|
Their presence in Rashis on Parshath VaYaYRah Volume 17, Number 9 This weeks Weekly Rashi with Hebrew/English source tables will be accessible, on Sunday, at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1709.htm (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, Nov 10, 2011 Visit the Rashi website http://www.Rashiyomi.com 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. Although I frequently use my own English translations of biblical verses and Rashi comments, the Hebrew and English translations in the source tables are derived from online parshah files at chabad.org who in turn acknowledges the Judaica Press Complete Tanach, copyright by Judaica Press.
Verse(s) Gn18-14b discussing the reiteration of the promise that Abraham would have a child states Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return to you, at this season, and Sarah shall have a son. Rashi clarifies the underlined words At the time appointed by referencing verse(s) Gn18-10 which states And he said, I will certainly return to you at this season; and, lo, Sarah your wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him Hence the Rashi comment: The promise in Gn18-14 that Abraham will have a son at the appointed season refers to the promise that Abraham will have a son a year from now made in Gn18-10.
When Rashi uses the synonym method he does not explain the meaning of a word but rather the distinction between two similar words both of whose meanings we already know. Today's examples illustrate the differences between urgent and hurry or between escape and save. When expounding on the synonym principle the simplest way of explaining the Rashi is to translate the verse with the proposed Rashi synonym meaning incorporated in the translation. Today's Rashi example are presented in the translation immediately below: Verse Gn19-15:17 discussing the saving of Lot prior to the destruction of Sedom and Amorah states At dawn the angels were urgent with Lot, saying; Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you will be swept away away in the iniquity of the city. But he lingered, and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful to him; and they brought him out, and set him outside the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for your life; look not behind you, nor stay in the plain; escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.
Rashi lived before the era of Grammatical textbooks. Hence one of his functions was to teach the rules of grammatical conjugation similar to modern textbooks. Languages distinguish between interrogative and declarative sentences. In English we recognize the interrogative sentence by the use of the ? question mark symbol. In Biblical Hebrew we use a prefix aspirated hey punctuated with a null vowel to indicate an inquiry. Thus Gn18-25e without the question indicator states The Judge of the world does not make justice. However with the prefix aspirated h sound with a null syllable it is translated as Will the Judge of the world not make justice? There are several other Rashis dealing with this technical rule. Curiously the very first question in the Bible is stated in Gn03-11, and Rashi there also enunciates the question-mark rule: Have you eaten from the tree which I have prohibited to you?
The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Gn19-16b, Gn19-17 Both verses/verselets discuss communications to Lot during the destruction of Sedom. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: There were two angels - one to destroy Sedom and one to save Lot. Hence only one angel - (he said) - told Lot to flee, the angel in charge of saving Lot. But both angels - (they said) - told Lot to leave Sedom since a) Sedom couldn't be destroyed till Lot left and b) by leaving Sedom Lot became protected.
The table below presents two contradictory verses/verselets. Both verses/verselets talk about the daily weather. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse/verselet says it was very hot while the other verse/verselet says Abraham sat by the tent door. Which is it? Was it breezy enough to set by the door or was it hot? Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 aspects method: While it was too hot to sit by the door it was also too hot to be outside. Abraham therefore sat by the door in order to provide hospitality to passerbys.
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.
Rashi comments on the Theme-Detail-Theme form which creates the illusion of an entire paragraph. Although she sat far away - a bow shot -so as Not to see the death of the child nevertheless she sat opposite the child. That is she was opposite the child but at a distance. She didn't want to see the child die and hence sat far away. But she wanted to sit close enough to him in case a miracle happened and she could save him. Sermonic Points: Rashi's point is extremely subtle. The secularist sees prayer as an emotional outpouring, a letting off of steam. The religious person sees prayer as an emotional outpouring to God. Hagar was indeed upset that the child would die. But her prayer was to God. She was used to seeing miracles in Abraham's house and left open the possibility that God would miraculously save her child.
When a modern author wishes to deemphasize a concept they will strike it out. When the Biblical author wishes to deemphasize a concept He places dots over it. The dots in the Biblical version, or the strikeout in the modern version, indicate deemphasis.
We ask the following database query: When is waking up early in the morning mentioned in the Bible. 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: The phrase waking up early in the morning is typically used to indicate an enthusiasm to perform prophetic orders. The list below presents the results of the database query.
Verse Gn18-33a completing a paragraph where God and Abraham discuss the possibility of saving Sedom and Amorah from destruction, states And the LORD went His way, when he completed speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place Rashi comments: This teaches court etiquette. A Judge should not declare a final verdict until all defense arguments have been presented.
Rather, Fill-In communicates non-verse-inferred lessons derived from the Biblical text. The emphasis here is on non-verse. Unlike the other Rashi methods where something is inferred from either this verse or other Biblical verses, the Fill-In derives consequences (or presents necessary background) to understanding a verse without such derivations being even hinted at in the text. It is so to speak, a real-world derivation.
In this email list we can only touch on basic symbolic ideas. Full proofs of these ideas may be found elsewhere. In my article on symbolism cited above I show that the sacrificial procedures with their rich fire and animal symbolism had as their goal the inspiration of prophetic visions such as the prophetic fire visions described in Isiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. The primary purpose of the sacrifices were lofty, mature and sophisticated procedures designed to help man reach his highest goals, prophecy. A prophecy has at its root a fire-vision such as those of Ezekiel Ez01 and those of Isiah Is06. A ceremony with fire facilitates triggering prophetic fire-visions in those people with proper moral and ethical preparation. Thus a primary purpose of animal sacrifices was inspiration of prophetic fire visions. The sacrifice of the ram in place of Isaac refers to the idea that the ram sacrifice with its rich fire-symbolism was done for (or in place of) Isaac, in order, to enable him to achieve prophecy.
Conclusion
This week's parshah contains examples of all the Rashi methods. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||