1. RASHI METHOD: REFERENCES BRIEF EXPLANATION: Commentary on a verse is provided thru a cross-reference to another verse. The cross references can either provide (1a) further details, (1b) confirm citations, or (1c) clarify word meaning. This examples applies to Rashis Ex19-05b URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1401.htm Brief Summary: The statement IF YOU WILL OBSERVE MY CONVENANT (Ex19-05b) REFERENCES Ex24-07 which refers to the 10 commandments as THE BOOK OF THE CONVENANT

Verse Ex19-05b discussing the requirement of accepting God's convenant as a prerequisite to obtaining God's assistance in becoming a priestly holy nation states Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; Rashi notes that the underlined words, keep my convenant references verses Ex24-07 discussing the establishment of the convenant (acceptance of the 10 commandments) Hence the Rashi comment The statement in Ex19-05b that the Jews must accept God's convenant echoes the acceptance of the book of the convenant, the 10 commandments, mentioned in Ex24-07.

Text of Target Verse Ex19-05b	Text of Reference Verse Ex24-05:08
Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine;	And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, All that the Lord has said will we do, and obey. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.
Rashi comments: The statement in Ex19-05b that the Jews must accept God's convenant echoes the acceptance of the book of the convenant, the 10 commandments, mentioned in Ex24-07.

The special word method deals with the few dozen special connective words that exist in all languages. Familiar examples are also, when, that, if, then, all, because, only, this,.... These words are typically
• adverbs such as all,also
• connective words, such as either
• conjunctions such as if, then, because
• articles or demonstrative or abstract pronouns such as the, this, that or
• propositional connectives such as in,on,to,from.
Rashi's job, when he comments on a special connective words, is to enumeratively list the nuances and usages of the word.

The most famous example of the special word method is the Hebrew word Kaph Yud which can mean because, that, when, lest,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 Rashi student must gather all the meanings together from various places.

One can classify the special word method as either a meaning sub-method or grammar sub-method.

Today we deal with the Hebrew special word Kuph-Yud which can have any of the following meanings.
• when for example, Dt32-03a When I call the name of God, give greatness to our Lord
• because for example, Gn18-15a Sarah denied laughing because she was afraid
• rather for example, Dt15-08b Don't be miserly, rather give [charity]
• that Nu20-29c The congregation saw that Aaron died
• lest Ex20-22c If you build a stone altar don't build it from hewn stones lest you waive a sword on it and descecrate it
• perhaps Ex23-05a Perhaps you will see a donkey and desert it? [no] help it.
• if Ex34-09a God please walk with us; if we sin you can forgive us.

Applying this rule to the translation of Ex20-22c we obtain If you build a stone altar don't build it from hewn stones lest you waive a sword on it and descecrate it As is our practice we have embedded the Rashi translation in the verse.

Today Hebrew grammar is well understood and there are many books on it. Rashi, however, lived before the age of grammar books. A major Rashi method is therefore the teaching of basic grammar.

Many students belittle this aspect of Rashi. They erroneously think that because of modern methods we know more. However Rashi will frequently focus on rare grammatical points not covered in conventional textbooks.

There are many classical aspects to grammar whether in Hebrew or other languages. They include
• The rules for conjugating verbs. These rules govern how you differentiate person, plurality, tense, mode, gender, mood, and designation of the objects and indirect objects of the verb. For example how do you conjugate, in any language, I sang, we will sing, we wish to sing, she sang it.
• Rules of agreement. For example agreement of subject and verb, of noun and adjective; whether agreement in gender or plurality.
• Rules of Pronoun reference.
• Rules of word sequence. This is a beautiful topic which is not always covered in classical grammatical textbooks.

Today we deal with the Biblical rules governing use of an indirect object introduced by the word for for example for you, for myself. The basic rule enunciated by Rashi in several places is that For indicates a personal aspect.

We apply the preceding analysis to Ex20-19d. Don't make with me gold gods and silver gods; [also] don't make for your personal use. [Rashi: Do not make personal replicas of the Temple angels; for example, don't make in your synagogues replicas of the golden Keruvim-angels in God's Temple.]

Advanced Rashi: Rashi's point is that the two verse halves form an alignment with two distinct prohibitions:
• Don't make idols to worship (even if you still believe in Me and you only use them as intermediaries);
• Also, don't make personal replicas of the Temple angels (such as the Temple Keruvim).
This point is continued in rule #4, below.

This Rashi is continued in rule #4, Alignment below, which the reader is encouraged to read now.

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Ex20-19a, Ex20-19d Both verses/verselets discuss the prohibition of idolatry. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: The verse has two prohibitions. a) The verse prohibits making gold and silver idolatrous gods. This prohibition applies even if the gods are worshipped while believing in the true one God - for that reason it states Don't make with me gold and silver Gods in other words, even if your belief is still with me. b) The verse also prohibits making gold and silver replicas of god-like creatures (like the Keruvim) for personal use (e.g. in the synagogues).

Verse	Text of Verse	Rashi comment
Ex20-19a Ex20-19d	You shall not make with Me [while still believing in Me], silver gods and gold gods, You shall not make personal replicas [e.g. for synagogues.]	The verse has two prohibitions. a) The verse prohibits making gold and silver idolatrous gods. This prohibition applies even if the gods are worshipped while believing in the true one God - for that reason it states Don't make with me gold and silver Gods in other words, even if your belief is still with me. b) The verse also prohibits making gold and silver replicas of god-like creatures (like the Keruvim) for personal use (e.g. in the synagogues).
Ex20-19a Ex20-19d	You shall not make with Me [while still believing in Me], silver gods and gold gods, You shall not make personal replicas [e.g. for synagogues.]

Advanced Rashi: I believe gold and silver gods refer to replicas of fire visions (gold gods) and dream visions (silver gods). According to Rambam the original form of idolatry involved worshiping symbolic replicas of visions of God.

The verse says don't make with me gold and silver gods. There are two ways to interpret the underlined phrase with me.
• Don't make replicas of the angels (heavenly beings) that are with me in heaven
• Don't make idols even while still believing in Me and being with me in belief.
Rashi literally says Don't make replicas of the heavenly beings serving with me. This appears to agree with the first of the two interpretations. However the second interpretation is also consistent with the Rashi language. Last year I interpreted according to the first interpretation. But I think now that the second interpretation is more correct especially since it is parallel to the second half of the verse as shown in the alignment.

This Rashi is continued from rule #3, Grammar above, which the reader is encouraged to read now.

The table below presents two contradictory verses/verselets. Both verses speak about the Revelation. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse/verselet says God spoke from heaven while the other verse/verselet says God came down to the earth's mountains to reveal Himself. We see the contradiction Which is it? Did God speak from heaven or from earth? Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 Aspects method: God Himself is in Heaven; however, the fire by which He appears is on earth. Jews heard God's voice from His fire on earth even though God Himself is in heaven. This resolution of the contradiction is explicitly supported by Dt04-36. 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.

Summary	Verse / Source	Text of verse / Source
God is in Heaven	Ex20-19	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.
God came down to earth's mountains to reveal Himself	Ex19-20	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
Resolution:	2 Aspects	God Himself is in Heaven; however, the fire by which He appears is on earth. Jews heard God's voice from His fire on earth even though God Himself is in heaven. This resolution of the contradiction is explicitly supported by Dt04-36. 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.

Advanced Rashi: In this particular contradiction the resolution occurs explicitly in a verse. As we have seen numerous times in this email group this is not always the case since frequently the contradiction is by logic.

Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a Theme-Development-Theme form. In other words a broad general idea is stated first followed by the development of this broad general theme in specific details. The paragraph-like unit is then closed with a repetition of the broad theme. The Theme-Detail-Theme form creates a unified paragraph. The detailed section of this paragraph is therefore seen as an extension of the general theme sentences. Today's example illustrates this as shown immediately below.

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 says 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: Yithro's advice to Moses to appoint delegates and a hierarchical system of judges had an accompanying request to first seek God's approval prior to implementing such a hierarchical system.

Here Rashi interprets the Detail clause as developing the General-Theme clause. Everything Moses did should be with God's approval. In particular if Moses wanted to follow Yithro's advice to implement a hierarchical judicial system he should first ask God's approval.

The climax principle asserts that a sequence of similar phrases should be interpreted climactically even if the words and grammatical constructs used do not directly suggest this. That is the fact of the sequence justifies reading into the Biblical text a climactic interpretation even if no other textual source justifies it. For this reason we consider the climax method a distinct and separate method.

Verse Ex19-12c discussing the prepatory abstentions required for receiving the 10 commandments is written in a climactic manner as shown. For convenience we have inserted the Rashi comments clarifying the nature of the climax in brackets
• Be careful not to go up the mountain [ ]
• or to touch [ even ]
• it's borders. [ ]

Advanced Rashi: Rashi's point can be understood by contrasting it with an alternative derivation:
• Don't touch its borders but it is ok to touch the body of the mountain
• Don't touch its borders and certainly don't touch the body of the mountain
Rashi's point is that the word borders should be understood climactically rather than restrictively, that is, even its borders vs. only its borders. This is an important exegetical point: Too often we see textual words as indicating restriction. It is important to be aware that some words must be interpreted expansively or climactically.

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 example applies to Rashis Ex20-12a URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w34n8.htm Brief Summary: 7 commandments have a reward of long life (Covers all: don't eat blood (Would do it anyway), honor bird parent(easy)... Honor parents (needed for social order)

Today we ask the database query: Which commandments mention a reward of long life or becoming well off for performing them? The query uncovers half a dozen major examples. An examination of these examples justifies the Rashi assertion that 7 commandments mention the reward of a long life or becoming well. These commandments cover the entire spectrum of commandments
• Thus there are easy commandments (like letting the mother bird escape when capturing its young),
• commandments whose violation is disgusting (like eating blood),
• communal commandments (like have good justice), etc.
Because these commandments cover the entire spectrum therefore we infer that all commandments if observed will provide a reward of long life. The table below presents results of the query along with illustrations of Rashi's comment.

Notice how the commandments above span the entire spectrum
• General commandments
• Easy commandments
• Commandments that would be done anyway
• Communal commandments
• Commandments peculiar to the Royal house
• Commandments without action
Hence the Rashi comment: Observance of any commandment leads to reward. Note the interesting fact that although we have classified this as the database method it could equally be classified as coming from the Style rule of generalization from several verses.

We all know that Shavuoth happens on the 6th of Sivan and that the Torah was either received on Shavuoth itself or on the 7th of Sivan. (Rav Hirsch explains that if the Torah was received on Shavuoth then Shavuoth celebrates the receipt of the Torah. However if the Torah was received on the 7th of Sivan then Shavuoth celebrates our preparation and being ready for receipt of the Torah - that is, the preparation to receive the Torah would be considered the primary thing to celebrate).

The Table below presents the verses that support the calculation that the Torah was received on the 6th or 7th of Sivan.

Justifying Verse	Event	Date of Occurrence	Rational
Ex19-01a	Jews arrive at Sinai	1st Day of Sivan	Verse explicitly says: On 1st of 3rd month they arrived at Sinai.
Ex19-03a	Moses receives prophetic orders	2nd Day of Sivan	Reasonable assumption that each event was done on a new day giving time to prepare responses.
Ex19-08a	Moses relates prophetic orders of day 2 to nation	3rd day of Sivan	Reasonable assumption that each event was done on a new day giving time to prepare responses.
Ex19-09c	Moses relates response of nation to orders of God	4th day of Sivan	Reasonable assumption that each event was done on a new day giving time to prepare responses.
Ex19-11b	God, after receiving nation's affirmative response, asks for 3 days of separation	Days 4,5,6 of Sivan	The 3 days began on the 4th and hence were concluded on 6th.
Ex24	Nation offers sacrifices in preparation for receipt of Torah; prophetic visions happen	Day 5 of Sivan	Ex24-01 states that God had told Moses to go up to God. So this event happened prior to actual Torah receipt. Also it is logical that sacrifices of convenant happened prior to convenant. Since 3 days began on 4th Sivan and ended on 6th Sivan the sacrifices must have happened on 5th Sivan.
Ex19-15b	Nation receives Torah (Prophetic revelation of decalogue)	Day 6 or 7 of Sivan	We know there were 3 days of preparation ordered by God. Moses commanded a triplet of days of preparation. Hence either the Torah was received on the 3rd of these 3 days (day 6) or after them (day 7). We can read the text either way.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi points out that Ex24, the sacrifices prior to the receipt of the Torah happened on the 5th of Sivan while the Decalogue itself is stated in a prior chapter Ex20. Rashi concludes that Textual Biblical sequence does not necessarily indicate temporal sequence. It is important to supplement this Rashi comment with the grammatical observation that in Biblical Hebrew, the past, as indicated by a future conjugation preceded by a vav, indicates the simple past, while the past, as indicated by the past conjugation, indicates the past perfect (Which in English is indicated with the participle had.) Hence Ex24-01, stated in a chapter that occurs after the chapter with the description of the revealed law, states, And God had told Moses to come up for revelation... The use of the past perfect, had told gives grammatical support to the temporal precedence of Ex24 to the revelation mentioned in Ex20, Ex21, Ex22, Ex23. This simple but convincing grammatical proof for the dictum Textual Biblical sequence does not indicate temporal sequence seems to be an innovation of mine not mentioned by other Biblical commentators.

The symbolic method of personification achieves effect by treating inanimate objects as if they were alive. Hence if we prohibit embarassing stones we are morally exhorting against the embarassment of people. The list below presents half a dozen Rashis focusing on the personification technique.

• Ex20-23a discussing the prohibition of ascending the altar 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Ex20-22d discussing the prohibition of making an altar with steel utensils states And if you will make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of a cut stone; for if you lift up your tool upon it, you have polluted it. Rashi explains: Steel is a destructive instrument; the altar by contrast is an instrument of peace. It would hurt the altar's feelings, if after devoting so much of its life to peace, that the altar would have to acknowledge its existence to bad people like steel who spend their time killing. Hence to prevent the altar from being hurt we, at the command of God, abstain from using steel on the altar.

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.