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 Gn10-08a URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1311.htm Brief Summary: HE WAS A WARRIOR HUNTER BEFORE GOD (Gn10-08) references Gn11-01:09, describing the war against God by the people of the Tower of Babelonians.

Verse Gn10-08 discussing Nimrod states And Kush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty one. He was a warrior hunter before the Lord; .... And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, .... Rashi notes that the underlined words, warrior hunter .... Babel, references verses Gn11-01:09 discussing the rebellion of the people of the Tower of Babel against God. Hence the Rashi comment The meaning of the statement Gn10-08 that Nimrod, who first reigned in Babel was a warrior hunter before God is clarified in Gn11-01:09 which describes the rebellion against God by the people of the Tower of Babel Gn11-06,Gn11-09, Gn11-01:09.

Text of Target Verse Gn10-08	Text of Reference Verse Gn11-01:09
And Kush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty one. He was a warrior hunter before the Lord; .... And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, ....	... And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, and .... And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we .... And the Lord came down to see the city .... So the Lord scattered them abroad from there upon the face of all the earth; and they left off the building of the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confuse the language of all the earth; and from there did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Rashi comments: The meaning of the statement Gn10-08 that Nimrod, who first reigned in Babel was a warrior hunter before God is clarified in Gn11-01:09 which describes the rebellion against God by the people of the Tower of Babel Gn11-06,Gn11-09, Gn11-01:09.]

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.

There are 3 Biblical words for rain:
• Gimel-Shin-Mem Geshem: Rain
• Resh-Beth-Beth ReVaVaH: Torrent
• Mem-Beth-Vav-Lamed Mabul: Flood

Rashi gives two possible roots for the word Mabul which as we just showed means flood.
• Beth-Lamed-Lamed: This root means to mix. So a Flood would be an event that mixes up items.
• Yud-Beth-Lamed: This root means to bring. So a flood is an event that brings items down the river to the bottom.

In either case a MaBuL, flood is named as a natural disaster, something that mixes up items and uproots them and brings them elsewhere.

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 review the rules of connective words in Hebrew. Connective words are words like, from, with, if, because, rather,but,... There are only a few dozen such words. It is important to know what each of these words means and how they function in sentences. Furthermore, many of these words have multiple meanings. Novices frequently are only familiar with the primary meaning of a connective word; as one advances in one's knowledge of Hebrew one must learn the secondary meanings of connective words.

The Hebrew word Aleph-Tauv, Eth is very peculiar in its usage. Technically it doesn't mean anything. Rather one places the word eth before a word to indicate that that word is the object of the sentence. For example Eth the man bit the dog would have the same meaning as the dog bit the man. Here the word eth grammatically functions to indicate the grammatical object of the sentence (Actually I am oversimplifying; typically a sentence with reversed subject-object order might have other indicators (besides eth) for example the change of the verb form from the active to the passive.)

Rashi as well as the Radack and other grammarians point out that eth can have other meanings. For example eth can mean with or from. Consequently Rashi/Radack interpret eth in the following sentences as meaning from.
• Gn06-13 And G-d said unto Noah: 'The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them from the earth.
• Ex09-29 And Moses said to him, As soon as I go from the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, nor shall there be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.
• 1K15-23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased from his feet.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi points out that in some of the above verses Eth could mean with. Even more fascinating is Rabbi Hirsh's comment that eth indicates not only the object but also indicates fullness, and totality. For example the verse Honor eth your father and eth you mother... would connote honoring one's older siblings who are extensions of one's parents.

What should emerge from the above is that we have barely skimmed the surface of this rich and beautiful topic of connective words. There are all types of nuances to these words and throughout the ages different scholars have taught new nuances.

In Hebrew, instead of placing a question mark at the end of the sentence, one places a letter hey with a chataf-patach punctuation at the beginning of the sentence.

The first question asked in the Bible occurs at Gn03-19, Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? In English this sentence is indicated by a terminal question mark while in Hebrew it is indicated by a prefixed hey with a chataf-patach punctuation. Rashi explains This prefix hey with a chataf-patach indicates the interrogative.

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Gn10-21c, Gn10-02, Gn10-06 Both verses/verselets discuss the genealogies of Noah's children: The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: After Cham degraded his father, Shem and Yefeth hung out with each other and avoided Cham.

Verse	Text of Verse	Rashi comment
Gn02-10:02,06	The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.....And the sons of Ham: Kush, and Egypt, and Put, and Canaan.	After Cham degraded his father, Shem and Yefeth hung out with each other and avoided Cham.
Gn10-21	To Shem also, were born children, he was the father of all the Eberites, he was the brother of the older brother Japheth

Background: Certain Biblical verses are written with one text but read with an alternate text. We call such verses read-written verses. The Masters of the Masoretic Text carefully preserved these written-read verses. We treat these written-read verses as two readings of the same Biblical text. The following Rashi shows how this is applied.

The table below presents presents two contradictory verses (Actually two contradictory ways of reading the same verse). Both verses speak about leaving the Ark The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One reading of the verse says let the animals out of the Ark while the other verse states force them out of the Ark. Which is it? Were the animals let out of the Ark or were they forced out of the Ark. Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 Stages method: Noah first let the animals leave. But if they didn't voluntarily leave Noah forced them to leave.

Summary	Verse / Source	Text of verse / Source
Let the animals leave the ark.	Gn08-17a (Read version of text)	Let out with you every living thing that is with you, of all flesh, both of bird, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon
Force them out.	Gn08-17 (Written version of text)	Bring out with you every living thing that is with you, of all flesh, both of bird, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upo
Resolution:	2 Stages	First: Let them voluntarily leave. However if they don't want to leave voluntarily then force them to leave.

Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a Theme-Development form. In other words a broad general idea is stated first followed by the development of this broad general theme in specific details. The Theme-detail-Theme form creates a unified paragraph. Today's example illustrates this as shown below.

Verses Gn07-06:07 discussing that Noah came to Ark because of the Flood states
• General Theme: And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
• Details: And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark,
• General Theme: because of the waters of the flood.

Rashi comments on the Theme-Detail-Theme form which creates the illusion of an entire paragraph. Noah did go into the ark; but he went in because of the flood, not because God told him there would be a flood. Thus Noah himself lacked total faith in God and had to see proofs before he acted.

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 Gn07-04c URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w34n16.htm Brief Summary: FOURTY symbolizes an embryonic period during which development to new horizons can take place.

Today we ask the database query: What does the number 40 symbolize? The query uncovers 5 examples. An examination of these examples justifies the Rashi assertion that 40 symbolizes an EMBRYONIC period during which development to new horizons can take place. The table below presents results of the query along with illustrations of Rashi's comment.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi literally says: 40 days of flood corresponding to the 40 days in which the foetus is formed. They sinned by burdening God to create foetii to adulterous unions and were punished with 40 days of flood. My opinion is that the major driving force behind the Rashi is the database query which shows that in general 40 corresponds to an embryonic development to a new horizon. I therefore regard Rashi as adding another nuance to the 40 days applicable to this particular case, the flood. Rashi points out that the embryo takes 40 days to develop. Rashi further shows the Divine Justice in the irony that the 40 days during which embryos from adulterous unions were being produced corresponded to the 40 days of punishment. We however regard this Rashi comment as secondary and the above database analysis as primary. Very frequently Rashi will rely on the teacher to present primary meaning and will suffice with indicating an unexpected seconday nuance. I beleive this is the proper way to take this Rashi.

Verse Gn11-03 discussing the building of the Tower of Babel, states, And they said one to another: 'Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. Rashi comments: They used bricks to build the tower, because stones the traditional building material were not found in the Babelonia valley. Here Rashi uses real world phenomena to explain a Biblical verse, similar, for example, to using archaelogical data to explain Biblical verses. The use of real-world non-verse material to explain a verse justifies classifying this Rashi as a non-verse method.

Advanced Rashi: But why does the Bible tell us this? Presumably it magnifies their sin. They didn't just use stones lying around to build a tower, they had to go through a laborious process of brick production to build the tower. In other words their activities were truly premeditated. A person who has to work alot to sin is obviously worse than a person who just sins off the cuff.

Today we ask the database query: What does the number 40 symbolize? The query uncovers 5 examples. An examination of these examples justifies the Rashi assertion that 40 symbolizes an EMBRYONIC period during which development to new horizons can take place. The table below presents results of the query along with illustrations of Rashi's comment.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi literally says: 40 days of flood corresponding to the 40 days in which the foetus is formed. They sinned by burdening God to create foetii to adulterous unions and were punished with 40 days of flood. My opinion is that the major driving force behind the Rashi is the database query which shows that in general 40 corresponds to an embryonic development to a new horizon. I therefore regard Rashi as adding another nuance to the 40 days applicable to this particular case, the flood. Rashi points out that the embryo takes 40 days to develop. Rashi further shows the Divine Justice in the irony that the 40 days during which embryos from adulterous unions were being produced corresponded to the 40 days of punishment. We however regard this Rashi comment as secondary and the above database analysis as primary. Very frequently Rashi will rely on the teacher to present primary meaning and will suffice with indicating an unexpected seconday nuance. I beleive this is the proper way to take this Rashi.