Ideas and Model Lessons in Learning Rashi-#24 Copyright RashiYomi Inc 12-29-2005 Adapted From Rashi-is-Simple http://www.RashiYomi.Com/A: REVIEW
This is the 24-th in a 30 part series on the methods that are useful for teaching Rashi. Parts 1 - 23 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 apposition and sentence rearrangement.

C: APPOSITION

To explain apposition we begin with a simple example. We show two versions of writing this verse.
Version A: Is63-07 begins The graces of the Lord will be what I remember [and appreciate]; the praises of the Lord,
To understand this sentence it is better to rearrange it by placing the two underlined phrases together:
Version B: Is63-07 The graces and praises of the Lord will be what I remember [and appreciate]
Perhaps even clearer would be the following rearrangement
Version C: Is63-07 I will remember [and appreciate] the graces and praises of the Lord

D: APPOSITION EXPLAINED
To explain the apposition in Is63-07 we analyze the sentence's grammatical functions
- The subject of the sentence, the person doing the activity, is I
- the verb of the sentence, the activity being done, is remember [and appreciate]
- the object of the sentence, what is being remembered, is the graces and praises of God

E: GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION vs. ORDER
In addition to grammatical function every sentence has a sequence and order:
Version C above is the standard English order: Subject-Verb-Object, I remember God's grace and praises. Version B however reverses the order: Object-Subject-Verb. Such a reversal has an effect of emphasis--the graces of God are placed up front; it is emphasized that the Graces and praises of God is what I remember.
Version A further adds to the emphasis of version B by breaking up the object of the sentence ---the graces and praises of God. We are immediately told completely and tersely, The Graces of God will be what I remember. The second part of the object, the praises of God is tagged along afterwards. We say the second part of the object is in apposition to the first part of the object. This is indicated by the underlined phrases in Version A.

F: RECAP: APPOSITION
To sum up
- you recognize apposition by the fact that the sentence can be rearranged with two parts united
- we will indicate apposition by underlining the two sentence parts, thus indicating what has to be united
- the purpose of the apposition is to make the initial sentence terser thereby adding emphasis.

G: EXERCISE: EXAMPLE 1: Gn01-29a
We now cite Biblical texts that require apposition for their interpretation.
The Biblical Text:
Gn01-29:30 And God said, Behold, I have given you [Adam] every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, on which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, where there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so.
The Rashi Text:
God made Adam and the animals equal with regard to eating food.

H: THE THREE STUDENT LEVELS
We have indicated the three appositions in the above verse by using underline, bold and italics. We can approach teaching this apposition at three student levels.
The advanced level: Present the Biblical text to the student without underline or bold. Have the student do the following
- Tell the student that the above verse set has three appositions
- For each apposition underline or underline-bold the two apposed phrases
- Rearrange the sentence by uniting the apposed phrases
The intermediate level: Have the student do the following
- Rashi speaks about the equality of Adam and the animals
- Underline the phrases mentioning Adam and the animals
- Rearrange the sentence by uniting the apposed phrases
The Elementary Level: Have the student do the following
- Underline the words / phrases Adam and And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to every thing that creeps upon the earth where there is life
- Rearrange the sentence by uniting the apposed phrases

I: SOLUTION TO EXERCISES
We have already written the verse above and indicated apposed phrases by using bold, underline and italics. Here is the verse set rewritten with the apposed phrases united.
Gn01-29:30 And God said, Behold, I have given you [Adam] and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, where there is life.... I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, on which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed and every green herb for food to you it shall be for food; and it was so.
As can be seen the underlined phrase Adam apposes and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to every thing that creeps on the earth where there is life, Similarly the underlined bold phrase beginning herb, apposes the phrase beginning every green herb. Similarly the underlined, bold, italicized phrase for food apposes for food
Notice that Rashi only mentioned one of the three appositions and let the advanced student discover the other two. This is typical of Rashi's approach.

J: SOLUTION TO EXERCISES CONTINUED
To appreciate the value of apposition we present three versions of the rearranged text:
Version A:
God said I give plants for food to the living creatures.
Version B gives more detail using parenthetical inserts
God said I give plants (herbs, trees, fruits) for food to the living creatures (Adam,animals).
Version C gives the full text of the verse with however all apposed phrases united:
And God said, Behold, I have given to
- - you [Adam] and to
- - every beast of the earth, and to
- - every bird of the air, and to
- - every thing that creeps upon the earth, where there is life,
every
- - herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and
- - every tree, on which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; and
- - every green herb for food;
for food. [for food]
After reading version C the reader will appreciate the value of apposition---apposition allows initial terse sentences which facilitate comprehension and clarity.

K: REARRANGEMENT: EXAMPLE 1: Ex02-05a
Closely related to the apposition method is the rearrangement method. Ex02-05 provides a cute example.
The Biblical text
And Pharoh's daughter came down to wash on the river
The Rashi text
To understand the text you must rearrange it: And Pharoh's daughter came down on the river to wash
It is noteworthy that Rashi explicitly mentions the rearrangement method.

L: REARRANGEMENT EXPLAINED
To understand the rearrangement method first note that both the Biblical text and rearranged Rashi text say more or less the same thing. This difference between them is that the place in the verse of the underlined phrase on the river has been changed. It is a useful exercise to indicate rearrangements by skillfully underlining appropriate verse phrases.
Rashi's rearranged verse, even though it uses the same words, is slightly clearer then the original Biblical text. The original Biblical text when interpreted literally sounds as if Pharoh's daughter came down to bathe naked on the river! That is the juxtaposition of to wash and on the river could be misleading. By rearranging the text Rashi avoids this ambiguity: Pharoh's daughter came down on the river's edge where she presumably had a bath house in which she bathed.

M: SUMMARY AND STUDENT EXERCISES
To recap:
- The primary goal of rearrangement is to remove potential ambiguity
- The potential ambiguity of the original verse can often be captured by exaggeration and literalism
- The rearrangement can be indicated by underlining appropriate verse phrases.

N: STUDENT EXERCISES
Consequently, because of the simplicity of the rearrangement method, in the exercises below, we will not present three student levels. Rather, we will ask students to
- underline the phrase to be rearranged
- indicate the potential ambiguity of the original verse
- state the rearranged verse.

O: EXERCISES
In the following verses perform the student exercises indicated above using the underlined phrase
Example 2: Gn39-17e The slave who you brought to us to play with me came to me
Example 3: Ex30-18c Make a copper lavern with its foundation, copper, to wash

P: ANSWERS TO EXERCISES
Example 2:
The original verse sounds as if it is saying the slave who you brought for the purpose of playing with me came to me! The rearranged verse avoids this ambiguity by stating The slave who you brought to us came to me to play with me
Example 3:
The original verse sounds as if you can wash both from the copper lavern and from its foundation. The rearranged verse avoids this ambiguity by stating Make a copper lavern to wash with its foundation, copper.