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 Ex20-19b URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n9.htm Brief Summary: he phrase YOU HAVE SEEN (Ex20-18b) emphasizes the emphasis YOU PERSONALLY HAVE SEEN GOD, NOT BY HEARSAY(Dt11-02,Dt11-07)

Verse Ex20-19b discussing God's advice to the Jewish people who just experience the revelation at the Decalogue states And the Lord said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the people of Israel, You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Rashi clarifies the underlined words you have seen by referencing verse Dt11-02,Dt11-07 which states And know this day; for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen.... But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did. Hence the Rashi comment:

There is a difference between what a person personally sees and what others only tell him since hearsay is more prone to doubt

Text of Target verse Ex20-19b	Text of Reference Verse Dt11-02,Dt11-07
And the Lord said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the people of Israel, You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.	And know this day; for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen.... But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.
Rashi comments: There is a difference between what a person personally sees and what others only tell him since hearsay is more prone to doubt.; var r1s=The phrase YOU HAVE SEEN (Ex20-18b) emphasizes the emphasis YOU PERSONALLY HAVE SEEN GOD, NOT BY HEARSAY(Dt11-02,Dt11-07)

When Rashi uses the synonym method he does not explain the meaning of a word but rather the distinction between two similar words both of whose meanings we already know.

The following Hebrew words all refer to motion
• Hey-Lamed-Caph, Halach walk, move
• Resh-Vav-Tzade, Rotz run
• Nun-Vav-Ayin, Noa rattle.

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).

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses in Ex18-13, Ex18-14 Both verses discuss Moses' daily judging of the people. The alignment justifies the Rashi assertion that Yithro made two complaints. a) Why does Moses judge alone. b) Why does Moses sit while the nation stands.

Verse	Text of Verse	Rashi comment
Ex18-13b	And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from the morning to the evening.	Moses sat; the nation stood.
Ex18-14	And when Moses’ father-in-law saw ...he said, What is this thing that you do to the people? Why do you sit by yourself alone, and all the people stand by you from morning to evening?	We see two differences corresponding to two complaints by Yithro. Why does Moses judge alone. Why does he have no helpers. Why does Moses sit while the nation stands.

The table below presents two contradictory verses / verselets. Both verses speak about where the Jews resided. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says the Jews lived in Goshen while the other verse states the Jews left Egypt from Raamsayth. We see the contradiction---which is it? Were the Jews all over Goshen or were they in Raamsayth? Rashi simply resolves this contradiction using the 2 stages method: The people lived scattered all over Goshen. But on the night of the Exodus they quickly gathered in the city of Raamsayth and left from there.

Summary	Verse / Source	Text of verse / Source
The Jews lived scattered through Goshen	Ex09-26	Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.
Moses and people violate the Sabbath	Ex12-37	And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, who were men, beside children.
Resolution:	2 Stages	The people lived scattered all over Goshen. But on the night of the Exodus they quickly gathered in the city of Raamsayth and left from there.

Advanced Rashi: We can ask a strong question on Rashi: If the Jews did not have time to bake bread because they were thrown out how did they have the luxury of gathering in Raamsayth? Wouldn't it stand to reason that the Egyptians who threw them out without giving them time to bake also did not give them time to gather together?

I would therefore suggest that eagle's wings refers to prophecy. On the night of the 14th or before they were prophetically told to journey to Raamsayth where they would hear of the final deliverance. Some made the trip and possibly some were on their way. They stayed over at houses of relatives. Thus when the redemption came they were thrown out of Raamsayth.

This interpretation of eagle wings as referring to prophecy is consistent with the convenant of cuts where Jews escape the terror beasts of the world by behaving like eagles, that is through prophecy. It is also consistent with the verse in Zachariah not through military might nor through skill but rather through prophecy.

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.

We ask the following database query: Does the Torah and Jewish leaders reinforce moral values through symbolic reminders. 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: The Torah and Jewish leaders reinforce moral values through symbolic reminders-hence the Bible prohibited using steps to go up the altar since steps require a bigger gait than a ramp and a priest dressed in a robe would thereby expose his nudity to the altar ramp and embarass the ramp. If the Torah cared about not embarassing a ramp then how much more so that we should be careful not to embarass our fellow human friends. The list below presents the results of the database query.

Verse	Event	Need	Symbolic reminder
Ex17-11a	War with Amalayk	Prayer	Moses raised his hands
Nu21-09a	God's cure of snake bites in nation	Prayer	Placing the the copper snake on high (hinting to heaven)
Dt12-02	Destroying Idolatry	Horror of crime	Even the idolatrous trees are killed
Lv20-15a	Punishment for sleeping with animals	Horror of crime	Animal is stoned to death also
Ex20-23a	Temple service	Decorum, atmosphere, modesty	Use ramp vs. staircase so as not to excessively expose nakedness

Advanced Rashi: We emphasize that the force of the Rashi comment emanates from the use of the symbolic technique of personification. The Bible in effect says If a priest dressed in a robe goes up to the altar using a staircase vs a ramp then the steps will be exposed to his nudity (since stairs require wider steps than ramps) and he will embarass the steps [use of personification]! This personification-symbolism implies If you should be modest to steps and be careful not to embarass them how much more so you should be modest to your fellow human being!

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 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.
• 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.