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Their presence in Rashis on Parshat ToLeDoTh Volume 11, Number 20 Rashi is Simple - Volume 34 Number 20 Used in the weekly Rashi-is-Simple and the Daily Rashi. Visit the RashiYomi website: http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, Nov 27th, 2008 The goal of this Weekly Rashi Digest is to use the weekly Torah portion to expose students at all levels to the ten major methods of commentary used by Rashi. It is hoped that continual weekly exposure to these ten major methods will enable students of all levels to acquire a familiarity and facility with the major exegetical methods.
Verse(s) Gn26-O3:05a discussing that God will bless Isaac because Abraham listened to prophecy states Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you, and to your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father; ... Because Abraham listened to my prophetic voice, and .... Rashi clarifies the underlined words Because Abraham listened to my prophetic voice by referencing verse(s) Gn22-18 which states And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have listened to my prophetic voice Hence the Rashi comment: God's statement (Gn26-05) that he will reward Isaac because Abraham listened to the voice of prophecy refers to Abraham's obedience at the Akaydah (Gn22-18) where God blesses Abraham because he listened to God's voice (Identical language is used).
Advanced Rashi: It is especially interesting in this reference example that identical Biblical phraseology is used in both the target and reference verse.
When Rashi uses, what we may losely call, the hononym method, Rashi does not explain new meaning but rather shows an underlying unity in disparate meanings. Rashi will frequently do this by showing an underlying unity in the varied meanings of a Biblical root. In my article Peshat and Derash found on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rashi.pdf. I advocate enriching the Rashi explanation using a technique of parallel nifty translations in modern English. Today's examples show this.
Applying the above translation to Gn27-36c discussing Esauv's plea to obtain a blessing, we obtain And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times; he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, have you set aside a blessing for me? In providing this English translation notice that we have used the English idiom set aside which mirrors the Hebrew near, since near and side are semantically close.
Rashi lived before the era of Grammatical textbooks. Hence one of his functions was to teach the rules of grammar similar to modern textbooks. One aspect of grammar deals with the proper use of prepositional connectives. A classical approach to prepositional connectives is to list the multiple meanings they can take. Todays example illustrates this. The Hebrew prepositional connective Ayin-Lamed, AL can have up to six meanings. These meanings are presented in the table below.
Advanced Rashi: This list affords us a beautiful example of how the early Jewish commentaries complemented each other. Radack only lists the first 5 meanings in his excellent book The Biblical Roots, while Rashi also lists a 6th meaning, AL can mean after. Applying this meaning of AL to Gn27-40 we have And by your sword shall you live, and shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass when you shall have the dominion, that you shall break his yoke from off your neck. In this verse the Hebrew al is translated by.
The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Gn27-28, Gn27-39 Both verses/verselets discuss the blessings of Isaac to his two children, Esauv and Jacob. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: Esauv (non Jews) receive blessings whether they deserve it or not while Jacob (Jews) only receive blessings if they deserve and merit it.
Advanced Rashi: The Rashi comment is easy to understand from the alignment: Jews are blessed by God while non-Jews have an absolute blessing of a good dwelling. The careful reader will note that there is another difference: While both Jews and non-Jews are blessed with fat land and dew (items #2 and #3 in the above bulleted list) only Jews are blessed with a multitude of grain (item #4). Perhaps then the Rashi comment can be reformulated: Both Jews (Jacob) and non-Jews (Esauv) are blessed with eternal existence supported by adequate rainfall (dew) and fat land. However additionally the Jews, provided they deserve it from Judge God, will also merit an abundance and surplus of grain. This interpretation of Rashi has slightly different nuances but seems correct in light of the above alignment.
Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a Theme-Development-Theme form. In other words a broad general idea is stated first followed by the development of this broad general theme in specific details. The paragraph-like unit is then closed with a repetition of the broad theme. The Theme-Detail-Theme form creates a unified paragraph. The detailed section of this paragraph is therefore seen as an extension of the general theme sentences. Today's example illustrates this as shown immediately below.
Hence the Rashis on the above paragraph: Esauv lived a life of eating and drinking. Such a lifestyle is inconsistent with the Priesthood which required a life of abstention. As a simple example a priest who served while intoxicated could be liable to a death penalty. [Note: Initially the firstborn (birthright) served as priests and hence the identification of birthright and priesthood.] The driving force behind Rashi is the re-interpretation of the Biblical phrase eat and drink as developmental details of the Biblical phrase did not want the birthright. Precisely because of the paragraph structure Rashi perceives the eating and drinking not as incidental items but as reflections and clarifications of did not want the priesthood. This is the essence of the style method. Advanced Rashi: Rashi teaches us basic etiquette. Jacob could have said: Look the Priesthood will be given to me and not to you; why don't you just cooperate and willfully give it to me; that way it looks better for you. This is an argument based on politics, power and authority. Instead the Bible approaches this as an argument based on lifestyle. Jacob's lifestyle belonged with the Priesthood; Esauv's lifestyle did not. It is always best to approach appointments based on merit instead of authority.
We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf, that the Biblical Author indicates bold, italics, underline by using repetition. In other words if a modern author wanted to emphasize a word they would either underline, bold or italicize it. However when the Biblical author wishes to emphasize a word He repeats it. The effect - whether thru repetition or using underline - is the same. It is only the means of conveying this emphasis that is different. Verse Gn25-29:34 discussing Esauv's request to Jacob for food after a hunt states And Jacob cooked pottage; and Esau came from the field, and he was famished. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I beg you, with this red red pottage; for I am famished; therefore was his name called Edom [ruddy]. And Jacob said, Sell me this day your birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point of death; and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he swore to him; and he sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way; thus Esau despised his birthright. The repeated underlined word phrase red red indicates an unspecified emphasis. Rashi translates this unspecified emphasis as intentionally red That is Rashi translates the verse as follows: Feed me, I beg you, with this intentionally red pottage; for I am famished; therefore was his name called Edom [ruddy] In other words The vegetables being cooked were intentionally red. Rashi goes on to clarify why the vegetables were intentionally red. They were intentionally red because red symbolizes blood and life and Jacob and Esauv were mourning grandpa Abraham who had just died. We will further justify in rules 7,10 a) that Abraham had just died and b)red is an appropriate symbol during mourning. Please read these two rules below for further clarification.
Today is a delightful example of the spreadsheet method. The spreadsheet below is a peach of an example of this important Rashi method. The spreadsheet with its underlying assumptions justifies the Rashi assertion that The sale of the birthright, by Esauv, to Jacob, happened during the week of mourning for Grandpa Abraham's death.
Now we can discuss the Rashi. Gn25-30 discusses the sale of the birthright by Esauv to Jacob. But no age is listed. We know, as discussed in rule #7 above, that intentionally red vegetables were being cooked by Jacob but we don't know why they were intentionally red. One reasonable assumption is that the intentionally red vegetables were being cooked as a symbol of mourning (See rule #10 below). Using that reasonable assumption we check and find that Abraham died at 175 when Jacob and Esauv was 15. The discussion presented in the Biblical text: " Jacob: I would like your birthright. Esauv: I lead a physical life and don't really need the birthright-priesthood, is the type of discussion that teenagers have about their aspirations in life. Nothing has been proven. But the spreadsheet makes it apear emminently reasonable that the sale happened during the week of mourning for Abraham. This example illustrates the flavor of the spreadsheet method. It shows what Rashi does as well as what he does not do. It also instructs on the proper attitude towards Rashi.
Verse Gn25-30:34 discussing the food Jacob gave Esauv, who had come home hungry from a hunt, states. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I beg you, with that red red; for I am famished; therefore was his name called Edom [ruddy] Jacob had given Esau bread and a pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way; thus Esau despised his birthright. In rule #7 we have explained that the repeated underlined word red red means intentionally red. Then in rule #9 we have explained that it is reasonable - based on the age of Esauv and Jacob at the time of death of Grandpa Abraham and the conversation of Jacob and Esauv which is typical of teenage years - to assume that this whole incident happened during the week of mourning for Grandpa Abraham. It follows that that lentils were intentionally red because red lentils are eaten during the week of mourning.
Advanced Rashi: Rashi only mentions bullets #2 and #3. Was I correct in bringing in bullet #1? I think so. For the symbolism, red equals life which is now lost is obvious. Furthermore the verse explicitly mentions the redness, it even repeats it, to emphasize that the redness was intentional. So we must explain it. Rashi however left it to the teacher to teach the obvious (red=life) and instead explained the non-obvious, the circular and closed nature of lentils. We think this approach - viewing Rashi as explaining the non-obvious and supplementing Rashi with the explicitly stated and obvious - is a proper approach to enriching Rashi.
Conclusion
This week's parshah contains no examples of the Contradiction Rashi method. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||