#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Rashi is Simple Version 2.0 |
| (C) RashiYomi Inc., Dr Hendel President |
| http://www.RashiYomi.Com |
| PERMISSION to reprint WITH this header if NOT for profit |
------------------------------------------------------------
VERSE: Nu04-47a
RASHIS COVERED: Nu04-47a Nu04-47b
====================== LEVITES SING/BEAR =======================
VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
The Bible describes the task of the levites using various words
such as CRAFTSMANSHIP, SERVICE, BEARING. An alignment of about
a dozen verses where these terms occur shows special emphasis
on two types of tasks: SERVICE/BEARING. By referring to other
Biblical verses we see that the Levites performed two primary
tasks-- SINGING ACCOMPANIMENT TO SACRIFICES and TRANSPORT-
BEARING OF THE TEMPLE on trips.Logically, it seems satisfactory
to connect BEARING=TRANSPORT; SERVICE=SINGING. The emphasis in
our approach is not on etymologies but rather on seeking other
verses supporting nuances.
----------------------------------------
TODAYS RASHI RULE: ALIGNMENT
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE: FURTHER NUANCES
----------------------------------------
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RULE
-------------------------
Many Rashis do NOT focus on an internal analysis of the verse.
There may be nothing bothering Rashi in THAT verse. The words
used may all be normal.
But when the given verse is compared with another verse--that
is, when the two verses are ALIGNED together-- we see blatant
differences.
The ALIGNED verses therefore suggest that these ALIGNED
DIFFERENCES were deliberately placed there to emphasize
certain nuances. The standard example will illustrtae this.
STANDARD EXAMPLE
----------------
Recall that the Moabite King BALAK was apprehensive about
Israel journeying throught its territory. It wanted Israel
banished. It hired a professional curse-man, Bilam who would
curse the Jews. Bilam however describes his job SLIGHTLY
differently. Here are the verses.
-----------------------------------------------
BALAK: Nu22-06 I will banish Jews FROM THE LAND
BILAM: Nu22-11 ...... banish Jews -------------
-----------------------------------------------
EXERCISE
--------
To fully appreciate Rashi perform the following 2 exercises
- What is the minor difference between the aligned verses?
- What NUANCE do YOU think this implies?
RASHIS SOLUTION
---------------
BALAK only wanted Jews away from his land; his goals were
political. By contrast, BILAM wanted them DESTROYED. Hence...
BALAK wanted Jews BANISHED FROM THE LAND. But Bilam wanted
them BANISHED PERIOD (That is destroyed).
STANDARD REFERENCES FOR THIS RULE
---------------------------------
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.
HOW TO USE THESE LISTS FOR SCHOOL PROJECTS
------------------------------------------
You can use the LISTS referenced above for
school projects. Here is how. If you are a
teacher then you can present the two aligned
verses and ask the students to perform the
following exercises
-- What are the minor differences between the verses
-- What nuances do they imply
The students can then compare their analysis with that
of Rashis. This leads to greater appreciation of Rashi.
TODAYS EXAMPLE
--------------
Here is the list of verses of Levite service. Further
support is found in the footnotes. Other approaches to
Rashi are mentioned in the longer footnotes.
================================================================
VERSE INITIAL LANGUAGE USED SECOND LANGUAGE USED
======= =============================== ========================
Nu04-03 Those who do CRAFTSMANSHIP*1
Nu04-23 Those who SERVE SERVICE*1
Nu04-24 to SERVE*1 TO BEAR*1 *2
Nu04-30 to SERVE SERVICE
Nu04-35 for SERVICE
Nu04-39 for SERVICE
Nu04-47 to serve SERVICE-SERVICE and BEARING-SERVICE
Nu04-49 Every person in SERVICE*3 in BEARING
NOTES
-----
*1 Note the rich use of language. At least 4 terms are used
CRAFTSMANSHIP, SERVICE, SERVE-SERVICE, BEARING-SERVICE.
Yet as the above list shows there seems to be an emphasis
of TWO TYPES: SERVICE and BEARING. Thus the emphasis in
understanding Rashi should NOT be on attaching nuances to
every word--rather the emphasis should be on attaching
nuances to database justified nuances*10
*2 To BEAR means to CARRY. In fact eg Nu04 clearly mentions
that the Levites task was to carry the disassembled
ark during transport (See Nu04-01:16 or Nu04-21:28).
*3 There are similarly many Biblical chapters mentioning
the service of the levites by Song. eg 1Ch06. See
especially 1Ch06-17 which calls the LEVITE SINGING, SERVICE
We use here the Rashi technique of OTHER VERSES
---------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES ------------------------
*10 Rashis literal language is
-------------------------------------------------
SERVICE-SERVICE has a nuance of a SERVICE for
ANOTHER service--this then would refer to Levite
singing
-------------------------------------------------
Thus it incorrectly appears that Rashi is DERIVING
the meaning of SERVICE-SERVICE from the above
etymology.
But the correct approach is that
- Rashi derived the meaning from USAGE in other verses
- Rashi THEN (after the fact) justified the etymology
Still another way of looking at this is that Rashi
EXPECTED the student to read Rashi AFTER they
had constructed the above list.
Indeed, if Rashi WANTED us to extract nuances from
every word then why didnt he ALSO explain the
strange word CRAFTSMANSHIP which occurs in Nu04-03.
My opinion however is that because this word
only occurs once and does not have DATABASE
JUSTIFICATION therefore Rashi did not explain it.
=================================================================
RASHI RULE USED: ALIGNMENT
---------------------------------------------------
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 14 Number 3
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 14 Number 3