QUESTION: I have a bit of a technical question, I hope you can help me out here. Basically, there is a Rashi (to Isa. 41:2) where he explains how the righteous deeds (צדק) that a person does “greet his feet” wherever he may go (i.e. their merits are awakened before any possibly damaging situation arises). But my question is that if you look closely at Rashi’s wording, he treats the word צדק as though it was in feminine form, instead of treating it as a masculine word as it ought to be. Here’s Rashi’s exact wording:
ישעיהו מא:ב – צֶדֶק יִקְרָאֵהוּ לְרַגְלוֹ; רש”י – וצדק שהיה עושה היא היתה לקראת רגליו בכל אשר הלך.
So my question is, basically, why does Rash write היא היתה instead of הוא היה when talking about צדק?
One of the features on Mishnaic Hebrew in contrast to Biblical Hebrew is that there is a neglect or indifference to the correct agreements between masculine and feminine. See p. 366 of Mishnayoth by Philip Blackman, Judaica Press, Ltd., Gateshead; 1983.
It seems that that היא may not necessarily be referring back to the masculine noun צדק but rather to an abstract, general usage of the concept of “idea” or “thing”. “This is the [idea/notion/thing] that was before his feet.”