#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
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VERSE: Nu14-12b
================== WHY JEWS INHERIT ISRAEL ======================
VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
As the list below shows, a traditional prayer on behalf of the
Jews usually involves 2 themes: (a) The merit of the
Patriarchs (b) the wickedness of the current non-jewish
inhabitants. Yes Moses prayer in Nu14-13:20 subtly lacks mention
of the Patriarchs! Rashi suggests a Reason: God in Nu14-12 states
that he WILL KILL THE JEWS AND LET MOSES REPLACE THEM. So Rashi
suggests that God intended to fulfill the promise to the
Patriarchs by letting Moses become a big nation. Since Moses did
not want this he did not mention the merit of the Patriarchs.
----------------------------------------
TODAYS RASHI RULE: ALIGNMENT
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE: FURTHER NUANCES
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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 -------------
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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
--------------
A beautiful set of 5 paragraphs which lists 2 reasons for
the Jews to inherit Israel
-- Promise to the Patriarchs
-- the present non-jewish inhabitants are evil
Softly, one of these 5 paragraphs is missing an EXPLICIT
reference to the Patriarchs. Rashi in characteristic
fashion milks a nifty nuance from this conspicuous absence.
Here is the list
============================================================
VERSES TOPIC OF PARAGRAPH Patriarchs Bad Goyim
========== ========================== ========== ===========
Dt32 Moses farewell song Dt32-07 Dt32-27
Ex32-11:14 Prayer:Forgive golden calf Ex32-13 Ex32-12
Dt09-05 Why Jews get Israel Dt09-05 Dt09-05
EX06-06:08 Gods answer on Egypt Ex06-08 Ex06-06
Nu14-13:20 Prayer:Forgive spies sin *1 Nu14-16
NOTES
-----
*1 This is the POINT of the alignment---Moses did not mention
the merit of the Patriarchs (The reason being that God
offered to fulfill the promise to the Patriarchs by
killing the Jewish people and letting Moses replace them
(Rashi Nu13-12b)
In passing we note that Nu14-16 mentions THE LAND THAT
YOU(GOD) SWORE TO THEM but this is not a DIRECT reference
to the patriarchs (as occurs in the other examples in
this list).
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RASHI RULE USED: ALIGNMENT
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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 8
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 14 Number 8