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  |      Rashi is Simple Version 2.0                         |
  |      (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000                          |
  |       http://www.RashiYomi.Com                           |
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VERSE: Dt06-04a

RASHIS COVERED: Dt05-03b Dt06-04a Dt09-01a Dt20-03a

RULE: Although God said all commandments to the Jews there are
only 4 commandments where it explicitly says HEAR ISRAEL. This
exrra emphasis is given in situations dealing with the Messianic
aspirations of the Jews. The Messianic aspirations of the Jews
are stated in Zeph03-09 and Zech14-09

>For then I will spill on all nations a clear language to call
in the name of God<

>On that day God will be unique and his Name will be unique<


Here is a summary of the 4 verses with HEAR ISRAEL

SUMMARY: There are 4 verses with the phrase HEAR ISRAEL.
* Two of these verses (Dt06-04, Dt05-03) refer to fundamental
theological doctrines (Gods Uniqueness & the 10 commandments)
which the whole world will one day acknowledge during the
Messianic era.

* The other two verses (Dt20-03 and Dt09-01) refer to a promise
that Israel will be able to conquer powerful nations. An explicit
OTHER VERSE, Dt09-09 explains that the merit we have that enables
us to conquer other nations is the (Messianic) promise to the
Patriarchs that the Jews will one day be the leader of the world.

Here are the details of the 4 verses and their Rashis

{LIST}
The 4 verses where it says HEAR ISRAEL all deal with the
Messianic vision of the Jewish people to conquer all nations
to have a personal relationship with a unique God
================================================================
VERSE          VERSE TEXT          RASHI
========       ==================  ============================
Dt06-04a       God is unique*1     God is unique to ALL NATIONS
Dt05-03b       God spoke to YOU*2  God will speak to ALL NATIONS
Dt09-01a       MIghty nations*3    You will be mightier*3
Dt20-03a       Powerful nations*4  You will conquer them*4


NOTES
*1 Rashi explicitly says that the verse >God is Unique< does not
only apply to the Jews but will ALSO apply one day to the whole
world (& Rashi cites Zeph03-09 and Zech14-09).

The reason Rashi added this emphasis (>applies to the whole world<
vs >applies to the Jews< is because of the special phrase HEAR
ISRAEL)


*2 Let us clearly list what is said in THE VERSE, RASHI and in
OUR INTERPRETATION of Rashi.

THE VERSE: >Hear Israel...God spoke to you face to face<

RASHI(LITERAL): >In other commandments you (Jews) heard Gods
word thru ME(Moses). In this case, at the revelation on Mount
Sinai, God PERSONALLY spoke to you.< Hence the Verse says
HEAR ISRAEL, God spoke to you FACE TO FACE.

OUR INTERPRETATION OF RASHI: We connect the Rashi on Dt06-04
with the Rashi on Dt05-03: Just as you Jews now personally
hear God so too will the whole world one day personally
listen to God. It is for this reason it says HEAR ISRAEL.
Just as Rashi brought Messianic verses on Dt06-04 so too
can we bring in Messianic verses here eg Isa11-9 >The whole
world will be filled with KNOWING GOD like water covering
the ocean<

*3 THE VERSE SAYS: >You Jews are coming to nations MORE
POWERFUL THAN YOU<. On the phrase >MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU<
Rashi says >They ARE powerful; but you are MORE POWERFUL<.

It appears that Rashi is commenting on the
phrase MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU which implies that the
non-jewish nations have power But this phrase is perfectly
normal and it is unnecessary to invest it with special
meanings.

Instead Rashi was using the method of OTHER VERSES which
explicitly say (Dt09-09) >The reason you are conquering these
other nations is because of the (Messianic) promises to the
Patriarchs<

Thus we have an explicit statement that the Jews are conquering
the nations because of the (Messianic) Promises to the
Patriarchs. Thus this Rashi is consistent with the other Rashis
linking the phrase HEAR ISRAEL with the JEWISH MESSIANIC VISION.

*4 THE VERSE SAYS: >Hear Israel..you are going to war don t be
afraid of this powerful nation<

RASHI SAYS: >In the merit of HEAR ISRAEL you will conquer them<

It looks like Rashi is saying >Because you say the prayer
HEAR ISRAEL, in that merit, you will conquer<. But this would
be ungrammatical.

OUR INTERPRETATION: Our interpretation follows the same general
trend as in ALL OTHER VERSES with the phrase HEAR ISRAEL. We
interpret the Rashi phrase >Even if you only have the merit
of HEAR ISRAEL you will conquer< to refer NOT to the daily
prayer HEAR ISRAEL but rather to the MESSIANIC ASPIRATIONS OF
THE JEWISH PEOPLE.  In fact we have interpreted all verses
with the phrase HEAR ISRAEL to refer to the MESSIANIC VISIONS
So we would interpret this Rashi as follows: >Even if you
only have the merit of MESSIANIC ASPIRATIONS TO GET THE
NATIONS TO WORSHIP A UNIQUE GOD you will conquer<.

Such an interpretation is consistent with the explicit Rashi on
Dt06-04 and with the explicit other verse (Dt09-09) which Rashi
brings on Dt09-01a which says that we conquer nations because
of the (Messianic) promises to the Patriarchs.

RULE USED: DOUBLE PARSHAS
---------------------------------------------------
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Volume 7 Number 21


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