Ideas and Model Lessons in Learning Rashi-#23
Copyright RashiYomi Inc 12-1-2005
Adapted From Rashi-is-Simple
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/
Written by Dr. Russell Jay Hendel;
A: REVIEW
This is the 23-rd in a 30 part series on the methods that are useful for teaching Rashi. Parts 1 - 22 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 SENTENCE SUBMETHOD
Chapter 21, which discussed the conjugation of Hebrew roots, began a multi-part series on the grammar methods. Chapter 22 began a four part series on the grammar sentence methods. In this chapter we study the rules for the interrogative sentence.
C:THE INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE
A major grammar / sentence submethod deals with classifying sentence type. Every language allows declarative, interrogative and other types of sentences. In English an interrogative sentence is always indicated by a punctuation mark---a question mark vs. a period at the end of the sentence. To illustrate this we present an English translation of Gn04-09c.
- And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother?
- And he said, I know not; I am my brother’s keeper?
Notice how the two sentences of this verse are indicated by a question mark. Also note that the interrogative status of a sentence affects meaning: The declarative sentence I am my brothers keeper has the opposite meaning of the interrogative I am my brother's keeper?
D: THE HEBREW INTERROGATIVE
In contrast to English which always indicates interrogative status by one method, use of a question mark, Hebrew has 3 methods of indicating the interrogative status of a sentence. In Hebrew once can indicate the interrogative status of a sentence by either
- prefixing the sentence with a letter hey, possibly with certain punctuation
- using certain keywords. For example placing the word where at the beginning of a sentence indicates the interrogative as shown above in the sentence Where is Abel your brother?
- if the declarative interpretation of a sentence contradicts the meaning of the surrounding context then the sentence is assumed interrogative. Examples are presented below.
E: EXAMPLE 1:Gn04-13a
The Biblical Text:
Kain said to God: My sin is unbearable? Behold....you have banished me...anyone finding me will kill me. And God gave Kain a sign (so that anyone killing him would know not to kill him)
The Rashi Text:
My sin is unbearable is an interrogative sentence.
F: THE THREE STUDENT LEVELS
We approach this Rashi at two student levels.
The intermediate/advanced level
- interpret the verse by giving a declarative interpretation to the subsentence My sin is unbearable
- interpret the verse by giving an interrogative interpretation to the subsentence My sin is unbearable?
- Show that the interpretation of the verse using a declarative interpretation of My sin is unbearable is inconsistent with the surrounding context
- Show that the interpretation of the verse using an interrogative interpretation of My sin is unbearable is consistent with the surrounding context
- How would you interpret the interrogative sentence My sin is unbearable? in context?
The Elementary level: Have the student
- interpret the verse by giving a declarative interpretation to the subsentence My sin is unbearable
- interpret the verse by giving an interrogative interpretation to the subsentence My sin is unbearable?
- Show in the above context that My sin is unbearable? is a petition for clemency.
G: ANSWERS TO EXERCISES
Kain was pleading for clemency. The following interpretation of the entire verse, using an interrogative interpretation of My sin is unbearable?, shows this:
The Biblical Text:
Kain said to God: My sin is unbearable? Can't you forgive me? Behold....you have banished me...anyone finding me will kill me.
And God acceded to his plea for clemency. God gave Kain a sign (so that anyone killing him would know that they suffer)
On the other hand the interpretation of the whole verse using a declarative interpretation of My sin is unbearable would be rendered as follows:
The Biblical Text:
Kain said to God: My sin is totally unbearable Behold....you have banished me...anyone finding me will kill me. And God acceded to his plea for clemency. God gave Kain a sign (so that anyone killing him would know that they suffer)
This is a contradiction: Kain murdered someone and declared his sin unbearable. Why then did God turn around and give him a sign to prevent him from being murdered.
It emerges from the above analysis that the proper interpretation of the above verse requires that the subsentence My sin is unbearable? be granted interrogative status which is equivalent to a plea for clemency.
H: EXAMPLE 2: Ex23-05b
The Biblical Text:
- If you see your neighbor's donkey collapsed under its burden
- abstain from helping him
- Rather help him
The Rashi text:
The underlined sentence, abstain from helping him, is interpreted with an interrogative status.
I: EXERCISES AT THREE STUDENT LEVELS
We analyze this Rashi at several student levels:
The intermediate/advanced level
- interpret the verse using a declarative interpretation of abstain from helping him
- interpret the verse using an interrogative interpretation of abstain from helping him
- Show that the declarative interpretation of abstain from helping him is inconsistent with the surrounding context
- Show that the interrogative interpretation of abstain from helping him is consistent with the surrounding context
- How would you reinterpret the interrogative sentence abstain from helping him in context
The Elementary level: Have the student
- interpret the verse using a declarative interpretation of abstain from helping him
- interpret the verse using an interrogative interpretation of abstain from helping him
- Show in the above context that the interrogative interpretation of abstain from helping him? is a command to help people.
J: ANSWERS TO EXERCISES
If we interpret the underlined sentence declaratively we obtain
The Biblical Text:
- If you see your neighbor's donkey collapsed under its burden
- abstain from helping him
- Rather help him
This is clearly a contradiction.
On the other hand the interrogative interpretation clearly makes sense in context
The Biblical Text:
- If you see your neighbor's donkey collapsed under its burden
- abstain from helping him?
- Rather help him
In other words the interrogative interpretation of abstain from helping him? is in reality a rhetorical command to help
K: THE ENGLISH SPEAKER AND THE HEBREW INTERROGATIVE
The above Rashi interpretation is clear and straightforward. However most English speakers see the interrogative interpretation of abstain from helping him? as forced, arbitrary and homiletic. The reason for this feeling of arbitrariness among English speakers is because all English interrogative sentences terminate with a question mark. The English reader is never forced to analyze context to ascertain an interrogative status. Consequently the above analysis seems overkill and homiletic to an English speaker. However to a Biblical speaker such analysis is routine and perfectly normal.
L: EXAMPLE 3: Gn04-09c
The preceding examples showed how interrogative status can be indicated by meaning and context. We next examine the use of punctuational markers to indicate interrogative status.
The Biblical Text:
God said to Kain: Where is Abel your brother? And Kain Answered I don't know: Am I my brother's keeper?
The Rashi Text:
The Hebrew word keeper is normally spelled Shim Mem Resh; however in the above verse the Hebrew word keeper is spelled with a prefix hey and vocalization chataf patach indicating that the sentence has interrogative status.
The underlying Hebrew rule is that a sentence prefixed with a letter hey with vocalization chataf patach attains interrogative status. The letter hey with vocalization chataf patach is a punctuation marker similar to the question mark in English. It doesn't intrinsically have meaning by itself. Rather it indicates interrogative status.
Since this Hebrew rule is clear and documented with many examples in most Hebrew grammar textbooks there is no need to analyze this Rashi at three student levels.
M: THE TEXTBOOK vs THE RASHI APPROACH
The alert student is undoubtedly aware that letter hey with vocalization chataf patach is one of several possible punctuation markers that are used to indicate interrogative status in Hebrew. Rashi does not mention these other complementary interrogative rules. To understand this we must contrast a fundamental subtle difference between Rashi and textbooks.
- Textbooks present complete sets of alternative conditions and the rules that apply in each case
- Rashi, by contrast, simply gives the rule that applies to the verse at hand. Rashi did not see his job as presenting complementary rules. Rather Rashi saw it as the student's job, not his, to gather similar rules together. The next exercise illustrates this difference in approach.
N: EXERCISE: EXAMPLE 4: Nu32-06a
The Biblical Text:
Your brothers will go to war and you will sit here?
The Rashi Text:
The Hebrew word for brothers is Aleph-Chet-Yud-Caph-Mem. In the present verse this word is spelled with an additional prefix Hey and vocalization patach. Hence the sentence is interpreted with interrogative status.
O: THE THREE STUDENT LEVELS
The above Rashi rule on Nu32-06a is different and complements the Rashi rule presented on Gn04-09c. To fully clarify this we analyze the Rashi Nu32-06a at three student levels:
The Elementary Level: Have the student verify that
- the sentence starts with a hey
- that the hey is vocalized with a patach
The Intermediate Level: Have a student verify that
- the sentence starts with a hey
- the hey is vocalized with a patach
- Compare the grammatical rule in Nu32-06a with the grammatical rule in Gn04-09c. Reformulate the Rashis using a textbook approach
The Advanced Level: Have the student verify that
- the sentence starts with a hey
- the hey is vocalized with a patach
- Compare the grammatical rule in Nu32-06a with the grammatical rule in Gn04-09c. Reformulate the Rashis using a textbook approach.
- Gather as many Biblical examples as possible and present a textbook approach to the rule for the interrogative hey.
P: ANSWERS TO EXERCISES--TEXTBOOK APPROACH TO INTERROGATIVE HEY
The Intermediate Level:
Here is a restatement of the two Rashis Nu32-06a and Gn04-09c using a textbook approach:
- Under ordinary circumstances the interrogative status of a sentence is indicated by a prefix hey with chataf patach vocalization
- However if the first letter of the sentence is an aleph then the interrogative status of a sentence is indicated by a prefix hey with a patach vocalization.
The advanced level:
One possible solution to the advanced level is the following textbook formulation of the rule for the interrogative hey:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sentence begins with letter Vocalized as Example | For interrogative use letter With vocalization
--------------------------- ------------ --------- ---------------------------- -----------------
MOST LETTERS most vowels Gn04-09c| Hey chataf patach
ALEPH most vowels Nu32-06a| Hey patach
HEY most vowels Nu22-30 | Hey patach
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Most letters SHVA Nu13-20 | Hey dagesh+patach
Yud SHVA Gn29-05 | Hey patach
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
CHETH most vowels Nu31-15 | Hey Segol
CHETH komatz Nu13-18 | Hey Patach
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 1: Summary of rules for interrogative hey
The interpretation of the above table should be clear. For example the first row tells us that to indicate that a sentence, beginning with most letters and most vowels, is interrogative one should prefix the sentence with the letter hey vocalized with a chataf patach. This corresponds to the content of Rashi Gn04-09c. The second row in the above table presents one of the complementary exceptions to the interrogative hey rule. The second row tells us that to indicate that a sentence, beginning with an aleph and most vowels, is interrogative one should prefix the sentence with the letter hey vocalized with a patach. This corresponds to the rule stated in Rashi Nu32-06a. The other rows are interpreted similarly. The vertical divider in the table separates how the interrogative is indicated (presented on the right side of the table) with the prerequisites for using that rule (presented on the left side of table).
Q: SUBTLETIES OF GRAMMATICAL RESEARCH
Several points can be made on the above table.
- The table is still incomplete. It only covers 99% of the cases. This is typical of grammatical rules.
- Rashi only covers two of the 7 cases listed. As indicated above the Rashi approach is different than the textbook approach. The goal in using the textbook approach is to cover 99% of the cases. The goal in using the Rashi approach is to introduce the student to the idea of an association between the interrogative sentence status and prefix letters. Students are then expected to research the rules themselves.
- We again emphasize a peculiarity of the Rashi approach: The rules presented in Gn04-09c and Nu32-06a are to be connected by the student. Rashi only sees his goal as explaining each verse, not to give a comprehensive theory.