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Their presence in Rashis on Parshath ToLeDoTh Volume 17, Number 11 This weeks Weekly Rashi with Hebrew/English source tables will be accessible, on Sunday, at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1711.htm (c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, Nov 24, 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) Gn26-O3:05a discussing that God will bless Isaac because Abraham listened to prophecy states Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you, and to your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father; ... Because Abraham listened to my prophetic voice, and .... Rashi clarifies the underlined words Because Abraham listened to my prophetic voice by referencing verse(s) Gn22-18 which states And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have listened to my prophetic voice Hence the Rashi comment: God's statement (Gn26-05) that he will reward Isaac because Abraham listened to the voice of prophecy refers to Abraham's obedience at the Akaydah (Gn22-18) where God blesses Abraham because he listened to God's voice (Identical language is used).
Advanced Rashi: It is especially interesting in this reference example that identical Biblical phraseology is used in both the target and reference verse.
Every language has a set of words that function as connectives. Examples of such words are in, on, because, that, also, rather, .... Frequently such connective words have multiple meanings. Rashi will list the meanings of each word.
Not the shift in plurality indicated by the underlines in Gn25-21d: And Isaac, opposite to his wife, beseached God, because she was barren, and God answered him, and Rivkah his wife became pregnant. Two people prayed and two people were answered, since the child was conceived by both of them; nevertheless, response is identified with only one person, him. Hence the Rashi comment Him not Her Even though they were both answered the response is credited to him, showing that the prayers of religious people from religious families are more efficacious than the prayers of religious people from non-religious families. Advanced Rashi:The point made by Rashi seems contradicted by several Rabbinic statements equating or making penitents higher then purely religious people. Why then the rather surprising statement that Isaac was answered - a point emphasized by the Biblical grammar - because he was a descendant of religious people in contrast to Rebecca who was a descendant of crooked people.
We can now return to our Rashi. Isaac and Rebecca were not only praying for a child, they were praying to escape the need of Isaac to marry a concubine to save his marriage. Under Jewish law, if there is no child after 10 years the couple must get divorced. For that reason Abraham took a concubine, Hagar from whom he had a child. In terms of the embarassment of living with a concubine: This is greater for a person from a religious background then for a person from an irreligious background. For that reason the verse emphasizes that God responded to Isaac since besides praying for a child he was praying to avoid the embarassment of marrying a concubine. Note the sensitivity to feeling shown in this Rashi. Acknowledgement: To Rabbi Avi Weiss from Riverdale. We had the pleasure of meeting at a dinner installing one of his students as Rabbi of a synagogue. In response to his question, Tell me a nice Rashi, I responded, No no-tell me a difficult Rashi and I will solve it for you. He selected the above Rashi. He also pointed out that the Rashi comment appears to contradict many Chazalian comments about the great spiritual height of repentant people. Interestingly this Rashi nicely illustrates the complementary nature of grammatical and philosophical defense. The grammatical defense of Rashi - the use of the singular word him when talking about answering prayers of a couple - is clear and compelling. Less transparent is an explanation of why God responded to Isaac over Rebecca.
The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Gn27-28, Gn27-39 Both verses/verselets discuss the blessings of Isaac to his two children, Esauv and Jacob. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: Esauv (non Jews) receive blessings whether they deserve it or not while Jacob (Jews) only receive blessings if they deserve and merit it.
Advanced Rashi: The Rashi comment is easy to understand from the alignment: Jews are blessed by God while non-Jews have an absolute blessing of a good dwelling. The careful reader will note that there is another difference: While both Jews and non-Jews are blessed with fat land and dew (items #2 and #3 in the above bulleted list) only Jews are blessed with a multitude of grain (item #4). Perhaps then the Rashi comment can be reformulated: Both Jews (Jacob) and non-Jews (Esauv) are blessed with eternal existence supported by adequate rainfall (dew) and fat land. However additionally the Jews, provided they deserve it from Judge God, will also merit an abundance and surplus of grain. This interpretation of Rashi has slightly different nuances but seems correct in light of the above alignment.
Acknowledgement:The following example is a response to a request and question by an email member of this group. If you have a question on a particular Rashi then email me at RJHendel@Juno.com.. The table below presents presents two contradictory verses. Both verses speak about Abraham's concubines. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says And the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan: Sheba, and Dedan. [Note the singular concubine.] while the other verse state But unto the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country [Note the plural concubines.] Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 Aspects method: There was one concubine with two different personalities. Gn16-03 calls her Hagar the Egyptian, which literarlly means an alien who annoys while the other verse calls her Keturah which literally means stately incense column. We infer that when Abraham first married her Hagar was bratty, unprofessional and annoying. She asked for things by creating nuisances. However later in life Hagar was chaste, stately and regal. Hence there were two personalities to the same one person.
Advanced Rashi: This is a beautiful example of refutation of a flippant reading of Rashi. Rashi Gn25-06a states The word concubines is written deficiently indicating one concubine. But the word concubines is written plural and fully. It might appear that Rashi had a different text. But the correct simple reading of Rashi is The word Concubine [in the corresponding verse 1C01-32] is written deficiently or singularly. This creates a contradiction between the singular concubine in 1C01-32 and the plural concubines in Gn25-06. A resolution is created by assuming one concubine with two personalities. Such a reading of Rashi is professional and consistent with rules of logic. For further illuminating details on this Rashi please see Rule #1, Other Verses above.
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.
Hence the Rashis on the above paragraph: Esauv lived a life of eating and drinking. Such a lifestyle is inconsistent with the Priesthood which required a life of abstention. As a simple example a priest who served while intoxicated could be liable to a death penalty. The driving force behind Rashi is the re-interpretation of the Biblical phrase eat and drink as developmental details of the Biblical phrase did not want the birthright. Precisely because of the paragraph structure Rashi perceives the eating and drinking not as incidental items but as reflections and clarifications of did not want the priesthood. This is the essence of the style method. Sermonic Points: Rashi teaches us basic etiquette. Jacob could have said: Look the Priesthood will be given to me and not to you; why don't you just cooperate and willfully give it to me; that way it looks better for you. This is an argument based on politics, power and authority. Instead the Bible approaches this as an argument based on lifestyle. Jacob's lifestyle belonged with the Priesthood; Esauv's lifestyle did not. It is always best to approach appointments based on merit instead of authority.
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 unspecified emphasis by using repetition. That is, if a modern author wanted to get a point across using bold, italics, underlhine - an indication of unspecified emphasis - then the Biblical Author would instead use repetition Today's verse illustrates this principle. Verse Gn26-28a discussing the desire of Avimelech to make a treaty with Isaac since God was with him states And they said: 'We see see that HaShem was with thee; and we said: Let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; Rashi commenting on the unspecified emphasis indicated by the repeated words see see states: We have seen that God is with your whole family. That is, the perception was Divine grace on the family not on one individual. Advanced Rashi: For further examples of regarding Biblical styles such as repetition as parallel to modern styles such as bold, italics, underline, see my article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.RashiYomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf.
Verse Gn26-16:17 discussing the Gerarian reaction to Isaac's amassment of wealth states And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us; for you have become significantly wealthier than us And Isaac departed from there, and pitched his tent in the Gerar river, and lived there. Rashi explains The Gerar river was outside of Gerar but nearby. Rashi's intent is that presumably Isaac could maintain the ties he made with friends in Gerar while being sufficiently far away to please his enemies. The map below shows the SouthWest part of Israel. Archaeologists typically identify Gerar River with the Besor River which is the border of the Negev. The river empties at Gaza into the Mediteranean. Geo-politically Rashi implies the following: One always needs water. So by residing by the Gerar river Isaac appeared to distance himself from Gerar but in reality he positioned himself in a strategic location where people would frequent. This enabled healing wounds and reuniting if Avimelech wanted. In fact Avimelech made a treaty with Isaac later and it is very plausible that Isaac's selection of a strategic geographic location facilitated this treaty.
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Ashdod
Mediteranean
Ashkelon
Gaza Gath Hebron
\ GERAR
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\ GERAR RIVER Beer Sehva
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God communicates prophecy through symbolic items. The list below presents the results of the database query and provides examples.
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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||