#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
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------------------------------------------------------------
VERSE: Nu26-46a
RASHIS COVERED: Nu26-46a Nu26-42a Nu26-39a Nu26-38a Nu26-24a
Nu26-16a Nu26-13a
==================== PEOPLE WITH 2 NAMES ========================
VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
Nu26 contains a list of the major branches of the 12 tribes.Gn46
also contains a listing of Jacobs children & their families.
Thus these two chapters SHOULD contain the same major families.
By ALIGNING the families in each chapter we infer how (i) certain
families had two names and (ii) certain families had died.
Here is a simple example
--Gn46-10 SHIMONS SONS: yEMUEL YAMIN OHAD YACHIN TZOCHAR SHAUL
--Nu26-13 SHIMONS SONS: nEMUEL YAMIN ---- YACHIN ZERACH- SHAUL
Rashi infers that (a) OHAD had died (b) TZOCHAR & ZERACH are 2
names for this family (c) YEMUEL and NEMUEL were the same
----------------------------------
TODAYS RASHI RULE: ALIGNMENT
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE: MEANING
----------------------------------
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.
Perhaps the most obvious way of explaining these alignment
differences is to assume that we are dealing with 2 WORDS
FOR THE SAME ITEM. This example is particularly potent in
poetry as the standard example below shows.
STANDARD EXAMPLE
----------------
Gn49-11 describes the great abundance of the Messianic era
----------------------------------------------------
They can wash their clothes in wine
------------- their SUTHO in grape-blood
----------------------------------------------------
STUDENT EXERCISES:
------------------
-- Which word pairs in the aligned verses line up
-- Based on the Rashi alignment principle how would you explain
the words you dont understand
RASHIS SOLUTION
---------------
-- The words CLOTH and the Hebrew word SUTHO line up
The word WINE and the phrase GRAPE-BLOOD line up
-- Hence, we translate SUTHO as CLOTHES
-- Hence we translate GRAPE BLOOD as WINE
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
2 student exercises listed above.
The students can then compare their analysis with that
of Rashis. This leads to greater appreciation of Rashi.
TODAYS LIST
-----------
Today we compare two chapters -- Nu26 and Gn46 -- each which
contains a listing of Jacobs grandchildren. There are in fact
-- Missing children (Children present by Jacob but not by Moses)
-- Children with 2 names
-- Grandchildren which had the same status as children
-- female (grand)children
We present these 4 lists now. In this list we present
the MISSING and DOUBLE-NAME children
SPECIAL TREAT--LEVELS OF READING RASHI
---------------------------------------
As a special treat we give insight on how to read Rashi.
Rashi can be read at various levels.
-- At the simplest level Rashi is aligning two chapters
that both contain the names of Jacobs grandchildren
-- At the next level Rashi EXPLAINS why certain children
are missing or have 2 names (eg the children died or
the names mean the same thing)
-- At the highest level Rashi gives elaborate theories
on what happened to these children (eg there was a civil
war between factions that wanted to return to Egypt and
those that didnt)
The punchline of this list is that YOU DONT IDENTIFY THE
HIGHEST LEVEL WITH THE FIRST 2 LEVELS. A student of Rashi
should be elated if they understand that Rashi is comparing
two chapters and offering obvious explanations to their
differences (Such as >dead children are missing in the
second list<). Such an approach leads to greater appreciation
of Rashi and greater self-confidence of the student reader.
If a student then wishes to attempt to comprehend the highest
level as the simple meaning of the text, he is in a position
to do so.
To those who wish to adapt the QUESTION-ANSWER approach to Rashi
of Dr Leibowitz or the WHAT IS BOTHERING RASHI approach of
her student Rabbi Boncheck I would suggest that what I have
added is a SPECIFIC LIST of 30 TECHNIQUES. That is, it is not
enough to ask a question on Rashi, or say that such and such
is bothering him, rather, we must also identify which technique
is being used. The list of 30 techniques can be found at
http://www.RashiYomi.com/workbook.htm
Here is the list of MISSING and DOUBLE NAMES. As just mentioned
other facets of the comparison of the 2 chapters will be
presented in further lists.
================================================================
Gn VERSE TRIBE FAMILIES Nu VERSES Double/Missing Names*1
======== ======= ======== =========== =======================
Gn46-09 Reuven Chanoch Nu26-05:07 *1
Phalu
Chetzron
Carmi
Gn46-10 Shimon Yemuel Nu26-12:14 Nemuel*2
Yamin
Ohad MISSING*3
Yachin
Tzochar Zerach*4
Shaul
Gn46-12 Yehuda Ayr-died Nu26-20:22 MISSING*3
Onan-died MISSING*3
Shaylah
Peretz
Chetzron
Chammul
Zarach
Gn46-13 Yisacar Tolah Nu26-23:24
Puvah
Yov YASHUV*4
Shimron
Gn46-14 Zevulun Sered Nu26-26
Alon
Yachlelayl
Gn46-16 Gad*5 Tzifyon Nu26-15:18 Tzefon*2
Chagi
Shooni
Etzbon AZNI*4
Ayri
Arodi
Arayli
Gn46-17 Asher Yimnah Nu26-44:46
Yishvah MISSING*3
Yishvi
Beriah
Chever
Malciayl
Gn46-21 Bnyamin Belah Nu26-38:40
Becer MISSING*3
Ashbayl
Gayrah MISSING*3
Naaman BELAH-NAAMAN*5
Aychi Achiram*4
Rosh MISSING*3
Mupim SHEFUFAM*4
Chupim MISSING*3
Ard BELAH-ARDI*5
Gn46-23 Dan Chushim Nu26-42 SHUCHAM*4
Gn46-24 Naftali Yachtzeayl Nu26-48:49
Guni
Yeser
Shilaym
NOTES
-----
*1 A blank in the last column indicates that the SAME NAME
is used in both chapters. As to be expected most rows in
the list have a blank since about 80% of the names are the
same
*2 Tzefon SOUNDS similar to Tzifyon.
Similarly NEMUEL and YEMUEL sound similar.
It is reasonable to conjecture that some people
mispronounced these names and hence these
famiilies had 2 names. RASHI DOES NOT COMMENT ON THESE
PHONETICALLY SIMILAR NAMES, probably because he thought
the explanation obvious
*3 Some grandchildren are mentioned by Jacob but not by
Moses. Rashi explains they died. This explanation
can be proved by the explicit statement that AYR and
ONAN, Judahs children, died, which therefore accounts
for their missing in the Nu chapter. *11
*4 Several children have two different names in the aligned
chapters. Since the children are listed in almost the
same order in the two chapters it follows that
if the same slot is filled with 2 different names then
we must be deadling with 2 names for the same person.
Rashi notes these DOUBLE-NAMED persons. Rashi also
attempts to explain how the two names reflect the same
concept. Here is a list of these 6 double names, Rashi
citations,& suggested explanations on the similarity of
the 2 names
- Nu26-13a ZERACH=TZOCHAR. Rashi notes that the root ZERACH
and the root TZOHAR, phonetically similar to TZOCHAR both
mean BRIGHT and SHINING
- Nu26-24a YOV=YASHUV. Neither Rashi nor myself can explain
the similarity between these two roots
- Nu26-13a Nu26-16a*12
Rashi does NOT know why AZNI and ETZBON have the same
meaning. I would suggest the following
-- AZNI from OZEN, ear,means a GOOD LISTENER
-- ETZBON from TZVAH (Army) with the prefix ALEPH meaning
PERSON would refer to a SOLDIER (Army person)
-- So it seems reasonable that the SOLDIER & GOOD LISTENER
are two names for the same thing
- Nu26-38a ACHIRAM = ACHI. Rashi explains that ACHIRAM simply
means ACHI RAM, my HIGHER (OLDER) BROTHER. In general it
is believed that BENJAMIN names his children to reflect a
longing for his kidnapped brother JOSEPH*13
- Nu26-39b MUPIM = SHEFUFAM. Rashi only explains SHEFUFAM,
but for clarity I will explain both names
--MUPIM would probably mean MPO= FROM (M) PO (HERE)
--SHEFUFAM would come from SFI which means ISOLATED
/DISLOCATED
Both FROM-HERE and ISOLATED would describe Josephs
kidnapping
- Nu26-42a CHUSIM=SHUCAM (Note how the first two letters
are reversed--hence I would add this pair to those
in footnote #2--the phonetically sounding names)
*5 The Gn and Nu chapters differ in their description.
The Gn chapter lists 10 Benyaminite children or families
The Nu chapter describes some of these families as
coming from grandchildren.
There is a separate list below
describing the families that come from Grandchildren.
This list will deal with the special case of Menasheh
and Ephraim.
Finally we will have a separate list
on the Levites whose genealogy is also listed in 2
other Biblical places (Besides Gn and Nu)
----------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES -----------------------
*10
Very often Rashi only comments
on the hard cases and asks the student to comment on the
obvious cases. We call this the WORKBOOK method.For a
proof that Rashi believed in Phonetic explanations see
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/dt14-13a.htm
*11 We would then use the Rabbi Ishmael method of
Generalization to transfer this DEATH-MISSING
explanation to the other children.
Rashi offers several explanations of HOW the missing
children died. For example
-- Nu24 showed a plague that killed 24,000 people
for sinning sexually. A comparison of the census
figures in Nu01 and Nu26 suggests that most of
these deaths happened in the Tribe of Shimon.
Hence the missing Shomonite tribes could have
died in the plague (Rashis modification of the
Tanchuma)
-- Rashi uses a careful analysis of the record
of wilderness journeys to show that there was
a faction of people who tried to return to Egypt
Rashi conjectures that this led to a civil war
in which several tribes died.
As explained above the DETAILS OF HOW THEY DIED
need not concern us. It suffices to know that
Rashi is comparing chapters and
giving reasonable explanations for differences
We will explain and defend the more advanced
explanation of Rashi presented in Nu26-13a in a future
issue when we analyze the journeys.
*12
One Rashi says that AZNI=ETZBON while
the other Rashi suggests that ETZBON is missing. Since
Rashi is citing someone else in this other Rashi we
give preference to the idea that both names are the same
*13 This thesis will be defended elsewhere. However we can
quickly skim over the 10 children and see the following
obvious etymologies
- BELAH = SWALLOW = KIDNAPPED
- BECER = FIRSTBORN, referring to Joseph
- ACHI or ACHIRM = My older brother
- ROSH=LEADER since he was the older brother
Following our method of analysis we would point out that
the defense of the explanation of Benjamins children is
ADVANCED RASHI. The basic point here is that ACHI and
ACHIRAM are the same and it seems reasonable that ACHIRAM
simply means MY OLDER BROTHER(The further thesis that
all of Benjamins children have similar etymologies is
not needed here)
=================================================================
========================= Jacobs (Grand)Daughters ===============
By comparing the lists of females (actually only 2) in the
2 chapters we infer that SERACH was still alive in Moses time
but Dinah was not
=================================================================
Gn VERSE WOMAN Nu VERSE INFERENCE
======== ======= ================= ==============================
Gn46-15 Dinah -------- MISSING Hence dead*1
Gn46-17 Serach Nu26-46 nu26-46a Still alive*2
NOTES
-----
*1 As shown in list 1 above MISSING children of Jacob reflect
a death(See footnote #3 in the previous list). It could
be argued that MISSING FEMALES might not reflect death
but rather the fact that family genealogy is based on men.
However the presence of SERACH shows that females WERE
mentioned and therefore we conclude that Dinah was dead
but Serach was still alive.*10
------------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES ---------------------
*10 Gn46-10 mentions SHAUL the son of the CANAANITE.
As we have shown http://www.RashiYomi.com/gn46-11a.htm
it is reasonable to assume that SHAUL was the son of
Dinah thru the rape of Schem. This fact is not
repeated in Nu
================================================================
==================== THE LEVITE FAMILIES =======================
Levite genealogy is mentioned in 4 places
-- Gn46-11 LEVI had GAYRSHON KEHATH & MERARI as children
-- Ex06-16:19 brought in the list below--8 families are given
-- Nu03-17:33 which repeates the 8 families in Exodus
-- Nu26-57:58 brought in the list below
Here is the list of 8 Levite Families
================================================================
Ex06-16:22 Nu26-57:58
================= =============================================
Gayrshon-Livni
Gayrshon-Shimi MISSING
Kehath-Amram MISSING
Kehath-Yitzhar Korach (Nefeg Zichri missing)*1
Kehath-Chevron
Kehath-Uziel*1 MISSING
Merari-Machli
Merari-Mooshi
NOTES
-----
*1 Ex06-21:22 states that
---------------------------------------------------
Yitzhar had children --- KORACH NEFEG ZICHRI
UZIEL had children ----- MISHAYL ELTZAFAN SITHRI
---------------------------------------------------
But UZIEL is totally absent in Nu
By contrast Yitzhar is mentioned in Exodus but only
1 of his children, Korach, is mentioned in Nu.
Hence it is reasonable that that the other 2
subfamilies died out.*10
------------------------ LONGER FOOTNOTES ------------
*10 It is instructive to read the Rashi on Nu26-13a
------------------------------------------------
The Jerusalem Talmud comments on the tribes
that are present in Genesis but absent in Nu
(because they died). The Jerusalem Talmud
explains how they died.
By carefully analyzing the log of journeys
it appears that the Jews went backwards for
a while. This suggests that their was a
strong faction that wanted to return to Egypt.
Apparently a civil war broke out between those
that wanted to return and the Levites who
remained loyal to God. During this civil war
several tribal families died and hence are
not mentioned in Nu.
Similarly 4 Levite families are missing,
apparently because they died in the war.
The 4 levite families that died are
those missing in the above list: Namely
SHIMI UZIEL and part of the YITZHAR family
I however do not know who the 4th is
-----------------------------------------------
The above is Rashis citation. I would like to
explain the last sentence.
Upon examining the above list we find the following
4 missing families
- Shimi (mentioned by Rashi)
- Amram (not mentioned by Rashi)
- Yitzhar lost NEFEg & ZICHRI (mentioned by Rashi)
- Uziel (mentioned by Rashi)
The above counting is obvious. I dont know why
Rashi omitted mentioning that AMRAM was the 4th.
As to the conjecture of a civil war, we have explained
that the Rashi student should know that
-- Rashi was comparing/aligning chapters on children
-- Rashi was explaining MISSING children as having DIED
This corresponds to the beginning and middle levels
of understanding Rashi. The advanced level, that they
died BECAUSE OF A CIVIL war is true and and is the
simple meaning of the text but requires further analysis.
We defer this analysis to future digests when we analyze the
log of journeys.
================================================================
======================= GRANDCHILDREN ===========================
We continues the study of ALIGNMENT of Nu26 and Gn46
In this list we study the GRANDCHILDREN who were assigned
tribal status like the children. Some clarification is
as follows
- Jacob was the Patriarch
- Jacobs children all had TRIBAL status.Thus e.g. his son
REUVEN became the REUVEN tribe
- Joseph was a special exception. Even though he was a
child there is no JOSEPH tribe. Rather, EPHRAIM and
MENASHEH, Josephs children, have TRIBAL status
- The children of each tribe--that is Jacobs
grandchildren each has FAMILY status. Thus for
example, REUVEN had a child CHANOCH and so we have the
CHANOCH FAMILY of the REVUEN tribe.
- In general great-grandchildren did not have any special
status
- However both Gn46 and Nu26 record several Grandchildren
of the tribes (Great Grandchildren of Jacob) who were
assigned FAMILY status.
The question then arises as to why only these Great-
grandchildren had family status.
Rashi uses the ZIP code explanation. Recall a zip code
is a connected area in which mail is delivered. However
if some block in this area has alot of mail--say a school
or mall or supermarket--then the post office will give
this special block its own zip code. We then have the
paradox that the original zip code applies to everything
but the special block. Such an assignment of multiple
zip codes facilitates mail delivery since each zip code
has equal bulk.
So to with the tribes. Suppose, that SHUTHELACH had
many children but one of them say AYRAN had more grandchildren
then all the others. Then it facilitates division if
AYRAN has his own family status while the SHUTHELACH status
then refers to all the remaining grandchildren.
Other explanations are possible but this is the most logical
approach *11
Here is the list of Grandchilren of the tribes (Great
Grandchildren of Jacob) with Family status. To interpret
the list note that eg PERETZ(1st row) was JUDAHs son and
hence had FAMILY status in JUDAH. CHETZRON & CHAMUL were
children of PERETZ (or grandchildren of JUDAH or Great-
Grandchildren of Jacob) who were given FAMILY status.
The verses supporting these identifications in both
Gn and Nu are given in the last two columns.
===============================================================
Child Tribe GrandChild Tribe Nu Verse Gn Verse
============= ================= ========== ======================
Peretz Chetzron Nu26-21 Gn46-12
Peretz Chamul Nu26-11 Gn46-12
Briah Chever Nu26-44:45 Gn46-17
Briah Malciayl Nu26-44:45 Gn46-17
Belah Ard Nu26-40 Gn46-21
Belah Naaman Nu26-40 Gn46-21*1
Macir Gilad Nu26-29 Gn46-20*2
Gilad Iezri Nu26-30:32 -------*3
Gilad Chelek Nu26-30:32 -------*3
Gilad Asriel Nu26-30:32 -------*3
Gilad Schem Nu26-30:32 -------*3
Gilad Shmidah Nu26-30:32 -------*3
Shuthalach Ayran Nu26-36 -------*2
NOTES
-----
*1 As indicated above the Gn verse does not identify
ARD and NAAMAN as sons of BELAH but rather
identifies BELAH ARD and NAAMAN as sons of Binyamin
The explanation of this contradiction (--Gn46-21
calls them CHILDREN of Binyamin while Nu26-40 calls
them GRANDCHILDREN of Binyamin) seems to be resolved
in Gn48-05:06 where Jacob gives CHILD status to
his grandchildren thru Joseph--Menasheh & Ephraim
So too ARD and NAAMAN even though they were grandchildren
were assigned CHILD STATUS *10
*2 As explained above Joseph had a special status among the
children in that Jacob explicitly in Gn48-05:06
states that Josephs children (which are Jacobs granchildren)
will have CHILD status.
Hence the families mentioned in Nu do not have analogous
verses in Genesis
*3 We have the unique situation that
- Jacobs child was MACIR
- Macirs child was GILAD
- Gilads child was EEZER
And yet all 3 (Macir, Gilad and EEZER) have child status
----------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES -----------------------
*10 We can still ask why the grandchildren are IDENTIFIED
as grandchildren in BOTH Nu and Gn except for this
case of Binyamin where they are identified as
grandchildren in Nu but are called children in Gn
This can be resolved with the rule of Rabbi Ishmael
--------------------------------------------------
If 1 verse from some class of verses has an oddity
Then that oddity applies to the whole class (unless
indicated otherwise).
--------------------------------------------------
So in this case the oddity that GRANDCHILDREN are
called CHILDREN applies to all GRANDCHILDREN and
the Bibilical authority for this comes the case of
Menasheh and Ephraim in Gn48-05:06
*11 Rashi Nu26-24a brings cites Rav Moshe Hadarshan
- Rav Moshe claims that the loss of 50% of the Benjamin
tribe (and the further loss of almost the whole tribe
in the Concubine war -- Ju19 thru Ju21) confirms the
prophecy of Rachel that Binyamin was a SON OF
MOURNING (Gn35-18...an alternative interpretation
is that Rachel MOURNED herself since she died with
the birth of this child)
- Rav Moshe suggests that GREAT GRANDCHILDREN were
assigned family status if their mother was pregnant
as they came into Egypt. But Rashi dismisses this as
fanciful. We therefore suffice with a few refutations
-- The list above give Great-Great-Grandchildren
with family status (Macir-Gilad-EEzer)
-- It is not clear why pregnancy should alter
anyones status.
-- Rashis ZIPCODE explanation based on plentitude
of children seems more reasonable
-- Finally there is a legend that one woman gave birth
AS THEY ENTERED Egypt and this accounts for the
discrepancy between the Biblical assertion that there
were 70 people who went down but the actual count shows
less than 70. If the explanation is that we count
pregnancies than the total number would be way over
71.
This is way too complicated to analyze here.For further
details on this see http://www.rashiyomi.com/gn46-26a.htm
=================================================================
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 13
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 14 Number 13