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      2. RASHI METHOD: WORD MEANING
      BRIEF EXPLANATION: The meaning of words can be explained either by
      • (2a) translating an idiom, a group of words whose collective meaning transcends the meaning of its individual component words,
      • (2b) explaining the nuances and commonality of synonyms-homographs,
      • (2c) describing the usages of connective words like also,because,if-then, when,
      • (2d) indicating how grammatical conjugation can change word meaning
      • (2e) changing word meaning using the figures of speech common to all languages such as irony and oxymorons.
      This examples applies to Rashis Ex19-01a
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n9.htm
      Brief Summary: "THIS DAY you have come to Sinai" implies a pun: TODAY you receive the Torah.

The special word method deals with the few dozen special words that exist in all languages. Familiar examples are also, when, that, because, only, this,.... Rashi's job, when he comments on a special connective words, is to list the varied nuances and usages of the word. The most famous example is the Hebrew word Kaph Yud which can mean because, that, when, perhaps, rather, if. Sometimes Rashi explicitly gives all meanings of a connective word as happens with Kaph Yud while at other times Rashi does not give all meanings at once. In such a case the student must gather all the meanings together from various places.

The Hebrew word ZEH meaning this always denotes something pointed to. The list below presents several examples illustrating this fundamental method.

  • Verse Nu08-04 states And this is the workmanship of the lampstand was of hammered gold, its shaft, its flowers, was hammered work; according to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand. ; Rashi comments: God pointed to a Menorah of fire to facilitate Moses understanding its construction. ;
  • Verse Lv11-02 states Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which you shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. ; Rashi comments: God pointed to fire images of the Kosher animals to facilitate Moses identifying them; ;
  • Verse Ex19-01 states In the third month, when the people of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. ; Rashi comments: The phrase This day puns today (which can be pointed at). The verse puns as it were Today you receive the Torah. The verse emphasizes that you shouldn't think of the Torah as something given 2000 years ago but rather something given today. Conceptually, the Torah should be thought of as not belonging to any particular period.

Sermonic points: The Rashi is both psychological and political. Pschologically we are not studying something received 2000 years ago but something received today. Politically this Rashi attacks philosophical positions that the Torah, however great, exists within history at a certain time. Rather, the verse teaches us, that the Torah is equally relevant to each period of history including the current one.


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