Friday, January 16, 2009

Understanding Rashi

If your children are anything like mine, they will return from school this afternoon repeating the following bits of extra biblical information:

Moshe killed the taskmaster through his magical use of the ineffable Name.

The two Hebrew men Moshe saw arguing were none other than Dathan and Abiram.

Pharaoh arrested Moshe, and sentenced him to execution, but the executioner's sword had no affect on him.

Each of these tidbits is originally found in the Midrash, and cited by Rashi. The rule, though, is that Rashi is not an anthology of midrashim. Every midrash he cites, hangs on some scriptural peg, and, are intended to resolve some perceived scriptural difficulty or anomaly. Here, then, is the textual rational behind each of the statements recorded above:

Moshe killed the taskmaster through his magical use of the ineffable Name.
When Moshe meets the two arguing Hebrews, one says to him: הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר? The usual translation is "Are you intending to kill us?" but Rashi seems alert to the fact that the question is expressed indirectly. The literal translation is "To kill me you are saying?" and Rashi seems to take it as "Will you kill me by saying." (Mizrachi)

The two Hebrew men Moshe saw arguing were none other than Dathan and Abiram.
The verse says "Two Hebrew men." Later, Dathan and Abiram are called men. (Weak, I think, but its all I've got)

Pharaoh arrested Moshe, and sentenced him to execution, but the executioner's sword had no affect on him.
The verse says: וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ע פַּרְעֹה֙ אֶת־הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה וַיְבַקֵּ֖שׁ לַהֲרֹ֣ג אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֑ה, which means "Pharaoh heard [that Moshe killed the Egyptian] and sought to kill Moshe." Because it does not say "He sought Moshe in order to kill him." the suggestion is that he was taken into custody. (Sefer Zikaron) Later, we learn that Moshe had been directly saved not just from Pharaoh, but from his sword (Rashi there)



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