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VERSE: Gn42-24b
RASHIS COVERED: Gn42-24b Gn45-15a Gn43-18b
========================= Gn42-24b ==============================
SUCCINT SUMMARY:
----------------
One of Rashis 10 main goals is the explanation of grammar
similar to the explanations we find in modern textbooks. We
call this the Rashi rule of GRAMMAR.
In todays posting we deal with the grammatical rules
governing DEVELOPMENT in paragraphs and chapters: Given
a paragraph or chapter THEME, what types of sentences can
exist in that paragraph or chapter and what are their
relations to the central theme? We call this the rashi
subrule of CONSECUTIVE PARAGRAPHS.
Rashi knew 3 means of relating consecutive sentences or
consecutive paragraphs in a paragraph or chapter:
- CAUSE / ENABLEMENT
- CONTRAST
- UNIFYING THEME, SEQUENCE.
Today we study the causal method
EXAMPLE Gn42-24b
----------------
Gn42-20:24 discussing Joseph's treatment of his
brothers states
-----------------------------------
- Joe jails all
- Lets them leave with food but jails Shimon
- "We are guilty --- we hurt Joseph"
- Reuven: "I told you not to...his blood is being avenged"
- Joseph turned and cried
------------------------------------
Rashi comments
-------------------------------
Joseph's CRYING was CAUSED by the
previous verses where
they expressed guilt over what they
did to Joseph
-------------------------------
EXAMPLE Gn45-15a
----------------
Gn45-01:15 discussing Joseph's revealing himself
to his brothers after 13 years of separation states
--------------------------------------------
- Joseph cried
- He said "I am your brother Joe"...
- He said "Because of your sale of me we
are now saving millions of people"
- AFTER THIS
- Joe's brothers spoke to him
--------------------------------------------
Rashi comments
---------------------------------
The brothers spoke to Joseph BECAUSE
they saw that he cried and cared for
them
---------------------------------
EXAMPLE Gn43-18b
----------------
Gn43-18b discussing the treatment of
Jacob's sons by the Egyptian authorities
states
------------------------------------
...they were frightened that they
were brought to the Food Minister's
personal residence...they said "In
order to interrogate us and jail us
for the missing funds of purchase "
------------------------------------
Rashi comments
--------------------------------
The bringing to the personal
residence of the Food Minister
ENABLED/COULD CAUSE an interrogation
and jailing
--------------------------------
LIST061a gives other examples of paragraphs
that develop CAUSALLY
================================================================
ITEM DETAIL
======================== =======================================
RASHI RULE CLASS: GRAMMAR
RASHI SUBRULE CLASS: CONSECUTIVE CHAPTERS
RASHI WORKBOOK PRINCIPLE #9
SEE BELOW LIST061a
A list of paragraphs having a CAUSAL theme
================================================================
===================== LIST061a ============================
A list of paragraphs having CAUSAL connection
===========================================================
VERSE TOPIC IN 1st CHAPTER TOPIC IN 2nd CHAPTER
======== ===================== ============================
Gn42-24b We are guilty on Joe Joe cries
Gn45-15a Cries..I care for you THEN they talk with him
Gn43-18b Brought to his house Interrogation and jail
Gn33-04a Many bows:Him/wives Hugged him
Gn37-04a they hated him wouldn't say Hello to him*15
Gn10-11a Nimrod rebels on God Ashur left Nimrod
Dt28-53a Fierce FAMINE You-ll eat children
Nu12-10a Prophecy cloud goes Miryam punished;leprosy*13
Nu08-19b Levites help priests No death to Jews*14
Ex33-08b pitches tent outside when he went outside
Gn41-48a Stored city food Stored it near its city*12
Gn41-44a I am Pharoh King Hence I grant you power
Gn24-29a Laban saw BRACELETS Laban ran to get servant*11
Gn20-01a Lot incests daughters Abraham runs away from there
------- -------------------- --------------------------
Gn13-14a Lot / Abe separate God promises Abe Israel*9
Gn13-07a Fight of Abe-Lot Canaanites still in Israel*9
------- -------------------- --------------------------
Dt14-01a Jews=Gods children No self multilation on death
Dt01-42a God not with you Hence:defeat;therefore:no go
Nu30-16b Annuls after AFFIRM He bears punishment of sin*8
Ex14-25a Remove wheel Heavy driving--God fights
Ex14-25b Heavy Driving God fights*10
Ex13-17b Avoid NEAR-ROUTE Nearness facilitates return
Gn35-01a Dinah is raped Prophetic order to leave*6
Gn33-13c Young Sheep IF pushed they will die*7
Gn29-01a God WITH Jacob Jacob travelled SMOOTHLY*5
Nu06-02a Adulterous wife rite Nazaarite from wine*1
Gn38-01a Brothers sell Joseph Judah leaves brothers*1
Gn23-03c Abraham offers Isaac Sarah dies*1
Gn02-20a Adam Eve are Naked Snake gives Eve Apple*2
Lv10-02a Non-allowed sac Death of Aarons sons*3
Lv10-02a Death of Aarons sons No wine to serving priest*3
Lv10-03d Death of Righteous God honored*4
Lv22-15a Dont eat Terumah Dont DESCECRATE holies
NOTES
-----
*1 Thus "whoever see the humiliating Adulterous wife rite"
will be so shocked that he will abstain from wine
Similarly "Judah advised his brothers to sell Joseph"
and so when they regretted it they blaimed him and he
had to "separate from them."
Similarly "Sarah died" from the shock that "Abraham
offered Isaac."
*2 In other words because the snake saw Adam and Eve naked
therefore he became Jealous and wanted Adam killed so
he could marry Eve.
ALthough this sounds a bit wild there is strong supporting
evidence. Gn04-01 uses the past perfect form
"And Adam HAD BEEN FAMILIAR with his wife & they had
a child"
So the sequence of chapters is
"Adam was lonely"
"God makes Eve"
"Adam and Eve are naked"
------------------------"Snake tempts Eve"
"Adam has a child with Eve"
Thus the sequence of chapters (Naked--->child) is
clearly interrupted by the Snake story.
*3 As explained above Rashi sees these two views as
complementary
- First they drank wine and got drunk
- While drunk they thought it permissable to offer
sacrifices which should not be offered
Hence they died for both crimes
*4 Rashi explains the Causal connection
- when the masses see that God EVEN kills the righteous
for sins
- then they are aware how they must also observe
Gods commandments
- This leads to more honor for God
*5 So GOOD NEWS facilitates/causes SMOOTH TRAVEL(Rashi)
*6 The full sequence of chapters is as follows
--------------------------------------------
- Gn31 God orders Jacob to return to his fathers house
- Gn32 But Jacob is afraid of Being with Brother Esauv
- Gn33 Jacob journeys instead to Succoth
- Gn34 Dinah gets raped
- Gn35 God tells Jacob to return to BethEl
-------------------------------------------
Rashi notes that
-----------------------------
If Jacob had IMMEDIATELY fulfilled the order
of Travelling to his fathers house he
wouldnt have stayed in Succoth and his
Daughter would not have gotten raped.
------------------------------
Thus Rashi sees a CAUSAL connection
between the chapters. Dinah was raped
because Jacob did not IMMEDIATELY fulfill
the prophetic order.
Note Rashi expresses the same theme
-------------------------------------------------
Because he delayed doing the prophecy immediately
therefore he was punished that certain bad
occurrences happened to him
-------------------------------------------------
Rashi expresses this same theme on Gn35-22a
where we find that Reuven inteferred with his
fathers marital life.
*7 Rashi can be better understood with the EXPORT-IMPORT LAW
of logic. The EXPORT-IMPORT law states that
----------------------------------------------------
IF [it rains] then if [I go out] THEN [I will get wet]
----------------------------------------------------
has the same meaning as
----------------------------------------------------
IF [it rains] and [I go out] THEN [I will get wet]
----------------------------------------------------
In other words Rashi identifies the two sentence forms
- IF p THEN IF q THEN r
- IF p & q THEN r
This identification of NESTED CONDITIONALS with a
CONJUNCTIVE HYPOTHESIS is called the EXPORT-IMPORT law.
The actual Biblical text reads
---------------------------------------------
The cattle is young
AND they will be pushed one day
AND they will die
---------------------------------------------
Rashi simply points out (Using EXPORT-IMPORT) that
we can interpret this as either
---------------------------------------------
[IF] The cattle is young
AND they will be pushed one day
THEN they will die
---------------------------------------------
or
---------------------------------------------
IF The cattle is young
IF they will be pushed one day
THEN they will die
---------------------------------------------
The above two translations use the well known Biblical
principle that the Hebrew letter VAV can refer to
any connective.
*8 In other words he
- 1st affirmed a vow of his wife
- then annuled it (which he had no right to)
- If she now sins (Because she was mislead into thinking
the vow is annuled)
- then HE bears the sin/punishment
In other words BECAUSE he misled her he must pay for
the sin.
*9 The causality of these verses reinforce each other
- Gn13-14 EXPLICITLY states that God promised Abe
Israel AFTER Lot separated from him
- Gn13-07 states that Abe and Lot faught WHILE
the Canaanites were still in the land.
So Rashi simply puts the two verses together
- Lot felt HE COULD USE ISRAEL land even though the
CANAANITES still owned it. Lot felt this way because
the land was promised to Abraham eventually. By contrast
Abraham refused to use the land UNTIL it was actually
given to him.
-------------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES -------------------
*10 Rashi also states
--------------------------------------------------
The HEAVY DRIVING (that God made the Egyptians do
by removing chariot wheel) was a punishment for
their making HEAVY their hearts
--------------------------------------------------
I would strengthen these associations
--------------------------------------------------
The HEAVY DRIVING is a punishment for the HEAVY
work that the Egyptians placed on the Jews
--------------------------------------------------
These comments of Rashi or me also indicate
-- HEAVY DRIVING causes/facilitated
-- Egyptians seeing that God was fighting for them
Indeed: We know that one of the way God fights
is to punish people according to what they have done
(See Rashi on Ex18-11- Jethro said: Now I know that
God is the true God because He returns to people
what they have done)
Hence this particular punishment (making the
Egyptians drive heavy vs killing them) showed
the Egyptians (CAUSED them to be aware) that
God was fighting.
*11 Hence the Rashi
- Laban was interested in the possibility of becoming
rich from Abraham.
*12 Presumably each city had its own method of preserving
food (e.g. use natural nutrients in the fields).
Hence the second sentence of the verse HE STORED EACH
CITIES FOOD NEAR IT is seen as ENABLING the first
sentence HE STORED THE FOOD OF THE SEVEN YEARS
*13 (Rashi) "And the cloud departed from off the
Tent"ENABLES and ALLOWS "and behold
Miriam had become leprous."
An analogy would be King angry at one of his
subjects. The King would leave the room BEFORE
punishment began since it is disrespectful to
degrade a subject of the King in his presence.
Similarly God, the King, had to depart ("The cloud
departed")before Miryam could be punished.
*14 BECAUSE the Levites do the Temple work
there will be no need for Jews to enter the
Temple. This prevents a plague
But if they did enter the temple they would
be liable to a death penalty at the hands of
heaven. [See Nu18-07 for an explicit
statement that "strangers [non levites/priests]
coming near to the Temple die at the hands of heaven.]
--------------------------------------------------
*15 Rashi makes an inference from this causation
-----------------------------------------------
Many people disguise their hatred by acting polite
socially. So if the Bible tells us that the brothers
did not say hello we can infer some good personality
characteristics (honesty, lack of hypocrosy)
-----------------------------------------------
=================================================================
---------------------------------------------------
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Volume 31 Number 22
#*#*#*# (C) 2000-2006, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#
Volume 31 Number 22