Parashas Tzav

"If either a vow or a voluntary offering are the sacrifices of his offerings it shall be eaten on the day of his offering and on the next day and the remnant of it may be eaten."

RASHI's COMMENT:

AND ON THE NEXT DAY THE REMNANT OF IT: Rashi: on the first day. MAY BE EATEN. This letter 'vav' is redundant (in English "and the remnant" the word 'and' is redundant).

There are many similar examples in Scriptures, for example etc.

Questioning Rashi

This is a fine example of a Type II comment, its style is brief and Rashi inserts a word or two within the Torah's words. Such comments are intended to help us avoid a misunderstanding. What misunderstanding?

A Possible Misundertstanding

If we read the word 'and' in this verse we could possibly interpret the verse as follows: "it shall be eaten on the day of its offering (day One) and on the next day" (day Two) "AND the remnant of it may be eaten (day Three)." Meaning that the offering may be eaten for three days in succession. But this is patently wrong because it explicitly says in the next verse "Whatever is ... left over shall be burnt on the third day." Thus Rashi's comment comes to help us avoid this misunderstanding. But Rashi's interpretation can only be accepted if the word 'and' in the phrase 'and the remnant' is ignored. Rashi cites other examples where a 'vav' is extra in the Torah and Tanach. This is important to note. Because, though we accept as basic the idea that there are no extra words or letters in the Torah, nevertheless, Rashi tells us that there are cases where a letter may be added for stylistic reasons. In such cases its meaning should be ignored.

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Shabbat Shalom

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