#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
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| Rashi is Simple Version 2.0 |
| (C) RashiYomi Inc., Dr Hendel President |
| http://www.RashiYomi.Com |
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VERSE: Ex07-19e
RASHIS COVERED: Ex07-19e Ex07-19f
========= THE RABBI ISHMAEL GENERAL-EXAMPLE-GENERAL STYLE =======
BACKGROUND
----------
One of the 6 major Rashi functions is to indicate Biblical style
A major component of style are the Rabbi Ishmael Style rules.
These rules govern whether texts should be interpreted literally
or broadly.
SUMMARY
-------
We have defended 3 main classes of Rabbi Ishmael rules
-BROAD INTERPRETATION - All simple verses are interpreted broadly
-LITERAL INTERPRETATION - The GENERAL-EXAMPLE style is literal
-PARTIAL GENERALIZATION - the (GENERAL)-EXAMPLE-GENERAL style
In fact we give an example today of the PARTIAL GENERALIZATION
STYLE.
REFERENCES
----------
-The 6 Rashi goals: http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rules-01.htm
-Rabbi Ishmael styles: http://www.RashiYomi.com/ishmael.htm
-Rabbi Ishmael download: http://www.RashiYomi.Com/download.htm
THE TEXT-Ex07-19
----------------
God told Moses to bring the plague of blood on
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-- Egyptian water bodies GENERAL STATEMENT
------rivers EXAMPLES
------canals EXAMPLES
------ponds EXAMPLES
-- All Water bodies GENERAL
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THE RASHI
---------
The Rabbi Ishmael style rules require any sentence in a
GENERAL-EXAMPLE-GENERAL style to be interpreted by GENERALIZING
the examples. So the verse doesnt mean to smite ONLY the rivers
canals and ponds but rather it means to smite ANY water body
like them--this includes resevoirs and bottled water
THE LISTS
---------
We present two lists:
-- In LIST 1 we review the verse itself (like the table above)
-- In LIST 2 we show an interesting application of the Quine-
McKluskey Boolean algebra reduction algorithm to facilitate
understanding Rabbi Ishmael
================================================================
TEXT OF EX07-19 TYPE OF CLAUSE
========================================== =====================
God told Aaron to Waive his stick Introduction
on Egyptian waters GENERAL WATER BODY
------ [whether*1] rivers EXAMPLE of WATER BODY
------ [or*1] canals EXAMPLE of WATER BODY
------ [or *1] ponds EXAMPLE of WATER BODY
on all Water gatherings GENERAL WATER BODY
and it will become blood What will happen
There will be blood in all*2 of Egypt What will happen
EVEN *1 in the wood and stone[utensils]*3 What will happen
NOTES
-----
*1 As explained in the introduction this verse has a GENERAL
EXAMPLE GENERAL style and THEREFORE is interpreted by
generalizing the examples to anything similar. In other
words not just the rivers, canals and ponds became bloody
but all bodys of water. To emphasize this interpretation I
have inserted the elliptical words WHETHER, OR, EVEN
-- all water bodies WHETHER rivers, OR canals OR ponds
-- EVEN in wood and stone utensils
*2 As just indicated the verse is interpreted to mean that
ALL Egyptian bodies of water became bloody. It is therefore
tempting to say that Rashi inferred this generalization from
the word ALL. This indeed is a support for Rashi. However
Rashi learned this generalization (all bodies of water) BOTH
from the word ALL and from the Rabbi Ishmael STYLE rule.*10
*3 Rashi interprets WOOD and STONE to mean WOOD and STONE
UTENSILS. This applies the concept that words are named
by what they are made of: e.g. GLASSES (for reading or
drinking) are named by what they are made of. See the
footnotes for a list and reference *11
----------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES -----------------------------
*10 For a clarification of the 5 meanings of ALL visit either
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/words.htm
http://www.RashiYomi.com/all-18.htm
*11 The following list of items NAMES object by their SUBSTANCE
-- that is by what they are made of. The LIST comes from
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/naming-8.htm
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(1)Linoleum refers to a linoleum
(2) An Iron is made of iron & is used to Irons clothes
(3) Plaster Binds materials
(4) Glasses are a utensil made of glass that helps you see
Hence we have the following Rashi
(5) Ex01-16b The STONES were a BIRTHSTOOL made of STONES
(6) Ex28-32b A DOUBLED garment means the HEM was folded over
Consistent with this list would be
(7) Ex07-19e WOOD and STONE refer to WOOD/STONE UTENSILS
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=================================================================
================== R ISHMAEL via COMPUTER =======================
GOALS
-----
In this second list we apply the Quine-McKluskey Boolean
algebra reduction algorithm to facilitate understanding Rabbi
Ishmael
THE SET-UP
----------
The LIST below takes each example -- canals, rivers, ponds --
and LISTS the ATTRIBUTES of them. For example: Canals have
the attributes of being MAN-MADE, WATER BODIES, THAT
CONNECT TO A SOURCE.
THE QUINE REDUCTION ALGORITHM
-----------------------------
The 3 Quine rules allow finding the essence of a set of
examples by reducing the formula to its simplest form.
The result of this reduction is that
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It applies to any body of water whether man made
or natural, whether connected to a source or not
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However the generalization would not e.g. apply
to milk or fruit juices (You cant live for 7 days
without water--the Egyptians must have had some
supply of water).
THE LIST
--------
Here is the list of attributes. The footnotes explain
how the Quine rules reduce it. It is conceivable that
similar methods can facilitate understanding other
Talmudic arguments
================================================================
ITEM LIQUID TYPE NATURAL/MAN-MADE CLOSED/FROM A SOURCE
======= ============== ==================== ====================
RIVERS WATER*3 NATURAL*1 SOURCE
CANALS WATER*3 MAN MADE*1 SOURCE*2
PONDS WATER*3 NATURAL CLOSED*2
NOTES
-----
*1 Since two items alternate in NATURAL vs MAN-MADE
Quine allows us to drop this attribute
*2 Similarly since two items alternate in FROM-A-SOURCE
vs CLOSE, Quine allows us to drop this attribute also
*3 The only attribute common to all 3 examples is WATER.
Hence the Rashis that
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The plague of BLOOD afflicted all bodies of water
whether natural or man made whether closed or
from a source---thus it even afflicted resevoirs
and bottled water. (However it did not afflict
milk or fruit juices)
--------------------------------------------------
================================================================
RASHI RULE USED: EXAMPLE7
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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 12 Number 20
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 12 Number 20