posts so far for parshat Naso

2008

1. The trup on umichsei hatachash
• may be reversed. Trup charts and discussion to illustrate.
  
2. Ufkudav -- As Hashem Commanded Moshe
• Understanding Rashi on this pasuk, which may involve getting the correct girsa of Rashi. And an analysis of Sifsei Chachamim's analysis.
  
3. Venistera, And She Is Defiled
• Is this saying that she was secretly defiled? That there was a separate action of seclusion?
  
4. The meaning of "And She Was Not Seized"
• Does this refer to rape? Or to her being caught in the act? If the latter, by whom? By witnesses or by her husband?
  
5. The Nature of the "Bitter" Waters
• Were they merely bitter in (potential) effect? Or were they physically bitter? Or were they poisonous? And if poisonous, was this due to trickery of the kohen who made a private determination that she was guilty -- thus eliminating any Divine role in any of this? Is this similar to trickery in how the ketores saved the people in the mageifa? How will Avi Ezer try to save Ibn Ezra from this heresy? How will Shadal reject this Ibn Ezra as a matter of peshat?
  
6. The bitter waters of Sotah as a selective abortive agent for bastards
   
• a weird theory, I grant you, but read it to see if it makes any sense
  
7. "Sitting" in Taanis, and Critiquing Homiletic Divrei Torah
• In which I critique a homiletic interpretation of a gemara relating to nazir, then discuss whether it is legitimate to critique homily. Finally, I find a version of the devar Torah, attributed to the same source, which better (though not entirely) accords with the shakla veTarya of the gemara.
8. The segol of Pera
• Understanding Rashi's grammatical point that the segol in the word pera is only there because it is the construct form. Even in absolute form it would remain the same. Shadal notes a variant girsa of Rashi which has him potentially referring to the patach, but even so, Rashi is not correct. I suggest that Rashi differs as to the pattern in play, and is working off the form as it appears in Aramaic, in Targum Onkelos.
  
9. HaMearerim as Accursed, Causing Curse, or Something Else
• A discussion of what Rashi means in his assessment of the word -- prickly rather than causing curse (the latter is Onkelos); then as it occurs in the Samaritan Targum and in Targum Pseudo-Yonatan, discerning.
  

2007

• A midrash, and my expansion, on why converts are great. And I link it to Shavuot.
  

2006

• Naso roundup from other blogs
  

2005

• Healed at Sinai (Naso/Shavuot)
• A midrash that all were healed in order to receive the Torah. We look at the derivations, then suggest a vector for the genesis and development of the midrash.
• Na Only Connotes Please
• cross-listed from Behaalotecha. We consider the meaning of X only connotes Y, and cite in part a midrash in Bamidbar Rabba about Shimshon.

2004

• A Hair-Raising Experience
• eh. I tried to make a link from a nazir's consecrated hair, burned on the altar, with the Indian hair wigs.
  
• Count
• C++ code to count the sons of Gershon.
  

to be continued...