QUESTION
--------
Russell,
The Torah at Ex01-11b states
-----------------------------------------------
The Egyptians placed on the Jews administrators
of Taxes
and
they built cities for Egypt: Pithom & Raamsayth
-----------------------------------------------

Rashi on Ex01-11b states
---------------------------------------------
ADMINISTRATORS OF TAXES: (Rashi) This refers
to tax collectors

THEY BUILT CITIES: So the tax collectors made
them build cities
---------------------------------------------

Why does Rashi state this? Isnt it obvious that
Tax collectors collect taxes.

My suggestion is based on the Midrash Rabbah--
we have many fanciful midrashim on the word
TAX COLLECTORS. Recall that in Hebrew the word
Mem-Samech can also refer to despising someone.

So Apparently Rashi wanted to reject these
fanciful explanations and just stick to the
simple meaning of obtaining taxes.

Rabbi Mendlowitz

ANSWER
------
There are 3 parts to Rashi. Let us review them
one by one.

FIRST PART
----------
The single of TAX is MEM-SAMECH with a PATACH--
(MAS). In Hebrew, 2 letter words with a PATACH
vocalization retain that PATACH in the plural.
Here are some examples

---------- LIST101a -------

List of words reflecting
grammatical plural of 2
letter Hebrew words with
patach. Note that the patach
(AH sound) is retained EXCEPT
for the plural of MAS where
the PATACH transforms to a
CHIRICK (i sound)
---------------------------
WORD         PLURAL
------------ --------------
AM           AMiM
GAN          GANoth
APH          APAYim
CAPH         CAPayim
BATH         BATim
GAG          GAGOTH
------------ --------------
MAS          MiSim
---------------------------

In other words Rashi is explaining why the
plural of MAS is MISIM vs MASIM.

Recall that the CHIRIK (i sound) is characteristic
of the PIEL which can denote a causative tense.
So quite simply Rashi interprets MISIM as
CAUSING OTHERS TO PAY TAXES--ie TAX COLLECTORS

2nd PART
--------
The word Tax DOES means to despise. So the
Midrash is correct in ascribing various
interpretations of despising to MAS.

The question remains why Rashi rejected
these other interpretations and restrictively
interpreted MAS as TAX COLLECTING (Was that
indeed the only way the Jews were tortured?)

3rd PART
--------
As I have show (in the above cited URL) Rashi
uses the Rabbi Ishmael PRINCIPLE-DETAIL style

Rashi interprets the verse as follows
-------------------------------------
Egypt placed on the Jews tax collectors
that (however only) made the Jews make
cities
--------------------------------------

In other words from the General class
of despising items the only one that
these tax collectors did was make the
Jews build cities.

This uses the GENERAL (all despicable
acts) PARTICULAR (only city building)
style. This is the reason Rashi ignored
the other Midrashic explanations (Because
the GENERAL PARTICULAR style prohibits it)

What is the point? Pharohs antisemitism
was professional. He tried to avoid finger
pointing. At first he didnt abuse anyone.
He just made them work very hard and could
argue (Rightfully) that he was only taxing
the Jews to build cities. (Later on this
degenerated into further anti-semitism).

Russell Hendel;http://www.RashiYomi.Com

*10 An alternative (And equally good perspective)
is that Nu33-05 resolves a possible CONTRADICTION
between Ex12-27 and Ex13-20 and teaches us that
Egypt, Raamsayth and Succoth are 3 distinct
places. This uses the Rabbi Ishmael of
CONTRADICTORY VERSES.

*1 Ex13-20 Jews journeyed from Succoth after Exodus
Ex12-27 Exodus: Jews go from Raamsayth to Succoth
Nu33-05 Exodus, Then Raamsayth, THen Succoth

The point is that Nu33-05 makes it clear that
there were 3 places
- Exodus FROM Egypt
- TO Raamsayth
- TO Succoth.

Ex13-20 only mentions 2 of the places
Ex12-27 makes it sound like they left EGYPT, ie
they left RAAMSAYTH.

It is in fact common for places to have multiple
names. So Nu33-05 illumines that there were 3
distinct places

*10 References for the over 100 Rashis on alignment
may be found as follows:

http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-58.htm

This summary may be a bit too terse.
You can browse the 57 postings leading
up to by going to
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-1.htm
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-2.htm etc.

Or you can visit the Rashi Yomi Calendar at

http://www.RashiYomi.com/calendar1.htm

This calendar presents a day
by day listing of Rashis.
The ALIGNMENT series occurs
between 7-28-01 and 10-10-01.

*1 *2 Joseph TOLD his BROTHERS but
SWORE the JEWS

The nuances of JEWS vs BROTHERS is that
he left orders for all succeeding
generations to bring up his coffin

*3 The AS FOLLOWS indicates a command for
others (He simply told his brothers he
was dying while he swore the others with
a command)

*10 DOUBLE WORDS indicate emphasis.
Furthermore the INFINITIVE is used--this
always denotes ACTIVITY OVER TIME.

The implication is that the OATHS were
not at one point in time but were over
many generations(CONTINUOUSLY)

See the Rashiyomi calendar at
http://www.RashiYomi.com/calendar1.htm

Visit Dec 2000 and Jan 2001 for the series
of postings on Double Rashis

Or see a summary at
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/doubl-14.htm

For postings on the infinitive see
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/inf-3.htm

*1 The same phrase

*2 The extra phrase WITH YOU places an
emphasis: Bring up BOTH my coffin and
your coffin (That is the coffins of the
brothers) *10 *11

*10 A point of methodology here:

People like Dr Leibowitz and Rabbi Boncheck
would hold that Rashi derives his inference
from the EXTRA WORDS (With you).

By contrast I dont believe EXTRA WORDS
in and of themselves are sufficient.
After all the Torah spoke in human language!

However the ALIGNMENT casts an emphasis
on the extra words since they are absent
in the other verse. It is this emphasis
which justifies Rashi

*11 Rashi also offers the following (obvious)
insights:
--------------------------------------
Jacob asked to be brought up to Israel
immediately since Joseph as ViceRoy had
the authority to bring his father up

By contrast after Josephs death no one
had the power to violate Egyptian customs
So they had to stay buried in Egypt
till the Exodus (It would have been
politically insulting to leave Egypt)
---------------------------------------

*1 NoChoM (Kamatz Kamatz) means to LEAD THEM
NoChaM (Kamatz Patach) means to LEAD

The final MeM indicates the direct object
(LEAD THEM) with the Kamatz Kamatz
punctuation

*2 HoMoM (Kamatz Kamatz) means to CRUSH THEM
HoMaM (Kamatz Patach) means to CRUSH

The final MeM indicates the direct object
(CRUSH THEM) with the Kamatz Kamatz
punctuation

*3 oShoN (Kamatz Kamatz) is SMOKE (A noun)
oSHaN (Kamatz Patach) is TO SMOKE(Verb)


*4 YoMooSH means IT MOVE (Active tense)
YoMeeSH means SOMEONE MOVES IT(Causative tense)

My favorite reference for root conjugations
is the Appendix of the Ibn Shoshan Dictionary
Table 6 presents the conjugation of the
1-vuv-3 roots which illustrates the contrast
between YoMooSH and YoMeeSH

*5 PaCHaZ means FIZ(Noun)
PoCHaZ means TO FIZ(Verb)

The verse describes Reuvens personality as
FIZZING like water, denoting his impetuousness
in acting out of zeal without thinking of
consquences or implication. Hence he lost the
birthright

*1 A delightful way to find similar verb forms is
to use Moshe Silbermans Grammatical Form
Konkordance

KAMATZ KAMATZ is Form 5548 and Form 1450.
KAMATZ PATACH is form 5480.

Here are some KAMATZ KAMATZ verbs courtesy
of Moshe In all of them the form refers to
doing an activity (VERB) to someone else

-------- LIST701c --------
VERSE    FORM  MEANING
-------- ----- -----------
Hos11-03 KaXaM Take Them
Gn30-40  SaTaM Place them
Gn32-03  RaAaM See them
2S22-42  AaNaM Answer them
--------------------------

Some other references are
Isa48-05, Ps78-42, Jr29-22, Jr14-10

*1 This is Form 1798 in Silbermans
Grammatical form Konkordance.
Silberman brings 20 examples of
this form.

Interestingly Silberman follows
Radack who sees NeBuCHiM as coming
from root B-V-X in which case the
form would be bizarre. However
Rashis approach makes everything
natural

*2 Why did Radack ignore Rashis Simple
approach? Probably because there
are only 3 verses with root N-B-X
(LIST702b). It didnt seem worth it
to make an extra root for just
3 verses.

But the evidence for Rashi is
overwhelming. The meaning ENTANGLED/
TRAPPED fits perfectly and the
FORM is consistent with the other
2 dozen examples.