (God) not your FATHER
He NESTS you
He MADE you
and made you WELL FOUNDED
----------------------------
Let us now review this verse using the 6 Guidelines above
UNIFYING PRINCIPLE
Clearly all 4 phrases say that God MADE the Jews
WORDS YOU KNOW
All the following words have well known meanings
* Father
* Nest
* Make
* Well Founded
SPECIAL NUANCES
According to Radack, Book of Roots,the root TO MAKE(Ayin-Sin-Hey)
has 5 meanings
{LIST}
The Five meanings of Ayin-Sin-Hey----To Make
================================================
Meaning Sample Text Verse
--------------- ----------------------- --------
To create I created earth Isa45-12
To fix (Trim) he didn t trim his legs 2Sam19-25
Give status to made this wealth MINE*1 Dt08-17
to do God DID what he planned Lam2-17
Squeeze squeeze breasts*2 Ez23-08
NOTES
*1 Another translation might be to ACQUIRE ( I ACQUIRED this
wealth ). However eg in 2Sam12-6 God, who MADE Moses and
Aaron , it doesn t mean CREATE and doesn t mean ACQUIRED but
rather means GAVE THE STATUS OF PROPHETS. The reader should
choose that explanation (STATUS, CREATE) that (s)he likes best
Perhaps it is best to translate these verses like the English
This MADE him into a man which also has a connotation of
GIVING STATUS TO
*2 Actually my opinion is that Ez23-08 would better be translated
in the sense of FIX or TRIM since you FIX BREASTS by nursing
(Similar to FIXING nails by trimming).
Thus in Dt32-06 we would translate, not
God who CREATED(Made) you
but rather
God who MADE you
(that is MADE you what you are and gave you the status of a
nation)
THE PARALLEL STRUCTURE
Dt32-06 indicates 4 phases in MAKING A NATION
* FATHER
* NESTING
* MAKING you into a nation
* WELL FOUNDED
Note how in this case the 4 stages are indicated by 4 words (not
4 verbs)
THE SUBCATEGORIES OF MAKING A NATION
* Acquiring a leader
* Getting guidance
* Growing up--becoming a recognized nation
* Developing ones own culture
THE ONE TO ONE CORRESPONDECE
{LIST}
1-1 Correspondence Between Dt32-06 & Making A Nation
======================================================
Verse Become a Nation Rashis language
----- --------------- ---------------
Father Acquired a leader*1 Acquired
Nest Guidance Fix you up *2
Made you Make you a Nation Make you a nation
Well founded Ones own culture*3 Prophets,Priests,Sages
NOTES
*1 Actually Rashi speaks not about the Jews acquiring a leader
but rather about God acquiring the Jews--either way, it is the
beginning of the relationship
*2 Of course there are triple puns here--the 3 words used:
---acquire (KaNah)
---nest (KaN)
---Fix (TaKayN)
all come from the same Kuf-Nun root. But the correspondence
is as shown above
*3 In other words Jewish culture is characterized by having
Sages, Priests, and Prophets.
SUMMARY: God
--became your leader and father
--he nested and fixed you up
--he MADE you into a nation
--and help you develop your own culture of priest-prophet-sages
RULE USED: EXAMPLE9
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*