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  |      Rashi is Simple Version 2.0                         |
  |      (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000                          |
  |       http://www.RashiYomi.Com                           |
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VERSE: Gn01-22b

RASHIS COVERED: Gn01-22b Gn01-22c


BACKGROUND: The verse says >Be Fruitful and multiply<. Rashi
comments that >Fruitful< implies having >some children< while
>Multiply< implies >having MANY children<.

Thus it looks like Rashi was commenting on the problem of the
double language >Be FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY<. Equivalantly it looks
like the double language >FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY< was >BOTHERING<
Rashi and hence he had to solve it.

MY APPROACH vs the LEIBOWITZ-BONCHECK APPROACH: As I have
indicated several times Dr Leibowitz and Dr Boncheck, two noted
Rashi commentaries, emphasized an approach that starts with
finding >Rashis problem<. By contrast my approach emphasizes
database queries---in this case we ask >What is the NORMAL
language to indicate a blessing<

It turns out {LIST5} that blessings to reproduce occur 19 times
in the Bible. Most of these use the double language >FRUITFUL &
MULTIPLY<. Thus this is normal language. Rashi was not bothered
by the double language. If any thing Rashi was bothered by the
few verses that do NOT use the double language but simply say >BE
FRUITFUL<

{LIST5} Analysis of verses describing a blessing of being
>FRUITFUL<. Most of the verses use a double language
>FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY<
==========================================================
#       %       What these verses have in common
==      ====    ============================================
19      100%    Verses with a blessing to be fruitful
15      79%     Uses the language BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY*1
4       21%     Uses the language BE FRUITFUL
9       100%    Verses describing FRUITFUL Plants *2

NOTES:
*1 The order is not fixed. Thus Jer3-16
>When you MULTIPLY and are FRUITFUL< uses a reverse order.

*2 Verses with plants only have the word >FRUITFUL< but
not the word >MULTIPLY<. It seemed reasonable to compare
verses with talking about human fruitfullness. There are 19
of these and 80% use a double language.

After reviewing the 4 verses which only use the word
>FRUITFUL< we see that they all deal with situations
where people were living in a hostile environment {LIST6}.
Now that we have reviewed these differences it seems logical
to suggest that >FRUITFUL WITHOUT MULTIPLY< is used in
hostile environments because it is hard to have many children
while >FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY< is used in normal environments
since it is easy to have many children. This is summarized in
{LIST7}.

In summary Rashi was not commenting on the extra word--
rather Rashi was commenting on those verses without
the extra word! Furthermore, Rashi wasn t focusing on
the number of words used but rather on the correlation
between the language and the situations in those verses.


{LIST6} The 4 verses where it says >FRUITFUL< but does
not also say >MULTIPLY< As shown each of these verses
occurs in a hostile environment
=======================================================
VERSE           HOW WAS THE ENVIRONMENT HOSTILE
======          ==========================================
Gn26-22         Isaac had constant >water right disputes<
Gn41-52         Joseph was a former slave & convict in a Egypt*1
Ps105-24        Egypt was hostile to the Jews*2
Ex23-30         Verse is talking during the conquest of the land

NOTES
*1 We could also add that Egypt was hostile to Jews
*2 Interestingly the verse says >And they were >VERY FRUITFUL<<
Also note that Ex01-07 (also speaking about the Jews in Egypt)
says >And the Jews were FRUITFUL and MULTIPLIED and...<
Apparently it is optional in a hostile environment to use the
double language >FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY< or the single
language >FRUITFUL<


{LIST7} Summary of the different styles of indicating
fruitfulness, where they are used, and what emphasis
is implied
========================================================
LANGUAGE USED     #Vs TYPE OF ENVIRONMENT   EMPHASIS
================  === ===================== ===================
fruitful multiply 15  normal environments   alot
fruitful          4   hostile environment   only a few children
fruitful          9   plants  fixed progeny



RULE USED: SYNONYMS
---------------------------------------------------
WARNING: The following additional references may be too wordy
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Volume 7 Number 23


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