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VERSE: Dt17-08a
RASHIS COVERED: Gn18-14a Dt17-08a Dt30-11a Ex34-10b Dt28-59a
Ex08-18a Lv22-21a Lv27-02a Nu06-02a
================= THE 3 MEANINGS OF THE ROOT P-L-A ==============
ANNOUNCEMENT
------------
In the coming digests I will not only be explaining Rashis. I
will also be showing how the rules we use are dynamic. For
example today we review the dictionary meaning of the root
P-L-A.
Most people think of this as a dictionary dump. Not so! We
will see two approaches to dictionary pedagogy -- Rashis and
Radacks. More importantly we will see that the dry bones of
grammar and meaning are anything but dead. The dry bones of
Grammar are alive with flesh; Grammar flirts, cajoles, entices
& elicits response.
BACKGROUND
----------
Rashi explains the meaning of the roots P-L-A & P-L-H
THE TEXT
--------
As is our usual approach we cite 9 Rashis on these Roots.
It emerges that this root has a fundamental meaning
DISTINGUISHED which is used in 3 ways
THE RASHI
---------
The root P-L-A has 3 usages
-- it means DISTINGUISHED
-- it means to VOW *4
-- it means UNKNOWN/INACCESSIBLE *1
Here is the list.
=================================================================
VERSE P-L-A means TEXT OF VERSE
======== ============= ==========================================
Gn18-14a UNKNOWN*1 Is there something that I (God) CANT DO*2
Dt17-08a UNKNOWN When a law is UNKNOWN to you
Dt30-11a UNKNOWN The Torah is close To You;its not UNKNOWN
Ex34-10b DISTINGUISHED Ill make Jews A DISTINGUISHED*3 people*10
Dt28-59a DISTINGUISHED Ill bring on you DISTINGUISHED PUNISHMENTS
Ex08-18a DISTINGUISHED Ill DISTINGUISH the Jews;no plague on them
Lv22-21a VOW*4 If a person VOWS to offer a Shlamim
Lv27-02a VOW If a person VOWS his worth
Nu06-02a VOW If a person VOWS to separate from wine*13
NOTES
=====
*1 Cf The English IT IS ABOVE ME to denote something
unknown and inaccessible.
RADACK also brings down the meaning of the Hebrew
word PELONI which means SOMEONE or more precisely
SOME UNKNOWN PERSON.
*2 Note the two usages
-- something not understood is UNKNOWN
-- an activity that cant be done is INACCESSIBLE
*3 Both RADACK and Rashi use the word SEPARATE. However
the translation DISTINGUISHED fits better; it is not
any SEPARATION but rather a SEPARATENESS of being BETTER
and DISTINGUISHED
RADACK brings in the Hebrew word NIFLAOTH usually
translated as MIRACLES. A better translation is
DISTINGUISHED SALVATIONS.*11
*4 When you VOW, you in effect make something DISTINGUISHED
For example if I vow a peace offering then I have
DISTINGUISHED/SEPARATED OUT that animal for a
DISTINGUISHED purpose.
------------------ LONGER FOOTNOTES ------------------
*10 Rashi adds that
-------------------------------------------------
The Jews will become DISTINGUISHED by being the
only people KNOWN for prophecy
-------------------------------------------------
Rashi derived this connection -- DISTINGUISHED
BY PROPHECY -- from the explicit connection between
DISTINGUISHED & PROPHECY mentioned in an
OTHER VERSE, Ex33-16
-------------------------------------------------
And how else will it be known that me (Moses) and
the Jews have found favor in Your(Gods) eyes ---
is it not by You God walking with us (ie Prophecy);
and we will thereby become DISTINGUISHED from all
nations on the earth
-------------------------------------------------
*11 Both RADACK and RASHI use the idea of SEPARATENESS
to simultaneosly explain
--MIRACLES (Separated acts)
--UNKNOWN (Separated from you)
I think a tighter formulation would translate these as
--- MIRACLES (DISTINGUISHED salvations)
--- UNKNOWN (cf the English IT IS ABOVE ME to indicate
something unknown. In Hebrew we see that
something unknown is DISTINGUISHED from me)
For a further analysis between SEPARATENESS &
DISTINGUISHED see footnote #12
*12 A fascinating Rashi-Radack controversy occurs on
Lamentations 1,9 ISRAEL WENT DOWN IN PELEH
-- RADACK translates: It was a DISTINGUISED downfall
-- RASHI translates: Israel went down to an INACCESSIBLE
place (i.e. they went down to the DEEP)
*13 We make some comments on roots:
Note that on Ex08-18a Rashi explains that P-L-A
means DISTINGUISHED/SEPARATED. Rashi brings as
supportive proofs
-- Ex09-04 God will SEPARATE (P-L-H) the Jews/Egyptians
-- Dt30-11 The Torah is not UNKNOWN (P-L-A) to you
In other words Rashi explicitly connects the meaning
of the two roots P-L-A and P-L-H. By contrast RADACK
separates these two usages each under a different root
One possible approach is to suggest that Rashi did
not known grammar as well as Radack or to suggest
that Rashi believed in a 2-letter radical theory.
Actually this is rediculous. Rashi was a walking database
As I have explained many times Rashi believed in two
types of roots
-- 3 letter grammatical roots which govern conjugation
-- 2 letter roots which govern the meaning of 3 letter roots
Why then did Rashi connect P-L-A and P-L-H? Because even
though they are different 3-letter-roots they nevertheless
come from the same 2-letter family. In other words Rashi
is explaining that P-L-A and P-L-H both mean DISTINGUISH/
SEPARATE.
An interesting support for this comes from the form
in Ex33-16 -- VNIFLINU (and the Jews will be distinguished)
Now the official punctuation for PLURAL, PASSIVE, PAST,
1st PERSON, is VNIFLAYNU (See Table 9 in the appendix to
Volume 5 of the IBN SHOSHAN dictionary which deals with
roots ending in HAY).
But Ex33-16 uses the extremely rare form VNIFLINU vs
VNIFLAYNU. A review of the Silberman Grammatical Form
Konkordance shows that this form occurs only 3 times
in the whole Bible!!
But if the form is that rare Rashi would be equally
justified in perceiving the form as belonging to
P-L-A vs P-L-H! In other words the Rashi-Radack
controversy might be a controversy on GRAMMATICAL FORM
We can proceed a step further and justify Rashis
assertion semantically. Indeed we invoke the Rashi-Hirsch
thesis that an ALEPH in a verb denotes PERSONALIZATION.
Here are some famous examples from Rav Hirsch
------------------------------------------------------
ACL (eat) = CLH (To destroy) for me PERSONALY (ALEPH)
ASHM(guilt)= PERSONAL (Aleph) Desolation (SHMM)
AHAV(Love) = GIVING (HAV) of the SELF (ALEPH)
ABAD(Loss) = Separation(BAD) from the SELF(Aleph)
AV (Father)= The MAN (Aleph) of the HOUSE(BaYith)
------------------------------------------------------
We can now explain the 3 occurences of the grammatical
forms NIFLINU, NIGLINU, NITMINU
-------------------------------------------------------------
-- Ex33-16 P-L-H means DISTINGUISHED; P-L-A would mean FAMOUS
Ex33-16 means the Jews will become FAMOUS
-- 1Sam14-8 G-L-H means REVEAL; G-L-A would mean EXPOSE
1Sam14-8 Lets openly go to the enemy & EXPOSE ourselves
-- Job18-3 T-M-H means HIDDEN;T-M-A means IMPURE
Job18-3 Why are we treated like an animal; why are
we IMPURE in your eyes
-------------------------------------------------------------
To recap
-------------------------------------------------------------
-- P-L-A would mean FAMOUS (Personal Distinction)
-- G-L-A would mean EXPOSE (A Revelation of the self)
-- T-M-A would mean IMPURE (A state where the true self is
hidden (Rav Hirschs famous translation of RITUAL IMPURITY)
-------------------------------------------------------------
In summary it would appear that we merely tabulated the
dictionary meanings of P-L-H in the LIST. But on a
deeper level we also explored the underlying assumptions
on how each word is classified in terms of its roots. We
saw that rare conjugations may belong to several roots,
a fact not normally taught in Hebrew classes. More
excitingly we saw the difference in approach between
Rashi and Radack in pedagogy -- we saw how there are
3 fundamental meanings to PLA/PLH (vow, distinguish,
unknown) and these meanings are given various supports
in verses (Rashi) and usages (Radack). So indeed, meaning
is something alive and dynamic
==================================================================
RASHI RULE USED: UNIFIED MEANINGS
---------------------------------------------------
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Volume 11 Number 8
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 11 Number 8