Ideas and Model Lessons in Learning Rashi-#16 Copyright RashiYomi Inc 6-26-2005 Adapted From Rashi-is-Simple http://www.RashiYomi.Com/
Written by Dr. Russell Jay Hendel;
A: REVIEW
This is the 16-th in a 30 part series on the methods that are useful for teaching Rashi. Parts 1 - 15 may be accessed on the Rashi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/wbook.htm in the workbook series. Part 1 contains useful information on our notation and methods - to best understand this chapter the reader should be familiar with our conventions.

B: THE CONTRADICTION METHODS
Chapter 14 began a three part subseries reviewing the 3 Rashi methods of resolving contradiction.
In Chapter 14 we showed how contradiction could be resolved by viewing the two verses as 2 aspects of one state.
In Chapter 15 we showed how contradiction could be resolved by viewing the two verses as 2 stages of one process.
In this chapter we show how contradiction can be resolved by reinterpreting the words involved either more restrictively or more broadly.
We call this the broad-literal sub-method of contradiction. The examples below illustrate this broad-literal method.

C: EXAMPLE 1: Is Reuel the father or grandfather of Moses' wife?
The following two contradictory verses speak about a person named Reuel:
Ex02-18:21 And they [the 7 daughters] came to Reuel their father....and Moses ...dwelled with this man and he gave htm Tzipporah his daughter for a wife
Nu10-29: And Moses said to Chovav, the son of Reuel the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses
We immediately see the contradiction:
Nu10-29 Reuel is the grandfather of Moses' wife
Ex02-18:21 Moses married the daughter of Reuel, that is; Reuel is the father of Moses' wife
Rashi resolves this contradiction using the broad-literal method
Rashi (Nu10-29a): Reuel was the father of Moses' father-in-law. But it is colloquial for grandchildren to call their grandfather, "Daddy."

D: EXAMPLE 2: Who expelled Moses: Pharoh or his staff?
The following two verses present contradictory information on who expelled Moses from Egypt:
Ex11-08a [Moses when prophesying to Pharoh] And your staff here will come down to me and bow to me saying: Get out, you and your nation, and after that I will leave
Ex12-29:30 And Pharoh got up in the middle of the night...there was a big cry in Egypt because there was no house without dead and he called to Moses and Aaron, during the night, Get up: Get out from my nation: Also you, also the Jews...
The contradiction is clear: Ex11-08 states that Pharoh's staff will expel Moses while Ex12-30 states that Pharoh expelled him. Rashi resolves this contradiction using the broad-literal method:
Rashi: Moses uses the royal we. That is, he refers to King Pharoh as Pharoh's staff. This usage identifies Pharoh with the royal presence. Furthermore, Moses uses discretion: Moses does not directly insult Pharoh: You will come down and ask me to leave but rather discretely says, your staff will come down and ask me to leave.

E: EXAMPLE 3: Praying for the death of a bad Supervisor
The following two verses present contradictory indications on the permissibility of praying for the death of a bad supervisor or banker:
Dt15-09a Be careful lest you think: ... the absolve-debt year is near and you will look unfavorably on your poor brother and not loan him and he will pray to God on you and you will be considered sinning towards him
Dt24-14:15 Don't withhold wages from a worker...[rather] pay his wages by day before sundown because he is poor and [even if] he will not pray to God you will [anyway] be considered sinning towards him
The contradiction is clear: Dt15-09 states that the person denied a loan will pray to God while Dt24-15 states that he will not pray to God. Rashi resolves this contradiction using the broad-literal method. We have already hinted at the resolution through the bracketed phrases:

F: CONTRADICTION RESOLUTION THRU BROAD-LITERAL INTERPREATION
Rashi interprets the first clause permissively (may pray to God) rather than as a command (he will/should pray to God). Similarly Rashi interprets the second verse as an even-if sentence: Even if he doesn't pray the employer is considered a sinner. In other words, Dt15-09 should be interpreted to mean that if a person denies a loan then the requester may pray to God on him and the person denying the loan will be considered a sinner, while Dt24-14:15 should be interpreted to mean that even if he does not pray to God the banker denying the loan is considered a sinner.
Notice that the two verses talk about different situations: Dt15-09 speaks about denial of a loan while Dt24-14 speaks about denial of wages. Although these two cases are different, for purposes of assessing the emotional anguish of the aggrieved, both situations -- loan denial and wage denial -- are highly similar. It makes sense, when discussing the rights of the aggrieved to pray against those who cause him emotional anguish, to consider the employer/lender as sinning towards the aggrieved independent of whether the aggrieved prays or not

G: HOMEWORK EXERCISES
In the remainder of the chapter we present homework exercises. The exercises have been carefully selected to illustrate further subtleties in the broad-literal method.

H: HOMEWORK: Lv04-03 EXAMPLE 4
Lv04-03b states ...if the high priest sins....then he shall offer....an adult ox, a child of the herd....
Elementary Level
- Which two words in the above verse create a contradiction?
- How does Rashi resolve this contradiction using broad-literal interpretation?
Intermediate Level
- Which two words in the above verse create a contradiction?
- Can you offer a simple way that these two contradictory attributes can be present
Advanced Level
- Which two words in the above verse create a contradiction?
- Fill in the blanks in the following: The contradiction focuses on the ________________:
Should the ____________________ be _____________ or _________________?
- Can you offer a simple way that these two contradictory attributes can be present?
Note: The advanced level is best suited to students who have already been exposed to Talmudic reasoning.

I: ANSWERS TO THE HOMEWORK EXERCISE
Elementary level
- The words adult and child contradict each other: ...if the high priest sins....then he shall offer....an adult ox, a child of the herd....
Intermediate Level
- The contradiction focuses on the age of the offered ox: Should the ox be an adult or a child?
- Take an ox at the time they leave childhood and become adults (For example, for humans this could be 18 years of age which is the border between adulthood and childhood). Rashi explains that for oxen this is 3 years of age (Prior to 3 years of age, oxen are considered children; after 3 years of age they are considered adults).
Advanced Level
- The contradiction focuses on the age of the animal: Should the age of the animal be adult age or childhood age?
This example illustrates the use of broad-literal interpretation to indicate border-line areas (border of child-adulthood). That is childhood when interpreted broadly includes beginning adulthood; similarly adulthood when interpreted broadly includes end-childhood. Thus the skillful use of broad-literal facilitates the description of border-line states.

J: HOMEWORK: Lv07-09a EXAMPLE 5
Lv07-09a states ...all rest-offerings ....to the priest who offers it---the rest-offering belongs to him
Lv07-10 states ...all rest-offerings...belong to all priests, each person like his co-priest.
The teacher should have students answer the following questions:
Elementary level
- What phrases in the above two verses creates a contradiction?
- How does Rashi resolve this contradiction using broad-literal interpretation?
Intermediate Level:
- What phrases in the above two verses creates a contradiction?
- How does Rashi resolve this contradiction using broad-literal interpretation?

Advanced Level
- What phrases in the above two verses create a contradiction?
- Fill in: The contradiction focuses on ________________________________________: Is it __________ by the ________________________ or is it _____________________ by _________________________.

K: ANSWER TO HOMEWORK EXERCISE
The following two phrases -- the rest offering belongs to a) the priest who offers it vs. b) to all priests -- create a contradiction. The contradiction focuses on who consumes the rest offering: Is it consumed by the offering priest or is it consumed by any priest.
There are several ways to resolve this contradiction. For example: One could suggest that
a) the offering priest has priority on consumption
b) afterwards all priests may consume it.

L: ANSWER TO HOMEWORK EXERCISE CONTINUED

Rashi however resolves the contradiction using the following fact about priests:
All priests were divided into 24 units; each unit worked in the temple for one week; then the next division came and so forth. On the festival weeks all priests worked. The idea behind this method was that during the week of a priestly division only that division consumed offerings. This method enabled all priests to participate in temple service.
Using this fact Rashi resolves the contradiction between Lv07-09 and Lv07-10 as follows:
The rest offering can be consumed by any priest in the division of the offering priest (But priests of other divisions cannot consume it).
Here Rashi interprets broadly ... to the priest who offers it...to him belongs the offering ...: The word priest is interpreted broadly to mean the division of the priest. That is the priest is considered a representative of his division. Thus Lv07-09 states that the offering priest, who represents his division, may consume the rest offering while Lv07-10 extends this right of consumption to any other priest in his division. The broad interpretation of an individual as representing a group was also used in example 2: Pharoh represented his staff.
The current example illustrates using background information--such as the 24 priestly divisions--to resolve a contradiction.

M: HOMEWORK: EXAMPLE 6: HOW LONG DO SLAVES WORK?
Ex21-06d states...if the slave doesn't accept his freedom...then his master...and the slave works forever
Lv25-10 states ...Sanctify the Jubilee year...call freedom for the entire land...all people return to their families
The teacher should ask the students the following questions:
Elementary level
- What two words contradict each other in the above two verses?
- How does Rashi resolve the contradiction using broad-literal interpretation
Intermediate Level
- What two words contradict each other in the above two verses?
- State an obvious way to resolve the contradiction.
Advanced Level
- What two words contradict each other in the above two verses?
- Fill in: The contradiction focuses on ______________________________________: Does he _______, __________, or does he ___________, _____________.
- State an obvious way to resolve the contradiction using broad-literal interpretation

N: ANSWSERS TO HOMEWORK EXERCISES
- The words forever and Jubilee contradict each other.
- The contradiction focuses on how long the slave works: Does he work, forever, or does he work, until the Jubilee year.
- Rashi resolves the contradiction by broadly re-interpreting forever to mean a long time (Until the Jubilee year).
Notice in this example how the verse which states that the slave works till Jubilee, retains its original meaning while the verse which states that the slave works forever is reinterpreted to mean works a long time.

O: THE RASHI WEBSITE AS A RESOURCE
The Rashi website can be used as a resource to provide examples for the contradiction method.
The Home page for the Rashi website is located at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/
The Main Rashi Database is located at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lists.htm
Scroll down in the left hand frame till you find CONTRADICTION / broad-literal
Click on the link
The right frame will now contain the links to examples of the broad-literal method
The main tables for resolving contradictions using broad-literal interpretation are LIST520a LIST570a.