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The table below presents
two contradictory verses.
Both verses talk about
the outskirts of the Levite cities
The underlined words highlight the contradiction.
One verse says
the outskirts of the city
will be 1000 cubits
while the other verse says
from the city border to end will be
2000 cubits.
Which is it?
Are the outskirts 1000 or 2000 cubits
Rashi simply resolves this using the
2-aspects
method:
a) The outskirt of the city
- the place set aside for gardens
and city beautification - occupied
1000 cubits. b) The remainder of
outside of the city - the next 1000
cubits - was set aside for planting
fields and vineyards.
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Summary
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Verse / Source
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Text of verse / Source
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The outskirts (for gardens
and city beautification) is 1000 feet.
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Nu35-04
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And the outskirts around the cities, that you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits around
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The total distance from the city
border is 2000 cubits. The 2nd 1000
cubits is for planting fields and
vineyards.
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Nu35-05
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#####
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Resolution:
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2-Aspects
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a) The outskirt of the city
- the place set aside for gardens
and city beautification - occupied
1000 cubits. b) The remainder of
outside of the city - the next 1000
cubits - was set aside for planting
fields and vineyards.
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Advanced Rashi:
Today we have a special treat. Normally we only review
Rashi in this email group. However as the yearly cycles
grow repetitiously we try and add items. Today we add
a controversy between the Rambam and Rashi on how
to interpret these contradictory verses. For if
the contradiction method only explained Rashi it
would not be universal but specific to one commentator.
Our goal in this email list is to show that the 10 Rashi
methods and 30 Submethods are universal to all commentators.
To prove this we must show how the Rambam, using the
same method, arrived at a different conclusion!
While Rashi resolves the contradiction presented
above using the 2 aspects method, Rambam resolves
the contradiction presented above using the
2 stages method. The Rambam holds that in the
first stage of creating city outskirts we lay out 1000
cubits on each side for city gardens and city beautification;
in the 2nd stage of creating city outskirts we measure
out an additional 2000 cubits on each side of the
city plus garden outskirts. These 2000 cubits are for
planting fields and vineyards.
Thus the superficial controversy between
Rashi and Rambam is whether we have 2000 cubits of
outskirts (Rashi) or 3000 cubits of outskirts (1000 cubits
plus 2000 cubits according to Rambam).
But the deep controversy between Rashi and
Rambam is whether we resolve the contradiction
through the 2 aspects or 2 stages method.
As the yearly cycle evolves we hope to have more
applications of our 10 basic methods and 30 submethods
to controversies among the early authorities.
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