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Their presence in Rashis on Parshat BeHaR BeChuKoThaI Volume 14, Number 13 Used in the monthly Rashi-is-Simple and the Daily Rashi. Visit the RashiYomi website: http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, May 6th, 2010 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 Lv27-30:31 discussing tithes states And all land tithe from seeds and fruits belongs to God, it is holy but if a person wants to redeem it [to carry it to Jerusalem] he should add 20% to its value. Rashi clarifies the underlined words tithe...God...holy...redeem by referencing verse Dt14-22:27 which states You shall truly tithe all the produce of your seed, .... And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place which he shall choose .... the tithe of your grain, of .... And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it; .... Then shall you turn it into money, ... And you shall bestow that money for whatever your soul desires, for oxen, or ...and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you, and your household, .... Hence the Rashi comment: The tithe spoken about in Lv27-30:31 is characterized as something holy, belonging to God, which may be redeemed. Therefore, this refers to the so-called second tithe discussed at Dt14-22:27 which is a tithe that is holy in the sense that it is eaten before God and may be redeemed on money if the distance to travel is long.
Advanced Rashi: We use to present a Golden-Rashi-Rambam series comparing Rashi and Rambam. Rambam in the varioius parts of his codex further clarifies this Rashi. The tithe mentioned at Nu18-25:32 is the Levite Tithe as mentioned at Nu18-27 is not holy but profane. Similarly the tithe mentioned at Dt14-28, the three year tithe, was eaten by the poor and was not holy. So a thorough analysis of all biblical verses mentioning tithes facilitates focusing on the identity of the tithe mentioned at Lv27-30:31, as the holy 2nd tithe eaten in Jerusalem before God.
Rashi presented 10 distinct meaning methods. Today we examine meaning based on grammatical transformation.
Applying this meaning, Resh-Tzade-Hey to please to verses Lv26-34a, Lv26-41c we obtain the following translations: Then [after they are exiled for not observing the land-sabbaticals] the land shall please her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye are in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and repay her sabbaths. and I also will walk contrary unto them, and bring them into the land of their enemies; if then perchance their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and then they please themselves from their sins, [then...] Advanced Rashi: The phrases land please her Sabbaths and they will please themselves from their sins doesn't sound 100% right. There is a general problem in translating between languages. There is no verb in English which means to make desirable. Hebrew because of the richness of its modes can reuse the verb desire to mean make desirable. The English to please is the closest we come in English to a verb meaning to make desirable. Such searching for good translations is characteristic of advanced biblical study. If a more accurate translation was desired we could translate they will make themselves desirable from their sins and the land will make itself desirable with land-sabbaticals.
Today Hebrew grammar is well understood and there are many books on it. Rashi, however, lived before the age of grammar books. A major Rashi method is therefore the teaching of basic grammar. Many students belittle this aspect of Rashi. They erroneously think that because of modern methods we know more. However Rashi will frequently focus on rare grammatical points not covered in conventional textbooks.
Advanced Rashi: Did you notice that the verse does not simply say If the original owner does not redeem the field and the temple manager does sell it then the field can no longer be redeemed. Rather the verse use a rare form of logic, the export-import law. The export-import law asserts that the following two sentence forms have the same meaning: If A and B then C and If A then if B then C. By using the repeating keyword if the Biblical Author creates distinctness in the two hypotheses a distinctness which is reflected in the different references of he - the he in one sentence refers to the original owner while the he in the second sentence refers to the Temple manager.
The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Lv26-42 Both verses/verselets discuss God's remembering the merit of the Patriarchs and Israel. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: God will remember the convenants with the various Patriarchs as well as the convenant about the land of Israel. But the convenant with Isaac need not be remembered since Isaac's self-sacrifice stands perpetually before God.
Advanced Rashi: Rashi also discusses the reverse sequence, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham hilighted by the introductory words and even. This is a most interesting topic which we will discuss in a future year. I also point out that besides the missing aligned word remember the word convenant is missing with the land as well as the introductory and even. Generally, Rashi does not explained all nuances in an alignment. Rashi may only explain one or two nuances. The teacher's job is to encourage the student to explain the remaining anomalies.
The table below presents two contradictory sets of verses. Both verse sets talk about the punishments God brings on the Jewish people when they sin. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says I, God, will teach them a lesson, with great rage, I will bring the sword avenging the convenant, while the other verse says I will never despise you! Which is it? Will God despise us or not? Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 cases method: (1) God will bring rage on us until we repent (2) God will never despise us until we are destroyed since he will forgive us when we repent.
Many readers are familiar with the 13 exegetical principles of Rabbi Ishmael which occur in the daily prayer books in the morning prayer. In this email newsletter I have called these rules the style rules. It is important to clarify what the Rabbi Ishmael rules focus on. After all they are distinct from rules of meaning grammar and alignment. What are they? We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf that the Rabbi Ishmael style rules are rules governing the interpretation of examples. In other words if the Biblical text gives a specific example, as a law or narrative, does the Author intend that the law or narrative exhaust its meaning in that particular example, or, does the Author intend the example as a mere example which should be understood by the reader as a paradigmatic example which should be generalized. Here is a good example. Dt25-04 states don't muzzle an ox while threshing. The Rabbi Ishmael generalization rule requires that we do not see this example as exhaustive of the law but rather as requiring generalization. Hence Jewish law interprets this to mean Don't muzzle any animal while it is doing its typical work. Actually the law prohibits not only muzzling but any type of inteference with the animal eating. In this particular case we used the generalization style. Sometimes however we use the restrictive style and interpret the example as exhaustive of the law-- the example is all the law says. Most of the Rabbi Ishmael style rules are known: They include: Generalization, Theme-Detail, Detail-Theme, and Theme-Detail-Theme. Today however we encounter a rare form, not listed any place: The Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail style. Let us see how Rashi interprets it.
Advanced Rashi: Similar Rashi comments apply to freeing land (in many circumstances). I should note that an alternative treatment of the Rashi would focus on repetition instead of on style. That is certain Rashi expositors would count the number of times freedom of slaves is mentioned. Since freedom of slaves is mentioned twice they would argue that two slave situations - those who have not yet completed their term of service as well as those who have so completed - are indicated. This counting approach to Rashi is quite popular. Personally I believe it is a better approach to explain Rashi on the basis of style. Since a General-detail-General... style is used the text requires a broad generalization. The fact that two types of slaves must be freed (and that two repetitions are mentioned) is a coincidence. The real driving force of the exegesis is the style.
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. With this in mind let us read verse Lv25-14:15, which discusses apostasy. The discussion develops in three pairs of bulleted texts. The bullets are indicated by the underlined repeating keywords. With each verselet we present the Rashi comment. After the citation we explain how the bullet rule gives rise to the comments, not language and grammar. Many serious students of Rashi have errored by misunderstanding Rashi as emanating only from language and Grammar.
We now explain what Rashi did, and did not, do. In the first set of bullets Rashi interprets the Biblical word pair, listen-do as referring to learning-perform. Rashi did not do this because of requirements of language. Indeed, listen can equally mean study or performance. Similarly do can easily mean study-performance together. Rather because the repeating underlined keyword do not create a bullet atmosphere, therefore, Rashi was justified in reading into the listen-do sequence the interpretation of learning-perform. In the second set of bullets we use the grammar-word-order rule. Hebrew is a verb-object language. A reversal of this order (e.g. civil laws despised vs. despise my civil laws) indicates unpsecified emphasis. When we couple this emphasis with the repeating underlined keyword, if, we see that Rashi choses to emphasize the specific nuances of statute and civil law, which very roughly refer to religious vs. civil law. Hence Rashi interprets that the person first attacks the religious laws which are not rational, followed by an attack on the civil laws, which although rational can be criticized. Again it was not the word meaning which drove Rashi to this. Indeed, in many verses, the word statute by itself can refer to all laws just as the word civil law by itself can refer to all Jewish laws. Because of the third set of bullets, indicated by the underlined keyword, until, Rashi contrasts the words in the two verselets, commandments vs. treaty, as indicating specific non-performance vs. general apostasy / denial. Rashi also sees nuances in use of the repeating keyword, until in the last two bullets vs. the repeating keyword if in the first four bullets. Rashi interprets the repeating keyword until in the last two bullets to indicate a general development of non-performance and treaty violation over time. The emphasis on non-performance and treaty violation is interpreted broadly to refer to being annoyed by community performance of commandments and outright denial of God.
We ask the following database query: Which commandments mention that they should be observed becauase 'you are to remember that God took you out of Egypt'? The reader is encouraged to perform the query using a standard Biblical Konnkordance or search engine. This database query yields the list below. The list justifies the following Rashi inference: Commemoration of the salvation from Egypt is emphasized as a reason for commandment observance in laws prohibiting a) social inequality b) ritual impurity c) anxiety-business practices and d) acknowledgement of salvation from Egypt by God. The list below presents the results of the database query and shows examples
To understand this list we take a simple example: Dt05-14a:15. discussing the obligation to treat slaves and orphans nicely. This verse states but the seventh day is a sabbath unto HaShem thy G-d, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt remember that thou was a slave in the land of Egypt, and HaShem thy G-d brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore HaShem thy G-d commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. As can be seen by the underlined words, the Biblical obligation to let slaves/servants rest on the Sabbath is linked to remembering the Exodus. This linkage between the commandment and the exodus, does not occur at all commandments. However this linkage occurs here because the essence of Egypt consisted of a class society in which certain people were free and certain people were slaves. Consequently any commandment attacking class distinctions - such as the requirement to equally let owners and slaves rest on the Sabbath - will explicitly mention the Exodus. The other examples are interpreted similarly. For example the linkage of commemorating the exodus from Egypt to the prohibition of taking interest is explained by the observation that causing anxiety was a hallmark of Egypt and encouraged destruction of the personality which enabled slavery. Two popular methods of causing anxiety were 1) using inaccurate weights and 2) charging interest in excess of expected profits thus nullifying the efficacy of small business loans (Because a person trying to loan for business purposes would find the interest they pay out more than the profit they take in)
Verse Lv27-18b discussing the redemption of a field dedicated to the Temple states But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain unto the year of jubilee, and an abatement shall be made from thy valuation. Rashi explains the arithmetic of this redemption process using a proportionate method with rounding. In presenting the Rashi we supplement his example with extra illustrations to clarify each component of his comment. Example 1: Suppose the field I dedicated was evaluated as worth $20. Suppose further there are 10 years left to the Jubilee. Then each year is assigned a worth of $20/10=$2. If I wish to redeem the field next year I must pay $18. If I wish to redeem the field in two years I must pay $16. And so forth. We can summarize this by saying that we use a proportionate method in redeeming the field. Example 2: (Rashi)Suppose I dedicate my field right after the jubilee for $50. So the $50 spans 49 years. Suppose further (true in Talmudic times) that each $1 is worth 48 cents. Then the proportionate method requires that each year be assigned a worth of $50/49 = $49/49 + $1/49 = $1 + 48/49 cents. Rashi explains that this is rounded to $1 + 1 cent. So if the field is redeemed after 10 years the person pays $50 less $10 and 10 cents. We can summarize this by stating that redemption uses a proportionate method with rounding. Because this Rashi clarified biblical content with arithmetic-spreadsheet methods we classified this Rashi as using the non-verse method.
This week's parshah contains no
examples of
the symbolism
Rashi method.
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