2 words: WITH vs ACCOMPANY :#3 of 4
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# 10 YEAR Ayelet DAILY-RASHI-YOMI CYCLE #
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# Rashis 730-730 Of 7800 (9.3%) #
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GOALS:
=====
A person completing this module will be able to correctly
identify the nuances of the 2 Hebrew phrases meaning WITH HIM
OVERVIEW:
=========
This module focuses on a beautiful principle of the
Malbim which can explain many difficult Midrashim.
In a nutshell, in Hebrew there are two ways to
say that an activity was done WITH someone---you
can use the Hebrew words IMO and ITO which loosely
speaking translate to WITH vs ACCOMPANYING
Malbim(Lv19-13) explicitly suggests that
---IMO (WITH) implies that BOTH were equal in the activity
---ITO (ACCOMPANIED) implies one was SUBORDINATE to the other
A modern linguistic analogy would be VOUS vs TU in French
(both mean YOU but you only use TU with someone you are
FAMILIAR with and use VOUS with a stranger).
TODAYS UNIT
===========
We cover the seduction scene of Potiperahs wife towards
Rashi. THIS UNIT IS INSTRUCTIVE SINCE IT ENABLES US TO
TO SEE HOW THE PROPER LEARNING OF RASHI WITH LISTS ENABLES
CORRECTIONS OF ERRORS IN RASHI (The Rashi text we have
has a transcription error from the Great Midrash Rabbah---
details are presented below)
REFERENCE:
=========
This module comes from the following digests in the
Rashi-is-Simple series. This unit uses the old(confusing) notation.
We have corrected that notation in this module
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/h3n13.htm
#*#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi 2001, Dr Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#*#*#
EXAMPLE 5: Gn39-10a
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BACKGROUND
----------
Recall Joseph was a slave in Egypt working for a man named
Potiperah. Potiperahs wife had tried many times to seduce
Joseph into having an affair with her.
THE VERSE: (Potiperah's wife said) Sleep NEAR ME, be WITH me
THE RASHI:
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The phrase
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SLEEP NEAR ME
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denotes lying in bed with someone but without intimacy(See the
NOTES section below for LISTS of Biblical verses justifying this)
When Potiperah's wife asked Joseph to
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be WITH me
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there is an emphasis that Joseph should BE WITH her (as an
equal), and not just ACCOMPANY her as a slave.
Probably Potiperah's wife's intent was to have her husband
killed and then marry Joseph who would therefore no longer
be a slave but rather her equal. In other words Joseph would
then be WITH her vs ACCOMPANY her.
There are many subtle points about Rashi's form.
The Great Midrash Rabbah on this verse may be found in Gen Rabbah 87:6.
The Great Midrash Rabbah interprets the phrase where
Potiperahs wife requested that Joseph
----------
be WITH me
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to mean that Joseph should
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go down to Hell with her
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But Rashi changes the Midrash's words. Rashi did not interpret
BE WITH ME to mean GO DOWN TO HELL WITH ME but rather
interpreted BE WITH ME to mean
--------------------
Go to Heaven with me
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I think it obvious that a mistake has occured in the
text of Rashi (either Rashi himself made the mistake
or someone transcribing his works).
This shows the importance of learning the REASONS behind
Rashis statements and justifying them with LISTS. By doing
so we can appropriately interpret statements and avoid
errors of translation.
The LIST of examples we have been reviewing shows that
Rashi focused on the difference in nuance between being
WITH vs ACCOMPANYING a person. Hence Potiperah requested
some type of equality with Joseph (I suggested marriage).
The Midrash Rabbah suggests equality in the hereafter.
Thus the use of LISTS enables us to focus on Rashis main
points
------------------------NOTES----------------------------------
=========== LIST OF EXPRESSIONS DENOTING MALE-FEMALE INTIMACY====
The traditional Biblical terms for physical intimacy are
SLEEP WITH and SLEEP OF (sometimes indicating rape). The
phrase SLEEP NEAR only occurs once and therefore probably
means to lie in the same bed without (full) intimacy
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VERSE PRONOUN ACT DESCRIBED
======= ======= =============
Dt27-22 WITH Adultery
Dt27-21 WITH Besitality
Dt27-20 WITH Incest*1
Gn34-7 OF Rape*2
Lv20-11 OF Incest*1
Lv20-13 OF Homosexuality
Gn39-10 BY Share a bed without intimacy
NOTES
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*1 Incest can have EITHER the SLEEP WITH or SLEEP OF form
By contrast...
*2 Rape ONLY has the SLEEP OF form. It would be an interesting
question to find out the rules governing pronoun usage.
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#*#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi 2001, Dr Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#*#*#