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Their presence in Rashis on Parshath Re'eh Volume 17, Number 1 This weeks Weekly Rashi with Hebrew/English source tables Is accessible at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1701.htm (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, August 25 th , 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(s) Dt16-09a discussing the obligation to count 7 weeks states Seven weeks shall you count; begin to number the seven weeks from such time as you begin to put the sickle to the grain. Rashi clarifies the underlined words put the sickle to the grain by referencing verse(s) Lv23-10:15 discussing the counting of 7 weeks from Passover to Pentecost, which states Speak to the people of Israel, ...When you come to the land ...and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring a omer offering ... And you shall count ... from the day that you brought the omer of the wave offering; seven sabbaths... Hence the Rashi comment: The phrase put the sickle to the grain in Dt16-09a refers to the omer offering brought during Passover since the omer is done at the beginning of the harvest (sickle to the grain!).
An idiom is a collection of words which means more than the sum of the meanings of each of the phrases' individual words. Verse Dt16-09a discussing the requirements to count 7 weeks from Passover to Shavuoth states Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee; from the time the sickle is on the sheaf [harvest] shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. . Rashi explains: The phrase(s) the sickle is on the sheaf is an idiom meaning harvest. As can be seen from the underlined words the Rashi comment is compactly and explicitly combined in the Biblical text. Advanced Rashi: Rashi goes a step further and states The omer coincides with the beginning of the harvest. Rashi learns this from the explicit association in Lv23-10:11. In fact we could have approached this whole Rashi using an alignment of the Lv and Dt chapters both of which deal with the Passover-Omer-Shavuoth sequence. However, it was also important to emphasize that Rashi was identifying a Biblical idiom which is why we classified this Rashi as we did.
Most people are aware of three tenses - past, present, and future. But Hebrew and English really have 14 tenses. The sentence I walk to synagogue daily indicates what grammarians call the habitual present. The intent of the statement is not to tell something that happened, that is happening, or that will happen. The intent is to tell my habits. I have a habit of walking to the synagogue. But I may not walk every day. Another example might be the sentence When thirsty one drinks water. Again this indicates a grammatical conditional habitual present. The emphasis is on how you quench your thirst - with water. The emphasis is not on what you are actually doing - drinking water. In Hebrew the same grammatical form or conjugation may indicate two meanings. In particular the future conjugation, indicated by prefixing a root with the letter tauv can indicate either a future activity or a habitual activity. Let us see how this applies to Dt15-19:20. If we interpret this verse as a future activity then we would translate All the firstling males that come of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstling of your bulls, nor shear the firstling of your sheep. You shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, you and your household. In other words, you yourself must eat the firstborn in Jerusalem. However since the future conjugation in Hebrew can also have a meaning of habitual present we can translate the verses as follows: All the firstling males that come of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstling of your bulls, nor shear the firstling of your sheep. One eats it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, you and your household. In other words When the firstborn is eaten it is eaten in Jerusalem. Like other habitual presents the emphasis is on the how of the habit rather then on who should do the activity in the future. As we shall see below in rule 5 the firstborn is a priestly gift which is eaten by the Priests. So the owner does not eat it! Rather the Priest eats it. For this reason Rashi translates the verse One eats the firstborn in Jerusalem.
The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Dt12-11c Both verses/verselets discuss the offering of sacrifices in the Temple. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: The voluntary offerings must be offered from the choicest of animals.
The table below presents two contradictory verses. Both verses talk about sanctification of the firstborn. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says don't sanctify firstborn while the other verse says sanctify the firstborn. Which is it? Do we sanctify the firstborn or not? Rashi simply resolves this (in two ways) using the 2 Aspects method: Method 1: Sanctify the firstborn animals for firstborn sacrifices; therefore, it is prohibited to sanctify them for other sacrificial purposes. Method 2: Don't sanctify the firstborn animals for altar sacrifice. Rather, sanctify them and then redeem them. The resulting funds are sacred and given to the Temple funds.
Advanced Rashi: This is an exciting Rashi (as if the others weren't exciting). For Rashi, cites the Talmud, Arachin 29a. The Mishnah cites the two resolutions of our text that we have presented above. It would thus appear that there are two Rashi rules operating here. What we have shown above is that both views, those of the Rabbis and those of Rabbi Ishmael, share a commonality of a study of a contradictory text as well as the commonality of a resolution by looking at two aspects. Rabbi Ishmael and the Rabbis differ in how to apply these two commonalities. Consequently the above example beautifully illustrates how the ten principles presented in this weekly newsletter are the skeleton and driving force behind all exegesii. They show an underlying commonality that however allows for disagreement and dissent. For this reason we warmly recommend this Rashi newsletter to students at all levels, whether beginning students or advanced Rabbinic students. The principles are fundamental and will enhance any type of study.
Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a Theme-Development-Theme form. In other words a broad general idea is stated first followed by the development of this broad general theme in specific details. The paragraph-like unit is then closed with a repetition of the broad theme. The Theme-Detail-Theme form creates a unified paragraph. The detailed section of this paragraph is therefore seen as an extension of the general theme sentences. Today's example illustrates this as shown immediately below.
Because the General-Theme-General style is perceived as a paragraph, therefore, we take the Detail phrase as a development of the general phrase. The logical conclusion would be You can buy meats and plant derived drinks. Quite startingly the Rambam, Second Tithes, 7:1-3, states that honey, milk and eggs are also OK. The Rambam's logic is that You can buy items that grow from land-based food (cattle, sheep) as well as items derived from land-based-food animals (wine but also honey, milk and eggs). True, the Rambam categorizes and defends the law! But wouldn't it be more logical to simply state meats and plant-based drinks. Problems like this arise frequently in interpretation of the General Theme General law. At the 20th MidWest Jewish Studies Conference I suggested that two style rules are operating here: The Rabbi Ishmael Style rules as well as the Broad-Restriction style rules. The broad-restriction style rules in this verse focus on the word all which broadens the appicability of the verse. In the Talmud the Rabbi Ishmael rules are frequently contrasted with the broad-restriction rules as two approaches to Biblical exegesis. However on our Rashi list we classify the broad-restrictive rule, emanating from an analysis of the adverb all, as an inference based on the special word rule, which is a subrule of either the meaning or grammar rule. The Rishonim according to the approach I am suggesting here combine the two rules in their legal decisions.
This idea of combining the Talmud's broad restriction rule with the Rabbi Ishmael Style rules, or, using the language of this email newsletter, rules #2/3 special word meaning with rule #6,Style, this combination, seems to solve many problems in the Rabbi Ishmael style exegesii. The interested (or skeptical) reader should, when studying a Rabbi Ishmael rule, study the verse to see if the word all is mentioned and if so I would strongly expect that the the style generalizations are not as restrictive as they normally would be.
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 indicates bold, italics, underline by using repetition. In other words if a modern author wanted to emphasize a word they would either underline, bold or italicize it. However when the Biblical author wishes to emphasize a word He repeats it. The effect - whether thru repetition or using underline - is the same. It is only the means of conveying this emphasis that is different. Verse Dt15-08c discussing the requirement to give charity illustrates this repetition principle. It states If there is among you a poor man of one of your brothers inside any of your gates in your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; But you shall open your hand wide to him, and shall surely load load him sufficient for his need, in that which he lacks. Rashi commenting on the repeated underlined words, load, load states Load him, as indicated, with a charity gift. If he doesn't want a charity gift load him with a loan. (In other words load in any way possible.)
-------------------- ' | ' -----------------| Split hoof with one toe covering (not valid for Kashruth) ' | '------------------- -------------------- ' | ' ------------------ Split hoof with two toe coverings (valid for Kashruth) ' | '-------------------
Conclusion
This week's parshah contains no examples of the symbolism method. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||