RASHIS COVERED: Gn47-29b FAVORITISM OK when deserved
VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
In Gn37-01 Jacob gave Joseph a special coat. This caused
jealousy and led to the attempted murder of Joseph and the
breakup of the family.
In Gn47-29 Jacob entrusted only Joseph to bury him in Israel.
This time however no jealousy or attempted murder took place.
The reason being that Joseph had the power to implement
Jacobs request.
Thus we see that favoritism based on merit does not lead to
jealousy while that based on fondness does so lead.
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TODAYS RASHI RULE: ALIGNMENT
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE: 2 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
This summary may be a bit too terse. You can browse the
57 postings leading up to by going to
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-1.htm
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-2.htm etc.
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 LIST
We align the two chapters dealing with favoritism
to Joseph over the other children
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