#*#*#*#*#  (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
  -----------------------------------------------------------
  |      Rashi is Simple Version 2.0                         |
  |      (C) RashiYomi Inc., Dr Hendel President             |
  |       http://www.RashiYomi.Com                           |
  | PERMISSION to reprint WITH this header if NOT for profit |
  ------------------------------------------------------------

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
---------------------------------------------------
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 11 Number 8


#*#*#*#*#  (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 11 Number 8