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(C) Dr Russell Jay Hendel, 2000
Volume 5 Number 13
Produced Mar, 03 2000
WARNING: USE FIX WIDTH FONTS (eg COURIER (NEW) 10)
Verses/Topics Discussed in This Issue with quicky explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------
v6a3-2
Question from Chaya Bruria on new Hebrew Fonts
v6b3-2
Assorted questions from Dr John Loike on Hebrew fonts,
Rashis midrashic interpretation of various verses, his
treatment of the Egel etc
v2z40-35
2 'contradictory' verses can indicated 2 stages of a
process (Eg Levites came to STUDY temple work at 25 but
did not start working till 30 v4-8-24). 2 contradictory
verses can define a meaning as broad or narrow (egAN OX,
A CHILD BULLOCK) =YOUNG ADULT OX
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
RASHI IS SIMPLE
GOALS: To grammatically defend all 8000 Rashis on Chumash.
METHOD:Every Rashi will be defended with a LIST of comparable cases
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Laymen, Academicians, Rabbis, Yeshiva students
COMMENTS,QUESTIONS: EMail to address below; (minor edits may occur)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:Always given unless 'anonymous' is explicitly asked
(UN)SUBSCRIBE: Email to above with keyword "(UN)subscribe"
JOURNAL REFERECE: Pshat & Drash, TRADITION, Win 1980, R Hendel
NOTATION: eg v2b1-8 refers to Ex(Book 2) Chap 1 Verse 8 Rashi b(#2)
SPECIALS:...on Rambam,Ramban,Symbolism,Pedagogy,Daily Questions
EMAIL: RJHendel@Juno.Com,rashi-is-simple@shamash.org,
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
VERSE: v6a3-1
From: Chaya Chait
To: rashi-is-simple@shamash.org
Subject: Re: RASHI-IS-SIMPLE digest 112
Date: Mar 1, 2000
Dr. Hendel, is it an option to use Hebrew
fonts in your text rather than
lines which approximate Hebrew letters?
Juno scatters lines, and
therefore I miss out on some of the illustratios
you are making to clarify points
Chaya Brurya
When the door of happiness closes
another opens, but oftentimes we look
so long at the closed door, that we
don't see the one which has been
opened for us.
ANSWER: You **must** use
>COURIER or COURIER NEW 10 fonts
These are fixed width fonts and will present the letters
I have received 2 negative comments on the fonts but no
positive comments so I am suspending them until I get
further feedback.
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
From: "John D. Loike"
To: The logical derivation of Rashis on Chumash
Subject: Re: RASHI-IS-SIMPLE digest 112
Date: Mar 1 2000
Hello. I am sorry to say that I hate the
Hebrew fonts. In this day and age
why not simply incorporate a good hebrew
font that can be e mailed. The ad
hoc one you created is not helpful.
>>>>>>>>
ANSWER: No no. We want feedback. There are
other negative letters on these fonts. I am
suspending them till I get feedback on what
people want. Keept the comments up. Moderator
>>>>>>>>>>
Back to the essence. IN last week's parsha
we notice an unbelieveable
midrash quoted by Rashi on the verse of
Zachor et Avraham (Moshe's plea to
Hashem to forgive Bnei Israel). He
compares the 10 Nisyonot of Avraham to
the breaking of the 10 commandments.
Now this is an excellent example of
non-pshat -What forces Rashi to say such
a wild and far fetched midrash.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ANSWER: I ansewred this a year ago
I will try and repost. Thanks for
the question.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Second and even more perplexing. The
midrash calls the 10 commandments
Aseret hadibrot which is maculine -
feminine construction and inappropriate.
furthermore, the Torah never calls the
10 commandment using this phrase -
it does refer to them as aseret
Hadevarim or Hadibrot alone. And to my
utter surprise Rashi does not comment
on such a gross error in Hebrew
language. Why. Rashi obviously
understood something deeper which I am
missing. How interesting that the Jews
of the world have picked up the term
aseret hadibrot as the term for the Luchot.
Finally, Rashi is quite difficult in
explaining the term U faruh ha Om and
Y Peruo Aaron as "revealing or uncovering"
Onkelus makes more sense of
interpreting the term as Betul or Shecare.
IN fact, an open reading of the
Parsha points to the fact that Aaron's
testimony of what happened was not
completely accurate and that may explain
why in Devarim, Moshe explains
that he had to request mercy for Aaron
behavior at Har Sinai
Finally, Rashi deviates from his usual
pattern in explaining the term Maseicha
Usually Rashi will quote two explanations
one after another. Here Rashi
first quotes the term as molten===that
Aaron threw it into the fire and out
popped an Egal. Then Rashi on the following
verse explains that the term
has a numerical value of 125 equal to the
weight in Gold. As you know Rashi
will only use Gematria if really forced.
Well I hope that is enough food for thought
Keep up the good work. John
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ANSWER: I am overdue on many questions
Particularly yours. I will try and get
to it within the week
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 1999 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
VERSE: v2z40-35
======
v2b16-13 the RESTING of the DEW (on the Manna)
v4b8-24 ..the levites shall start appointments at 25
v5a15-17 and he (the slave) shall work for you FOR EVER
v3-7-9 to the priest who offers it,the sacrifice will belong
v3b4-3 An Ox, a child Bullock
RASHI TEXT:
===========
v2b16-13 "the RESTING of the DEW (on the Manna)"
v2-16-13 says that
>Dew rested on the Manna
while 4-11-9 says
>the Manna descended on the dew
But there is no contradiction
>The dew descended 1st
>the manna descended on top of it (2nd)
>then a 2nd layer of dew descended (3rd)
v4b8-24 On the one hand 4-8-24 says
>the Levites start working at 25
while on the other hand 4-4-3 says
>the Levites start working at 30!?!?
But the reconciliation comes from the rest of these verses
>"From 30 to 50, coming for appointments TO DO work"
>"At 25 they COME for appointments IN Temple work"
Thus they start
>apprenticeship at 25
and start working at
>30.
From this (the 5 years of apprenticeship from 25 to 30) we
may infer that any student who has not seen any benefit
from his studies in 5 years will probably not see any
benefit in further studies.
v5a15-17 "& he (the slave) shall work for you FOR EVER"
But it says explicitly in 3-25-10
>in the Jubilee year all go free
Therefore we must interpret v5a15-17 as
>he (the slave) shall work FOR EVER
>(=a long time, till
>the Jubilee)
v3-7-9 "..to the priest who offers it,
the sacrifice will belong"
v3-7-9 says that the Minchah offerings
>belong to the priest who offers it
while the very next verse v3-7-10 says that the Minchahs
>belong to ALL the priests
The simplest way of resolving this is
to say that the Minchahs
>belong to all Priests of the Unit on duty that week
>(from whom the priest who offers, came)
v3b4-3 An Ox, a child Bullock
The verse simultaneously calls the animal
>a CHILD
>a (grown) OX
So the law is that we take an OX that is
>3 years old (the beginning of Ox Adulthood)
BRIEF BUT COMPLETE NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
=========================================
This is part II in the series of Rashis dealing with the principle
>Two verses that say the similar things in
>a complementary mannar
Last time (v2-40-35) we saw 8 examples of verse-pairs where
>2 aspects of the same entity were described in 2 verses
The simplest example is 4-21-21 vs 5-2-26 which describes
>ISRAEL as sending agents to Edom
>MOSES as sending agents to Edom
Clearly MOSES is simply the REPRESENTATIVE of Israel. In other
words ISRAEL has two aspects or two components
>the nation itself
>the designated representative
and it is these 2 aspects which are mentioned in the verses.
In this posting we review TWO other methods by which to deal
with complementary verses. The first method perceives the 2
verses as dealing with
>Two STAGES of some process
EXAMPLE 1
---------
The Levites
>began study/apprenticeship to Temple work at 25
>they began actual Temple work at 30(after 5 years of study)
>they worked in the Temple till 50
Rashi learns this by using the alignment method on the 2 verses
that mention Levite service--- 4-8-24 and 4-4-3
---------------------------------------------
| QUESTION 1 |
| ========== |
| Can you help prove Rashis point? Try |
| aligning the two verses? What differences |
| do you see between the 2 verses? How do |
| these differences lead to the distinction |
| mentioned above between STUDY and actual |
| WORK? See {LIST1} for the answer |
---------------------------------------------
>4-8-24 From 25.. they'll come for appointments IN temple work
>4-4-3 From 30 ..those coming for appointments TO DO work in Temple
> *1 *2 *3 *4 *5
So Rashi is Simple.At 30 they actually DO work (*5) while at 25 they
just learn (*4). (For a profound inference from this to Jewish
Identity problems see the COMMENTS ON RASHIS FORM section)
EXAMPLE 2
---------
Based on 2-16-13 and 4-11-9 Rashi describes the descent of the dew
>First a layer of Dew came down
>Then the manna descended on this dew
>then a second layer of dew came
So the Manna was sandwiched in a protective layer of Dew. Rashi
learns this from the explicit statement in the verses
>the Dew rested on the Manna
>The Manna descended on the Dew
This completes the illustrations of the
>2 stage method for interpreting complementary verse-pairs
The other method we introduce for interpreting verse-pairs is
>to use contradiction to chose between broad & narrow meanings
Let us give a simple example: The word
>OX
refers to
>an adult in the bullock family
Now the word OX has a broad and narrow interpretation--
>it can refer to a YOUNG ADULT
or
>it can refer to an OLD ADULT
So which one do we use? Using the method of contradictory verses
we have from v3-4-3
>a CHILD bullock
>an OX
So Rashi is Simple--the contradictory verses imply that
>OX = YOUNG ADULT (ie a CHILD ADULT!)
In other words the contradiction was used to to chose between
the BROAD and NARROW interpretation. Let us now review 2 other
examples.
EXAMPLE 2
---------
v5-15-17 says that a slave (who refuses to leave)
>shall work for you FOREVER
while v3-25-10 says
>he shall work till the JUBILLEE
So Rashi is simple, the word
>FOREVER in 5-15-17
is interpreted NARROWLY to mean
>FOREVER =a long time = till the Jubilee year
EXAMPLE 3
---------
v3-7-9 says that a Minchah temple sacrifice belongs
>to THE PRIESTS who offered it
But the very next verse, v3-7-10 says it belongs
>to ALL THE PRIESTS
So Rashi Is Simple---
>"THE PRIEST WHO OFFERED IT"
is interpreted BROADLY to mean
>the DIVISION of the PRIEST who offered it
(Priests were divided into 24 DIVISIONS, each one serving 1-2
weeks a year in a rotational schedule---the DIVISION working
offered all sacrifices during its rotation. Thus according
to these two verses, if any priest in a division offered
a minchah offering then ALL the priests in the division
shared in the offering).
COMMENTS ON RASHI'S FORM:
=========================
We make 3 comments on the above Rashis.
#1) The 5 Year effect of study
------------------------------
A beautiful study by Federation showed that
>JEWISH IDENTITY
correlates most heavily with
>3000 hours of religious study
That is,INDEPEDENT of upbringing, affiliation(Orthodox, reform..)..
if a person had 3000 hours of religious study they were likely to
remain "Jewish" while if they had less than 3000 hours they were
less likely.
But 3000 hours equals
>2 hours of study per day (1 in morning; 1 in evening)
>300 days a year (All days but Sabbaths and holidays)
>5 years
since
>2*300*5 = 3000
Using standard college standards of
>3 credit courses = 3 meeting hours per week
>3 hours of Homework per 1 hour of meeting
we see that
>2 hours a day, 6 days a week = 12 hours = a 3 credit course
Thus the Bible is advocating a
>5 year Masters program for Levites
This is consistent with the Federation study
#2) A Biblical source for a Post Biblical enactment?
-----------------------------------------------------
Some people may smurk at the idea that
>Entire Priestly divisions eat the Minchahs
Indeed, we know that the 24 priestly divisions were instituted
during the Samuel-David era. How could a Biblical commandment
apply to it?
But the answer is simple. The idea of a division of priests working
in the temple existed even in the time of Moses since the daily
offering requied carrying all organs of an Ox unto the altar and
this required at least 24 people!! Rather, what was solidified
in the time of David-Samuel was the EQUAL OPPORTUNITY and ROTATIONAL
schedule; every priest belonged to one of 24 divisions and they
all served equal times.
#3) Workbook methods in Rashi
-----------------------------
As {LIST1} below shows there are
>5 differences between the 2 verses
while Rashi only explains
>one of the differences ("come at 25" vs "come at 30")
As shown below the other 4 differences can be explained
using the same idea. This practice of
>Rashi giving one explanation and
>letting the student infer the other explanations
is called by us
>the WORKBOOK METHOD OF RASHI
since it encourages the student to gain mastery of Rashi methods
LISTS {For ADVANCED students and for those with more time}:
===========================================================
{LIST1} {Alignment of 4-8-24 and 4-4-3. The footnotes emphasize
the 5 differences between the 2 verses}
VERSE TEXT
====== ============================================================
4-8-24 From 25.. they'll come for appointments IN temple work
4-4-3 From 30 ..those coming for appointments TO DO work in Temple
NOTES *1 *2 *3 *4 *5
FOOTNOTES
---------
*1 25 is the year of beginning of STUDY while 30 is the year of
beginning of WORK (See notes *4 *5)
*2 4-8-24 says they WILL come denoting the beginning of
apprenticeship while 4-4-3 refers to those ALREADY COMING
who are continually learning and will now serve
*3 The actual Hebrew on 4-8-24 (abbreviated in the above text) says
>all those coming to appoint an appointment
while 4-4-3 says
>all those coming for appointments
Thus 4-8-24 denotes CREATING the appointment
*4*5 4-8-24 speaks about appointments
>IN THE TEMPLE WORK
while 4-4-3 speaks about appointments
>TO DO WORK IN THE TEMPLE
Again one emphasizes actual work while just speaks about
being involved. (There is a further difference in that
two different words are used to denote WORK. 4-8-24 uses
the Hebrew word
>EVED = Slave/ Worker = Apprenticeship
while 4-4-3 uses the Hebrew word
>MLACHAH= skilled work
denoting a polished professional.
CROSS REFERENCES:
=================
v2-40-35 This posting is part of a multi-part series
begus in v2-40-35 in volume 5 number 12
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
=================
RULE CLASSIFICATION {See the web site for comparable examples}:
===============================================================
RabbiIshmael
RabbiIshmael
RabbiIshmael
RabbiIshmael
RabbiIshmael
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End of Rashi-Is-Simple Digest
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