The goal of this Weekly Rashi Digest is to use the weekly Torah portion to expose students at all levels to the ten major methods of commentary used by Rashi. It is hoped that continual weekly exposure to these ten major methods will enable students of all levels to acquire a familiarity and facility with the major exegetical methods.

Verse Ex18-04a discussing how God saved Moses from the execution attempts of Pharoh states and the name of the other was Eliezer: 'for the G-d of my father was my help, and saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.' . The underlined words saved me from the sword of Pharaoh' echo a reference to the verse where it shows that Pharoh wanted to kill Moses. Verse Ex02-11:15 states And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together; and he said to him that did the wrong: 'Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?' And he said: 'Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill me, as thou didst kill the Egyptian?' And Moses feared, and said: 'Surely the thing is known.' Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

Sermonic points: Although this story is well known perhaps there is a sermonic point that Moses did not remember that Jews wanted to kill him. Instead he remembered that Pharoh wanted to kill him. Here, at an early stage we see Moses as savior of the Jewish people. Moses blamed Egypt and what had happend, not the Jews themselves.

Rashi employs the methods of homographs - single words with multiple but related meanings. The Hebrew word studied is Sin-Resh This word has three distinct meanings
• Expert: Verse Gn40-16 illustrates this usage When the expert baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph: 'I also saw in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head;
• Leader: Verse Nu22-13 illustrates this usage. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the leaders of Balak: 'Get you into your land; for HaShem refuseth to give me leave to go with you.'
• Manager: Verse Ex18-21 illustrates this usage. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear G-d, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be managers of thousands, managers of hundreds, managers of fifties, and managers of tens.
Using the homograph rule Rashi explains that the fundamental unifying meaning of Sin Resh is leader, manager. This leadership can be expressed in three ways
• A leader in a field such as baking, wine making
• A leader in a geographic region
• A leader over a certain number of staff.
There is a subtlety in this Rashi that is often overlooked. The whole point of the homograph method is that the form of the words is identical. In other words the phrase Sin Resh, manager of X can equally refer to a situation where
• X is a geographic place
• X is field of endeavor
• X is a number

A miscellaneous rule in Biblical Grammar states that the pronoun for himself when used in a sentence functions adverbially to indicate that the activity of the sentence was done for personal reasons.

A good example of this occurs in Nu10-01:02 And HaShem spoke unto Moses, saying: Make for yourself two trumpets of silver; of beaten work shalt thou make them; and they shall be unto thee for the calling of the congregation, and for causing the camps to set forward. Rashi comments on the personal aspect of making the trumpets by providing three possible methods of personal aspect.
• Make the trumpets for yourself--only you can use them.
• Make the trumpets from your own funds
• The trumpets are used for your assemblies

We now turn to Ex18-27 which concludes the chapter describing how Jethro recognized the superiority of the Jewish God over other gods. The verse states And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went for himself into his own land. Rashi explains the personal aspect of Jethro returning home: He went home to transmit his new found belief in the Jewish God to his family and friends. Here Rashi gives a reasonable interpretation of personal aspect that is consistent with the overall chapter contents.

Advanced Rashi: The more scholarly reader will note that there appears something missing in this Rashi interpretation. After all even if for himself connotes personal aspect and even if Rashi's interpretation is consistent with the chapter, still there seems to be a giant leap from personal aspect to a statement that Jethro went to convert his family and friends. Perhaps Rashi gained support for his idea using the reference method. Verse Ju04-11 states Now the Kenite club, who was of the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent near the terebinth in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. We are not told what the nature of this Kenite club was; all we know is that they separated from the other Kenites and that the club was founded by Jethro, Moses father-in-law. It seems reasonable that this Kenite club was devoted to discussions and informal teachings and presentations about the Jewish God which Jethro had discovered from his son-in-law, Moses. Such club functions are very common. The focus on a different religion would also explain why the club had to separate from the other Kenites.

Notice how this Rashi is made more plausible by the combination of two Rashi methods-- the grammar method and the reference method. This, the use of two methods, is typical of advanced Rashi.

Acknowledgement: There are many Biblical verses with the words for himself. Rashi consistently interprets them as connoting personal use. After compiling a list of them my brother, the Honorable Neal Hendel of Beer Sheva pointed out that Ex18-27 should be in the list and needed extra explanation. This observation led me to spend considerable time on it till I found the reference in Judges to bolster the Rashi.

Notice the alignment in verse Ex24-01:02 discussing the closeness to God during the revelation:
• And unto Moses He said: 'Come up unto HaShem, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu,
• and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off;
and
• Moses alone shall come near unto HaShem; but
• they shall not come near; neither
• shall the people go up with him.'
The aligned verselets indicate three stages of nearness to God during the revelation
• Moses: Comes closest
• The elders: They ascend the mountain but do not come closer
• The nation: They are prohibited from even ascending the mountain

The above alignment clarifies verse Ex19-24 which also discusses the closeness to God during the revelation: And HaShem said unto him: 'Go, get thee down, and
• thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee;
• but let not the priests and
• the people break through to come up unto HaShem,
lest He break forth upon them.' Hence the Rashi comment:
• The people were prohibited from ascending the mountain
• The elders were allowed to ascend the mountain but were prohibited from coming closer to God (like Moses)
• The people were prohibited from even coming up the mountain.

Sermonic points: The above verses emphasize a doctrinal point of Judaism, the superiority of Mosaic prophecy. For although the elders were allowed to ascend the mountain their prophetic status of closeness to God was not as great as Moses. Since Moses had a higher state of prophecy it was important that the Torah be received by him and not by people with inferior prophetic status.

Note the contradiction in the following verses.
• Verse Ex20-19 discussing the revelation states And HaShem said unto Moses: Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. ;
• Verse Ex19-20 also discussing the revelation states And HaShem came down upon mount Sinai, to the top of the mount; and HaShem called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

We see the contradiction hinted at by the underlined words. Which is it: Did God speak from heaven or from the mountain top?
This contradiction is a classic case of the contradiction rule since it is resolved not by logic but rather by an explicit verse. Verse Dt04-36 states
• Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee; and upon
• earth He made thee to see His great fire; and thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire.
Thus the contradiction is resolved thru two aspects of God
• His voice resides and comes from Heaven
• His fire is earthly in nature

Sermonic points: Of course voice and fire are symbolic. The simple interpretation is that Fire symbolizes how God burns us if we deviate from the right path in order to correct our behavior; voice symbolizes the law as an academic intellectual doctrine. The verse emphasizes that if we want we can accept God's law academically and not need suffering. But if, as many of us do, we elect to learn from experience, then we do experience God's burning guidance.

6. RASHI METHOD: STYLE
Rashi examines how rules of style influences inferences between general and detail statements in paragraphs.
• Example: Every solo example stated by the Bible must be broadly generalized;
• Theme-Detail: A general principle followed by an example is interpreted restrictively---the general theme statement only applies in the case of the example;
• Theme-Detail-Theme: A Theme-Detail-Theme unit is interpreted as a paragraph. Consequently the details of the paragraph are generalized so that they are seen as illustrative of the theme.
This examples applies to Rashis Ex18-19a Ex18-23a
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ex18-19a.htm
Biblical verses Ex18-19:23 form a Biblical paragraph with a theme-detail-theme structure. The paragraph discusses Jethro's advice to Moses
• General: Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and G-d be with thee:
• Detail:
  • be thou for the people before G-d, and bring thou the causes unto G-d.
  • And thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws,
  • and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
  • Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear G-d, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons;
  • and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so shall they make it easier for thee and bear the burden with thee.
• General: If thou shalt do this thing, and G-d command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace.'
The general-theme-general structure seems to say the following
• General: God be with you and command you
• Detail: You will be a prophet for them, teach them, appoint judges, etc.
• General:God be with you and command you.

Hence the Rashi comment: Jethro besides advising Moses to teach the people and appoint judges also advised Moses to seek God's command and approval in folllowing Jethro's advice.

Here Rashi interprets the Detail clause as exemplifying the General-Theme clause. Hence just as the detail clause was advice Jethro gave Moses so too the General clause was advice Jethro gave Moses--that is, to seek God's approval.

Sermonic points: Jethro teaches an important principal of office politics -- suggestions from outside your component no matter how good should receive supervisor approval before implementation. This way colleagues in the component don't complain about outsider advice. In this case Jethro was telling Moses how to run the Jewish court system. Hence Jethro tells Moses that he must obtain approval from God before implementing Jethro's ideas.

7. RASHI METHOD: FORMATTING
BRIEF EXPLANATION:Inferences from Biblical formatting: --bold,italics, and paragraph structure.
• Use of repetition to indicate formatting effects: bold,italics,...;
• use of repeated keywords to indicate a bullet effect;
• rules governing use and interpretation of climactic sequence;
• rules governing paragraph development and discourse
This example applies to Rashis Ex18-10b
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn26-12a.htm

In my paper, just published, Biblical Formatting, I suggest that just as a modern author will use repeated keywords to indicate a bullet effect, so will the Biblical Author use repeated keywords to indicate a bullet effect. In other words the Biblical reader perceived repeated keywords the same way the modern reader perceives bullets. In both cases the bullets indicate to the reader an unspecified contrastive emphasis between the bullet items.

There is an important implication to this that is often overlooked. The unspecified emphasis implied by bullets as used by a modern author is perceived as the intended meaning of the text - it is not exegetical, though, since the emphasis is unspecified it is semi-conjectural. In a similar manner the unspecified emphasis implied by repeated keywords should be perceived as the intended meaning of the text - not as homiletic fancy.

Let us apply this bullets - repeated keywords analogy to verse Ex18-10 which discusses how God saved the Jews from Egypt: And Jethro said: 'Blessed be HaShem,
• who hath delivered you
  • out of the hand of the Egyptians, and
  • out of the hand of Pharaoh;
• who hath delivered the people
  • from under the hand of the Egyptians.
We have used modern bullet notation to hi-light the contrastive emphasis connoted by the repeating keywords. The Rashi comments explain this contrastive emphasis: God saved the Jews from
• the hand of the Egyptians--a difficult nation
• the hand of Pharoh -- a difficult leader
• under the hand of the Egyptians -- a difficult slavery.
Here Rashi sees the bullet items as indicating multiple dimensions of difficulty: Difficulty in the a) nation, b) leader (Pharoh) and c) the intensity of servitude.

Advanced Rashi: It is important to emphasize what Rashi is doing as well as what he is not doing. Rashi is not being picky on Biblical words -- Egypt, Pharoh, on-under the hand. Rather, Rashi is sensing broad connotations of unspecified emphasis implied by a bulleted structure. It seems to me that this is the most plausible way to understand these Rashis.

8. RASHI METHOD: DATABASES
BRIEF EXPLANATION:Rashi makes inferences from Database queries. The precise definition of database query has been identified in modern times with the 8 operations of Sequential Query Language (SQL).
This examples applies to Rashis Ex17-11a
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn06-14a.htm

Ex20-23a discussing the prohibition of ascending the ark in steps vs a ramp states Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon. Rashi, paraphrased explains If one, in a bathrobe, climbs a staircase vs. a ramp, then the footsteps involved are wider and since each step involves leg separation therefore more nakedness is uncovered. The Torah symbolically teaches us that we shouldn't embarass the stones by excessively uncovering our nakedness on them The anthropomorphic implication is that we should not embarass stones and how much more so we should not embarass our fellow human beings.

This interpretation appears slightly fanciful. To justify it requires a database query: In various moral episodes do we find spiritual leaders reinforcing necessary moral values with symbolic gestures? The answer to this query uncovers several such instances. These instances reinforce the reinterpretation approach indicated above. e present below half a dozen examples where symbolic gestures reinforce moral norms.
• Nu21-09a discussing the copper snake Moses made to cure the Jews who were being bitten by snakes for slandering God states And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. Here the people looking up to the snake is a symbolic gesture reminding them to pray to the God whom they slandered in order to repent from their slander and thereby earn merit to be cured.
• Gn06-14a discussing the Ark made by Noach to save the Jews states Make thee an ark of lava wood; with rooms shalt thou make the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Here Noah made the ark of lava wood to symbolize that the generation of the flood would be punished with molten lava for their sins if they did not repent.
• Verse Ex17-11a describing the war of the Jews against Amalayk states And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. The Talmud wryly asks: Do then Moses' hands create victory that when he raises them they were victorious but when he lowers them they were losing. But rather the verse is interpreted to mean When Moses raised his hands in prayer the Jews were victorious and when he lowered them they were losing.
• Ex17-11a discussing the war of the Jews and Amalayk states And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Here Moses raising his hands is symbolic of urging Jews to raise their hands in prayer which is the real reason they are winning.
• Lv20-15a presents the punishment of a death penalty to an animal who sleeps with a person. And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death; and ye shall slay the beast. This symbolically affirms how serious sexual crimes are. If we execute animals who violate them how much more so will the people who violate sexual norms be punished.
• Dt12-02 discussing the requirement to destroy idolatrous trees reinforces the requirement of avoiding idolatrous people: Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations that ye are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every leafy tree.

Sermonic Points: The idea is clear. If we in our daily lives wish to reinforce some moral norm we should use symbolic gestures.

Advanced Rashi: We revisit the Rashi on Ex20-23a which prohibited us from embarassing stones. We can further support Rashi as follows: It turns out that the Hebrew word for steps, Mem Ayin Lamed Tauv is also the Hebrew root for fantasies. Thus the Bible, when it prohibits using steps is also by a pun prohibiting encouraging fantasies. Thus we have a further reinforcement of our moral norm.

10. RASHI METHOD: SYMBOLISM
BRIEF EXPLANATION: Rashi provides symbolic interpretations of words, verses, and chapters. Rashi can symbolically interpret either
• (10a) entire Biblical chapters such as the gifts of the princes, Nu-07
• (10b) individual items, verses and words
The rules governing symbolism and symbolic interpretation are presented in detail on my website.
This examples applies to Rashis Ex17-11a
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn06-14a.htm

We have presented the Rashi method of symbolic gestures to reinforce moral norms in method #8, Databases above. The interested reader should reread that example now.

Conclusion

This week's parshah does not contain examples of the spreadsheet method. This concludes this weeks edition. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples.