#*#*#*#*#  (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: Nu25-03b

RASHIS COVERED: Nu25-03b Nu25-04a Nu25-04b

================ RASHI FILLS-IN TEXT Nu25-03:04 ================

 In the verses below Rashi simply fills in text. By so doing
 he facilitates reading the text. More specifically without
 the Rashi, the referents of certain words are ambiguous.This
 ambiguity causes the reader to pause. Rashi simply removes
 the ambiguity. Details of the ambiguity are provided in
 the footnotes.

 In this list CAPPED WORDS refer to words that Rashi clarifies
 Words in brackets [] signify FILL-INS of Rashi.

=================================================================
VERSE    TEXT OF VERSE                WHAT IS RASHI CLARIFYING
======== ============================ ===========================
Nu25-03  The Jews worshipped idols    Clear; No Rashi
Nu25-03b &  God was ANGRY at them*1   ANGER refers to the plague
Nu25-04  And God said to Moses        Clear; No Rashi
Nu25-04a Take the Leaders [TO JUDGE]  Why take the leaders?*2
Nu25-04b &Hang THEM[idol worshippers] Who does THEM refer to *3

NOTES
=====
*1 In Nu25-03 it says God was ANGRY. In the next 8 verses
   it states
   ------------------------------------------------
   ---that the Judges killed the idolaters
   ---Pinchas killed a Tribal prince
   ---there was plague of 24000
   ------------------------------------------------
   Thus it is ambiguous what Gods anger refers to. Using
   the rule of IMMEDIATE ANTECEDENT it seems that the anger
   refers to the HANGING that is immediately mentioned after
   the statement of Gods anger.

   Hence Rashi does two things
   -- he explains that the anger refers to the plague
   -- he explains that the killing of the Judges was not
      a special sign of anger but normal judicial process
      (See footnote #3 where verses are brought to show
      that hanging is a normal punishment for idolaters)

*2 The verse says TAKE THE LEADERS AND HANG THEM. Using
   the concept of IMMEDIATE ANTECEDENT it appears that the
   the leaders were to be hung. Rashi explains that the
   THEM refers to the idol-worshippers. Rashi then explains
   that the leaders were taken TO JUDGE the others.


*3 The word THEM could refer either to the leaders (TAKE THE
   LEADERS AND HANG THEM) or it could refer to the Jews
   who worshipping idols. Since the IMMEDIATE ANTECEDENT
   is the leaders Rashi needs to FILL-IN and clarify

   Rashi also brings in GRAMMAR and OTHER VERSES (In
   my opinion this Rashi should be broken up into two Rashis)

   The comments on Grammar will be brought in the next list.

   Rashi points out that the punishment of HANGING is the
   normal judicial punishment for idolatry. In fact the
   Bible explicitly identifies the punishment of idolatry
   with STONING & HANGING.

   The punishment of STONING for idolatry is explicitly
   mentioned in Dt17-02:07.

   The punishment of HANGING is explicitly mentioned
   in Dt21-22b for those WHO DESPISE God. In url
   http://www.rashiYomi.Com/dt21-22b.htm we infer using
   the Rabbi Ishmael rules that this applies to Idolaters
   and blasphemers.
================================================================




============= CAUSATIVE COMMAND FORM OF ROOTS ==================

 We have suggested that Rashi expecially brings grammatical
 rules when the grammatical forms are rare.

 Recall that Hebrew is composed of 3 letter roots. Every root
 can be conjugated based on WHO is doing the activity, their
 gender, plurality, time and mode of activity. There are well
 known books and tables presenting these conjugations. My
 favorite is the appendix to the Ibn Shoshan Dictionary.

 However even good books ignore very very rare cases. It is
 here that Rashi will come to the rescue.

 Although even school children know how to form the COMMAND
 form of the HIFIL (causative) MODE,the Hebrew root Yud-Kaph-Ayn
 has TWO weak letters -- YUD and AYN.

 Ibn Shoshan for example does have tables for roots beginning
 with Yud as well as charts for roots ending in weak letters
 (Charts 2,8,9). Such tables are also traditionally taught in
 schools and universities. But it is rare to teach tables
 for verbs that have weak letters on BOTH their first and
 last letters.

 Using the recently published Grammatical-Form Konkordance
 of Moshe Silberman we find at most 8 examples of this
 situtation in the whole Bible; only 4 of these 8 examples
 are in the COMMAND TENSE (the other 4 are in FUTURE or PAST)

 Hence Rashi felt a need to alert us to this grammatical form
 (and give other examples).*1 *2

=================================================================
VERSE   ROOT  MEANING                        FORM    TENSE
=====   ===== =======                        ====    ========
Nu25-04 YKA   Cause them to Hang them        HOKAH   COMMAND
Pr25-17 YKR*3 Make yourself rare by friends  HOKAH   COMMAND
Ez16-02 YDA   Make known her sins            HODA    COMMAND
Pr09-08 YCX   Rebuke the wise;he'll like it  HOCAX   COMMAND
Jb16-21 YCX   & Man will argue with God      VYOCAX  FUTURE
Nu16-05 YDA   God will let us Know           VYODAH  FUTURE
Pr20-22 YSA   Hope to God & He'll save       VYOSHAH FUTURE
Jr31-06 YSA   God saved his nation           HOSHAH  PAST

NOTES
=====
*1 There is a difference between Rashis examples and Moshes
   examples. Rashi gives the same ROOT but with a different
   time (FUTURE vs COMMAND) and with a SUFFIX.

   The examples I gleaned from Moshes Grammatical-Form
   Kornkordance are without suffix. The roots all have
   weak first and last letters. There are 4 such examples
   If we add examples using FUTURE and PAST we get only
   8 examples in all of the Bible.

*2 Moshe also brings Lv04-23. However I have omitted this
   since the natural interpretation of this verse is REFLEXIVE
   not CAUSATIVE. In fact Malbim explains Lv04-23 as a hybrid
   of 3 MODES. Moshe also footnotes this special case.

*3 Recall that Resh is sometimes classified as guttural
   and sometimes as non-guttural. In this verse it is
   treated as guttural (Moshe makes a similar note in
   his Konkordance).
=================================================================


RASHI RULE USED: FILIN
---------------------------------------------------
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 10 Number 20


#*#*#*#*#  (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#