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Their presence in Rashis on Parshat ShoFeTiM Volume 15, Number 2 This weeks Weekly Rashi with Hebrew/English source tables Is accessible at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1502.htm (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, Aug 12 th, 2010 Visit the Rashi website http://www.Rashiyomi.com 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. Although I frequently use my own English translations of biblical verses and Rashi comments, the Hebrew and English translations in the source tables are derived from online parshah files at chabad.org who in turn acknowledges the Judaica Press Complete Tanach, copyright by Judaica Press.
Verse Dt17-13a discussing the execution of a rebellious elder states And the entire nation shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Rashi notes that the underlined words, entire nation references verses Dt16-16 discussing the appearance of the entire nation in Jerusalem at the festivals. Hence the Rashi comment The requirement stated in Dt17-13 that the entire nation will witness the execution references Biblical verse Dt16-16 which states that all male Jews must go to Jerusalem on the festivals. Hence we conclude that the rebellious elder is detained in prison until the festivals at which time he is executed so that the entire nation can witness the execution.
When Rashi uses, what we may loosely call, the hononym method, Rashi does not explain new meaning but rather shows an underlying unity in disparate meanings. Rashi will frequently do this by showing an underlying unity in the varied meanings of a Biblical root. In my article Peshat and Derash found on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rashi.pdf. I advocate enriching the Rashi explanation using a technique of parallel nifty translations in modern English. Today's examples show this.
Applying the above translation to Dt20-20a discussing a war situation between Israel and a non-Jewish enemy we obtain Only the trees of which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, them thou mayest destroy and cut down, that thou mayest build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it it is conquered. Advanced Rashi: Rashi's point is that it would be natural to translate the verse ....thou mayest ...until the city falls. Rashi's point is that the city need not literally fall - it is enough that it be conquered. This is consistent with Jewish law (and with the opening verse of this Biblical section) that an agreement by the city to peace terms - 1) acceptance of basic Noachide laws of morality and 2) recognition (by paying taxes) of Israeli sovereignty - would not necessitate felling it since the non-violent acceptance of peace terms is consistent with conquest. For this reasons Rashi translates Yud-Resh-Dalet as conquest vs. fall.
The most famous example of the special word method is the Hebrew word Kaph Yud which can mean because, that, when, perhaps, rather, if. Sometimes Rashi explicitly gives all meanings of a connective word as happens with Kaph Yud while at other times Rashi does not give all meanings at once. In such a case the Rashi student must gather all the meanings together from various places. One can classify the special word method as either a meaning sub-method or grammar sub-method.
Applying this rule to the translation of Dt18-01a we obtain The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, [even blemished Levites who can't serve in the Temple] shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance. As is our practice we have embedded the Rashi translation in the verse. Advanced Rashi: For further examples of Rashis on the Hebrew word Caph-Lamed visit http://www.Rashiyomi.com/all-18.htm. Better still visit the RashiYomi calendar at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/calendar1.htm and click on the all series which you can find beginning July 10 2000 and ending July 30 2000 (7-10-00 through 7-30-00).
The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Dt21-07:08a Both verses/verselets discuss the atonement procedure when a person accidentally murdered is found. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: 1) The priests do the entire procedure and then 2a) They request: Please atone the Jews for this death 2b) [And you God concur]: The death is atoned for. Although God is not explicitly stated as the Person who states (2b), the inference of his Authorship is justified by the contrast of the active atone vs. the passive atoned which suggests a corresponding contrast between the Priests and God.
The table below presents two contradictory verses. Both verses talk about the killer of a dead person found in the field. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says it is not known who killed him while the other verse says we [the elders of the city] didn't kill him Which is it? Is the murder unknown or did the elders kill him? Rashi simply resolves this using the Broad-Literal method method: 1) The killer is unknown 2) We also (besides not directly killing the person) didn't indirectly kill him by abstaining from hospitality leading to the murdered wandering the roads and getting killed
Advanced Rashi: Rashi literally says Did anyone think that the elders killed him that the verse should say We have not killed him? I have added to Rashi (who based the contradiction on logic) by finding a verse which supports the contradiction since it explicitly says it is not known who killed him.
Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a example form. In other words an example of a law is stated rather than the full general rule. The reader's task is to generalize the example. The idea that all Biblical laws should be perceived as examples (unless otherwise indicated) is explicitly stated by Rashi (Pesachim 6.). This is a rule of style since the rule requires that a text be perceived as an example rather than interpreted literally. The Rabbi Ishmael style rules govern the interpretation of style.
Advanced Rashi: This example of the Rabbi Ishmael Generalization rule is different in that what is generalized is a choice between translations - Ayin Daleth can mean witness or testimony. What the studied verses show is that generally ayin-daleth means testimony.
We formerly classified paragraph and chapter development under the grammar rule. However we think it more proper to devote the grammar rule to the relation between meaning and form, for example how verb conjugational forms indicates meaning. As indicated above the formatting rule governs use of sequence to indicate climax and paragraph sequencing.
Advanced Rashi: Rashi's contribution is to identify the relationship of the two verses as cause-effect, you measure in order to find the closest city. We have indicated this Rashi comment by embedding the bracketed expressions in the translation above. To recap the two verses would be translated as: Measure from the corpse to the nearby cities, [so that] When you ascertain the city closest to the corpse: The elders of that city will....
Verse Dt21-02 discussing the ceremony when a dead body with unknown killer is found states Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are surround the corpse; The word measure refers to a mathematical function requiring two arguments, the two points (a) from which you measure and (b)to which you measure. But as the underlined words indicate the above verse only indicates one of the two mathematical arguments: the place to which you measure. It does not explicitly indicate the place from which you measure. Hence Rashi clarifies The elders measure from the corpse to the surrounding cities. Since this Rashi clarifies a mathematical requirement we classify it as a NonVerse-Spreadsheet Rashi.
Rashi inferred that we measure from the corpse since Dt21-03 indicates that the purpose of the measurement is to find the distance from the corpse to the city. Rambam inferred that we measure from the head and from the nose based on logic since the head and nose are the points by which life can be recognized and it makes most sense to measure from them.
Conclusion
This week's parshah contains examples of all Rashi methods. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||