[Avodah] Fwd (newsletterserver at aish.com): What's Bothering Rashi - Mishpatim

[Micha Berger]

I think RAB misses an important and more general issue.

To the Rashbam and IE, "peshat" would mean avoiding the halachic pretense
that the ba bamachteres is already dead. To Rashi, resolving word oddities
by pointing to deeper layers of meaning /are/ part of "peshat". If the
subject of the sentence is the thief, then Rashi finds it better to assume
the word still means thief and go deeper than take his grandson's route.

To my mind, this is but one example of their deeper stylistic difference.

-Micha

----- Forwarded message from "Aish.com" <newsletterserver at aish.com> -----
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:59:00 -- 0600
From: "Aish.com" <newsletterserver at aish.com>
Subject: What's Bothering Rashi -- Mishpatim
To: micha at aishdas.org
Reply-To: Rashi at aish.com

Mishpatim (Exodus 21-24)
What's Bothering Rashi: Mishpatim 5768 
by Dr. Avigdor Bonchek 

This week's parsha comes right after the Giving of the Torah at Sinai,
and contains numerous mitzvot -- 53 to be exact. These are mostly mitzvot
between man and man, though there are some that are between man and
God. An array of civil laws are recorded. Following is one relating to
an intruder who is killed while secretly entering someone's home.

Exodus 22:1

If while breaking in, the thief is discovered and he is struck and dies
he has no blood.

RASHI

He has no blood -- RASHI: This is not murder, for he (the intruder) is as
if dead already. From this the Torah teaches us that if one comes to kill
you, you should rise early to kill him. And in this case (our verse),
he (the intruder) has come with intent to kill you, for he knows that
no one will stand by and see someone run off with his money and remain
silent. Therefore on this understanding he entered -- that if the owner
will stand up against him he will have to kill him.

WHAT IS RASHI SAYING?

Rashi is telling us that the words he has no blood refer to the intruder
and mean he is a dead man -- just as a dead man has no vital fluids,
so this man is as good as dead. Therefore if the householder kills him,
he is innocent, for it is as if he has killed a dead man.

The point of Rashi's comment is to interpret the strange phrase he has
no blood.

RASHBAM AND IBN EZRA

The Rashbam and the Ibn Ezra (they were contemporaries and both lived
during Rashi's lifetime) interpret this phrase differently. They say
it means the householder who killed the intruder has no blood guilt
-- that is, he is innocent. So all three commentaries agree the verse
is telling us that the killing is not punishable since the man killed
in self-defense.

But they disagree on the object of the pronoun he in he has no
blood. Rashi says it refers to the intruder. Rashbam and Ibn Ezra say
it refers to the householder.

Can you justify Rashi's choice? Why does Rashi think the word refers to
the intruder?

Hint: Look at the whole verse.

Your Answer:

UNDERSTANDING RASHI

An Answer: In our verse the only person mentioned is the intruder. There
is no direct mention of the householder. So Rashi assumes that the
pronoun refers back to the intruder.

Perhaps the Rashbam and Ibn Ezra interpret he has no blood as referring
to the householder because the alternative, saying that he has no blood --
refering to the thief -- is a strange way to refer to a guilty man.

A CLOSER LOOK

Rashi adds an additional point when he says: From this the Torah teaches
us that if one comes to kill you, you should rise early to kill him. This
is the concept of self-defense.

But why do you think he used the words rise up early? He could just
have said, From this the Torah teaches us that if one comes to kill you,
you should kill him.

What do think these words teach us?

Your Answer:

A BETTER UNDERSTANDING

A person might deliberate when approached by a suspicious and dangerous
looking person How do I know he REALLY intends to kill me? Maybe I should
wait until I'm absolutely positive of his murderous intentions. Therefore
Rashi says rise up early -- be proactive. You cannot wait until the last
minute, because by then it may be too late. Of course, one must always
use his judgement and not be trigger-happy. But when it comes down to
my life or his -- my life comes first!

Shabbat Shalom, Avigdor Bonchek

"What's Bothering Rashi?" is a production of "The Institute for the
Study of Rashi."

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