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#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2011, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#
      10. RASHI METHOD: SYMBOLISM
      BRIEF EXPLANATION: Rashi provides symbolic interpretations of words, verses, and chapters. Rashi can symbolically interpret either
      • (10a) entire Biblical chapters such as the gifts of the princes, Nu-07
      • (10b) individual items, verses and words
      The rules governing symbolism and symbolic interpretation are presented in detail on my website.
      This examples applies to Rashis Gn37-17b
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn24-22c.htm
      Brief Summary: Joseph had a dream in which he was WANDERING / CONFUSED. His goals were BROTHERHOOD but his brothers didn't trust him-they wanted a new religion not based on prophecy.

    Verses Gn37-13:18 describing Jacob's request to Joseph to check up on his brothers who were sheparding the fields states
    • And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I. And he said to him, Go, I beg you, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
    • And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, saying, What do you seek? And he said, I seek my brothers; tell me, I beg you, where they feed their flocks. And the man said, They have departed from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan.
    • And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him from far away, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him.

    In a separate Rashi we have explained that the double underlined word man indicates emphasis - the word for man(Ish) in Hebrew comes from the word for fire (Aysh) and indicates (originally) a prophetic man who sees visions of fire or is seen in visions of fire. This inference uses the Format rule #7 which interprets repetition as an indication of unspec This is true but we need not defend the detail. The important point is that Joseph had a vision of fire, a prophetic dream. The dream is indicated above in the second bullet which is typeset.We now interpret this passage symbolically: The justification for this symbolic interpretation is the context that it happened in a dream.

    • And a certain man found him,[He had a dream vision]
    • and, behold, he was wandering in the field; [Joseph was wandering - he was unclear on his direction.]
    • and the man asked him, saying, What do you seek? [In the dream he was asked to formulate goals and what is sought.]
    • And he said, I seek my brothers; [Joseph wanted his family and brotherhood]
    • tell me, I beg you, where they shepard [Joseph already had dreams where he offered his brothers leadership; but this resulted in increased hatred. So Joseph was seeking what his brothers really wanted - where they shepard and hang out. He wanted to please them]
    • And the man said, They have departed from here; [You don't have a family anymore]
    • for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan [The Hebrew word Dothan comes from the root Doth which means religion. The brothers were setting up a new religion; not a religion based on kindness, giving chances, and prophecy, but rather a religion based on paranoic mistrust, not forgiving and belittlement of dreams.]

    Let me recap. As shown by the underlined words the above is the simple symbolic interpretation of the dream. This symbolic interpretation is based on the repeated word man connoting emphasis and indicating a vision of fire.

    Advanced Rashi: But wait a minute. Rashi literally states:There is symbolic meaning to Dothan but a text never leaves the simple meaning (Dothan is a place!!!). Doesn't this contradict what we said above as the simple meaning of the text?

    No! For that is exactly how dreams are interpreted. They took something in the real world which triggers symbolic associations. True Joseph was going to Dothan; but the name of the place appeared in the dream and triggered symbolic associations with a new way of life. A good dream interpretation focuses both on the real world and sybmolic together as Rashi just illustrated.


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