RASHIS COVERED: Gn12-19a Egypt is a bad neighborhood

VERY BRIEF SUMMARY

Rashi compares Gn12 with Gn20. In both chapters
-- Abraham said that Sarah was his sister
-- Sarah was taken by the king to be one of his wives
-- The king was punished by God
- But Avimelech forgave Abraham & gave his
the best real estate to live in his land
- Pharoh gave Abraham back his wife but
banished him from his land
Why? Because Pharoh was king of Egypt known for its sexual
immorality (A bad neighborhood) & hence Abraham couldnt say

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TODAYS RASHI RULE:       ALIGNMENT
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE:    TWO CASES
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RULE

Many Rashis do NOT focus on an internal analysis of the verse.
There may be nothing bothering Rashi in THAT verse. The words
used may all be normal.

But when the given verse is compared with another verse--that
is, when the two verses are ALIGNED together-- we see blatant
differences.

The ALIGNED verses therefore suggest that these ALIGNED
DIFFERENCES were deliberately placed there to emphasize
certain nuances.

A nifty way of explaining the ALIGNED verses is to think
of ALIGNMENT as the vehicle that the Biblical Author uses
to indicate FOOTNOTES. That is, a modern writer might use
FOOTNOTES to indicate details; the Biblical Author instead
used REPEATED ALIGNED VERSES with DIFFERENT DETAILS.

The simplest case of ALIGNMENT is when the differences
CLEARLY and EXPLICITLY show that we are dealing with
two cases each with different details. The STANDARD
example below from the 10 commandments illustrates this

STANDARD EXAMPLE

Perhaps the simplest example of an alignment revealing
two cases and two laws occurs in the 10 commandments.
Ex01-02:03 states

-Ex20-02 you shall NOT HAVE  the gods of others
-Ex20-03 you shall NOT MAKE  idols

STUDENT EXERCISES:

-- What is the SAME in the ALIGNED verses
-- What is DIFFERENT in the ALIGNED verses
-- State the 2 CASES you infer from the aligned differences

RASHIS SOLUTION
- Both verses begin YOU SHALL NOT. In other words
they are negative prohibitions.

- One verse prohibits HAVING idols while the 2nd verse
prohibits MAKING idols

- THere are 2 separate idolatry prohibitions: MANUFACTURE
(even if you dont keep them) and OWNERSHIP/POSSESION
(even if you dont make them)


STANDARD REFERENCES FOR THIS RULE

http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-58.htm


Or you can visit the Rashi Yomi Calendar at

http://www.RashiYomi.com/calendar1.htm

This calendar presents a day by day listing of Rashis.
The ALIGNMENT series occurs between 7-28-01 and 10-10-01.



TODAYS EXAMPLE

We compare the two cases where Sarah was abducted.

Although such alignment comparisons were NOT introduced
by Rashi is Simple. However we have emphasized them and
we have gathered together all these alignments in one place
so that people can study similar and dissimilar cases.