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  |      Rashi is Simple Version 2.0                         |
  |      (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000                          |
  |       http://www.RashiYomi.Com                           |
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VERSE: Nu32-15a

RULE:
(a) If the verb used to describe the act of many people is
PLURAL then  they acted as a COLLECTION OF INDIVIDUALS.

(b) However if the verb used to describe the act of many people is
SINGULAR then they acted in UNISON (eg as a group with a leader)


RULE:
The HEBREW letter ALEPH in a root means INDIVIDUALITY/SELF


EXAMPLES
--------
(1) Nu32-16:17 discusses the petition of the Gadites and
Reubenites to Moses for a separate land out side Israel.
Reviewing this chapter we find about 2 dozen verbs
All these verbs are plural except for 3 which are
in the singular


(1a) Nu32-21 "And EACH of us will go over to fight with you"
(So they are acting as a COLLECTION of individuals)


(1b)Nu32-25 "And the Gadites & Reubenites (made an offer) AND SAID"
RASHI: They made the offer in unison (Too put more pressure on
Moses since he couldn't say 'You don't even agree among yourselves')


(1c) Nu32-17 "While our children SIT in the cities till we come
back from fighting with you"

The verse seems to suggest ONE UNIFORM RULE for all children
To fully appreciate this kindly review the alignment of verses
found in footnote *1 below. The Gadites were more
interested in their business then in their families. It would appear
that Nu32-17 is another example of this---they apparently wanted
to curfew their children (one uniform rule for all the children--
and hence the singular). Moses responded that they should care
more about their families then their business and allow their
children to manifest their individuality *2.


NOTES
-----

-----------------------------------------------------------------
*1
Nu32-16 GAD: We'll build FENCES for sheep    CITIES for  children
Nu32-24 MOSES:     Build CITIES for children FENCES for  sheep
Nu32-26 GAD: We'll build for        children wives sheep animals
                                       *1a    *1c   *1d    *1b

*1a 1b
   As can be seen from the order in the sentences (sheep/children
   (*1a) and (*1b) Gad thought more about their business (SHEEP)
   then their families (CHILDREN)

   Moses responded they should think about their families first
   (Hence he used the order CHILDREN SHEEP)

*1c 1d
   Gad in their response agreed to think about Children wives
   sheep animals(*1c, *1d))(The right order)
------------------------------------------------------------------


*2 Nu32-24a The Hebrew word for sheep in Nu32-24a has a peculiar
spelling in that an ALEPH is added to it. Rav Hirsch extending
an idea of Rashi showed that ALEPH in a word or Hebrew root means
INDIVIDUALITY. Thus "SHEEP+ALEPH" would mean "Even your sheep
should not be penned in like a herd of animals---let each one
have its own individuality---a fortiori that the Gadites should
treat their children with individuality.

Examples of the ALEPH=INDIVIDUALITY/SELF thesis are compactly
presented in the following list

* Eat (ACL) = CONSUME (Clh) for the SELF (Aleph)
* Guilt (ASM) = DESOLATION (Shmm) of the SELF(Aleph)
* Loss (ABD) = ISOLATED (Bdd) from the SELF(Aleph)
* Love (AHV) = GIVING (Hv) of the SELF (ALEPH)
* Judge (ADN) = The INDIVIDUAL (ALEPH) who JUDGES(Dn)
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Volume 2 Number 24


#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Volume 2 Number 24