SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
One of Rashis main methods is the skillful use of
ALIGNMENT to illustrate nuances. The minor differences
between ALIGNED verses powerfully suggests explicit concepts

EXAMPLE Gn18 and Gn19
---------------------
To make a very long story short Gn18 and Gn19 describes the
3 angels that visited
- Sarah to tell her she will have a child
- Sedom, to destroy it
- Lot, to save him from Sedom.
Throughout two Biblical chapters the angels are referred to
in a variety of forms. From the alignment of the several
dozen references to the angels we can infer numerous nuances.

More specifically
- From the use of SINGULAR in 3 verses but the use of PLURAL
in all other verses we infer that ANGELS are assigned only
one task...hence one angel told Sarah she was having a
child, another angel saved Lot and another angel destroyed
Sedom

- The speaker is alternatively referred to as GOD, ANGELS,
MEN. Since these men did angelic things (save a person, give
a person a baby, destroy a city) we infer that in fact
they were ANGELS, emissaries of God and that Gn18 was told
in a vision to Abraham. The simplest explanation that
the angels are called men to Abraham was because he too
had angelic status (Similar to MOses who is called an Angel)
SInce he was on their level they are called men.

THe full appreciation of these Rashis is achieved by reviewing
several dozen sentences only 3 of which have singular and
similarly by reviewing the continuous back and forth use of
GOD ANGELS MEN. Thus this posting is an excellent example
of the ALIGNMENT method.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
---------------
This posting came from a post-dinner discussion with Yossi
Wetstein who asked me about the Rambams view on these chapters.
Yossi has made other contributions to this list--for example
he suggested the SUCCINCT SUMMARY section which we now use in
every issue.

List of verses with      3 Angels that visited Abe,Sarah,Lot