Rabbi Ishmael Example Method:#32 of 36
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# Sep 9, 2000 #
# Rashis 258-258 Of 7800 (3.3%) #
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BACKGROUND EXAMPLE
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Dt25-04a Dont muzzle an OX while threshing:
RASHI: Dont muzzle ANY ANIMAL
Lv01-02c Offer ANIMALS--Offer OX and SHEEP animals
RASHI: You can **ONLY** offer OX & SHEEP animals
Dt18-03b These are the laws for those who offer sacrifices
Whether from Oxen or Sheep
RASHI: So these laws only apply to OXEN and SHEEP not to
beasts and birds
Why the difference? Why in one verse do we generalize OXEN to any
animal, while in the other verse we restrict the law to ONLY oxen
OVERVIEW
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This module (which we have called CLIMAX) deals with the rules
governing the interpretation of Biblical examples. If the Torah
for example said "Eat apple pies" how should this be interpretd?
--Should we say "Eat apple pies" means **ONLY** eat apple pies
--Should we say "Eat apple pies" means eat ANYTHING TASTY
--Should we say "Eat apple pies" means eat FRUIT pies
In other words, how do we interpret the Biblical EXAMPLE
apple pie. Here are the rules governing interpretation
of Biblical EXAMPLES---the EXAMPLES summarizing the past
month will follow.
-GRAND SUMMARY PART 3-
-IN METHOD 3 WE KEEP THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION-
METHOD 2b: GENERAL-SPECIFIC--ONLY use the SPECIFIC
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EXAMPLES
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Eat PIES--APPLE PIES CONCLUSION: **ONLY** eat apple pies
(21)
Lv01-02c Offer animals-oxen CONCLUSION: Only oxen can be offered
RULE: Sometimes the Bible will state something twice:
1st) It will state a GENERAL category (eg Offer animals,eat pies)
2nd)It then states a SPECIFIC example(eg Offer Oxen,eat apple pies
The rule is that the law ONLY applies to the specific example and
this example should NOT be generalized. *1
In the sequel we will use the terms GENERAL and SPECIFIC to refer
to the 2 parts of the sentence.
(22) Dt18-03b
These are the laws for those who offer SACRIFICES (GENERAL)
..whether OXEN or SHEEP (DETAILS)
So the above laws ONLY apply to OXEN and SHEEP
not to BEASTS or BIRDS
(23) Lv07-12 (Mnacoth 78a) (From talmud not Rashi)
A person who brings a thanksgiving offering
should bring the CHALAH (minchah) offering also-GENERAL
---either the MATZOH WAFER OFFERING-------------DETAIL
---or the RICH OIL CHALAH OFFERING
TALMUD: Only these two types of Minchah offerings
(Matzoh and Rich-oil-challah) can be brought.
(24) Lv07-26a (See Krituth 21a)
The verses state Lv07-26:27
Dont eat any blood-----------GENERAL STATEMENT
of birds, animals------------PARTICULAR
If you eat blood you'll be cut off (as punishment)
RASHI: So the law is that only blood of birds and animals is
prohibited (but not eg blood of fish, grasshopers etc
which is not prohibited with a cutoff punishment)*2
(25) Lv11-21b (ALso see Chullin 66a)
Lv11-21:23 reads as follows
Do not eat insect-like creatures----GENERAL
Do not eat insect-1, insect-2 ...---DETAILS
Any insect with 4 legs should not be eaten*3
RASHI:Rashi explicitly says 'you cannot eat these insect
creatures if it has the names 'insect-4..'.
So Rashi identifies the law with the specific examples
given. So Rashi is interpreting this as GENERAL-DETAIL*3
(26) Dt21-22b (Sanhedrin 45b)
The verse states
When a person commits a capital crime---GENERAL
then you should hang him on a tree(ie besides
executing him you should hang him)
...
for he has DESPISED GOD------------------DETAIL
RASHI: ALL executed people are also hung after
the execution. Even though the DETAILED stage
says "those that DESPISED GOD" should be hung,
(implying that ONLY the blasphemer and idolater
who despise God should be hung) nevertheless
we do not apply the GENERAL-DETAIL template since
the DETAIL phrase is separated from the GENERAL
phrase; And a GENERAL-DETAIL set that is separated
in not judged as a GENERAL-DETAIL style.*4
NOTES
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*1 There are certain subrules to this rule which we will not
go into here (but will go into in footnotes to this whole
topic). As a simple example of something we will not go
into, the Talmud views a GENERAL and SPECIFIC statement that
are NOT next to each other as different than 1 sentence with
GENERAL and SPECIFIC (See San 45 and Dt21-22b for an example)
*2 There is a suggestion in the Talmud that this has a
GENERAL-DETAIL-GENERAL form. Some argue that the following
sentence "If you eat blood you will die" is a GENERAL
STATEMENT. But the opposing side contends that the 1st
and last GENERAL statement do not resemble each other.
The opposing side contends that "Punishment, if
you eat blood" is different than "Prohibition, to eat blood"
This is the so called GENERAL-SPECIFIC-GENERAL case where the
1st and last general are not the same. I it will be discussed
in the footnotes (Krithuth 21a)
*3 Again there is controversy here in the talmud whether this
is GENERAL-PARTICULAR or GENERAL-PARTICULAR-GENERAL. To
ease translation I have simply called the insects insect-1
insect-2 etc (and not given their names). Please see any
good translation for names.This also is an example of whether
we use a GENERAL-PARTICULAR style or GENERAL-LIMITATION
style. See the summary footnotes on this issue.
*4 The Rambam codifies the law according to the GENERAL-DETAIL
paradigm (Only blasphemers and idolaters are hung). There is
controversy in the Talmud on the GENERAL-DETAIL paradigm
when the two phrases are separated. I have filled in the words
in Rashi to show that he brought this to make a point that
the concensus in Law is that GENERAL-DETAIL with
separation should not be judged as GENERAL DETAIL.
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