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      2. RASHI METHOD: WORD MEANING
      BRIEF EXPLANATION: The meaning of words can be explained either by
      • (2a) translating an idiom, a group of words whose collective meaning transcends the meaning of its individual component words,
      • (2b) explaining the nuances and commonality of synonyms-homographs,
      • (2c) describing the usages of connective words like also,because,if-then, when,
      • (2d) indicating how grammatical conjugation can change word meaning
      • (2e) changing word meaning using the figures of speech common to all languages such as irony and oxymorons.
      This examples applies to Rashis Gn27-36c
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w34n20.htm
      Brief Summary: Aleph-Tzade-Lamed means NEAR and hence can mean SET ASIDE, MAYOR (Near to all), SHOULDER (Organ near me)

When Rashi uses, what we may losely call, the hononym method, Rashi does not explain new meaning but rather shows an underlying unity in disparate meanings. Rashi will frequently do this by showing an underlying unity in the varied meanings of a Biblical root.

In my article Peshat and Derash found on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rashi.pdf. I advocate enriching the Rashi explanation using a technique of parallel nifty translations in modern English. Today's examples show this.

    The Heberw Biblical root Aleph-Tzade-Lamed has a fundamental meaning of near. Hence this Biblical root can mean
  • near,
  • set aside, make available, [ set near you ]
  • shoulder, [ the organ for holding someone near you ]
  • Mayor, [ a leader near/accessible to everybody. ]

Applying the above translation to Gn27-36c discussing Esauv's plea to obtain a blessing, we obtain And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times; he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, have you set aside a blessing for me? In providing this English translation notice that we have used the English idiom set aside which mirrors the Hebrew near, since near and side are semantically close. 


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