Rabbi Ishmael Example Method:#32 of 36
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BACKGROUND EXAMPLE
------------------
Dt25-04a Dont muzzle an OX while threshing:
RASHI: Dont muzzle ANY ANIMAL

Lv01-02c Offer ANIMALS--Offer OX and SHEEP animals
RASHI: You can **ONLY** offer OX & SHEEP animals

Dt18-03b These are the laws for those who offer sacrifices
         Whether from Oxen or Sheep
RASHI: So these laws only apply to OXEN and SHEEP not to
       beasts and birds

Why the difference? Why in one verse do we generalize OXEN to any
animal, while in the other verse we restrict the law to ONLY oxen


OVERVIEW
--------
This module (which we have called CLIMAX) deals with the rules
governing the interpretation of Biblical examples. If the Torah
for example said "Eat apple pies" how should this be interpretd?

--Should we say "Eat apple pies" means **ONLY** eat apple pies
--Should we say "Eat apple pies" means eat ANYTHING TASTY
--Should we say "Eat apple pies" means eat FRUIT pies

In other words, how do we interpret the Biblical EXAMPLE
apple pie. Here are the rules governing interpretation
of Biblical EXAMPLES---the EXAMPLES summarizing the past
month will follow.



                -GRAND SUMMARY PART 3-


      -IN METHOD 3 WE KEEP THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION-





METHOD 2b: GENERAL-SPECIFIC--ONLY use the SPECIFIC
--------------------------------------------------
EXAMPLES
--------
Eat PIES--APPLE PIES        CONCLUSION: **ONLY** eat apple pies
(21)
Lv01-02c Offer animals-oxen  CONCLUSION: Only oxen can be offered


RULE: Sometimes the Bible will state something twice:
1st) It will state a GENERAL category (eg Offer animals,eat pies)
2nd)It then states a SPECIFIC example(eg Offer Oxen,eat apple pies

The rule is that the law ONLY applies to the specific example and
this example should NOT be generalized. *1

In the sequel we will use the terms GENERAL and SPECIFIC to refer
to the 2 parts of the sentence.



(22) Dt18-03b

   These are the laws for those who offer SACRIFICES (GENERAL)
   ..whether OXEN or SHEEP                           (DETAILS)

   So the above laws ONLY apply to OXEN and SHEEP
   not to BEASTS or BIRDS





(23) Lv07-12 (Mnacoth 78a) (From talmud not Rashi)

     A person who brings a thanksgiving offering
     should bring the CHALAH (minchah) offering also-GENERAL
     ---either the MATZOH WAFER OFFERING-------------DETAIL
     ---or the RICH OIL CHALAH OFFERING

     TALMUD: Only these two types of Minchah offerings
     (Matzoh and Rich-oil-challah) can be brought.





(24) Lv07-26a (See Krituth 21a)

The verses state Lv07-26:27
        Dont eat any blood-----------GENERAL STATEMENT
        of birds, animals------------PARTICULAR
        If you eat blood you'll be cut off (as punishment)

RASHI: So the law is that only blood of birds and animals is
        prohibited (but not eg blood of fish, grasshopers etc
        which is not prohibited with a cutoff punishment)*2





(25) Lv11-21b (ALso see Chullin 66a)
Lv11-21:23 reads as follows
        Do not eat insect-like creatures----GENERAL
        Do not eat insect-1, insect-2 ...---DETAILS
        Any insect with 4 legs should not be eaten*3

RASHI:Rashi explicitly says 'you cannot eat these insect
        creatures if it has the names 'insect-4..'.

        So Rashi identifies the law with the specific examples
        given. So Rashi is interpreting this as GENERAL-DETAIL*3




(26) Dt21-22b (Sanhedrin 45b)

        The verse states
        When a person commits a capital crime---GENERAL
        then you should hang him on a tree(ie besides
        executing him you should hang him)

        ...
        for he has DESPISED GOD------------------DETAIL

        RASHI: ALL executed people are also hung after
        the execution. Even though the DETAILED stage
        says "those that DESPISED GOD" should be hung,
        (implying that ONLY the blasphemer and idolater
         who despise God should be hung) nevertheless
        we do not apply the GENERAL-DETAIL template since
        the DETAIL phrase is separated from the GENERAL
        phrase; And a GENERAL-DETAIL set that is separated
        in not judged as a GENERAL-DETAIL style.*4



NOTES
-----
*1 There are certain subrules to this rule which we will not
   go into here (but will go into in footnotes to this whole
   topic). As a simple example of something we will not go
   into, the Talmud views a GENERAL and SPECIFIC statement that
   are NOT next to each other as different than 1 sentence with
   GENERAL and SPECIFIC (See San 45 and Dt21-22b for an example)

*2 There is a suggestion in the Talmud that this has a
   GENERAL-DETAIL-GENERAL form. Some argue that the following
   sentence "If you eat blood you will die" is a GENERAL
   STATEMENT. But the opposing side contends that the 1st
   and last GENERAL statement do not resemble each other.
   The opposing side contends that "Punishment, if
   you eat blood" is different than "Prohibition, to eat blood"
   This is the so called GENERAL-SPECIFIC-GENERAL case where the
   1st and last general are not the same. I it will be discussed
   in the footnotes (Krithuth 21a)

*3 Again there is controversy here in the talmud whether this
   is GENERAL-PARTICULAR or GENERAL-PARTICULAR-GENERAL. To
   ease translation I have simply called the insects insect-1
   insect-2 etc (and not given their names). Please see any
   good translation for names.This also is an example of whether
   we use a GENERAL-PARTICULAR style or GENERAL-LIMITATION
   style. See the summary footnotes on this issue.


*4 The Rambam codifies the law according to the GENERAL-DETAIL
   paradigm (Only blasphemers and idolaters are hung). There is
   controversy in the Talmud on the GENERAL-DETAIL paradigm
   when the two phrases are separated. I have filled in the words
   in Rashi to show that he brought this to make a point that
   the concensus in Law is that GENERAL-DETAIL with
   separation should not be judged as GENERAL DETAIL.


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