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HOW TO SAY a,the,some IN HEBREW |
EXAMPLE 35: Gn19-09b SOMEONE joined us and now wishes to Judge
EXAMPLE 36: Gn42-27a SOMEONE opened his sack in the in.
EXAMPLE 37: Nu16-22b ONE OF THESE sinned;Will you be angry at ALL
BACKGROUND
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In English we have words that function as ARTICLES. They
indicate POINTING. For example
-- A refers to SOME object
-- THE points to a SPECIFIC object
-- THE can also refer to a whole SPECIFIC GROUP
-- ONE OF THESE refers to a SOME object in the SPECIFIC group
Note the subtlety in ONE OF THESE. It is SOME object but
in a SPECIFIC group.
THE RASHI & THE TEXT
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Based upon a long list of examples brought by the RADACK
in his book on Grammar I suggest the following new rule
-- to refer to SOMEONE use a noun without HEY
For example Gn37-15 & A man found him in the field
In Hebrew: VAYIMTZAHU ISH (No HEY)
-- ALternatively to refer to SOMEONE use the Hebrew word
HAECHAD (THE one). For example: Gn19-09b: SOMEONE(HAECHAD)
came to live among us and now wishes to boss us
-- to refer to a SPECIFIC object use a HEY before the word
for example Gn01-01 God created THE Heaven (HA-SHAMAYIM)
-- to refer to a SPECIFIC GROUP of objects
use HEY both before the NOUN & ADJECTIVE describing the group
For example, Gn01-16 THE TWO GREAT LIGHTS (Sun and Moon)
In Hebrew ETH SHNEY HA-meoroth HA-Gedolim
-- to refer to SOME MEMBER of a SPECIFIC GROUP
use HEY before the NOUN but not before the ADJECTIVE
For example:Gn19-33 On ONE OF THESE NIGHTS they got
him drunk and slept with him (In Hebrew BA-laylah HU
(A HAY before LAYLAH but no HAY before HU)
This makes sense since you dont have an affair from one
night of drunkedness. But it is reasonable to have an
affair if you repeatedly get drunk
THE LIST
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Using this grammar rule from Radack we now present a LIST
with two parts: One part uses the phrase THE ONE meaning
SOMEONE while the other LIST uses NOUN-ADJECTIVE pairs
and is translated as ONE OF THESE. This rule
from Radack will enable us to understand 3 Rashis
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| VERSE |
TEXT OF VERSE WITH the one TRANSLATED AS someone |
| Gn19-09b |
SOME stranger came to live among us & now bosses us*1 |
| Gn42-13 |
we are 12 children but SOMEONE is missing |
| Gn42-27a |
& while SOMEONE was opening his sack he found money *2 |
| 2K06-03 |
And SOMEONE said Please walk with us |
| 2K06-05 |
while SOMEONE was felling trees with an ax |
| Ez10-09 |
A wheel by ONE of THESE Cruvs &another wheel by the 2nd |
| Nu28-04 |
ONE OF THESE 2 sheep are offered in morning |
| Gn19-33 |
on ONE OF THESE drinking nights she slept with him*3 |
| Jr24-02 |
ONE OF THESE baskets was filled will good figs*4 |
| Nu16-22b |
ONE OF THESE people instigated & You are angry with all*5 |
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COMMENTS |
*1 This Rashi is also supported by the word TO LIVE (GUR) since
GUR has a connotation of a non-citizen. However the emphasis
should equally be SOMEONE CAME TO LIVE HERE AND NOW WANTS
TO JUDGE US
*2 The verse literally says SOMEONE OPENED HIS SACK AND FOUND
his MONEY. The question remains why Rashi identified this
someone with LEVI!!!
I follow Rabbi Bonchecks approach which I previously
disagreed with. Rashi focuses on the fact that LEVI
discovered his money now while the other brothers
discovered their money when they got home (Gn42-35).
The simplest suggestion is that
--Based on Gn34 Shimon and Levi always hung out together
--But Shimon had been imprisoned by Joseph
--So when they returned Levi took both his donkey as well
as Shimons donkey. Consequently Levi was feeding two
donkeys while the other brotheres were feeding one
donkey. Hence Levi discovered the hidden money in his
sack first.(Rabbi Boncheck gave a different explanation)
In summary Rashi was not making a grammatical point but
was rather responding to the situation
*3
*4 I think the concept of ONE OF THESE is clear in these
examples. You dont commit incest from one bout of
drunkedness. So it was on ONE OF THESE NIGHTS (vs
on THAT NIGHT (when the drinking started)) that the
incest happened. Similarly Jeremiah speaks about
two baskets of figs -- so ONE of THESE had good figs
while the other had bad figs
*5 There were 250 people in the Korach rebellion. Moses
suspected that there was an instigator and the others
followed. Hence his statement in Nu16-22:
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ONLY one of these 250 PEOPLE INSTIGATED. WILL YOU
THEN TAKE IT OUT ON THE WHOLE COMMUNITY
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Note the novelty in my explanation. Moses was NOT praying
for the Jewish community (They hadnt sinned!) Rather Moses
was praying for the 250 rebellors--Moses suggested in his
prayer to God that only the instigator be punished.
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