#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
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| (C) RashiYomi Inc., Dr Hendel President |
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VERSE: Dt14-08a
================== IMPURITY PROHIBITION =========================
VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
Lv21-01 states that the PRIESTS should abstain from becoming
ritually impure. Since most Biblical paragraphs in Lv are spoken
to ALL ISRAELITES and this chapter prohibiting uncleanliness is
spoken to the priests, we therefore infer that ONLY the priests
are prohibited from becoming ritually impure. But Dt14-08
prohibits Israelites from becoming impure and this seems to
contradict Lv21-01. Rashi resolves the contradiction by
assigning different TIMEFRAMES to the 2 verses.Priests are ALWAYS
prohibited from becoming impure. By contrast lay Jews are only
prohibited on Holidays when they eat before God.
-------------------------------------
TODAYS RASHI RULE: RabbiIshmael
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE: TWO STAGES
-------------------------------------
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RULE
-------------------------
Some Rashis focus on the meaning of individual WORDS.
Other Rashis may focus on the grammar of Biblical VERSES.
Still other Rashis may focus not on individual words or
verses but rather on the comparison of VERSE PAIRS
There are several Rashi rules where 2 or more verses
are compared.
One of these rules focuses on VERSE PAIRS that seem to
CONTRADICT each other. These CONTRADICTIONS can be resolved
by 5 methods.
One of these methods is to ASSUME that the two verses speak
about two diffrerent time periods. Typically nuances in the
verses, or, other verses may help motivate defining these
2 time periods.
(There is a similar method of resolving contradictions which
consists of finding 2 ASPECTS of the item. The difference
between 2 ASPECTS and 2 STAGES is arbitrary---2 stages refers
to 2 TIME periods while 2 ASPECTS refers to 2 PLACES or
PROPERTIES--both methods are similar)
The Standard Example below illustrates this.
STANDARD EXAMPLE
----------------
Consider these two verses.
------------------------------------------------------
Nu08-24 Levites come to the temple from 25 years of age
Nu04-03 Levites serve the temple from 30 years of age
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STUDENT EXERCISES:
------------------
- How do the above verses contradict each other
- Suggest a way of resolving the contradiction by
considering the two verses as TWO CASES or STAGES of
Levite service
- Can you find words or nuances in the 2 verses supporting
what you suggested
RASHIS SOLUTION
---------------
- One verse says Levites START AT 25 while another
verse states they START at 30
- We can resolve the contradiction by breaking the
Levite service into two stages
- Levite education (This started at age 25)
- Actual Levite service (This started at age 30)
- One verse says Levites COME at age 25. While the other
verse speaks about SERVICE at age 30. If we emphasize
these two words we see that Levites ONLY COME at 25
(to get educated) while they start ACTUAL SERVICE at
age 30 (After a 5 year Degree program!)
STANDARD REFERENCES FOR THIS RULE
---------------------------------
http://www.RashiYomi.com/ri-14.htm
Or visit the Rashi calendar:
http://www.RashiYomi.com/calendar1.htm
The RabbiIshmael contradictory verse series occured
in May of 2000 when the RashiYomi series began.
HOW TO USE THESE LISTS FOR SCHOOL PROJECTS
------------------------------------------
You can use the LISTS referenced above for
school projects. Here is how. If you are a
teacher then you can present pairs of contradictory
verses and ask the students to perform the
3 student exercises listed above.
The students can then compare their analysis with that
of Rashis. This leads to greater appreciation of Rashi.
TODAYS EXAMPLE
--------------
We list chapters in Leviticus. Some of them begin
-- Speak to the Jews, while others begin
-- Speak to the Priests
The idea is that chapters that begin SPEAK TO THE PRIESTS
refer to priestly laws while chapters that begin SPEAK TO
THE JEWS refer to laws applying to all Jews.
These verses show that the prohibition in Lv21-01
of becoming ritually impure refers exclusively
to the priests. The footnotes complete the resolution
of the contradiction.
=================================================================
VERSE Speak to.. Who? Topic covered
======== ============ ============== ==========================
Lv01-02 Speak to the Jews Voluntary Sacrifices
Lv04-02 Speak to the Jews Sin offerings
Lv11-02 Speak to the Jews Keep Kosher
Lv12-02 Speak to the Jews Birth Offering
Lv18-02 Speak to the Jews Adultery prohibitions
Lv19-02 Speak to the Jews Sabbath &other obligations
Lv20-02 Speak to the Jews Judicial Punishment
Lv07-29 Speak to the Jews*1 Peace offering eating
------- ------------ -------------- --------------------------
Lv06-02 Speak to the Priests*1 Altar service(Up offering)
Lv06-18 Speak to the Priests*1 Altar service(Sin offering
Lv21-02 Speak to the Priests*2 Ritual impurity prohibition
Lv22-02 Speak to the Priests*2 Ritual impurity prohibition
NOTES
-----
*1 Note the beautiful contrast
-- Jews eat the peace offering--so the command is to JEWS
-- Only priests serve altars --so the command is to PRIESTS
*2 Based on the above list the prohibition of becoming impure
refers ONLY to Priests.*10 Now we understand that the
prohibition in Dt14-08 to Israelites of becoming impure,
contradicts Lv21-01.
Rashi resolves this by ASSUMING that Dt14-08 prohibits
becoming impure on the Festivals when the Jews must eat
before God in Jerusalem (e.g. Dt16-16 and Dt14-26--note
especially how these 2 verses are in the surrounding
chapters and hence are justified by the principle
of context).
Thus in summary
- Dt14-08 prohibits JEWS from becoming impure on FESTIVALS
- Lv21-01 prohibits PRIESTS from becoming impure ANYTIME
-------------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES --------------------
*10 Technically we use the Rabbi Ishmael rule of
generalization from several verses. That is based on the
above list we infer the rule that
- if it says SPEAK TO THE JEWS the law is universal
- if it say SPEAK TO THE PRIESTS the law is only to priests
=================================================================
RASHI RULE USED: RabbiIshmael
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WARNING: The following additional references may be too wordy
However they frequently contain additional information & lists
The hyperlinks only work on the main website
Volume 14 Number 24
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 14 Number 24