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VERSE: Dt14-26a
RASHIS COVERED: Dt14-26a Dt14-26b Dt14-26b
BACKGROUND
----------
The Torah is talking about setting aside money to be used
to buy food on the festivals in Jerusalem. The Torah
speaks about HOW you should use this money. The Torah
says
Dt14-26a And you will take the money and use it to buy
(GENERAL) ALL THAT YOUR SOUL WANTS
(PARTICULAR) Cattle(Steaks)
Sheep(Lambchops)
Wine
Beer
(GENERAL) ALL THAT YOUR SOULD ASKS FOR
RASHI: Notice how the Verse has a GENERAL-PARTICULAR-GENERAL
form. (In other words the Torah first says BUY WHATEVER
YOU WANT which is a GENERAL statement; The Torah then says
BUY CATTLE, SHEEP, WINE, BEER which is a PARTICULAR statement;
the Torah concludes BUY WHATEVER YOU WANT (a GENERAL
statement)
This is one of the EXAMPLE-STYLES of Rabbi Ishmael.
Rabbi Ishmael analyzed the WAY EXAMPLES are enumerated
in the Bible and found several STYLES. For each style there
are rules how the examples affect the final law. Sometimes ONLY
the examples are used--in this case that would mean that you
would only buy cattle, sheep, beer, wine but nothing else.
Sometimes however the examples are generalized a certain
degree(For example, here, you might be allowed to buy
anything EDIBLE, like steak, lambchops, beer and wine)
This is my innovation on the concept of the "RULES OF
RABBI ISHMAEL": that they refer to rules about EXAMPLES.
This is consistent with the fact that Rabbi Ishmael is
never quoted as dealing with grammatical derivations but
only with derivations from examples.
The GENERAL-PARTICULAR-GENERAL EXAMPLE STYLE is used to indicate
all items that CLOSELY RESEMBLE ALL EXAMPLES. Let us see how
this works in this case.
The 4 items---CATTLE, SHEEP, BEER, WINE have the following
4 attributes.
* They are EDIBLES--so we couldn't buy Jerusalem real estate
because real estate does not CLOSELY
RESEMBLE cattle, sheep, beer wine
* They are MAINSTAYS OF THE MEAL---so we couldn't buy
water, salt, tea, spices
* They are DERIVED FROM THE GROUND---so we couldn't buy fish
* They are DERIVED FROM LIVING THINGS---cattle and sheep
BUYING FOOD ADDITIVES that come from living things like tea
(a food flavorer for water) spices (a flavorer) etc. We however
exlclude salt and water. In other words you can buy SPICES
but you cannot buy WATER.
Thus I have broken the derivation into 2 stages. In the
1st stage I use the GENERAL-PARTICULAR-GENERAL form to
allow buying edible mainstays of the meal that are derived
from living produce from the ground. In the 2nd stage I
use the word "ALL" to allow me to buy food additives
which come from living things. This 2 stage approach was
also used in Lv14-09 and seemed to solve serious problems
among the rishonim. This 2 stage approach is not explicitly
stated in the sifrah or Gmarrah which just concentrates
on the general-particular-general example style.(However
this 2-stage approach is explicitly mentioned in the Talmud
Becoroth 37a,b on the next example from Dt15-21)
The above logic is compactly summarized in {LIST1} below.
We should make clear that Rashi is simply pointing out
that the verse has a GENERAL-PARTICULAR-GENERAL example
style. HOW this style is applied very often involves
Talmudic controversy. So to understand Rashi properly
one should understand that Rashis PRIMARY goal is to
identify the general-particular-general example style.
Rashi SECONDARY goal is to advise us HOW this example
style affects the final law
{LIST1} {Analysis of the common features of Cattle, sheep
beer and wine in Dt14-26. The law is you can
buy anything that closely resembles cattle, sheep
beer wine--this would include all edibles that
are mainstays of the meal that are derived from
living things that are on land.}
DERIVED DERIVED
CAN THIS FROM FROM
ITEM BE IMPROVES LIVING LAND
BOUGHT EDIBLE LIQUID TASTE TNINGS Not water
----------- ------ ------ -------- ------ ---------
Real estate
Servants
Salt X X
Water X X
Spices X X X X
Tea X X X X
Onions X X X X
Fish X
Wine*1 X X X X
Beer*1 X X X X
Steaks*1 X X X
Lambchops*1 X X X
NOTES
-----
*1 These 4 items are mentioned in Dt14-26
RULE USED: RabbiIshmael
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Volume 7 Number 1