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  |      (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000                          |
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VERSE: Lv01-02c


RASHIS COVERED: Lv01-2c  Lv01-2d  Lv01-2e  Lv01-2f  Lv01-10b
                Ex08-02a Ex04-20a Lv01-14a Lv01-14d Nu14-37a
                Dt03-25b Dt03-25c Dt12-09c Dt12-09d Nu11-27a


RULE
====
The word >THE< can be used in 4 ways:
-- >THE< can refer to something that immediately follows

  eg Dt04-32c >Has anyone heard THIS GREAT THING-that God ...<


-- >THE< can refer to a concept, story or thing mentioned
  ELSEWHERE but not IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS

  eg Nu13-33a >We saw there THE Nefilim< -- cf Gn06-04


-- >THE< can refer to the best known of a class

  eg  Dt01-07e >THE Mount< -- This refers to The Kings Mountain



-- >THE< can refer to the qualitative best

  eg Dt05-18a >You will do the good and upright< -- ie compromise




NOTE
====
In this issue we give several examples where >THE< refers to
the >BEST KNOWN OF A CLASS< or to the >QUALITATIVE BEST<.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
===============
About a dozen of the examples in this posting come from one
of our great Acharonim, the Malbim. Malbim in the 6th chapter
of his >MORNING STAR< presents some of the principles on >THE<.
We have built on this contribution. The details of what we have
contributed as well as some further insightful comments on the
Malbim will be made in the footnotes.

This posting is a must for those involved in advanced talmudic
study.


CROSS REFERENCE: http://www.RashiYomi.Com/h9n14.htm


EXAMPLES
========

----------------------------------------------------------------
   In the following verses >THE< refers to >THE BEST<, to
   something >SPECIAL<.  Hence we (re)interpret those verses
   with >THE< as if they say >THE SPECIAL...<

----------------------------------------------------------------
VERSE    TEXT OF VERSE                WHAT IS SPECIAL
======== ===========================  ==========================
Dt01-07e THE (Special) Mount          The Kings Mountain*1
Dt02-17b THE (Special) Men of War     Men above 20*2
Dt03-25b THE (Special) Good Mountain  Jerusalem
Dt03-25c THE (Special) WHITE HOUSE*3  The Temple & WHITE Priests
Dt12-09c THE (Special) REST           Shiloh *4
Dt12-09d THE (Special) Inheritance    Jerusalem *4
Lv01-02c FROM THE (Special) Animals*5 They didnt commit bestiality
Lv01-02d FROM THE (Special) Cattle*5  They were not worshipped
Lv01-02f FROM THE (Special) Cattle*5  They were not wounded
Lv01-02e FROM THE (Special) herds*5   They were not Gorers
Lv01-02f FROM THE (Specical)herds*5   But not set aside to idols
Lv01-10b FROM THE(Special)Sheep/Goats But not sick,old,sweaty*5
Lv01-14a From THE (Special) birds     But not missing an organ*5
Lv01-14d THE (Specially) YOUNG/OLD    But not borderline cases*5a
Ex08-02a THE (Special) Frog went up*6 A species known for jumping
Ex04-20a travel by (Special) donkey*7 Used only domestically
Nu14-37a In THE (Special) plague*8    Tit-for-tat punishment


NOTES
=====
*1 In Dt01-07 Moses is ordered to tell the
   Jews to come >to the Emori...to THE MOUNTAIN<

   Notice the word >THE<. Moses did not tell them to go to
   >The Emori..its mountains...< but rather he asked them to
   go to  >The Emori ...THE mountain< (Dt01-07e)

   The word >THE< cant be referring to a recently mentioned
   mountain since no mountain has recently been mentioned.

   Hence Rashi says that >THE mountain< refers to the best
   mountain---that is, the Kings mountain--that is, the
   mountain that the King maintains for this personal travels.

   Although we cant PROVE that >THE mountain< refers to the
   Kings mountain nevertheless Rashis point is that >THE<
   refers to the >THE BEST KNOWN EXAMPLE OF A MOUNTAIN<
   which is >PROBABLY< the Kings mountain.

   So these Rashis are >PROBABLE< in flavor. The reader should
   carefully study them and see if they think they can find a
   better interpretation.

*2 We can find scriptural support for the thesis
   that the phrase >SPECIAL MILITARY MEN< refers to people
   above 20--eg Ex30-14

*3 I couldnt resist this one! The word >LEBANON< comes from
   the root >WHITE<. So the literal interpretation of
   >THE LEBANON< is >THE SPECIAL WHITE ONE<.

   The commentators say it refers to the TEMPLE which makes
   our sins pure as WHITE.  I would however more simply
   said that it refers to the Temple because of all the
   priests dressed in WHITE.

   Note:That an apt expression for the Temple would therefore be
   >THE WHITE HOUSE<. And like the American >WHITE HOUSE<
   it would/should be a symbol of purity and innocence.(May we
   speedily merit to see its purity and innocence)

*4 This is an interesting case: We can use the RASHI RULE
   of STRUCTURE: The whole chapter Dt12 and Dt13 are
   talking about the fact that we will soon come
   to >THE PLACE< that God has chosen where we can offer
   sacrifices and eat to our hearts content; however
   we may not offer sacrifices anyplace but only in
   Jerusalem.

   Thus the context clearly identifies this place as
   JERUSALEM the home of the temple.

   This in turn is supportive to the Rashi interpretation
   of the verse >..you have not yet come to THE
   PEACE and the INHERITANCE..< as meaning that
   we have not yet come to the various places
   where the temple resided such as Jerusalem
   and Shiloh

   Notice how I interpret the ENTIRE PHRASE,
   >The PEACE and INHERITANCE< as referring to
   >JERUSALEM and SHILOH<. Rashi is not being
   specific--he is not eg identifying >THE PEACE<
   with either JERUSALEM or SHILOH and >THE
   INHERITANCE< with the other one. Rather
   Rashi is identifying the whole phrase
   with >all the places where the temple resided<

   This perception that Rashi deals with
   identifying phrases (vs words) is important in studying
   Rashi.

*5 These examples all come from the Malbim. They
   are cross referenced in chapter 6 of his
   morning star.

   Here are the differences between me and Malbim:
   * Malbim posits that >THE< refers to the species of animal
     and derives the above Rashis by playing on
     the 2 words >FROM< and >THE<

   * By contrast I have simply interpreted >THE<
     to refer to something >SPECIAL< and >WELL KNOWN<
     Hence the verse >FROM THE animals< should be
     (re)interpreted as >from THE SPECIAL animals< which
     would indicate that they were special but eg
     had not been subjected to bestiality.

   Here are some further insights on the midrashic
   derivations

   * The Midrash does not DIRECTLY derive that
     >From the SPECIAL animals< means to exclude
     those animals that have had bestiality.

     Rather all the Midrash does is infer that
     these animals are SPECIAL in SOME WAY.

     We are not told in WHAT way they are special.
     MALBIM citing the Sifray and Talmud shows
     that in each case the SPECIALNESS is
     interpreted as consistent with the
     particular item mentioned. Thus eg
     CATTLE (vs. Wild beasts) are known for
     their domestication and hence we exclude
     bestiality.

   * Here are some further examples of
     specificity of SPECIALNESS:
     The phrase >THE CATTLE< is mentioned
     twice (Lv01-02, Lv01-03). Hence there are
     two aspects of specialness: (a) The cattle
     was not worshipped and (b) the cattle was not
     wounded. It is a mistake (as Malbim notes)
     to apply any particular derivation to any
     particular word. Rather for each mention
     of >THE< some type of SPECIALNESS is
     given

   * Finally: Malbim brilliantly notes that the
   Sifrah on which Rashi is based in not only
   commenting on the words >THE< used in this
   verse but is commenting on the words >THE<
   that occur THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE.

   For example, Malbim shows that the phrase >THE SHEEP< occurs
   in Nu15-03 and here in Leviticus: Hence Rashi here
   in Leviticus is commenting twice on the SPECIALNESS
   of sheep--one for the the phrase >THE SHEEP< here
   and one for the phrase >THE SHEEP< in Numbers.

   To sum it up >THE< indicates SPECIALNESS.
   Every occurence of >THE< indicates some extra
   type of SPECIALNESS. The details of which type
   of specialness is subject to talmudic logic. But
   the student of Chumash and Rashi should be happy
   to understand that some type of specialness is
   being emphasized (I call this approach of seeing
   the chumash emphasize a general principle--like
   specialness--which is then made more specific
   by talmudic logic--I call this approach the
   approach of STAGES...it was first introduced
   in my paper on Pshat and Derash in Tradition
   WINTER 1980).

*5a In other words take either TOTALLY young or TOTALLY
    Old birds.

    The transition in birds from YOUNG to OLD is accompanied
    by a YELLOWING of the wings. Hence the law:
    partially yellowed winged birds cannot be used
    for sacrifices(Because it has to be SPECIAL OLD or
    SPECIAL YOUNG birds)



*6 Shame on the Malbim for doubting Rashis finesse!

   Rashi here is commenting on the verse >And THE
   FROG went up over Egypt<.

   As Malbim notes the word >THE< is not needed with
   a species. Compare the sentences >I had OXEN..<
   (Gn32-05) or >He took money from FIRSTBORN (but
   it does not say THE FIRSTBORN)< (Nu03-50).

   So if it says >THE FROG< in this verse it must
   be referring to a SPECIAL SPECIES of FROG
   known for its jumping and hopping capacity.
   This was the 2nd of the plagues that Moses
   brought on the Egyptians at the hand of God
   and the humiliation of jumping frogs would
   be intensified by a species known for its
   jumping.

   Malbim gets into trouble since he interprets
   Rashi as giving two possible meanings:
   (a) ONE frog came and jumped all over Egypt
   (b) the frog species is collectively called
       frog.

   But Rashi is saying neither. Malbim got into
   this trouble because he used an abstract
   approach. What I have contributed is the
   use of intuitive idioms to help clarify
   Rashi.(This was in fact the contribution
   of my article in Tradition in Winter 1980---
   I introduced the idea of intuitive models)

   By interpreting the verse as >THE (SPECIAL)
   (Jumping) Frogs< we combine both meanings
   of Rashi and also make the 2nd plague
   plausible. It was not 1 frog that jumped;
   it was also not all frogs that jumped;
   it was rather the special jumping
   frogs that jumped and hence the >THE<
   in >& THE FROG came over Egypt<.

   Again Shame on Malbim (and anyone else)
   who doubts that Rashi-is-Simple.

*7 Again as in footnote 6 Rashi literally says
   that >The phrase THE Donkey teaches us that
   this is the same donkey used by Abraham
   when he sacrificed Isaac and the same donkey
   that King Messiah will use to ride on<

   But it is rediculous to assume that a donkey
   is living several thousand years.

   A more palatable approach is that >THE DONKEY<
   refers to a special species of DONKEY known
   as ONLY being used for domestic purposes (some
   donkey species are used for both domestic
   and military purposes)---thus the phrase
   >THE DONKEY< would refer to this special species of
   donkeys known specifically for their domestication.

   Again such an approach makes the midrash
   appear palatable and deep. We do not
   in my opinion increase respect for Chazal
   by being literal on every midrash.

   TO SUMMARIZE:
   The Midrash is stating that the donkey used
   by Abraham at the sacrifice of Isaac, the donkey
   used by Moses when he went to free the Jews,
   and the donkey used by King Messiah are all DONKEYS FROM THE
   DONKEY SPECIAL DONKEY SPECIES KNOWN FOR THEIR DOMESTICATION
   ---these 3 leaders did not use military tactics. They instead
   achieved success thru their spirit.

*8 This was not just any old plague: It was rather a
   SPECIAL Plague. It was a >THE PLAGUE<. Rashi explains
   that Gods plagues are known for their justice. Since
   these people accepted slander on God and Israel therefore
   they died by punishments of the tongue(The organ they
   sinned with)

   Such an identification of Gods justice with a tit-for
   -tat approach is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible
   (eg Ex18-11).

{END OF LIST}


RASHI RULE USED: SPECIAL WORDS
---------------------------------------------------
WARNING: The following additional references may be too wordy
However they frequently contain additional information & lists
The hyperlinks only work on the main website

Volume 9 Number 16


#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Volume 9 Number 16