align-21


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 GOALS
=====
This module studies the ALIGNMENT method in Rashi. In this
method 2 different verses are found to be ALMOST the same.
The verses are lined up and the minor differences between
them function as footnotes illuminating the text.


TODAYS UNIT
===========
In todays unit we align 4 verses dealing with murder


REFERENCE:
=========
Todays unit comes from the following posting

http://www.RashiYomi.Com/nu35-16a.htm


#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc., 2001, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#


THE PARAGRAPHING OF Nu35
 

EXAMPLE 42: Nu35-16a

BACKGROUND
----------
Nu35 discusses how murder cases are brought to trial and
punishment(s) are sentenced on convicted murderers. Murder
can be willful or thru negligence.

THE TEXT
--------
The chapter Nu35 naturally divides into 4 paragraphs:

THE RASHIS
----------
Rashi simply PARAGRAPHS and identifies the theme of each
paragraph: There are 4 paragraphs: An introductory paragraph
on Refuge cities, a paragraph on willful murder, paragraph on
accidental murder and a paragraph on the court case

In particular, as shown below, Nu35-16:21 deals
with WILLFUL murder (while by contrast Nu35-22:23 deals
with accidental murder)

Here is the LIST of paragraphs
VERSES TOPIC THEMES

Nu35-9:15 Introduction Set aside Murder-refuge cities
Nu35-16:21 Willful murder Assess murder weapon,hatred etc
Nu35-22:23 Accidental murder Assess accidentality
Nu35-24:29 Court case*1 All murderers go to Refuge city

COMMENTS

*1 See Rambam, Murder, Chapter 5. The following law is not
   well known
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   All murderers IMMEDIATELY (before trial) go to the
   refuge city. The court then tries the murderer. There
   are 3 outcomes
   --If he is INNOCENT he goes free
   --If he is NEGLIGENT he receives asylum in the refuge city
   --If he is GUILTY he is executed
   ----------------------------------------------------------








ALIGNMENT OF FOUR VERSES ON MURDER #1
 

EXAMPLE 43: Ex35-16a Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE
EXAMPLE 44: Ex35-17a Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE
EXAMPLE 45: Ex35-17b Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE
EXAMPLE 46: Ex35-18a Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE
EXAMPLE 47: Ex35-18b Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE
EXAMPLE 48: Ex21-20b Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE

BACKGROUND
----------
Nu35 and Ex21-16 are discussing murder. If a person gets
convicted of murder he is executed. To get convicted of murder
the court must show that a lethal weapon was used. (Nu35
discusses murder of free Jews; Ex21-16 discusses murder of
slaves)

THE TEXT
--------
The Torah describes various types of weapons: a stone, wood,
iron, a rod, a utensil etc. However the Torah uses minor
differences in these descriptions: For example, sometimes it
just mentions the SUBSTANCE (STONE), sometimes it mentions
the FORM (Utensil) while other times it measures SIZE(HAND HELD)

THE RASHI
---------
Rashi/Rambam infers laws from each change in description. The
basic law is that for a court to assess a weapon as LETHAL
the weapon must have SUFFICIENT MOMENTUM (force per unit
of contact area) to puncture the victim and kill.

Here is the LIST. It is a marvel of midrashic beauty how
each difference precisely corresponds to some nuance.

The verses begin with the phrase
IF THE MURDERER STRIKE THE VICTIM......
VERSE PHRASE1 PHRASE2 PHRASE3 PHRASE4

Nu35-16 with an --1--IRON UTENSIL -----*3-------
Nu35-17 with a HAND STONE ---*2-- THAT CAN KILL
Nu35-18 with a HAND WOOD UTENSIL THAT CAN KILL
Differs *1 *2 ------*3-------

COMMENTS

*1 All differences point to the same law: We assess lethality
   by reviewing SIZE(eg Big stone vs pebble), FORM(eg needle)

   A STONE usually requires SIZE to be lethal. By contrast
   even a small IRON needle can kill. Hence the differences
   --HAND STONE (it has SIZE (=HAND) but not FORM (utensil))
   --IRON UTENSIL (it does not have SIZE but has FORM(eg needle)

*2 All differences point to the same law: We assess lethality
   by reviewing SIZE(eg Big stone vs pebble), FORM(eg needle)

   A STONE usually requires SIZE to be lethal. By contrast
   even a small IRON needle can kill. Hence the differences
   --HAND STONE (it has SIZE (=HAND) but not FORM (utensil))
   --IRON UTENSIL (it does not have SIZE but has FORM(eg needle)

*3 All differences point to the same law: We assess lethality
   by reviewing SIZE(eg Big stone vs pebble), FORM(eg needle)

   By wood it uses the full phrase HAND HELD WOOD UTENSIL
   ---hence if the WOOD is big enough we assess lethality
   ---OR if the wood is POINTED(like a needle) it is lethal
   The same law (assess FORM or SIZE for lethality) applies
   to IRON and STONE also. The Torah only gave typical
   examples in the text (HAND STONE vs IRON UTENSIL)

   In other words we ONLY assess FORM and SIZE but not
   substance(This point is explicitly stated in Rambam, Murder 3)




ALIGNMENT OF FOUR VERSES ON MURDER #2
 
Continuation of Alignment of 4 verses on murder
VERSE PHRASE1 PHRASE2 PHRASE3

Nu35-17 if he hit him with a HAND STONE THAT CAN KILL
Ex21-16 if he hit him with a STONE 
Differs *4 *1 *3

COMMENTS

*1
*3 Note Rashis fortiori argument
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   Nu35-17 talks about receiving the death penalty
   for killing a full fledged Jew. To receive the death penalty
   we need to assess lethality which involves assessing the FORM
   and SIZE of the murder weapon. How much more so does this
   apply to Ex21-16 which deals with receiving a death penalty
   for killing a slave!!!
   ------------------------------------------------------------

   This clarifies the law. But what about the TORAH TEXT.
   Why are the crucial phrases HAND and THAT CAN KILL absent?

   The answer is found in Rambam Torts Chapter 1:
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   We assess for TORTS the same way we assess for MURDER.
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   So if you hit a slave and it is assessed that it was a PEBBLE
   (not HAND HELD) and it couldnt KILL then you may have to
   pay damages but you dont get a death penalty (Also stated in
   Rambam Murder 4)

*4 These phrases are the same.



ALIGNMENT OF FOUR VERSES ON MURDER #3
 
Continuation of Alignment of 4 verses on murder
Note the footnotes to this LIST are identical to the
footnotes to the LIST immediately above and hence are not
repeated.
VERSE PHRASE1 PHRASE2 PHRASE3

Nu25-18 if he hit him with a HAND WOODEN UTENSIL THAT CAN KILL
Ex21-20 if he hit him with -*1- A ROD ------*3-----
Differs *4 *1 *3




#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc., 2001, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#

THE PARAGRAPHING OF Nu35
EXAMPLE 42: Nu35-16a BACKGROUND ---------- Nu35 discusses how murder cases are brought to trial and punishment(s) are sentenced on convicted murderers. Murder can be willful or thru negligence. THE TEXT -------- The chapter Nu35 naturally divides into 4 paragraphs: THE RASHIS ---------- Rashi simply PARAGRAPHS and identifies the theme of each paragraph: There are 4 paragraphs: An introductory paragraph on Refuge cities, a paragraph on willful murder, paragraph on accidental murder and a paragraph on the court case In particular, as shown below, Nu35-16:21 deals with WILLFUL murder (while by contrast Nu35-22:23 deals with accidental murder) Here is the LIST of paragraphs
VERSES	TOPIC	THEMES
Nu35-9:15	Introduction	Set aside Murder-refuge cities
Nu35-16:21	Willful murder	Assess murder weapon,hatred etc
Nu35-22:23	Accidental murder	Assess accidentality
Nu35-24:29	Court case*1	All murderers go to Refuge city

COMMENTS
*1 See Rambam, Murder, Chapter 5. The following law is not well known ---------------------------------------------------------- All murderers IMMEDIATELY (before trial) go to the refuge city. The court then tries the murderer. There are 3 outcomes --If he is INNOCENT he goes free --If he is NEGLIGENT he receives asylum in the refuge city --If he is GUILTY he is executed ----------------------------------------------------------

ALIGNMENT OF FOUR VERSES ON MURDER #1
EXAMPLE 43: Ex35-16a Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE EXAMPLE 44: Ex35-17a Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE EXAMPLE 45: Ex35-17b Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE EXAMPLE 46: Ex35-18a Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE EXAMPLE 47: Ex35-18b Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE EXAMPLE 48: Ex21-20b Murder weapon needs lethal FORM & SUBSTANCE BACKGROUND ---------- Nu35 and Ex21-16 are discussing murder. If a person gets convicted of murder he is executed. To get convicted of murder the court must show that a lethal weapon was used. (Nu35 discusses murder of free Jews; Ex21-16 discusses murder of slaves) THE TEXT -------- The Torah describes various types of weapons: a stone, wood, iron, a rod, a utensil etc. However the Torah uses minor differences in these descriptions: For example, sometimes it just mentions the SUBSTANCE (STONE), sometimes it mentions the FORM (Utensil) while other times it measures SIZE(HAND HELD) THE RASHI --------- Rashi/Rambam infers laws from each change in description. The basic law is that for a court to assess a weapon as LETHAL the weapon must have SUFFICIENT MOMENTUM (force per unit of contact area) to puncture the victim and kill. Here is the LIST. It is a marvel of midrashic beauty how each difference precisely corresponds to some nuance. The verses begin with the phrase IF THE MURDERER STRIKE THE VICTIM......
VERSE	PHRASE1	PHRASE2	PHRASE3	PHRASE4
Nu35-16	with an	--1--IRON	UTENSIL	-----*3-------
Nu35-17	with a	HAND STONE	---*2--	THAT CAN KILL
Nu35-18	with a	HAND WOOD	UTENSIL	THAT CAN KILL
Differs		*1	*2	------*3-------

COMMENTS
1 All differences point to the same law: We assess lethality by reviewing SIZE(eg Big stone vs pebble), FORM(eg needle) A STONE usually requires SIZE to be lethal. By contrast even a small IRON needle can kill. Hence the differences --HAND STONE (it has SIZE (=HAND) but not FORM (utensil)) --IRON UTENSIL (it does not have SIZE but has FORM(eg needle) 2 All differences point to the same law: We assess lethality by reviewing SIZE(eg Big stone vs pebble), FORM(eg needle) A STONE usually requires SIZE to be lethal. By contrast even a small IRON needle can kill. Hence the differences --HAND STONE (it has SIZE (=HAND) but not FORM (utensil)) --IRON UTENSIL (it does not have SIZE but has FORM(eg needle) *3 All differences point to the same law: We assess lethality by reviewing SIZE(eg Big stone vs pebble), FORM(eg needle) By wood it uses the full phrase HAND HELD WOOD UTENSIL ---hence if the WOOD is big enough we assess lethality ---OR if the wood is POINTED(like a needle) it is lethal The same law (assess FORM or SIZE for lethality) applies to IRON and STONE also. The Torah only gave typical examples in the text (HAND STONE vs IRON UTENSIL) In other words we ONLY assess FORM and SIZE but not substance(This point is explicitly stated in Rambam, Murder 3)

ALIGNMENT OF FOUR VERSES ON MURDER #2
Continuation of Alignment of 4 verses on murder
VERSE	PHRASE1	PHRASE2	PHRASE3
Nu35-17	if he hit him with a	HAND STONE	THAT CAN KILL
Ex21-16	if he hit him with a	STONE
Differs	*4	*1	*3

COMMENTS
1 3 Note Rashis fortiori argument ------------------------------------------------------------ Nu35-17 talks about receiving the death penalty for killing a full fledged Jew. To receive the death penalty we need to assess lethality which involves assessing the FORM and SIZE of the murder weapon. How much more so does this apply to Ex21-16 which deals with receiving a death penalty for killing a slave!!! ------------------------------------------------------------ This clarifies the law. But what about the TORAH TEXT. Why are the crucial phrases HAND and THAT CAN KILL absent? The answer is found in Rambam Torts Chapter 1: ----------------------------------------------------------- We assess for TORTS the same way we assess for MURDER. ----------------------------------------------------------- So if you hit a slave and it is assessed that it was a PEBBLE (not HAND HELD) and it couldnt KILL then you may have to pay damages but you dont get a death penalty (Also stated in Rambam Murder 4) *4 These phrases are the same.

ALIGNMENT OF FOUR VERSES ON MURDER #3
Continuation of Alignment of 4 verses on murder Note the footnotes to this LIST are identical to the footnotes to the LIST immediately above and hence are not repeated.
VERSE	PHRASE1	PHRASE2	PHRASE3
Nu25-18	if he hit him with a	HAND WOODEN UTENSIL	THAT CAN KILL
Ex21-20	if he hit him with	-*1- A ROD	------*3-----
Differs	*4	*1	*3