The 6 usages of the word >THE<:#10 of 35
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RULE
====
The word >THE< can be used in 4 ways

--to refer to something that immediately follows

  eg Dt04-32c >Has anyone heard THIS GREAT THING-that God
  saved a nation enslaved in another nation with great miracles<

  Thus the phrase >THIS GREAT THING< refers to the verse that
  follows >That God saved a nation enslaved in another nation<
  In other words the >GREAT THING< is Gods freeing one nation
  from another.

--to refer to a concept, story or thing mentioned ELSEWHERE
  (but not immediately afterwards)

  eg Nu13-33a >We saw there THE Nefilim<
  refers to the NEFILLIM nation mentined in Gn06-04

--to refer to the best known of a class

  eg  Dt01-07e >THE Mount< -- This refers to The Kings Mountain

--to refer to a qualitative best

  eg Dt05-18a >You will do the good and upright< -- ie compromise





GOALS:
=====
A person completing this module will be able to correctly
identify the specific usages of >THE< in the Bible.




TODAYS UNIT
===========
In the next few days we bring verses where
>THE< refers to >THE BEST KNOWN IN ITS CLASS<




ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
===============
About a dozen of the examples in this module come from one
of our great Acharonim, the Malbim. Malbim in the 6th chapter
of his >MORNING STAR< presents some of the principles on >THE<.
We have built on this contribution. The details of what we have
contributed as well as some further insightful comments on the
Malbim will be made in the footnotes.

This posting is a must for those involved in advanced talmudic
study.

Our email group is named after AYELET the name of the daughter
of the moderator of Chevruta who hosts our series. AYELET, is
also the name of the Malbims famous summary of his 613
principles governing all midrash, the so called AYELET HASHACHAR
the morning star, which may be found in his introduction to
his commentary on Leviticus.


REFERENCE:
=========
This module comes from the following digest in the
Rashi-is-Simple series


http://www.RashiYomi.Com/h9n14.htm
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/h9n16.htm (Up next Sunday)


#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2001 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

EXAMPLES 22-24:
===============

---------------------------------------------------------
  In the following verses >THE< refers to the best known
  example of a class. We therefore re-translate these
  verses as meaning >THE SPECIAL ...<
---------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 22: Lv01-10b
==========
Lv01-10b If you offer a sacrifice to God
        from THE (SPECIAL) herded animals
        from THE (SPECIAL) sheep or
        from the (SPECIAL) goats*1

RASHI: The 3 phrases >THE SPECIAL< indicates that
       the animals must be special but not
       ---sick animals*2
       ---sweaty animals*2
       ---old animals*2




EXAMPLE 23: Lv01-14a
==========
Lv01-14a If you offer a sacrifice to God
        from THE (SPECIAL) birds *1

RASHI: The phrase from >THE SPECIAL BIRDS<
        indicates that the birds must be
        special but not eg birds missing an
        organ (ie You may not offer as sacrifices
        birds missing an organ)*2




EXAMPLE 24: Lv01-14d
==========
Lv01-14d If you offer a bird sacrifice then you
        must offer it EITHER
        from THE (SPECIAL) (Adult) DOVES(TOR) or
        from THE (SPECIAL) child DOVES(YONAH)

RASHI: The phrases from >THE SPECIALLY ADULT<
        and from >THE SPECIALLY CHILD<
        indicates that the ADULTHOOD and/or
        CHILDHOOD should be SPECIAL---thus
        we exclude from bringing for sacrifices
        teenage birds that are between childhood
        and adulthood.

        In practice the transition from childhood
        to adulthood in doves(TOR/YONAH) is characterized
        by a yellowing of the wings. Consequently
        we cannot bring for sacrifices birds at the INITIAL stage
        of YELLOWING (since those are teenage years)





--------------------------NOTES----------------------------

*1   Here are the differences between me and Malbim
        in approach
   * Malbim posits that >THE< refers to the species
     and derives the above Rashis by playing on
     the 2 words >FROM< and >THE<

   * By contrast I have simply interpreted >THE<
     to refer to something >SPECIAL< and >WELL KNOWN<
     Hence the verse >FROM THE animals< should be
     read as >FROM the SPECIAL animals< which
     would indicate that eg they were special but
     had not been subjected to bestiality.

   Thus my approach is based on supplying intuitive keywords
   (like SPECIAL) which capture the flavor of the word >THE<
   as well as the midrash


*2 The Midrash does not DIRECTLY derive that
     >From the SPECIAL animals< means to exclude
     those animals that have had bestiality.

     Rather all the Midrash does is infer that
     these animals are SPECIAL in some way.

     We are not told in WHAT way they are special.
     MALBIM citing the Sifray and Talmud shows
     that in each case the SPECIALNESS is
     interpreted as consistent with the
     particular item mentioned. Thus eg
     CATTLE (Vs Wild beasts) are known for
     their domestication and hence we exclude
     bestiality.

     This approach which emphasizes the general
     idea of specialness first and then seeks to
     identify which specific specialness is under
     consideration is called the principle of
     STAGES. This principle was first discussed
     in my WINTER 1980 TRADITION ARTICLE, called
     PSHAT and DERASH.

     My basic idea is that we interpret Rashi to
     mean that we are sure that SOMETHING SPECIAL
     is being emphasized without being sure which
     PARTICULAR SPECIAL ITEM is being emphasized,
     this being subject to talmudic debate.



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