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 Gn24-07e URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ov Brief Summary: THE GOD WHO SWORE TO GIVE ME THIS LAND (Gn24-07) references The CONVENANT OF CUTS where God so SWORE (Gn15-18)

Verse Gn24-06:07 discussing Abraham requesting from his servant to obtain for his son a wife that is proper and consistent with God's promise to Abraham to give to him Israel, states And Abraham said unto him: 'Beware thou that thou bring not my son back thither. The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spoke unto me, and who swore unto me, saying: Unto thy seed will I give this land; He will send His angel before thee, Rashi notes: The underlined word, swore..., references verse Gn15-18 discussing the Convenant of Cuts where God promised Abraham Israel.

Text of Target Verse Gn24-07:08	Text of Reference Verse Gn15-18
And Abraham said unto him: 'Beware thou that thou bring not my son back thither. The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spoke unto me, and who swore unto me, saying:	In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates
Rashi comments: The statement in Gn24-07:08, God swore to give me this land references verse Gn15-18 where God swore to give Abraham this land.

An idiom is a collection of words which means more than the sum of the meanings of each of the phrases' individual words. Verse Gn25-13a discussing the descendants of Ishmael states And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the first-born of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, Rashi explains: The phrase(s) by their names, according to their generations: is an idiom meaning listed in genealogical order Translating the verse with this Rashi translation yields And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in genealogical order the first-born of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

Advanced Rashi: Rashi can be understood in a deeper manner if we recall that sometimes descendants are stated in non-genealogical orders. For examples Noach's sons are listed as Shaym, Cham, and Yefeth (Gn05-32) even though Yefeth was the oldest (Gn10-21). The changed order reflects Shaym's superior spiritual importance since Abraham decesnded from him.

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 illustrate a powerful but little understood rule common to all languages - apposition. Very roughly apposition consists of breaking up a phrase mid-sentence. Instead of stating the whole phrase you instead break it up - tersely stating the main idea and then later on in the sentence filling in details. Such a technique, although sounding strange, has a very powerful effect on the reader who is forced to focus and concentrate more fully.

A classical example is Is63-07, I will recount the kindness of God, the things we praise him on. The author in beautiful poetic style converts this verse with apposition. The actual reading is as follows: The kindness of God I will recount, the things we praise God on. By breaking the phrase kindness of God, the things we praise him on into two phrases placed at different points of the verse the author achieves powerful poetic effect forcing the reader and listener to focus with more attention.

Verse Gn24-67a wishes to state Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah but instead through the use of apposition states Isaac brought her in the tent - Mother Sarah. Although the phrase is broken up into two connected phrases the effect of apposition remains. It is no longer the tent of Sarah but rather the tent - Mother Sarah. In other words the tent had achieved reknown as Mother Sarah's tent or Mother Sarah for short. Rashi gives some examples of what the tent could be known for - good food available, well lit, etc. The details need not concern us. Rather the basic idea of Rashi is that the tent was known as Sarah and this linguistic style indicates attributes for which the tent was known.

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses in Gn24-22:23, Gn24-47 Both verses discuss Eliezer meeting Rivkah and deciding that she is the proper wife for Isaac. The alignment justifies the Rashi assertion that Eliezer disguised himself as a slave but nevertheless Rivkah provided food and water. Eliezer was so excited by her charitable nature that he 1st) gave her the ring (that is, he was sure she was Isaac's wife) and 2nd) inquired about her family. He therefore gave gratitude to God for God's quick guidance. But in discussing the matter with Rivkah's family he 1st) mentioned inquiring about her family and 2nd) gave her the ring. With her family Eliezer did not want to appear emotional and involved with God. He rather wished to appear business like and professional.

Verse	Text of Verse	Rashi comment
Gn24-22:23	Ring 1st: And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; Family 2nd: and said: 'Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?	Rivkah gave charity to a slave. Eliezer was shocked. Someone so charitable must be Isaac's wife. He saw it as an act of God. He therefore gave her the ring first and inquired about her family, 2nd.
Gn24-47	Family 1st: And I asked her, and said: Whose daughter art thou? And she said: The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore unto him. Ring 2nd: And I put the ring upon her nose, and the bracelets upon her hands	With Rivkah's family Eliezer did not want to appear emotional and involved with God. Such an air would turn them off. Instead he had to appear logical, business-like and professional. Hence he used the logical order: family 1st, ring 2nd.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi teaches us the etiquette of wearing different hats. Very often in life we have to be cold in one setting and warm in another, emotional vs. logical, faith-dependent vs. involved with God. The Eliezer story succinctly depicts the different hats that we have to wear and how to successfully accomplish it.

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.

Verse Gn23-01b discussing Sarah's life states states
• General Theme: This is the life of Sarah
• Detail:
  • The 100-year life [maturity],
  • The 20-year life [the young-adult life]
  • The 7-year life [innocence]
• General: The years of Sarah's life

Rashi comments on the Theme-Detail-Theme form which creates the illusion of an entire paragraph. Although her life had 3 distinct aspects - maturity, young-adulthood, innocence - nevertheless these 3 aspects were illustrative of her life as a whole. That is her life had a unified theme of personal-fulfillment and growth.

Advanced Rashi: We have not explained why we translated the verse as the 100 year life, the 20 year life, the 7 year life. This is in fact the subject of another Rashi. We are simply not covering it today. However it will be justified, possibly next year. We also seem to have taken sides on what the 100 year, 20 year and 7 year life mean. There is considerable controversy among Rashi-ists on this point. We will explain this also next year. Right now, we are focusing on the general-theme-General form which justifies that the three stages be nevertheless perceived as aspects of one whole life.

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.

The climax principle is illustrated by verse Gn24-55c, discussing the request, by the family of the soon to-be-wed bride that she be allowed to stay home a little longer before leaving, states And her brother and her mother said:
• 'Let the damsel abide with us days,
• or ten;
after that she shall go.'

An initial interpretation could be literal as indicated by the bracketed words And her brother and her mother said:
• 'Let the damsel abide with us [a few]days,
• or ten [days];
after that she shall go.'

Rashi however objects to such an explanation. True - such an explanation is consistent with word meaning and grammar But it is non-climatic. People simply don't speak that way. They don't ask for a few days and then say but if I can't get a few let me get 10. Such a sequencing is anti-climactic.

Rashi therefore provides an interpretation consistent with climax. And her brother and her mother said:
• 'Let the damsel abide with us days [a year],
• or ten [months];
after that she shall go.' It is important to understand the underlying Rashi methods: Rashi is using climax The climax principle allows us to interpret the ambiguous ten as meaning ten months versus ten days. The Bible occasionally uses the word days to mean year and since year versus a few days is consistent with climax Rashi so interprets.

Modern scholarship uses the term parallelism to explain what we have called Climax. Professor Kugel in particular has emphasized that parallelism in the biblical Poetic literature should be interpreted climactically, as this gives the most natural and authentic rendering of the text.

We ask the following database query: What does bowing symbolically affirm in the Bible? The reader is encouraged to perform the query using a standard Biblical Konnkordance or search engine. This database query yields the list below. The list justifies the following Rashi inference: Bowing can symbolically affirm 4 items:
1. A greeting of 'Hello.'
2. Expression of Thanks
3. Acknowledgement of Power
4. Worship
The list below presents the results of the database query and shows examples.

Meaning of Bowing	A Supportive Verse	Text of Verse
Greeting of Hello	Ex18-07	And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent
Expression of Thanks	Gn24-52	And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth unto the LORD
Acknowledgement of Power	Gn37-10	he told it to his father, and to his brethren; and his father rebuked him, and said unto him: 'What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down to thee to the earth?'
Worship	Ex24-01	And unto Moses He said: 'Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow ye afar off;

The non-verse method refers to clarification of textual content by any non-verse method including spreadsheets, geometry, and logic. Verses Gn24-03:08 discussing Abraham's orders to Eliezer on whom he should select as a wife for Isaac his son has 3 logical components which we indicate by capital letters. They are as follows.
• A: No Canaanite wife
• B: A wife from relatives
• C: And if none of the above....
Let us now examine the actual dialog and biblical text using this lens of A-B-C.
• A: And I will make you swear by the Lord, ... that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, ....
• B: But you shall go to my ... family, and take a wife ...
• C: And the servant said ... Perhaps the woman will not be willing; would I then be allowed a Canaanite wife.
• A': And Abraham said to him, Beware that you bring not my son there again.
• B': The Lord God of heaven, ...shall send his angel before you, to take a wife from my relatives
• C': And if the woman will not be willing to follow you,
• B'': then you shall be free from this my oath; [Rashi: From part B of the oath]
• A'':only bring not my son there again.
• C'': [Rashi: So take a wife from my friends, Aner, Esckol and Mamre.]
We have used here bold letters A,B,C,D defined above with and without primes to show the flow of logic. Rashi's sole contribution here is to clarify the flow of logic. For example Rashi contributed C'': the idea of obtaining a wife from the family of friends if relatives are uncooperative. Since Rashi clarifies the flow of logic we have classified this Rashi as a non-verse Rashi.

Verse Gn24-22c discussing the gifts that Eliezer gave Rivkah states And it came to pass, as the camels finished drinking, that the man took
• a golden ear ring of half a dollar value, and
• two bracelets for her hands of
• ten shekels weight of gold;

The Rashi symbolic interpretations of these gifts seems strange:
• a golden ear ring of half a dollar value, [Rashi: corresponding to the Biblical commandment to give a half-dollar]
• two bracelets for her hands of [Rashi: Corresponding to the 10 commandments given on two stones]
• ten shekels weight of gold; [Rashi: Corresponding to the 10 commandments]

This Rashi is strange because it implies that Eliezer is prophesying that Rebekkah will be a matriarch to a people who will receive the 10 commandments and be commanded on the giving of the half-dollar. Rebekkah was in no position to know this at this stage of her life.

However the Rashi interpretations can be made plausible if we use one simple Rashi rule: Rashi does not speak using abstract concepts but rather Rashi speaks using examples of these concepts. Hence
• The concept of caring about the little man in the street is symbolized by the half dollar vs. say the $100 bill. The half dollar symbolism is also used in the commandment for every Jew to give a half dolloar symbolizing that all the little people in the nation count. Consequently instead of using the abstract concept of the little man in the street Rashi uses an example of this concept: The commandment to give a half dollar. Here we have used our understanding of Rashi's style to make his commentary plausible.
• The abstract concept of a dual emphasis on commandments between man-and-man vs. commandments between man-and-God is exemplified by the two tablets containing the ten commandments since one side the ten commandments contains commandments between man-and-God while the other side contains commandments between man-and-man.
• The abstract concept of community is symbolized by the plural number ten. One example of this is the quorom of people needed for a religious service,10, since the service must be delivered by the community. Another example might be the 10 commandments which contain the basic laws and ethics needed by the community.

Using this principle that Rashi expresses abstract concepts by using examples of them we can translate the Rashi symbolism into traditional abstract language. Rashi is explaining what Eliezer liked about Rivkah which would make her a good wife for Isaac:
• a golden ear ring of half a dollar value, [Rashi: She cared about the little man; Eliezer knew this since she gave a slave water to drink]
• two bracelets for her hands of [Rashi: She had a dual caring about both people and God---since she cared about the person, Eliezer, and also showed caring behavior to his animals(a man-God commandment)
• ten shekels weight of gold; [Rashi: Corresponding to her concerns for the community since she fed the camels which were presumably carrying commercial loads for community business]

As shown the Rashi symbolic interpretation is plausible and not far fetched. The sole tool we used to make Rashi plausible is replacing examples by the abstract concepts they exemplify. Rashi was not attributing prophetic knowledge to Rivkah or Eliezer. Rather Rashi was explaining how the events which just happened indictated personality traits desirable in a mate.