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               (C) RashiYomi Incorporated, 2002
               Written by Dr Russell Jay Hendel

                     Volume 12 Number 25
          For the WORD QUALITY HTML VERSION click here
               -----------------------------------
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                 Produced January 30th, 2002

       WARNING: USE FIX WIDTH FONTS (eg COURIER (NEW) 10)

`          Whats new and hot in this issue?

*1 Remember
   - If you are receiving HTML & want to UNSUBSCRIBE, email me
   - If you are receiving TEXT & want HTML email me
   - If you want to just see the HTML click on the LINK on top
   - My EMAIL ADDRESS is: RJHendel@Juno.Com

*2 We are starting a new Volume tomorrow.
   - I plan to gradually add HEBREW LINKED VERSES
     You can click on any verse and see the Hebrew

   - I also hope to SOLICIT more questions
     Remember this is an email group. PLEASE SEND YOUR QUESTIONS

*3 We have 3 questions in this issue. We have our ups and downs
   with questions. LETS TRY and get MORE QUESTIONS.
   - What is your favorite Rashi question?
   - Which Rashi bothers you the most?
   Send it in.

#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#
VERSE: v8-1-30a

FROM: Dr. Hillel Besdin 
TO:   RJHendel@Juno.Com
RE:   The Akaydah-What Really happened

Russ

Your article, the Akaydah was really great.

But you seem to criticize Moses grade of prophecy alot.
Doesnt this contradict the thesis that Moses is the father
of all prophets.

Hilly;

[The article may be found at http://www.RashiYOMi.com/akaydah.htm
Several other readers have asked me similar questions: For example
one person at Shomrey Emunah pointed out that the Gemarrah
praises Moses for his arguing with God and being an advocate for
the Jews. How then can I claim that the prophetic ideal is
cheerful immediate acceptance of all prophetic orders as is]

NOTE: Answers tomorrow or in next few issues.
#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#

VERSE: v8-1-30b

FROM: Joseph Pollack (Asked at a Shalom Zhacar)
TO:   Rashi is Simple
RE:   The 10th plague

Russell

  The Hagaddah emphasizes that GOD, not an Angel, brought
  the 10th plague. But Rashi speaks about the danger of
  the Jews not going out since the Angel might kill them
  Doesnt that Contradict the idea that God did it personally.

Joey

[Good question (Because I dont have an answer). In fact
I pointed out to Joe that the verse says: AND GOD WILL NOT
LET THE DESTROYER (DESTROYING ANGEL) COME TO YOUR HOUSE
TO DESTROY. I will have to work on this one. Any ideas
from readers?]

#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#

VERSE: v8-1-30c

FROM: Joseph Pollack (Communicated at a Shalom Zachar)
TO:   Rashi is SImple
RE:   Moses refusal to take the Jews out of Egypt

Russell

Ex04-10:12 clearly states that Moses did not want to take the
Jews out BECAUSE HE WAS A STUTTERER.

How then can Rashi claim that the reason for refusal was
BECAUSE MOSES CLAIMED THAT AARON, MOSES OLDER BROTHER, WAS
A MORE ACCOMPLISHED ORATOR/SPEAKER

Joey

[This can be answered. It is a general style in Rashi. I
am waiting till I find a few more examples of what I
want to say and then I will post]

#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#

VERSE: Ex20-21b

RASHIS COVERED: Ex20-21b Nu13-02b Ex25-08a Ex25-02a
                Ex18-27a Nu10-01b

BACKGROUND
----------
In this posting we review ideas presented in previous
postings. We showed that by adding the Hebrew word LI--
which literally means FOR ME--to a verb we indicate that
the activity was done for PERSONAL REASONS.

REFERENCE
---------
See http://www.Rashiyomi.com/nu10-02a.htm


THE RASHIS
----------
The Rashis on the verses below all indicate how the
activity was personal.


THE LIST
--------
Note that the statement that the activity was PERSONAL
does not have any specificity -- HOW was it personal?
Consequently each Rashi shows a reasonable but shrewd
guess on how the given activity was PERSONAL. This is
indicated in the HOW IS IT PERSONAL column

We now present the LIST. Further details are in the
footnotes. Ex20-21b is NEW--The Torah wanted an ALTAR
MADE **FOR ME**. Rashi explains that the starred words
FOR ME indicate that the altar should be DEDICATED FOR GOD

*1 BACKGROUND: The previous chapter Ex18 states how much Jethro
   admired Gods salvation of the Jews from Egypt. Hence if
   the verse states JETHRO RETURNED FOR PERSONAL REASONS
   TO HIS COUNTRY, Rashi conjectures that he probably
   went to convert his friends and family to Noachidic
   belief in God, and founded the SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
   OF JETHRO (cf Jud04-11)

   Further details at http://www.RashiYomi.com/ex18-27a.htm

*2 A simple approach to reading Rashi is as follows:
   The phrase MAKE FOR YOURSELF implies that there was
   SOMETHING PERSONAL about the making of the trumpets.
   So Rashi is careful NOT to take sides but simply to
   give 3 examples of WHAT could be PERSONAL about them.
   --------------------------------------------------------
   PERSONAL IN PURPOSE  Trumpet blasts honor Moses as King
   PERSONAL IN SOURCE   Trumpets were made from Moses funds
   PERSONAL IN USERS    Only Moses (no one else) could blow
   --------------------------------------------------------

   For more details see http://www.RashiYomi.Com/nu10-02a.htm

RASHI RULE USED: GRAMMAR

#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#


VERSE: Ex20-22b

BACKGROUND
----------
One of Rashis 6 main goals is to explain the meaning of words
the way a Biblical dictionary explains words.

REFERENCE
---------
For the 6 Rashi goals see http://www.RashiYomi.Com/rules-01.htm

THE ROOT
--------
In this Rashi we explain the rare root GIMEL-ZAYIN-HEY.
We also gain insight into how to obtain the meaning of
a rarely occuring root.

THE RASHI
---------
Rashi explains that the word GAZITH refers to CUT STONE


THE LIST
--------
In the list below we examine verses containing the root
G-Z-H. We suggest a unifying meaning of
---------------------------------------------------------
-- CUTTING/REMOVING FROM A SURFACE MANY SMALL PROTRUSIONS
---------------------------------------------------------
The list below shows that this applies to HAIR, SHEEP WOOL,
PEOPLE on a land, BIRDS over a sea, STONE PROTRUSIONS.

Note how this REVIEW-THE-VERSES approach gives more
specificity than the usual translation of REMOVAL --
the LIST clearly shows that G-Z-H doesnt mean ANY removal but
rather REMOVAL of MANY PROTRUSIONS OVER A SURFACE. Hence it
applys to STONE CUTTINGS*10

*1 This is the usual meaning of the root G-Z-H

*2 Also see Jer07-29, Mich01-16

*3 A very rare usage.Possibly also see Nach01-12
   Note that this usage is poetic -- people are compared to
   hair on a head or wool on sheep...they are simply cut off
   --a pithy metaphor for the pathos of the life cycle

*4 This is the only occurence of this usage
   Again this usage is slightly poetic

*5 There are 10 other occurences of CUT STONE in the Bible
   E.g. 1R5-31, 1R6-36, 1R7-12, Ez40-42, Am5-11, Lam3-9

*10 We have to be explicit: We are deviating from the standard
    translation of many Rishonim and scholars who say that
    G-Z-H means REMOVAL. We dont disagree with this but rather
    add specificity: It means removal of many items from a
    surface.

    As can be seen from the footnotes to the list above
    many of the supporting cases to our thesis ONLY OCCUR in
    1-2 verses.

    The idea that G-Z-H only means REMOVAL seems to come from
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    Ps71-6 from my mothers womb you have G-Z-H me
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    Thus it sounds like the Psalmist is acknowledging that
    God CUT him from the womb.

    But such a translation contradicts the other usages of
    G-Z-H presented above.(Note: Rashi does not comment on
    this verse)

    Rather we suggest a different interpretation:
    Reviewing the other verses in this Psalm we see
    that God is portraryed as
    - My ROCK
    - My MOUNTAIN ROCK
    - My FORTRESS
    But then it would be consistent with these usages to
    translate
    - GZH as MY POLISHED STONE HOUSE (Cf Am05-11 for this usage)
    In other words we would translate Ps71-06 as
    ----------------------------------------------
    From the time I left my mothers womb YOU, God,
    have been my POLISHED-STONE-HOUSE for me
    ----------------------------------------------

    Such a translation is consistent with the other usages
    shown above.

    I believe the above analysis is a good illustration on
    what goes into determining meaning

RASHI RULE USED: WORD MEANINGS

#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#

VERSE: Ex18-08c

BACKGROUND
----------
One of Rashis main goals is to explain grammatical function.
Rashi especially does this on Rare grammatical forms

REFERENCE
---------
For a discussion of the 6 Rashi goals see URL
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/rules-01.htm


THE GRAMMATICAL RULE
--------------------
A noun can be formed from a root by prefixing it
with the letter TAUV. There are several ways to do
this.


APPLICATION
-----------
The root Lamed-Aleph-Hay is difficult to translate but
seems to mean TO BE EXHAUSTED. The noun form would
therefore best be translated as BURDEN. Thus Ex18-08
would be translated
----------------------------------------------------------
Jethro heard about all the BURDENS that happened
on the journey & how God saved the people from the burdens
----------------------------------------------------------

THE LIST
--------
The list below contains several NOUNS formed by
adding a TAUV. Note the different forms. TeLaAH
is especially difficult since the root L-A-H
has 3 weak letters!

REFERENCE
---------
An excellent terse reference for conjugations of over 200
noun forms may be found in the appendix of the IBN SHOSHAN
dictionary. Table 5, Noun-Form 216 contains TeLaAh.

Here is the list. The longer footnotes further discuss
methodology*10

*1 Actually R-D-M means a DEEP SLEEP and TARDAYMAH would be sort
   of a semi-comatose sleep (A very deep sleep). We chose the
   above translations since they capture the flavor of the
   noun-verb transformation

*10 Technically we have confused APPLES and ORANGES. A proper
    approach would require 5 root-noun pairs with the SAME
    grammatical form as TeLaAh.

    In other words it seems fallacious to identify all forms
    with a prefix-tauv as the same. Grammatical form is
    determined BOTH by prefixes as well as spelling.

    The answer to this is that
    -- There is a strong commonality to prefix-tauv nouns
       that have the SAME spelling; but there is a weaker
       commonality to all prefix-tauv nouns

    -- it is not possible to find IDENTICAL grammatical forms
       since TeLaAh has 3 weak letters making it difficult to
       compare forms

    Thus the above may be perceived as a suggestive support
    (Rather than a full proof)

RASHI RULE USED: GRAMMARr

#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc. 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#

VERSE: Ex19-04a

RASHIS COVERED: Ex19-04a Nu14-32a Dt01-08a Ex20-19b

BACKGROUND
----------
In various Torah Texts Moses exhorts the people to stick to Gods
ways.

THE TEXT
--------
Moses mentions the arguments that YOU PERSONALLY SAW ALL
THESE MIRACLES.

THE RASHI
---------
Rashi interprets the emphasis in YOU SAW as
----------------------------------------------
You PERSONALLY SAW it; it was not by hearsay
----------------------------------------------

Rashi derives this from the emphasis in two words
-- YOU (vs your children)
-- SAW (vs hearsay)

A second approach to support this claim is the citation of
surrounding verses which show a contrast between YOU WHO
DID SEE THIS vs YOUR CHILDREN WHICH DID NOT.


THE LIST
--------
We bring a collection of verses where the NUANCE is that you
PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED this--it was not by HEARSAY and not
to your CHILDREN. Two types of verses are brought
-- the word YOU emphasizes YOU vs YOUR CHILDREN
-- the word SAW emphasizes SEE vs HEARSAY
Some verses use BOTH words (YOU,SAW) while some use one word
The footnotes document how sometimes Rashi emphasizes the words
YOU SAW while at other times Rashi emphasizes surrounding verses
which indicate that this happened to YOU not to YOUR CHILDREN.
Here is the list.

*1 In these verses Rashi emphasizes that YOU SAW
   ------------------------------------------
   You had 1st hand knowledge and not hearsay
   ------------------------------------------

*2 In these verses the emphasis is on the contrast
   of YOU vs CHILDREN

   - Dt11-07 explicitly mentions NOT YOUR CHILDREN but YOU SAW
   - Nu14-31 mentions CHILDREN wont die; Nu14-32 says YOU-ll die
   - Dt29-13 mentions THOSE WHO ARE HERE and THOSE WHO ARENT
     HERE which contrasts with the statements in Dt29-15 that
     YOU SAW

RASHI RULE USED: DOUBLE PARSHAS

#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc., 2002, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#



          THE 6 RASHI RULE CLASSES(Version 3.2 Dec 15 2001)
                http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rules-01.htm
          Copyright Dec 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President

========================================================
THE DICTIONARY RULE: Rashi can function as a dictionary.
                     He presents 2-6 meanings of words
         REFERENCE: http://www.RashiYomi.Com/words.htm
========================================================
* EXAMPLE 1: AL means ON. AL can also mean
      - WITH (Eat Passover WITH matzoh Ex12-09e)
      - IN   (Place the Matzoh IN the basket Ex29-03)
      - TO   (The boards shall be even from bottom TO top Ex26-24c)
      - NEAR (His borders will be NEAR Tzison Gn49-13b)
      - AFTER(Offer Peace offerings AFTER the daily Lv03-05a)

* EXAMPLE 2: KI means IF,PERHAPS,RATHER,BECAUSE,WHEN,THAT
   Gn18-15a Gn24-33a

* EXAMPLE 3: YDA means FAMILIAR, not KNOW (eg Dt34-10a)
	   eg Gn04-01 Adam was FAMILIAR with his wife

* EXAMPLE 4: ON THE FACE OF means DURING THE LIFETIME
            Nu03-04a Gn11-28a Ex20-03c Dt05-07a

===========================================================
THE GRAMMAR RULE: Rashi comments on RARE or SIMILAR usages
        REFERENCE:http://www.RashiYomi.Com/grammar.htm
===========================================================

* EXAMPLE 1: BA-ah means CAME;ba-AH means COMING(Gn46-26a)


* EXAMPLE 2:THE SENTENCE: 0.2% of Biblical sentences are 2verses
 -(Dt11-07:08) It was not your fathers who saw this;rather you

* EXAMPLE 3: Hitpael has different rules if 1st root letter is
   Tzade (USE: Ni-Tz-Ta-Dack not Ni-Th-Tza-Dack--Gn44-16a)

================================================================
THE CITATION RULE: Rashi enriches meaning by citing OTHER verses
         REFERENCE:http://www.RashiYomi.Com/other-20.htm
================================================================
* EXAMPLE 1: Dt26-05d We went down to Egypt with A FEW PEOPLE
	    ENRICHED by Gn46-27: We went down with 70 people

* EXAMPLE 2: Lv01-05a Non-priests may SLAUGHTER offerings
	    This law DERIVED from explicit statement in 2Chr30-17

* EXAMPLE 3:Why does Rashi say that Chur is Miriams son(Ex17-10b)
	    DERIVED from possible interpretation of 1-Chr18-19

* EXAMPLE 4: Gn35-22a Reuven Slept with Bilhah(Fathers concubine)
	    Gn49-04  Reuven PLAYED with fathers BEDS
        CONCLUSION: Reuven inteferred with fathers personal
	life(ruffled bedspreads); Bible condemns Reuven by
	exaggeration; he is accused of incest which he didnt do

=================================================================
THE 3 RABBI ISHMAEL RULES: They govern style(broad vs literal)
REFERENCE:http://www.RashiYomi.com/example1.htm thru example9.htm
=================================================================

* EXAMPLE 1: Simple sentences are always GENERALIZED
            ---------------------------------------
	    Dt25-04a Dont MUZZLE an OX while it is THRESHING
	    Rabbi Ishmael: Dont STOP any ANIMAL from eating
			   while DOING ITS WORK
					
* EXAMPLE 2: GENERAL-EXAMPLE style always interpreted LITERALLY
            --------------------------------------------------
 Nu05-12d (GENERAL) If a women DESECRATES her marriage
	   (EXAMPLE) and commits ADULTERY
	   Rabbi Ishmael: Nu05 only applies to ADULTERY.
	   It does not apply to other marriage DESECRATIONS
			
* EXAMPLE 3: GENERAL-EXAMPLE-GENERAL style intepreted SIMILARLY
            --------------------------------------------------
 Lv05-21b (GENERAL) If a man DENIES under oath
	  (EXAMPLE) ..denies a deposit,loan,theft,wages,lost item
	  (GENERAL) or ANY DENIAL which he denies
 RABBI ISHMAEL: These laws apply to any SIMILAR Example
 * The law applies to partnerships, movables and monetary objects
 * The law does not apply to real-estate or slander

=================================================================
THE CLIMAX RULE: The Bible should be interpreted in such a manner
                that it reflects CLIMACTIC development to a goal
             REFERENCE: http://www.RashiYomi.Com/example9.htm
=================================================================
 EXAMPLE 1: Dt19-11a If a man HATES, SPIES, CONFRONTS & KILLS
 RASHI: Bible identifies 4 stages to murder(Capped)

==============================================================
THE FORMATTING PRINCIPLE: Bible had its own method to mimic
                          bold, bullets, footnotes, paragraphs
==============================================================

* BOLD: Bible REPEATS words to obtain BOLD emphasis effect
          http://www.RashiYomi.Com/doubl-14.htm
  --------------------------------------------------------------
  EXAMPLE 1:(Ex12-09c) COOK COOK it in water (So COOKED is bold)
  INFERENCE: Prefered to COOK it in water;
         But COOK It at all costs(Even if you dont have water)

* BULLETS: Bible indicates bullets by REPEATING KEYWORDS
  --------------------------------------------------------
 Who am I
 - THAT I should go to Pharaoh
 - THAT I should take the Jews out of Egypt (Ex03-11a)
 --------------------------------------------------------
 RASHI: Repeated word THAT creates BULLET effect
 - Pharoh was a difficult king (Bullet one)
 - Jews were not yet ready for freedom (Bullet two)

* FOOTNOTES: The Bible indicates FOOTNOTES by ALMOST DUPLICATING
	     verses but making small minor changes
                http://www.RashiYomi.Com/align-58.htm
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  EXAMPLE: Ex20-03a
  VERSE        PHRASE #1       PHRASE #2       PHRASE #3
  -------      ---------       ---------       ------------------
  Ex20-03      Dont            POSSESS  the gods of others
  Ex20-04      Dont            MAKE     idols

  RASHI: So both POSSESSion & MAKING of idols are prohibited
  ---------------------------------------------------------------

                           End of Rashi is Simple Digest

#*#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi, 2001 Inc. Dr. Hendel President #*#*#*#*#