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Their presence in Rashis on Parshath BEHAR Volume 16, Number 11 This weeks Weekly Rashi with Hebrew/English source tables Is accessible at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1611.htm (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, May 12th, 2011 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 Lv25-10d discussing the freedom obtained during the Jubilee year states And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants of it; it shall be a jubilee to you; and you shall return every man to his possession, and you shall return every man to his family. Rashi clarifies the underlined words you shall return every man to his possession by referencing verse(s) Lv25-28 which states But if he is not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the year of jubilee; and in the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession. Hence the Rashi comment: As the underlined words show the statement that you shall return every man to his possession refers to the redemption process and return-of-land rights that all landowners who sell their land have. These rights are mentioned later in the chapter such as at Lv25-28.
The FFF principle is a special case of the literary techniques of synechdoche-metonomy. These literary principles, universal to all languages, state that items can be named by related items, by parts of those items, or by good examples of those items. For example honey refers to anything sweet since honey is a good example of something sweet. Similarly hot refers to matters of love since the two are related. Todays Rashi can best be understood by applying these principles. Verse Lv25-09a discussing the requirements connected with the Jubilee year states ...pass a shofar blast ...throughout the land.....proclaim freedom throughtout the land. Rashi explains the passing of the shofar-blast metonomycally as meaning Announce the proclamation of freedom throughout the land by shofar blast. This interpretation names an activity - announcing the proclamation of freedom by shofar blast - by its form - the non physical shofar blasts appear to have the form of traveling / passing throughout the land.
Today, students of the Bible learn grammar from Biblical Hebrew grammar textbooks. These textbooks organize material by topics. Grammatical topics include a) verb mood and conjugation, b) plurality and gender agreement, c) pronoun reference, d) subject-verb-object sequencing, e) sentence structure and type, f) the possessive and g) connective words, and many other topics. However in Rashi's time gramamr was just beginning. There were no official grammatical textbooks and tables. One of Rashi's functions was to teach grammar. Rashi did not write a grammar textbook but instead left grammatical explanations appended to each verse. One component of grammar deals with puns. Puns are a universal literary phenomenon in all languages: Puns indicate a deliberate distortion of the text in order to impart relevant secondary meaning. For more information on puns see my article http://www.Rashiyomi.com/puns.pdf on the world wide web. One method of puns is the so call read-spoken method. When using this method the Biblical Author will write the text one way but the reader is instructed to read it with an alternate different reading. Such a read-write passage creates what is called in literature a pun. Puns are a universal literary device used in all languages. Many scholars regard puns as simply another grammatical tool to convey messages intended by the author (See the above article for further details and references). Todays example, Lv25-30, contains such a pun. The written text says And if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the city with a wall shall become the permanent property of he who bought it throughout his generations; it shall not go out in the jubilee. while the text is read as stating And if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the no-wall city shall become the permanent property of he who bought it throughout his generations; it shall not go out in the jubilee. The written-read text creates a pun. The Author intended that the text convey the message these laws apply to a house sold in a city [initially] with a wall but [currently] without a wall. We will continue discussion of this interesting Rashi in rule #5, contradiction below. There we will present the explanation hinted at by the bracketed phrases that laws governing a house sold in a city with a wall apply even when the wall is no longer present. These laws are inferred from the pun created by the written-read text. Advanced Rashi: Rashi makes one additional grammatical comment. The textual phrase city ...it has a wall uses a masculine form of it even though city is a feminine noun. The Bible changed the gender of the word city in order to accomodate the pun since in Hebrew the word for no and the masculine word for it are both pronounced the same. This Rashi stating that grammar can be changed for the sake of a pun is important and seems to have been overlooked by scholars.
The table below presents an aligned extract of verselets in Lv25-41. Both verselets discuss the right of return. The alignment justifies the Rashi assertions that Just as at Jubilee land is returned to its owner even if (s)he could not redeem it, so to slave people return to their free status at Jubilee, even if they could not redeem themselves. Just as the return of land is uncondtional (the owner can do whatever they want even though before hand they were poor) so too the return to freedom is unconditional (the person regains his former social status and recognition even though he was a slave inbetween).
Advanced Rashi: Those familiar with Talmudic studies will recognize this as the analogy method (hekesh). It is a powerful Talmudic tool which adds insight and novelty to laws.
Note: Today's example of the contradiction method is unusual in that the contradiction is between a read and written text. We have explained the read-written method in rule #3, grammar and urge the reader, if (s)he hasn't read it yet, to read it first. The table below presents presents two contradictory verses. Both verses talk about redemption rights on houses sold in a walled city The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says these redemption rights apply to a walled city while the other verse says these redemption rights apply to a non-walled city. Which is it? Do the laws in question apply to walled or non-walled city. Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 Stages method: (1) The laws apply to houses sold in cities that initially had a wall around it (2) The laws apply even if currently that wall no longer surrounds the city.
Many readers are familiar with the 13 exegetical principles of Rabbi Ishmael which occur in the daily prayer books in the morning prayer. In this email newsletter I have called these rules the style rules. It is important to clarify what the Rabbi Ishmael rules focus on. After all they are distinct from rules of meaning grammar and alignment. What are they? We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf that the Rabbi Ishmael style rules are rules governing the interpretation of examples. In other words if the Biblical text gives a specific example, as a law or narrative, does the Author intend that the law or narrative exhaust its meaning in that particular example, or, does the Author intend the example as a mere example which should be understood by the reader as a paradigmatic example which should be generalized. Here is a good example. Dt25-04 states don't muzzle an ox while threshing. The Rabbi Ishmael generalization rule requires that we do not see this example as exhaustive of the law but rather as requiring generalization. Hence Jewish law interprets this to mean Don't muzzle any animal while it is doing its typical work. Actually the law prohibits not only muzzling but any type of inteference with the animal eating. In this particular case we used the generalization style. Sometimes however we use the restrictive style and interpret the example as exhaustive of the law-- the example is all the law says. Most of the Rabbi Ishmael style rules are known: They include: Generalization, Theme-Detail, Detail-Theme, and Theme-Detail-Theme. Today however we encounter a rare form, not listed any place: The Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail-Theme-Detail style. Let us see how Rashi interprets it.
Advanced Rashi: Similar Rashi comments apply to freeing land (in many circumstances). I should note that an alternative treatment of the Rashi would focus on repetition instead of on style. That is certain Rashi expositors would count the number of times freedom of slaves is mentioned. Since freedom of slaves is mentioned twice they would argue that two slave situations - those who have not yet completed their term of service as well as those who have so completed - are indicated. This counting approach to Rashi is quite popular. Personally I believe it is a better approach to explain Rashi on the basis of style. Since a General-detail-General... style is used the text requires a broad generalization. The fact that two types of slaves must be freed (and that two repetitions are mentioned) is a coincidence. The real driving force of the exegesis is the style.
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 bullets by using repeating keywords. That is, if a modern author wanted to get a point across using bullets - a list of similar but contrastive items - then the Biblical Author would use repeating keywords. Today's verse illustrates this principle.
The repeated underlined word, for, creates a bulleted list effect as shown. The bulleted list in turn justifies the perception that each member of the bulleted list contains a distinct item with a distinct message(this is in fact how all authors in all languages use bullets.). Rashi's application of this principle is embedded above in our translation: The inclusion of workers and resident non-Jews clearly justifies the Rashi assertion that The sabbath-land law applies to all non-Jews whether they are residents and accepted Noachidic law or whether they are just ordinary non-Jews who are hired help.
We ask the following database query: Which commandments mention that they should be observed becauase 'you are to remember that God took you out of Egypt'? The reader is encouraged to perform the query using a standard Biblical Konnkordance or search engine. This database query yields the list below. The list justifies the following Rashi inference: Commemoration of the salvation from Egypt is emphasized as a reason for commandment observance in laws prohibiting a) social inequality b) ritual impurity c) anxiety-business practices and d) acknowledgement of salvation from Egypt by God. The list below presents the results of the database query and shows examples
To understand this list we take a simple example: Dt05-14a:15. discussing the obligation to treat slaves and orphans nicely. This verse states but the seventh day is a sabbath unto HaShem thy G-d, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt remember that thou was a slave in the land of Egypt, and HaShem thy G-d brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore HaShem thy G-d commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. As can be seen by the underlined words, the Biblical obligation to let slaves/servants rest on the Sabbath is linked to remembering the Exodus. This linkage between the commandment and the exodus, does not occur at all commandments. However this linkage occurs here because the essence of Egypt consisted of a class society in which certain people were free and certain people were slaves. Consequently any commandment attacking class distinctions - such as the requirement to equally let owners and slaves rest on the Sabbath - will explicitly mention the Exodus. The other examples are interpreted similarly. For example the linkage of commemorating the exodus from Egypt to the prohibition of taking interest is explained by the observation that causing anxiety was a hallmark of Egypt and encouraged destruction of the personality which enabled slavery. Two popular methods of causing anxiety were 1) using inaccurate weights and 2) charging interest in excess of expected profits thus nullifying the efficacy of small business loans (Because a person trying to loan for business purposes would find the interest they pay out more than the profit they take in)
Verse Lv27-18b discussing the redemption of a field dedicated to the Temple states But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain unto the year of jubilee, and an abatement shall be made from thy valuation. Rashi explains the arithmetic of this redemption process using a proportionate method with rounding. In presenting the Rashi we supplement his example with extra illustrations to clarify each component of his comment. Example 1: Suppose the field I dedicated was evaluated as worth $20. Suppose further there are 10 years left to the Jubilee. Then each year is assigned a worth of $20/10=$2. If I wish to redeem the field next year I must pay $18. If I wish to redeem the field in two years I must pay $16. And so forth. We can summarize this by saying that we use a proportionate method in redeeming the field. Example 2: (Rashi)Suppose I dedicate my field right after the jubilee for $50. So the $50 spans 49 years. Suppose further (true in Talmudic times) that each $1 is worth 48 cents. Then the proportionate method requires that each year be assigned a worth of $50/49 = $49/49 + $1/49 = $1 + 48/49 cents. Rashi explains that this is rounded to $1 + 1 cent. So if the field is redeemed after 10 years the person pays $50 less $10 and 10 cents. We can summarize this by stating that redemption uses a proportionate method with rounding. Because this Rashi clarified biblical content with arithmetic-spreadsheet methods we classified this Rashi as using the non-verse method.
Conclusion
This week's parshah does not contain examples of the Symbolism Rashi method(s). Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||