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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: dbmin9@aol.com<BR><BR><BR>>First of all, I would like to say
that I appreciate (and am amazed by!) <BR>>the astounding scholarship and
research that had to have gone into this <BR>>endeavor. I wonder how on earth
R' Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg (the?main <BR>>translator) and his collaborators
went about doing this?! [--old TK]<BR><BR>Not to take away from their
responsible decision not to neglect the lo'azim, very little astounding
scholarship and research needed to take place, since the astounding research and
scholarship has already taken place a century ago or more. R' Yisrael Isser Zvi
Herczeg did not need to become experts in Medieval French. They needed to read
books by experts in Medieval French. ....</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>So "has been thoroughly researched" most probably means "I sat
in the [NYPL, JTS Library, JNUL, borrowed volumes and learned what the words
mean," as opposed to original research in the languages and medieval
French texts. Not to take anything away from the Artscroll Rashi edition, which
is one of their best products, for
sure.<BR><BR><BR>KT,<BR>S.W.</FONT></DIV><FONT
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>>>>><BR>When I said I was astounded by the research done
by R' Herczeg (and his collaborators), I was not imagining that he had done
original research into old languages and medieval French texts! I meant to
express my admiration exactly for what you deride as "sitting in libraries"
and combing through the many books and dictionaries that have already been
compiled, in order to find the best or likeliest version of what old word Rashi
was using in his Hebrew spelling of French words (ArtScroll and Silbermann do
not always agree on the French, for example), as well as exactly what nuance of
meaning in the pasuk Rashi was trying to convey. Maybe it looks like easy
work to you, it sure doesn't look that way to me!</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>==========<BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________</B></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>