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  |      (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000                          |
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VERSE: Dt30-14a

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: To Dr Loike for pointing this Rashi out.

BACKGROUND: As Dr Loike notes it is STRANGE to derive from the
verse >it is near in your mouth and heart to do< that >this
refers to the Written and Oral law<.

In fact it almost looks as if Rashi is playing a game on
repetition---Rashi seems to identify the 2 Biblical words
>mouth< and >heart< with the 2 types of law >Written< & >Oral<

Furthermore it is common in Biblical sentences to repeat phrases
True we sometimes use >context< to be specific in each of these
phrases but that is only when we have 3,4 or 5 of them. A simple
repetition is >the human method of conversation< and as we know
from the Rabbi Ishmael series >the Torah speaks in human
conversational style<.
In a nutshell how can Rashi be sure that the repeated phrase is
INTENDED for emphasis here? The answer lies in using the method
of DOUBLE PARSHAS---it turns out that there is a repeated
emphasis on TWONESS throughout this chapter.


{LIST}
-----------------------------------------------------------
SeveraL Repetitions in Dt30-11:14
=================================
VERSE           PHRASE #1               PHRASE #2
==========      ==================      =====================
Dt30-11         It isn t ABOVE you      It isn t FAR from you
Dt30-12:13      It isn t in HEAVEN      It isn t OVERSEAS
Dt30-14         Close to your HEART     Close in SPEECH
-----------------------------------------------------------

There is a difference between ABOVE and FAR. FAR means it
requires to much work to get there but it can be done. By
contrast, ABOVE means I can NOT get there.

Prophecy, by its nature is ABOVE man. You can t just become
a prophet. So Moses says that the Biblical law which was
revealed thru prophecy is not ABOVE you in HEAVEN.

By contrast, the oral law with its many regulations is something
that COULD be memorized verbally (With your mouth) if you really
tried. Moses assures the Jews that while it requires work to
memorize all the regulations nevertheless the law is not OVERLY
FAR--it is eg NOT OVERSEAS.

In summary, the answer to John s question is that Rashi was not
commenting on the repetition in the VERSE Dt30-14 but rather
Rashi was commenting on the repetition THROUGHOUT THE CHAPTER.

RULE USED: DOUBLE PARSHAS
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Volume 7 Number 21


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