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Their presence in Rashis on Parshat BaLaK Vol 7, # 3 - Adapted from Rashi-is-Simple Visit the RashiYomi website: http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, Jun - 28, - 2007 The goal of this Weekly Rashi Digest is to use the weekly Torah portion to expose students at all levels to the ten major methods of commentary used by Rashi. It is hoped that continual weekly exposure to these ten major methods will enable students of all levels to acquire a familiarity and facility with the major exegetical methods.
Using the verses below, which discuss the invitation and honor that Balak wished to bestow on Bilam if he would curse the Jewish people, Rashi clarifies that Balak refered to a rich monetary payment. Read the verses yourself and experience the joy of independently deriving the Rashi comment.
Advanced Rashi: Rashi,as explained by Malbim, on Lv01-01a explains that the Hebrew root call (KUPH-RESH-ALEPH) when combined with the connective preposition to (QRA-EL) means invite. This uses the root+preposition method. This Rashi justifies our translation invite in the above citations. Further Resources: The above table clearly shows the Rashi reference method. The meaning of the studied target verse is clarified by the cross reference. The underlined phrases hilight what is clarified. The Rashi comment column summarizes the illumination of the underlined words through the cross referenced verses. If you as a teacher, teacher aid, Rabbi, or student wish to review other examples of the reference method visit http://www.RashiYomi.com/reference-question.htm and http://www.RashiYomi.com/reference-question.htm.
Background: Words can be named by good examples. For instance, honey means anything sweet, day can refer to the whole 24 hour period, xerox can refer to photocopying on any machine, defeat (which technically means military defeat) can refer to any victory, even victory in a game, etc. There are many more examples and in all languages. The reader is encouraged to provide more examples. The official linguistic term for naming by good example is synechdoche. Verse Nu22-05a describing the delegation sent to Bilam to curse the Jewish people states And he sent messengers unto Balaam the son of Beor, to pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying: 'Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt; behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. The root Pay-Tauv-Resh means dream interpretation. Rashi paraphrased explains that Bilam lived in Pay-Tauv-Resh (Pethor) conveniently located on the River. Governments would send questions of foreign policy to him (Similar to people coming to a money exchanger when they wanted to enter a foreign country). Undoubtedly the city originally had some other name but becamed nicknamed, Interpretations, because of the frequent requests to Bilam. The Hebrew root for dream interpretation is pay-tauv-resh and hence the Hebrew name of the city is PeThoRaH. Here, Rashi sees the city named by a good example of the activity of that city.
Verse Nu21-32:35 describing the conquest by Israel of the Emori and Og states And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took the towns thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And HaShem said unto Moses: 'Fear him not; for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.' So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him remaining; and they possessed his land. Verse Nu22-02:03 describing the fear that Balak, King of Moab, had states And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many; and Moab was overcome with dread because of the children of Israel. Rashi connects these 2 verse citations using the consecutive paragraph connection method of causality. We summarize the Rashi comment below by interpolating the connective word because. Rashi paraphrased states: [BECAUSE] of the defeat of these two kings (Nu21-32:35), Balak was very afaid (Nu22-02:03).
As can be seen Rashi comments on the contrast of diminish vs. war, and drive out of land vs. drive them out. From this Rashi infers that Balak was a politician who wanted Jews off his back (driven out of land) while Bilam was an antisemite who wanted them destroyed. By using the aligned structure we are able to participate and empathize with Rashi in construction of the Rashi comment.
The table below presents presents two contradictory verses. Both verses speak about Bilam's capacity to kill. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says Bilam can kill a whole nation, the Jews, via a curse, while the other verse says Bilam could only kill his donkey with a sword. Which is it? Did Bilam have the capacity to kill by curse or only by sword?
Rashi resolves this contradiction using the broad-litral method. In actuality Bilam was not a prophet but a charlatan. He could only kill by the sword like other humans. But in fantasy his dream interpretations were so good that people mistakingly thought of him as a prophet who could but utter a few words of curse and kill an entire nation. By using the table structure with underlines we are able to participate and empathize with Rashi in construction of the Rashi comment.
We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf, that the Biblical Author indicated a bulleted or table structure by skillful use of repated keywords. That is, if a modern author wanted to get a point across using a table then the Biblical Author would use repeated keywords. We illustrate this using verse Nu22-12a which we present in modern bulleted notation. The repeating keywords indicating the bulleted structure are underlined.
The verse has a bulleted structure indicated by the repeating keyword phrase thou shalt. This bulleted structure requires a distinct emphasis in each bulleted item. The Rashi comment is based on this distinct emphasis.
Advanced Rashi: A variety of Rashis and verses indicate that, it was by Bilam's advice, that Moab sent Moabite women to seduce the Jews and cause God's anger. Twenty four thousand people died in the resulting plague. Despite the participation of the Jewish men this act of seduction was considered an act of war. This fact enriches our understanding of Nu22-12a by showing that God explicitly prohibited independent activity by Bilam in cursing the Jewish people. Hence the Rashi comment: Don't curse the Jews for Moab; don't curse them yourself [as I know you are going to do] for the Jews are blessed. Rashi further adds the following: Bilam said to God: I will bless them. God replied: They are already blessed. This is similar to the Israeli adage: Not from your honey and not from your sting. My own thinking is that the parallel structure only indicates two prohibitions: a) not to curse for Moab and b) not to curse by himself. Furthermore we cite Bilam's blessings in our daily prayers: How proper are Jewish homes, Israeli Temples. Consequently I view this added Rashi comment as an embellishment rather than as a genuine exegetical statement on the verse.
We ask the following database query: In the Bible what animals are used to symbolize destruction? The reader is encouraged to perform the query using a standard Biblical Konnkordance or search engine. Many examples come from Gn49. This database query yields the following list.
There are many more entries to the list. The appearance of the ox on this list seems peculiar as oxen are not wild animals known for their hunting. Without using Rashi the most reasonable explanation is that Balak complained as follows: The Jews aren't a military people. Their goals are not conquest. But they are like an ox plowing a field. The ox is not trying to destroy anything but must consume much pasture to do a days work. So too the Jews are not trying to destroy anything. But to achieve their goal of transporting several million people to Israel they must consume many nations in their path. I am worried I will be consumed also. The above approach is not the only approach. This is characteristic of the database method. Unlike the grammar and meaning methods the database method has a certain characteristic vagueness and ambiguity allowing multiple interpretations. In the above interpretation I have used the concept of political correctness. Balak did not want to appear anti-semitic. Instead he approached the problem as something the Jews needed, like a ploughing ox who must consume pasture. It wasn't their intent that was bothering him but the consequences of their actions. Such political correctness, although milder than outright anti-semitism, does occur in history and has caused us much anguish. Advanced Rashi: Rashi literally says: All that the Ox licks does not have blessing. I have interpreted this to mean that While the ox is not a viscious animal it must consume alot to do a days work In light of the database query, which shows that elsewhere, the Bible uses wild, not domestic animals, to symbolize destruction, I think this a reasonable interpretation of Rashi's intent. As indicated above the database method characteristically leaves open many approachs to the uncoveries of the database.
Already, in rule #8, Databases we have showed that the Bible threatens destruction by using animal symbolism. Perhaps the most famous example of animal symbolism is Gn49 which contains the animal symbolism of the twelve tribes. Verse Nu22-04c discussing Moab's fear of invasion by the Jews states And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: 'Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.' --And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.--
We have explained in rule #8, databases the symbolism of using the ox, a domestic animal, to symbolize violence, which is usually symbolized by wild animals. The Jews aren't a military people. Their goals are not conquest. But they are like an ox plowing a field. The ox is not trying to destroy anything but must consume much pasture to do a days work. So too the Jews are not trying to destroy anything. But to achieve their goal of transporting several million people to Israel they must consume many nations in their path. I am worried I will be consumed also. Sermonic Points: We have explained above that this interpretation implies that Balak was not an antisemite. He used politically correct language to describe his fears - The Jews aren't mean, they just have strong needs because of their journey to Israel and therefore will destroy many nations in their path. Such an interpretation has relevance to understanding milder forms of Jewish antisemitism.
Conclusion
This week's parshah contains no examples of the style and NonVerse method. This concludes this weeks edition. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples. |