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  |      Rashi is Simple Version 2.0                         |
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VERSE: Ex01-10b

RASHIS COVERED: Ex01-10b Ex01-10c Ex01-11a Ex01-11c

=============== IS NATION SINGULAR/PLURAL? =====================

BACKGROUND
----------
Ex01-10:11 discusses Pharohs paranoic fears of the Jewish
people and his consequent order to murder Jewish children

TEXT-Ex01-10
------------
Let US prepare OURselves against HIM

RASHI
-----
Rashi is Simple
Throughout this chapter.
- PLURAL verbs refer to the Egyptians
- SINGULAR verbs refer to the Jews

This is typical of paranoic racists. They do not see
individuality. They are AFRAID OF THEM--the mythical group.

THE LIST
--------
The list below presents
- V, the verse (Ex01-10, Ex01-11)
- the Text or the Phrase of the verse
- An indication if the verb is PLURAL or SING (Singular)
- Those verses where RASHI comments
- The repeating RASHI TEXT: Singular is Jews, Plural is Egypt
The footnotes contain further clarification on the grammatical
implications of using the plural vs the singular to refer to
a nation.
================================================================
V  Text of Verse                 Plural Rashi    RASHI-TEXT
== ============================= ====== ======== ===============
10 Let US prepare ourselves      Plural
10 for strategies against HIM    Sing   Ex01-10b HIM=ISRAEL*10
10 since if HE multiplies
10 then when there is a war
10 HE-ll ally                    Sing
10 HIMSELF with the enemy
10 & HE will go up from the land Sing   Ex01-10c HIM=Israel*11
11 and THEY placed               Plural
11 taxmasters on HIM             Sing   Ex01-11a HIM = ISRAEL
11 in order to torture HIM       Sing
11 with THEIR hard work          Plural Ex01-11c THEIR=Egypts

NOTES
-----

------------------------ LONGER FOOTNOTES -----------------------

*10 Referring to a nation as a unified whole indicates that they
    are unified. Thus on a deeper level Pharoh attacked the God
    who unified us.

    Chazal for example note that possibly Pharoh
    thought that since God cant destroy the world by flood
    therefore Egypt is protected (The answer to this is that
    God can destroy an individual nation but not the whole world)

    At any rate the reader should not get bogged down in details
    The focal point of Chazals remark is that the nation is
    referred to in the singular and hence it is reasonable that
    Pharoh studied how our God treats the world and tried to find
    loopholes. The drowing-flood contrast is just one obvious
    example.

*11 The simple meaning of the text is that the Jews will go up
    from Goshen where they lived and occupy the rest of Egypt.

    The focal point of Pharohs fears is that the Jews will
    conquer Egypt. But because of DISCRETION Pharoh simply said
    HE WILL GO UP and didnt explicitly mention the CONQUEST.

    I think the above makes Rashi more palatable. Rashi does
    mention DISCRETION---our present Rashi versions quote Rashi
    as saying that the Biblical text
    ---------------------------------
    HE WILL GO UP FROM THE LAND
    ---------------------------------
    means
    ------------------------------------------
    HE-egypt WILL GO UP FROM THE LAND OF-egypt
    ------------------------------------------

    However such an interpretation violates the rule
    we are using
    --------------------------------------------------
    Jews are referred to throughout
    this chapter in the singular
    Egyptians are referred to throughout
    this chapter in plural
    --------------------------------------------------

    Therefore I have accepted Rashis DISCRETION method
    but instead interpreted the verse to mean
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    HE-Israel--WILL GO UP FROM their LAND of Goshen
    and conquer Egypt
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    The DISCRETION lied in speaking about Jewish population
    overflowing rather than their real fear which was the
    CONQUEST OF EGYPT
=================================================================

RASHI RULE USED: GRAMMARr
---------------------------------------------------
WARNING: The following additional references may be too wordy
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Volume 12 Number 16


#*#*#*#*#  (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#