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Are you busy? Visiting us for only a minute or two? Then read our weekly Rashi gems! This feature was started Nov 2007. Each week we will solve a Rashi that everyone thought was unsolvable. Not all Rashis are made equal --- -- Some can be explained easily -- Some can be explained routinely -- But the Rashi gems require ingenuity Click below to read this weeks Rashi gems All gems will be archived on this page. |
| May 5th 2008 | The verse says: "Eat the peace offering today and the day after;" But Rashi says "This teaches that the priest must slaughter with the intent of eating today and the day after." Doesn't this look strange? The verse says nothing about intention. But Rashi can be simply explained using the multi-verse grammatical rule: The previous verse IS speaking about intention and the two verses together tell us to INTEND to EAT the peace offering today and tomorrow. Read More... |
| Apr 14 2008 | HAPPY PASSOVER TO ALL. Many Rabbis believe that there is a fifth son - the apathetic Jew who does't CARE to ask. Actually however, the so called fourth son - WHO CAN NOT ASK - should really be the APATHETIC son since YoDayAH in Hebrew can equally mean CAN KNOW or CARES TO KNOW. The son who can't ask is classified as the SIMPLE SON. Furthermore the 4 sons define 4 DIMENSIONS of learning and enable Rabbis and teachers to classify Jewish children by personality type similar to modern personality learning theories such as the MYERS-BRIGGS. Read More... or, shorter version... |
| Apr 7 2008 | Many people believe that the Torah is written in a narrative-legal style. By contrast databases are perceived as something modern. The following Rashi shows how to take narrative text, convert it into traditional database form but still retain the simple expositional style of Rashi. Read More... |
| Mar 31 2008 | Many people think of sacrifices as a concession by God to the times since that is the way most religions worshipped God. You can even find this concession theory echoed in many great religious Jewish thinkers. But does it really make sense that God should devote over 20% of His most holy book, the Torah, to something that is only a concession? Surely there must be something higher hidden in the sacrifices. In fact the sacrifices were symbolic procedures which facilitated prophetic experiences. Today we don't have public prophecy and therefore may be unaware that the sacrifices had anything to do with sacrifices. But the real reason that God gave the sacrifices and that we aspire to the rebuilding of the Temple and restoration of sacrifices is a hidden deep desire to renew prophecy. Read More... |
| Mar 24 2008 | While symbolic associations can be a pleasant past-time, some associations are Biblically declared. One such declared symbolism is the "salt" symbolism. We must, says the Bible, "salt" all offerings. Salt is always used to "preserve status"-e.g. a destroyed land that was salted had its destruction preserved and could not be rebuilt while meat that was salted is preserved and decayed more slowly. The salted offerings symbolize that our relationship with God must be preserved and solidified against all forces of decay! (Rav Hirsch) Read More... |
| Mar 11 2008 | Many people erroneously think that Rashi exclusively devotes himself to grammar,meaning and style. We have made explicit the non-verse methods. They include archaeology, comparative philology, geometry and algebra. . Imagine the surprise when people find a Rashi which can only be understood using the rules for solving 1-variable linear equations. This topic (when expounded by Rashi) is clear lucid and enjoyable and shows a beautiful bonding of Torah and secular knowledge. Read More... |
| Mar 2 2008 | Many people erroneously think of Judaism as lineage-based. People are assigned to positions - priest, prophet, king - based on lineage irrespective of merit. Not so! For example Moses was the youngest and still was chosen as prophet over his older brother. David was youngest and chosen king over his older brothers. Can you think of more examples? Read More... |
| Feb 24 2008 | A very powerful Rashi method is the unified-meaning method. This method shows an underlying natural unity in disparate meanings of a Biblical root. The exposed underlying unity enriches our understanding of Biblical Hebrew by indicating new unexpected nuances. Consequently the method is both poetic and analytic. In today's example we show the underlying unity in: Sand, window, Dance-Flutes, desecrate, sick, corpse. Read More... |
| Feb 17 2008 | A very powerful Rashi method is the unified-meaning method. This method shows an underlying natural unity in disparate meanings of a Biblical root. The exposed underlying unity enriches our understanding of Biblical Hebrew by indicating new unexpected nuances. Consequently the method is both poetic and analytic. In today's example we show the underlying unity in: promotion, lifted, fire, clouds, pray, forgive. Read More... |
| Feb 10 2008 | Rashi frequently appears to simply be giving meaning, But by probing deeper one can see different approaches to meaning. There are 10 Rashi approaches to meaning. One approach seeks an underlying unifying commonality to disparate meanings of the same Biblical root. Today's Rashi finds a surprising unifying thread to FLEE and SUPPORTIVE-CENTER-BOARD. Read More... |
| Feb 3 2008 | Some people don't believe it when I tell them that a true reading of Rashi may require supplementation to existing Rashi text. Today's example is a good illustration. At Gn18-15a Rashis says that the Hebrew word KI has 4 meanings. But there are really 6: IF,BECAUSE,THAT,PERHAPS,RATHER,WHEN. Read here to see verses where these translations are natural and necessary. Read More... |
| Jan 27 2008 | Did you know that the Bible uses anthropomorphic personifications to convey messages: For example "Priests shouldn't ascend to the altar in robes on ramps (but use steps) because the exposure of nakedness might embarass the ramp steps"; Rashi wryly concludes: How must more so that we shouldnt embarass fellow humans. Read this gem for half a dozen such examples. Read More... |
| Jan 20 2008 | The Bible says "The Jews ate the Manna 40 years." But in actuality they ate it for "40 years lest one month." A simple explanation is that "ate 40 years" means "approximately 40 years." But lo and behold Rashi explains differently: "The cakes the Jews ate the first month tasted like Manna?" Why? What possessed Rashi? Read here to find out. Read More... |
| Jan 13 2008 | Rashi explains Ex12-03 "If the family is too small for the lamb" simply, to mean, "if the number of people in the family are to small to eat the whole lamb" Fine! Why does Rashi add additional explanations based on puns. Read here a fundamental Rashi approach making these added explanations natural. Read More ... |
| Jan 6 2008 | Gems needn't be profound. Today we present some adult humor from Rashi. How can a person be the son of his brother? Read here for the cute answer! Read More ... |
| Jan 1 2008 | Avimelech, when confronted by God for engaging a married woman, protested "I am INNOCENT and VIRTUOUS." God responded "I know you are INNOCENT" Rashi says that God implied "But you are not VIRTUOUS." Why? Is such an inference forced or optional. Read here to find how you, the reader, also make such inferences every day. Read More ... |
| Dec 24 2007 | 12 people spied Israel. The Bible explicitly speaks about the stop-over in Chevron. Why did Rashi say that 'Only CALEB went to Chevron?" Was Rashi peeking ahead at the defection of the other 10 spies and playing politics to make Caleb look better? Read here for a simple straightforward solution. Read More... |
| Dec 17 2007 | Pharoh's daughter's maidens saved Moses. But Rashi cites the queerest Midrash: 'Her hand stretched forth several feet' The Biblical text doesn't say that! Read how this Midrash is the simple meaning of the text. Read More .... |
| Dec 8 2007 | The verse says God is with him which simply means He was successful. Why did Rashi twist the meaning and interpret it to mean He mentions God's name frequently. Read More... |
| Dec 1 2007 | You know of Joseph's 2 dreams: a) The standing sheaves and b) the stars. Did you know about his 3rd dream? Read More.... |
| Nov 25 2007 | How dare Rashi accuse Leah of causing her daughter's rape because she was forward in her own personal life? Or did he really blaim her? Read More.... |
| Nov 19 2007 | If Jacob married the wrong wife why didn't he know immediately? Why did he only find out next morning? Who really tricked him? Read More.... |
| Nov 11 2007 | The verse uses the plural CONCUBINES. How can Rashi speak about "a deficient spelling indicating one concubine"? Read More... |
| Nov 4 2007 | Does Lot eating Matzoh justify Rashi thinking it was Passover? Read More... |