Rabbi Ishmael Example Method:#36 of 36
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# 10 YEAR Ayelet DAILY-RASHI-YOMI CYCLE #
# Sep 17, 2000 #
# Rashis 272-322 Of 7800 (4.1%) #
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BACKGROUND EXAMPLE
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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
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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:
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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"
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THE FOLLOWING ARE COMPONENTS
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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)
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THE FOLLOWING IS THE CLIMAX
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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
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Dt16-19d: "For bribes distorts sharp people
Dt16-19e: and distorts words of righteous people
*1
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*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):
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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
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These are the DETAILS
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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)
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This is the GENERAL GOAL
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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
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*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
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(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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