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VERSE: Gn06-14d
================ KOFER means to VIGOROUSLY CLEAN STAINS =========
BACKGROUND
----------
The Hebrew root Kaph-Pay-resh has about 12 meanings: These
include atone, tar, lion, perfume...etc
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
---------------
Harry Rashbaum of my Shomrey Emunah Rashi class brought this
puzzle in. He indicated he was inspired to study this root by his
Grandsons homework.
REFERENCES
----------
Both Radack in his book ROOTS and Rashi discuss the multiple
meanings of this root.
SHOULD WE UNIFY
---------------
The search for a unified meaning is not
just an academic exercise -- the unification of meaning
- sheds light on the EXACT NUANCES of each individual meaning;
- prevents using/extending individual meanings incorrectly
The footnotes will clarify these two benefits
THE SUGGESTED UNIFICATION
-------------------------
THE LISTS
---------
We present 3 lists
- We present all 12 meanings as listed by Radack with verses
- We show how these 12 meanings group naturally into 2 classes
- We exhibit Rashis comments on various of these meanings
Notice how learning Radack and Rashi together enriches ones
understanding of the root.
=================================================================
VERSE MEANING TEXT OF VERSE
======== ======== ===============================================
Gn06-14 Cover COVER Noachs ark ... with tar
Ex25-17 ArkCover Make an Ark-COVER for the ark
Gn06-14 Tar Cover Noachs ark ... with TAR*1
Ex16-14 Frost The (White) Manna looked like thin FROST
Song1-14 Perfume You (my lover) are like PERFUME*2
Song7-12 Village Let us get up in the VILLAGES
Isa28-18 Remove Your treaty with death will be REMOVED
1Ch28-17 Basins ...the Golden BASINS by weight for each BASIN
Gn32-21 Appease I will send a present and APPEASE his anger
Ex32-30 Atone Maybe I can ATONE for your sins
Ex30-12 Ransom Let every person given RANSOM for his soul
Ps114-21 Lion The lions*3 roar to God for their food
NOTES
-----
*1 Some commentators prefer a translation of pitch
*2 This could mean PERFUME, HENNA, NARD, PALM. It apparently
refers to some flower that is pretty or smells nice
*3 Actually KFIR refers to a young adult lion: Not a cub
and not the elder leader of a pack. Radack explains that
KFIR can refer to any young-adult-wild-animal whether it
is a lion or not.
=================================================================
================== KAPH-PAY-RESH Unified Approach ===============
BACKGROUND
----------
In the previous table we listed the 12 meanings of the Hebrew
root Kaph-Pay-Resh. In this table we review the connection
between these 12 meanings and the 2 unifying themes we suggested
UNIFYING THEMES
---------------
- Kaph-Pay-Resh refers to a STICKY, JAGGED or FROST LIKE COVERING
- Kaph-Pay-Resh refers to VIGOROUS CLEANING/REMOVAL activities
WHY UNIFY
---------
As the footnotes suggest, without the unifying theme
- we wouldnt fully APPRECIATE the NUANCES of the 12 meanings
- we could ERRONEOUSLY USE THESE 12 meanings incorrectly
THE LIST
--------
The Table below contains
- the 12 meanings listed in table 1
- a verse citation where this meanings applies
- the relation of these meanings to the unified meanings
The footnotes indicate nuances and emphasis that we might
otherwise overlook
=================================================================
VERSE MEANING RELATION TO UNIFYING THEMES
======== ======== ===============================================
Ex16-14 Frost Jagged COVERing
Gn06-14 Tar Jagged Sticky COVERing
Gn06-14 Cover Not TO COVER but TO COVER with TAR *1
Ex25-17 ArkCover Jagged COVERing*2
Song1-14 Perfume Jagged COVERing of white frosty flowers*3
1Ch28-17 Basins Used for VIGOROUS CLEANING of stained knives*4
Isa28-18 Remove Not any REMOVAL but NULLIFY a BAD SITUATION*5
Gn32-21 Appease Not just appease but NULLIFY hatred/anger*5
Ex32-30 Atone SIN:STAIN::ATONE:VIGOROUS CLEANING*5
Ex30-12 Ransom Same as atone*5
Ps114-21 Lion Not LION but FIGHER; VIGOROUS ACTIVITY*6
Song7-12 Village VILLAGE:CITY::FIGHTER-LIONS:DEN*7
NOTES
-----
*1 In other words even though this word is translated as TO
COVER nevertheless it cannot be used for any covering.
It rather specifically refers to COVERING WITH TAR --
that is, to TARRING.*10
*2 The root Kaph-Pay-Resh does not refer to any covering but
a sticky jagged covering like FROST and TAR. The ark-cover
in fact had a jagged golden protrusions butting up from it
*3 The Bible compares the white flaky manna to Frost (Ex16-14)
Hence I would suggest that KOFER refers to a plant covered
with many white petals, thus giving a frost like appearance*11
*4 In English the verb TO DUST,from the noun DUST, means
the removal of the DUST. We would suggest that TO TAR
in Hebrew similarly means THE REMOVAL OF THE TAR and
refers to the VIGOROUS CLEANING of stained objects.
(Note that in English TO TAR means to place the TAR.
In general activities and objects can relate in several
ways) *12
*5 See footnote #4. Kaph-Pay-Resh does not refer to any
removal but a vigorous removal of something sticky or
jagged like tar or frost. We can apply this VIGOROUS
CLEANING idea to several meanings of Kaph-Pay-Resh
- REMOVE: Isa28-18 They had a treaty with death. The treaty
stuck to them like tar. VIGOROUS CLEANING removed it
- APPEASE: Esauv hated Jacob for 20 years for stealing his
birthright. The hatred stuck to him like tar.
Jacob sought to VIGOROUSLY CLEAN AWAY the HATRED
- ATONE: A person commites adultery. The sin sticks with him
like tar. To ATONE the sin is to VIGOROUSLY CLEAN IT
(Note: That ATONE therefore refors to HEAVY SINS)
- RANSOM: A person is captured by a terrorist. He is stuck with
the terrorist like tar. This connection must be
VIGOROUSLY CLEANED
*6 Recall (From the Radack) that KFIR doesnt mean any lion
but rather refers to a YOUNG-ADULT-FIGHTER-WILD-ANIMAL
I would suggest that the FIGHTING activities resemble
VIGOROUS CLEANING activities. In other words the fighting
wild animal looks like someone CLEANING UP THE PLACE.
The idea of naming something by its activity form is
common (eg SURF WEB comes from SURF WATER) *13
*7 The Bible explicitly calls the villages the BEASTS OF
THE CITY (Nu32-41). It would appear that the villages
functioned to protect the cities (the same way fighter
animals protected the den).
------------------ LONGER FOOTNOTES -----------------------------
*10 In this case TO TAR would be the verb/activity arising
from the noun/object TAR.Other examples of VERB-NOUN pairs are
------------------------------------------------------
NOUN VERB-ACTIVITY
-------- --------------------------
WATER TO WATER (flowers)
HAMMER TO HAMMER (nail)
BUILDING TO BUILD (the building)
TAR TO TAR (the tar)
COLOR TO COLOR an object
------------------------------------------------------
We see here the point of finding a unified meaning: The
root Kaph-Pay-Resh cannot be used for any COVERING but
only for coverings like tar
*11 Recall that Radack brought about 4 opinions on what this
word meant:
- Perfume
- Henna
- Nard
- Palms
Based on this list I would suggest that it refers to a plant
covered up with white flowers the same way frost covers up
the ground. The idea of comparing white flaky substances to
frost is in fact Biblical -- The manna white flakes on the
ground resembled frost (Ex16-14)
*12 The following list shows that when a verb/activity comes from
a noun/object then the activity may refer to either the
CREATION, DESTRUCTION or USAGE of the noun.
------------------------------------------------------
NOUN VERB ACTIVITY RELATION
------------- --------------- -----------------
Plant To plant Create the plant
Dust To dust Remove the dust
Hammer To hammer Use the hammer
Tar To Tar Place the Tar
Wave To wave Create a wave
------------------------------------------------------
Hence, if we grant that Kaph-Pay-Resh refers to a FROST
LIKE or TAR LIKE covering, then the verb form TO FROST
or TO TAR could mean(in Hebrew) the CLEANING/REMOVAL
of the FROST TAR. In this way the two basic meanings of
CLEAN and FROST are connected.
The English analogy of TO DUST=the removal of the dust,
fits in nicely with the verb form of Kaph-Pay-Resh
which means the removal of the TAR like stains.
Again note the emphasis on nuance. Kaph-Pay-resh doesnt
refer to any cleaning but rather the vigorous cleaning
of tough stains
*13 The idea of naming ideas by their activity form occurs
frequently in language. Here are some other examples
-----------------------------------------------------------
ORiginal meaning Derived meaning(similar activity)
------------------- ----------------------------------
Surf (water) Surf Web
Storm (water) Brain Storm
Vigorously clean To Lion-Fight the enemy
The spark (of fire) To sparkle (A gem)
Vigorous cleaning FIGHTER WILD ANIMAL
-----------------------------------------------------------
=================================================================
================== RASHI on KAPH-PAY-RESH =======================
BACKGROUND
----------
In the two lists above we have
- presented the 12 meanings of Kaph-Pay-Resh
- shown the 2 unifying themes of
-- Jagged Frost like coverings
-- vigorous cleaning away of tough stains
We are now ready to review Rashis comments on Kaph-Pay-Resh.
We shall see little if any difference between Rashi and Radack
THE LIST
--------
The list below contains
- The verse Rashi is commenting on
- The meaning of Kaph-Pay-Resh used
- either the tranlation of the verse OR
an appropriate comment showing what Rashi was emphasizing
=================================================================
VERSE MEANING OF KPR TEXT OF VERSE or COMMENTS
======== ============== =========================================
Gn06-14d Tar Tar the ark inside and outside with tar
gn32-21a Clean anger*1 I-ll send presents to Esauv;CLEAN anger
dt32-43e Appease *1 I-ll send presents to Esauv;APPEASE him
Ex32-30a atone*2 Vigorously remove sins sticking like tar
Lv16-10b Atone Atone by CONFESSION*3
Nu35-31a Ransom Atone by MONEY*3
NOTES
-----
*1 First note how Rashi commented on this verse twice:
-- in Gn32-21a Rashi says I WILL CLEAN HIS ANGER AWAY
-- in Dt32-43e Rashi says I WILL APPEASE HIS ANGER
But recall from the 2nd list in this posting
that Kaph-Pay-Resh refers
to the removal of a jagged sticky substance like Tar
or Frost. It refers to a vigorous cleaning activity
like the fighting of lions.
So the real meaning here is that Esauv hated Jacob for
20 years for stealing his birthright. The hate stuck
like tar and Jacob was CLEANING IT UP, APPEASING HIM
REMOVING THE HATRED.*10
*2 In a previous list we gave the example of adultery.
Such a sin sticks in ones mind like tar. The atonement
process must vigorously clean the soul and remove the
sticky sin. See footnote *11 for more details.
*3 We have noted that ATONE means to VIGOROUSLY CLEAN
a SIN whose effects stick like TAR.
So it remains to explain HOW to clean VIGOROUSLY
Rashi leaves us with two methods
-- vigorously atone by verbal confession(The embarassment
cleanses the soul from its tar like tie to the sin)
-- vigorously atone by ransom (ala King Solomon who
said that MONEY ANSWERS ALL (Ecclesiastes)
------------------------ LONGER FOOTNOTES ----------------
*10 On Dt32-43d Rashi explains that there is an ellipsis
The bracketed capped word is missing in Dt32-43d & Ex32-30a
-------------------------------------------------------------
God will vigorously remove like tar[THE ANGER FROM]his nation
Perhaps Ill vigorously remove like tar[THE ANGER]of your sin
-------------------------------------------------------------
The suggestion of the ellipsis of Anger in Ex32-30 is due
to Radack (whom I guess is troubled by the explicit statement
that God will not totally forgive the people(Ex32-34)-- so
at least Moses removed the anger)
*11 Rashi definitely uses the analogy of CLEANING when describing
atonement.
See footnote #10 where I cite Radack as follows
There is an ellipsis or missing word in the verse
The bracketed capped word is missing in Dt32-43d & Ex32-30a
-------------------------------------------------------------
God will vigorously remove like tar[THE ANGER FROM]his nation
Perhaps Ill vigorously remove like tar[THE ANGER]of your sin
-------------------------------------------------------------
The suggestion of the ellipsis of Anger in Ex32-30 is due
to Radack (whom I guess is troubled by the explicit statement
that God will not totally forgive the people(Ex32-34 -- so
at least Moses removed the anger)
However Harry Rashbaum of my Shomrey Emunah Rashi class
suggested that the focal point of Rashi was the preposition
BEAD which can mean FOR THE SAKE OF. I would still translate
the verse
-------------------------------------------------------
I will appease Gods anger that came BECAUSE of your sins
-------------------------------------------------------
Harrys point is that perhaps BEAD has an unusual usage here
(In fairness to Harry, BEAD besides meaning FOR THE SAKE OF
and BECAUSE can eg also mean THRU (As THRU a window)). So
maybe that is Rashis point.
We will have occasion to comment on BEAD at a later date.
For the moment however we simply clarified the usage of
Kaph-Pay-Resh
=================================================================
RASHI RULE USED: UNIFIED MEANING
---------------------------------------------------
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Volume 12 Number 8
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 12 Number 8