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Volume 9 Number 25
Produced April 27, 2001
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PARSHAH
=======
For Rashis on this week Parshah read this issue or visit
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/parshah.htm
|
Rashis covered in this issue |
|
|
| VERSE | RULE | BRIEF DESCRIPTION |
| ======== | =============== | =================================== |
| Lv13-31a | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-32a | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-04a | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-05b | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-06a | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-32a | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-06c | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-08a | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| Lv13-05a | OVERALL STRUCTR | Rashi infers meaning from context |
| --------- | ---------------- | ----------------------------------- |
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RASHI IS SIMPLE
GOALS: To grammatically defend all 8000 Rashis on Chumash.
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NOTATION: eg Gn01-02a refers to Rashi "a" on Genesis 1:2
SPECIALS:...on Parshah,Rambam,Ramban,Pedagogy,Symbolism
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VERSE: Lv13-31a
RASHIS COVERED: Lv13-31a Lv13-32a Lv13-04a Lv13-05b Lv13-06a
Lv13-32a Lv13-06c Lv13-08a Lv13-05a
OVERVIEW:
=========
We spent the previous few digests presenting Rashis dealing
with the meaning of words. In this issue we present Rashis
that make inferences from the OVERALL STRUCTURE of a chapter.
We therefore first present 3 tables reviewing the basics of
the laws of leprosy. We review the 3 possible STATUSES of
the LEPOR, the types of SIGNS and EXAM PERIODS which confer
these statuses and 3 BODY PARTS where leprosy can occur.
We then present the Rashis.
|
OVERVIEW OF THE 3 POSSIBLE LEPOR STATUSES |
|
A person with white or bald patches can have 1 of 3 possible
statuses.
--He could be let go (PURE) or
--he could be CONFINED with or without PRIESTLY EXAMS
in which case he only has to go to Mikvah to become pure again
--or he can be declared FULLY IMPURE in which case he has
to go thru a complicated purification procedure including
shaving his whole body, bringing sacrifices etc
Here is a summary.
|
| STATUS | CONSEQUENCES*1 | VERSE | TEXT OF THIS VERSE |
| PURE | No action required | Lv13-38:39 | A Light patch is Pure |
| CONFINED | Go to Mikvah | Lv13-06 | He purifies by Mikvah |
| IMPURE | Birds,Shaving,Offering | Lv14-01:20 | Describes offering*2 |
| | | |
| | | |
| COMMENTS |
*1 This column lists what is necessary for the lepor to
become pure.
*2 In passing the word IMPURE involves poetic lisence. Actually
both the CONFINED and IMPURE lepor have a ritual impurity
status. However they differ in how they become pure.
The CONFINED lepor only has to go to MIKVAH to
become pure while the IMPURE lepor must offer sacrifices.
Rashi infers this by contrasting Lv13-06c vs Lv13-08a
In one case the lepor need only go to Mikvah while in the
other case the lepor remains impure (till the entire
purification procedure mentioned in Lv14 is performed.)
|
|
THE BASIC LEPOR PROCEDURE |
|
The following gives a template for the various lepor
procedures.
--First you get a white or bald patch.
--Then you go thru PRIESTLY EXAMINATION stages for SIGNS.
--If an IMPURITY SIGN is found you become TOTALLY IMPURE.
Examples of IMPURITY SIGNS are e.g. WHITE HAIRS in the patch
--If the patch weakens or disappears you become totally PURE
(after going to Mikvah)
--Otherwise you remain in a CONFINED status and the priests
examine you for signs. (The number of weeks the priest
examines you, varies)
Here is a summary for skin leprosy. Other leprosies
follow similar patterns
|
| WEEK # | WHAT IS SEEN ON LEPOR | WHAT IS STATUS |
| WEEK 0*1 | A white patch | See 0a, 0b or 0c |
| WEEK 0a | Patch is light white | Lepor is PURE |
| WEEK 0b | Patch has SIGNS*1 | Lepor is IMPURE |
| WEEK 0c | Patch is DEEP;no SIGNS | Lepor is CONFINED |
| WEEK 1a | Deepness/Signs disappear | Lepor will be PURE*2 |
| WEEK 1b | SIGNS appear*3 | Lepor is IMPURE |
| WEEK 1c | 1-2 weeks pass(no SIGN)*4 | Lepor is CONFINED*5 |
| WEEK 3 | Signs after 1-2 weeks | Lepor is IMPURE |
| | |
| COMMENTS |
*1 This column refers to points of time. Thus WEEK 0 refers
to when the lepor first comes to the priest. WEEK 1 refers
to the end of the 1st week (after the lepor goes thru
1 week of confinement) WEEK 2 refers to the 2nd week.
*2 After going to Mikvah
*3 What constitutes a SIGN varies. For example
A SPREADING of the white patch is a SIGN and
transforms the CONFINED status to an IMPURE status
See the LIST below for examples
*4 How LONG we have to wait before the PRIESTS
stop examining varies between 1 and 2 weeks. See
the LIST below for details
*5 There is a technical controversy between Rashi and
Rambam-Ramban on the lepors status. I fully defend
Rashi below
|
|
SIGNS & WAITING PERIODS FOR 3 LEPROSY-TYPES |
|
We review the laws governing PATCHES found on the SKIN
SCAB or HEAD. We have explained the procedure above.
Patches confer a CONFINED status. This CONFINED status
becomes transformed to an IMPURE status by the SIGNS listed
below. After the specified number of weeks indicated the
priest need not examine the lepor for signs. So e.g.
a SKIN LEPOR becomes IMPURE thru a SIGN of white hair while
a HEAD LEPOR becomes IMPURE thru a SIGN of yellow hair.
Similarly SKIN leprosy has 2 weeks of exams while BURN
leprosy has 1 week of exams.
|
| TYPE | HAIR SIGN | SPREAD | LIVE FLESH | # EXAM WEEKS | VERSES |
| SKIN | White har | Spread | Live-Flesh | 2 | Lv13-01:08 |
| SCAB | White hair | Spread | | 1 | Lv13-18-28 |
| HEAD | Yellow-hair | Spread | | 2 | Lv13-30:37 |
THE RASHIS:
===========
Having completed the OVERVIEW we can now analyze the Rashis.
|
THE WHAT-IF-ANALYSIS OF RASHI ON LEPROSY |
|
We now present the Rashis. In each case Rashi is performing
WHAT IF ANALYSIS.
As an example we read verse Lv13-31(Top row of table):
IF THE APPEARANCE IS NOT DEEP & THERE IS NO BLACK HAIR THEN
THE LEPOR IS CONFINED.
Rashi asks WHAT-IF questions: Suppose the appearance is deep?
Suppose there is black hair? What should happen to the
lepor then? (Note there are 3 possible answers: PURE, IMPURE,
CONFINED).
Rashi will derive answers based on OTHER VERSES in similar
situations. This is not a procedure of logic but rather a
procedure of style. It is based on the Rabbi Ishmael rule
of making inferences from context.
To continue this example (Lv13-31) Rashi uses Lv13-37 to
infer that if there is black hair then the lepor becomes pure.
|
| VERSE | IF | THEN LEPOR IS | WHAT IF | THEN | VERSE |
| Lv13-31a | no black | impure | if black | pure | Lv13-37*1 |
| Lv13-32a*2 | no yellow | confined | if yellow | impure | Lv13-30 |
| Lv13-32a*2 | No spread | confined | if spread | impure | Lv13-35 |
| Lv13-05b | No spread | confined | if spread | impure | Lv13-08 |
| Lv13-06a | No spread | confined | if spread | impure | Lv13-08 |
| Lv13-06a | Not deep | pure | if deep | Confined | Lv13-05*3 |
| Lv13-04a | Not deep | confined*4 | if deep | confined | Lv13-05 |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| COMMENTS |
*1 Rashis point here is deep. Although the chapter is
listed chronilogically (Time 0,1,2) nevertheless Rashi
perceives Lv13-37 not as part of the paragraph but
rather as a footnote. In other words Lv13-37 is giving
a general rule that applies at all times. IF BLACK
HAIR EVER COMES ON THE BALD HEAD PATCH THEN THE LEPOR
BECOMES PURE.
*2 To emphasize the difference between LOGIC and STYLE
let us review this Rashi which performs 2 what-if analysis
Lv13-32:33 states that IF THERE IS NO SPREAD AND NO YELLOW
HAIR THEN THE LEPOR BECOMES CONFINED
Thus there are 2 WHAT-IF questions. What is there is spread?
What is there is yellow hair?
Rashi answers each of these with another verse.
Lv13-37 states that IF BLACK HAIR THEN THE LEPOR IS PURE
Lv13-30 states that IF YELLOW HAIR THEN THE LEPOR IS IMPURE
Although e.g. Lv13-30 deals with WEEK 0 and Lv13-32 deals
with WEEKS 1-2 nevertheless the Rules of Rabbi Ishmael allow
us to make an inference from the similar law. BLACK HAIR at
any time confers PURITY. YELLOW HAIR at any time confers
IMPURITY.
Thus this analysis is based on STYLE not LOGIC
*3 As already indicated above there is a controversy between
Rashi and Rambam-Ramban on this case. To defend Rashi let
us review the whole WHAT IF analysis.
Rashi here performs WHAT IF analysis. Verse Lv13-06 says
IF THE APPEARANCE IS WEAKER AND THERE IS NO SPREAD THEN
HE IS IMPURE.
So Rashi asks 2 questions that come from a WHAT-IF analysis:
But suppose there is SPREAD?
Suppose the appearance is the SAME?
Rashi answers these questions based on other verses.
According to Lv13-08 if there was SPREADING then the
lepor becomes FULLY IMPURE.
According to Lv13-05 if the APPEARANCE REMAINS THE SAME
the lepor retains his CONFINED STATUS.
The controversy between Rambam-Ramban and Rashi occurs
in this case of a lepor after 2 weeks of confinement who
on the one hand shows NO SPREADING (a sign of FULL IMPURITY)
while on the other hand shows NO WEAKENING(a sign of full
PURITY)
Rashi says this lepor is IMPURE which I interpret to
mean (based on the what-if analysis I just did) that
this lepor CONTINUES his status of CONFINEMENT IMPURITY.
Note that such an interpretation is consistent with
the pattern of WHAT IF analysis performed by Rashi in
other verses.
By interpreting Rashi to apply to CONFINEMENT IMPURITY
rather than FULL IMPURITY we answer all objections of
the Ramban(who proved that this confined lepor without
spreading and without weakening would not become
FULLY IMPURE)
*4 Rashi here is using WHAT IF analysis. If we contrast
Lv13-03 and Lv13-04 it seems to be saying that DEEP
APPEARANCE AND WHITE HAIR leads to FULL IMPURITY while
NO WHITE HAIR AND NO DEEP APPEARANCE leads to CONFINEMENT
But that is not true! Leprosy only applies to patches
with DEEP APPEARANCE (e.g. Rambam Leprosy 1:6). Indeed the
Bible explicitly says that if there is NO DEEP APPEARANCE
and NO WHITE HAIR then the person is PURE (there is no
confinement--see Lv13-38:39).
Thus on the verse NO WHITE HAIR
AND NO DEEP APPEARANCE LEADS TO CONFINEMENT Rashi
correctly says I DONT KNOW WHAT LAW THIS TEACHES US.
To the best of my knowledge this problem has not been
solved by any later authorities.
Note how Rashi is simply consistently applying WHAT IF
analysis to every verse in these chapters. This is
the only verse where the WHAT IF analysis yields something
contrary to Jewish Law and Rashi points this out (In passing
the statements about APPEARANCE in the other paragraphs of
Lv13 also cause considerable difficulty---eg see Rambam
Leprosy 8:1--if you look thru the other verses mentioning
appearance in this chapter you will similarly see no WHAT-IF
analysis brought by Rashi)
|
RASHI ON VERSE Lv13-05a
=======================
To complete our review of this Rashi rule of OVERALL STRUCTURE
we explain the Rashi on Lv13-05a.
Rashi here is explaining the meaning of words
The verses literally state IF IN HIS/ITS EYES THE
PATCH APPEARS THE SAME. Actually, there are 7 meanings
to the word EYE (See Radack:ROOTS):
--eye,
--To eye(study),
--appearance,
--water well(it looks like an eye),
--multi-road fork (looks like an eye),
--Gleaming(a gleaming object catches your eyes),
--multi-colored (a colored object catches your eyes)
(Radack in his book ROOTS gives verse examples of all
of these)
Thus Rashi is explaining that the verse should not be
read IF IN HIS (the priests) EYES THE PATCH STANDS
but rather IT ITS APPEARANCE STANDS. That is, the word
EYE in this verse refers to APPEARANCE not to EYES.
How did Rashi know this? By CONTEXT--all the other verses
in the paragraph deal with HAIR, SPREAD and APPEARANCE
and therefore this verse does also.
RASHI RULE USED: OVERALL STRUCTURE
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