Rabbi Ishmael Example Method:#36 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--
                       --METHOD 3C--
              --RASHI REINTERPRETS VERSES FROM CONTEXT--
              --THE CONTEXT USUALLY DESCRIBES A TEMPORAL SEQUENCE--


3c) Dt19-11    If you HATE a person
               and you STALK him
               and you ARISE on him
               and then LETHALLY HIT him
    RASHI: The Bible outlines 4 stages that lead to murder.
           1st you HATE the person, then you SPY on him...
           Then you CONFRONT him and finally this leads to murder
    In method 3c we infer meaning from CONTEXT
    The EXAMPLES usually describe a TEMPORAL sequence leading
    to a CLIMAX.


                --We now continue with the Examples--





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(101) Dt21-22a  Why do children commit horrible crimes?
                The Bible in 4 paragraphs describes the
                following sequence:

 ---You take a captive woman(Whom you end up hating)
 ---You have 2 wives...a 'real one' and a 'despised one'
 ---You have a rebellious son
 ---a capital crime is committed against God

MORAL: Avoid making your children into criminals; instead
only marry someone you are compatable with (cf Rape of Tamar
by Amnon in 2Sam13 which turned love (actually lust) into hatred)

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(102) Dt21-14a  How does love turn into hate?
                The Bible describes the following sequence.

 --You capture a foreign woman
 --You find her attractive
 --You have an affair with her
 --You bring her into your house
 --Then you will end up hating her*1

 NOTES
 -----
 *1 The verse actually says "if you hate her then let her go"

MORAL: Avoid hatred later in life by not having affairs/marriages
with women you disagree with. (cf Rape of Tamar by Amnon in 2Sam13
which turned love (actually lust) into hatred)
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(103) Dt22-14a   How do bitter divorce battles happen
                 The following are the DETAILS/COMPONENTS

 ---He HATES his wife
 ---He ARGUES about her
 ---He MALIGNS her
 ---He claims she wasn't a VIRGIN on the wedding night


MORAL: To avoid bitter divorces see to it that arguments
don't include maligning each other.
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(104) Dt19-11a How do murders happen?



 --If you HATE your friend
 --You AMBUSH and STALK him
 --You CONFRONT him
 --And you KILL him


MORAL: To avoid murder don't SPY/STALK on a people you hate
Instead ignore them
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(105) Dt32-15a
(106) Dt32-15b
(107) Dt32-15d The Bible lists 3 stages in overeating
 ----Overeat
 ----Becoming Overweight
 ----Becoming Flabby*1

NOTES
-----
*1 Rashi compares these 3 stages to 3 stages of idolatry
   * Worshiping idols
   * becoming INVOLVED (overweight!) in other cultures
   * becoming settled in their ways;(Flabby)
     This makes going back difficult;

MORAL: If you do get invovled with anoter culture leave
before you become 'settled'.
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(108) Dt11-25a
 Using Dt07-22, Rashi lists 4 stages in destroying a nation

 ----Destroy the country
 ----Destroy the leaders who might be left over
 ----Eradicate their good name (It might inspire rebuilding)
 ----Don't allow any escapees (who might rebuild out of revenge)

MORAL: If your country is being destroyed try and save some
leaders with good names who will be capable of rebuilding.

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(109) Lv26-14a
(110) Lv26-14b
(111) Lv26-15a
(112) Lv26-16b
(113) Lv26-16c
(114) Lv26-16d
(115) Lv26-16e

BACKGROUND: How does APOSTASY--the total leaving of Judaism, happen

 ---1st You stop         LEARNING
 ---2nd You stop certain PERFORMANCES of commandments
 ---3rd You              MAKE FUN of irrational commandments
 ---4th You              AVOID JEWIS COURTS
 ---5th You              AVOID the COMMUNITY
 ---6th You commit       COMPLETE APOSTASY ON JUDAISM*1


MORAL: If a person starts turning astray make sure to maintain
community ties with the person in order to facilitate bringing
him/her back.


NOTES:
------
In the main posting there are 5 supportive linguistic
items used to bolster the above


a) The use of the word MY in the last 2 verses
   Emphasizing rebellion against God (Please read the
   original text (or in English) to see this.

   Thus in this case the first few verses state
   "if you do not listen to me and don't do THE COMMANDMENTS"

   The next verse however says "If you despise MY statutes"

b) The use of INFINITIVES denoting ongoing process
   in the last verse--LEAVING THE COMMUNITY
   (vs ordinary verbs in the 1st--'dont listen')

c) The reversal of VERB-OBJECT order. (So the 2nd sentence
   reads "and if the IRRATIONAL COMMANDMENTS you despise")

d) The transition from ACTION verbs in sentence 1 (DO LISTEN)
   to EMOTIONAL verbs in sentence2 (DESPISE)


e) The use of the word IF in the first few verses
   ('IF you don't listen' and 'IF you don't do') vs the
   use of the word UNTIL in the last verse('UNTIL you
   reach apostasy')
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    -------------------------------------------------------
    In the following examples there is no sequential climax
    Instead, the last phrase is a CLIMAX
    & the first 2-3 phrases illustrate NEEDED COMPONENTS
    -------------------------------------------------------



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(116) Dt16-19a
(117) Dt16-19b
(118) Dt16-19c
(119) Dt16-19d
(120) Dt16-19e
(121) Dt16-20a


Dt16-19:20   How to achieve a societal atmosphere of Justice?
             How do you achieve "JUSTICE JUSTICE PURSUE"

    ----------------------------
    THE FOLLOWING ARE COMPONENTS
    ----------------------------

 1a) Don't harass VERDICTS (eg make an innocent person guilty)
 1b) Don't harass LITIGANTS(eg smile at one;be formal with other)
 1c) Don't harass YOURSELF(eg taking bribes even for true verdicts)

    ---------------------------
    THE FOLLOWING IS THE CLIMAX
    ---------------------------
 1d) "Justice Justice Pursue" RASHI: A nice judicial atmosphere



NOTES:
-----
Here are the actual verses and the Rashis. Note how the
association between verses and Rashis is not that strong.
In other words Rashi used the principle of CONTEXT to justify
reinterpreting the individual verses as indicating components
of the general goal. Here are the 6 verses and Rashis


Dt16-19a "Don't distort justice" RASHI: Don't distort VERDICTS
Dt16-19b "Don't recognize people"RASHI: eg smile to 1;frown to 2nd
Dt16-19c:"Don't take Bribes" RASHI: Even for true verdicts


   ----------------------------------------------------------
   Dt16-19d: "For bribes  distorts          sharp people
   Dt16-19e:  and         distorts words of righteous people
                                   *1
   ----------------------------------------------------------
 *1 Notice how in one verse emphasizes distortion of people
    While the other verse emphasizes distortion of words

 Thus we see that Bribes distort both
 ---sharpness  AND
 ---FORMULATION of verdict (ie WORDS of righteous people)
 (Eg You decided the verdict and someone then gives you a bribe
 to decide the verdict along the lines you just decided!!
 It is still prohibited to take the bribe as
 eg you might not forumlate the verdict in a way that is
 sympathetic to the loser OR
 you might, in sentencing, be harsher than usual)





 Dt16-20a "Justice Justice pursue"--
          RASHI: A nice court and judicial atmosphere

 NOTE:
 ----
 Rashi on Dt16-20a also follows the rule of
 DOUBLE NOUNS (ie REPEATED NOUNS) The repeated words
 JUSTICE JUSTICE denotes doing something in all
 circumstances.
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(122) Dt06-13a

 FEAR God
 WORSHIP God
 SWEAR by his name.


 RASHI (rephrased):
 -----------------
 RATIONAL: A person tends to swear by those things that
 -a) he is AFRAID of
 -b) he is INVOLVED in and WORKS at.

 MORAL: If you are AFRAID of God and are INVOLVED in his works
 then you will spontaneously swear by him when you are angry:
 (By contrast if you are CONCERNED of your standing in the
 physical community and are INVOLVED in the physical community
 then your swearing will be 'foul' (ie 'physical'). Thus you
 can tell by how a person swears 'where' he/she is.
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(123) Dt13-05a
(124) Dt13-05b
(125) Dt13-05c
(126) Dt13-05d

Dt13-05  The Bible deals with the general question of how
         to achive 'hanging out' with the religious community
         It lists the following components
 ---------------------------------------------------
  These are the DETAILS
 ---------------------------------------------------

 Dt13-05a Watch Gods COMMANDMENTS  Rashi: The TORAH*1
 Dt13-05b Listen to his VOICE*1    Rashi: Enactments of PROPHETS
 Dt13-05c WORSHIP him*1            Rashi: Temple service(PRIEST)

 -----------------------------------------------
  This is the GENERAL GOAL
 -----------------------------------------------

 Dt13-05d "Hang out"*2 with the religious community

MORAL: We can use the above checklist if a person isn't well
knit in the community. eg, perhaps a person is strong in Torah
and PROPHETS(rabbinical ordinances) but is weak in SYMBOLIC
commandments (PRIEST) and that is why he isnt fully accepted.

NOTES
------
*1 We emphasize how the interpretation of the above verse was
 accomplished by climax. Indeed each of the words in the
 verse has ambiguous meaning

 "LISTEN TO HIS COMMANDS" could mean EITHER observe the Torah
 or listen to the prophets.

 "HEARKEN TO HIS VOICE" can refer to prophecy(See Rashi on
 Gn21-12). "HEARKEN TO HIS VOICE" can also eg simply mean
 observing the Torah!

 "WORSHIP HIM" could mean "perform all his commandments".
 "WORSHIP HIM" can also refer specifically to temple service
 (ef Nu18-06).

So **each** of these phrases could mean EITHER to perform
commandments or could mean something specific.

It is therefore the principle of CONTEXT &/or GENERAL-DETAIL
which encourages me to interpret these phrases in a manner
that climatically leads to a terminal goal of "hanging out
with the religious crowd."



*2 In this footnote we show that the interpretation o f
 Dt13-05d as "Hang out with the righteous" is consistent with
 the usage of the verb DVK. Please visit URL
 http://www.RashiYomi.Com/dt11-22c.htm. Here is a summary

 RULE: The meaning of the Hebrew root D-V-K varies according to
 the connective word that is used with it. The root can mean
 PASTED, OVERTAKE, HANG OUT WITH, ADOPT A LIFE STYLE.

 EXAMPLES
 --------

(2a)D-V-K TO means PASTED as in Thr4-4"Infant tongues became
    PASTED to their Palate because of the drought"

(2b)D-V-K ETH means OVERTAKE as in Gn31-23 "Laban OVERTOOK Jacob"

(2c)D-V-K WITH & D-V-K IN mean to "HANG OUT WITH" or "ADOPT A
   "LIFESTYLE" as in Ruth2-8 "HANG OUT with my workers" or
   2King3 "He clung to YARAVAMS LIFE STYLE of sin" or 1King11-2
   "King Solomon HUNG OUT (or ADOPTED LIFE STYLE) of the heathen
   women he married"

(2d)Dt11-22c means "Adopt a Godly LIFE STYLE" or "HANG OUT with
    people of God" and is interpreted to mean that one should
    try and "hang out" with Torah scholars.
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