The 10 RashiYomi Rules
Their presence in Rashis on Parshat BreiShitH 
Vol 19#5 - Adapted from Rashi-is-Simple 
(c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel President, Oct. 28, 2012
For the full copyright statement see the Appendix

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GOALS
The goal of the Weekly Rashi Digest is to use the weekly Torah portion to expose students at all levels to the ten major methods of Rashi's commentary. Continual weekly exposure to these ten major methods facilitate the acquisition, familiarity, and facility with the major exegetical methods. This year, 2012-2013, we are concentrating on the grammar rule. We acknowledge benefitting from Dr. Isseroff's book, An Introduction to Rashi's Grammatical Explanations in the Book of Genesis, 1985, Published by the Torah Education Department of World Zionist Organization, MP Press Inc, ISBN 965-222-049-3. For a full  lightning statement of all Rashi rules see the Appendix

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Denominatives  Daily Rashi for Sunday Oct 28 2012

All languages have the capacity to change a noun, naming an object, into a verb naming an activity. Grammarians call this a denominative. Here are some common examples from English as well as two Rashis.

Example 1:
To dust means to remove dust. Here the verb to dust comes from the noun dust.

Example 2:
To hammer means to use the hammer in its typical way. Here the verb to hammer comes from the noun, hammer.

Example 3: 
To flower means to produce flowers. Here the verb to flower comes from the noun, flower.

Example 4:
To right means to go to the right. Here the verb to right comes from the noun right. A similar analysis applies to the meaning of to left. This is a Rashi comment on Gn13-09 which should be translated as follows: [Abraham to Lot, when Abraham asked him to part from him] If [you go] to the left, I will right; if [you go] to the right, I will left.

Notice how all English translations avoid this punchy denominative which adds flavor to the verse.

Example 5: (from parshat Breishith) 
To be fruitful means to have many children like a tree producing many fruit.Here the verb to be fruitful comes from the noun fruit and indicates an important attribute of fruit, the large number of fruit produced by each tree (Rashi: Gn01-22b)

Example 6:  (from parshat Breishith) 
From the noun, children, we derive the verb, to build a household (Rashi: Gn05-28a). Rashi's perspective is interesting here. We might erroneously translate the Hebrew word Bayit as meaning house. Rashi actually translates it meaning household. Rashi's translation is extremely precise: Compare the use of Bayit in Gn 45-02: "And word was heard in Pharoh's household that Joseph's brother's had come." As Rashi observes, "The house did not hear; rather the household heard."
 
Puns Daily Rashi for Monday Oct 29 2012

We tend  to think of puns as something a clergy person does in a sermon to emphasize a point or something done in bars to impress people. Not so! Many secular scholars consider  puns as simply another legitimate grammatical rule. After all you might add an "s" to a word to indicate the plural; similarly you might change the spelling of a word to hint at some idea. Such a change of spelling is called a spelling pun or metaplasmus. Please find below some simple English examples of spelling puns as well as Rashis based on this idea

Example 1: 
A girl texts her friend about her date and writes "I really liiiked the guy."
Here by deliberately mis-spelling "like" as "liiked", with an elongatd  "iii", the girl indicates intensity of liking!

Example 2:
Background: Abraham and Sarah had been married 10 years without having children. Sarah suggests to Abraham that she should marry her maid, Hagar; the children would then be accounted to Sarah. Abraham acquiesed to Sarah and married Hagar who immediately became pregnant. Hagar in turn teased Sarah that she could have children while Sarah couldn't. This burned Sarah up so she gave Abraham an argument:

Biblical text: Sarai said to Abraham: My anger is on you! I gave you my maid; but as soon as she saw she could become pregnant she teased me. May God judge between me and shee. [shee is a misspelled version of thee]

Rashi: This is the only time in the Bible where thee (May God Judge between me and thee) is spelled with an s (between me and shee). This shows that although Sarah gave Abraham an argument (for not asking Hagar to stop the teasing), she was equally angry at Hagar 

Note: In the actual biblical text the word baynechah (between me and (masculine) you) is spelled with two yuds and could be read baynayich (between me and (feminine) you). Because of the technical nature of this pun we thought it pedagogically best to create the above English equivalent.

Example 3: 
The Bible states "God, Lord, creeeated Adam, dust  from the ground and breathed into him a living soul. (Gn02-07a)" Notice the spelling pun, the deliberate mis-spelling of 'created' as creeated. Rashi: "The elogated "eee" indicates intensity of creation. When God created Adam he not only gave him a living soul, as he did the animals; he also gave him a spiritual soul by which Adam could obtain the hereafter.

Notice in the above examples, how the flavor of the biblical puns was preserved with a comparable English spelling pun. This is a translation technique developed by me.  I hope  future translations of the bible (including JPS) use this informative technique. For more information on the fascinating topic of puns as well as references please see my article "Biblical Puns" published  in The  Jewish Bible Quarterly, Volume 34#3, pp 190 - 197,2006. You can access this article at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/puns.pdf

One Character Suffixes Daily Rashi for Tuesday Oct 30 2012

In our weekly Rashi on Bereishith we saw that the addition of one character at the end of a sentence changes the meaning of that sentence from a statement to a question. Here is an example. 
•	"You walked to the store in the rain."
•	"You walked to the store in the rain?"

As indicated last week, in biblical Hebrew, the question is indicated not by a character - a question mark - at the end of the sentence, but rather by a letter - hey - at the beginning of the sentence. By prefixing the hey to the first word in the sentence the sentennce becomes a question rather than a statement.

A very important exegetical point is being made here: Skeptics tend to ridicule inference of meaning from one letter or character as being far fetched and homiletic. But we see in the just-mentioned English example that certain rules of grammar naturally motivate meaning differences based on one-character. The important issue therefore, is not how many characters drive the exegesis but rather the grammaticity of the inference.

Several other examples of grammatical change in meaning based on one character were also presented in the Bereishith digest:
•	The difference between a proper and improper noun is indicated in English by the word the, but is indicated in Hebrew by the prefix letter hey.
•	The difference between plural and singular in both English and Hebrew is indicated by a one character suffix, s, in English (in Hebrew it is indicated by a two-character suffix).

Today we have a similar one-character rule which however has no parallel in English. Rashi:  Suffix hey at the end of a word meaning a place, indicates a motion towards that place.

Example 1:
Thus Gn14-10b:
•	they fled to the mountain would use the Hebrew word har for mountain; 
•	they fled towards the mountain would use the Hebrew word herah, har with a suffix hey.

Example 2:
Rashi makes a similar point at Gn28-02b: Go towards Paden-Aram (Padenah-Aram), towards uncle Bethuel's household (baythah).

Example 3:
Rashi makes a similar point at Gn34-02b: Jacob sent angels before him to Esauv his brother, towards land Seir (artzah Seir) in the Edomite fields.

Rashi's Near-Miss Method Daily Rashi for Wednesday Oct 31 2012
 
Rashi lived before Grammar Textbooks, as we know them today, were available. 
•	Today you can purchase many types of Grammar books. Using these books you can learn all about verbs, their conjugations, plurality, gender and pronouns.
•	In Rashi’s time such books were rare. Furthermore, the few grammar books that did exist were not written in a student friendly manner that facilitated learning.
Hence, one of Rashi’s primary jobs in his commentary was to teach grammar. 

Rashi used an ingenious pedagogic technique, the method of near misses, to teach grammar. Basically the near-miss method requires the teacher to teach grammar, not using tables, as is currently done in modern grammar textbooks, but rather, using grammatical pairs which are identical in almost all features except one or two. Rashi then teaches the difference in meaning between these two items. I call this method the near miss method since the two forms almost equal each other and nearly miss equality. The term near miss is borrowed from the computer science artificial intelligence literature. The near miss method is a powerful method and I am surprised it is not used in more textbooks.

Today we concentrate on the difference between 
•	the Hebrew ba-AH, with an accent on its last syllable, and meaning had come
•	the Hebrew BA-ah, with an accent on its first syllable, meaning coming.

Example 1:
Hence, Rashi translates Gn15-17 as And after the sun had already come (that is set) and it was dark, there was  oven-smoke and torch fire which had passed through these cuts.

Example 2:
Rashi makes a similar point on Gn46-26b which is translated All the people coming with Jacob to Egypt..., since here the word BA-ah is accented on its first syllable.

Examples 3-4:
Rashi makes a similar point on Gn26-6:9 where both forms - BA-ah and ba-AH - occur: And the shepards told Jacob, ...and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep....while Jacob was still speaking to them Rachel had already come

Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs Daily Rashi for Thursday Nov 1 2012
 
All languages distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs. Knowing the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs facilitates reading comprehension.

A verb is a word that refers to some type of activity.
•	Typically someone does the activity; that someone is called the grammatical subject of the verb
•	Sometimes the activity denoted by the verb is done to something; that something is called the object of the verb.
•	Sometimes however the activity denoted by the verb is not done to anything.

When an activity, denoted by a verb,
•	Is done to something, denoted by the object of the verb, we call the verb, transitive
•	Is not done to anything, we call the verb intransitive.

Some examples from English are as follows:
•	Transitive verbs: I ate the apple; She watched the TV show; We read the book
•	Intransitive verbs: I am walking; He yawned; She is sleeping; He is tall.
Note especially the last example: He is tall. Technically, tall is not an object. It is not something to which the activity (indicated by the verb is) is done. Rather it indicates an attribute (tallness) of the subject: He is tall. A word that indicates an attribute is called a participle.

The following two examples show how Rashi used his knowledge of transitive and intransitive verbs to facilitate comprehension of the biblical text.

Example 1:
Gn13-10a states Lot saw that the entire Jordan plain was Mashkeh.

The underlined Hebrew word, Mashkeh, could indicate 
•	A transitive verb: The Jordan plain watered or irrigated other plains by virtue of its overflow. Such a transitive usage of Mashkeh occurs in Psalm 104:13 "He [God] waters mountains from His upper chambers."
•	An intransitive verb (actually a participle): The Jordan plain was well watered.
Note that in Hebrew, the present conjugation can either connote an activity (verb) or an attribute (participle). This rule is not always emphasized in our day school teaching but is an important grammatical principle.

Rashi would seem to argue as follows: Mashkeh can either be transitive or intransitive. If the sentence has an object (such as "mountains" in the just-cited verse P104-13) we treat the verb as transitive. If the sentence has no object (such as Gn13-10) we treat the verb as intransitive.

Consequently, Rashi interprets Gn13-10 to mean: "Lot saw that the entire Jordan plain was well watered." This would explain why Lot journeyed there. A well watered plain would mean abundant pasture for flock. Contrastively, an irrigating plain would not be a place to live since the waters are always overflowing.

Example 2:
Gn12-08 is translated as: "And he unpitched and then repitched his tent towards a mountain before Bethel." Notice, how even in English, the two verbs - unpitched, pitched - take the same object, tent. 

The Hebrew biblical root involved is ayin-tauv-kuph. This root is
•	transitive in the causative conjugation - he unpitched his tent
•	intransitive in the light conjugation - he moved (unpitched himself).
So the reader may be confused since the sentence uses 
•	a double verb - unpitched, pitched - but
•	a single object - tent.
Since the object of the first verb - unpitched - occurs after the 2nd verb - pitched - unpitched gives the appearance of not having an object, of being intransitive. Perhaps, the verse simply said that he moved and pitched his tent towards a mountain before Bethel. Rashi therefore explains that the first verb - unpitched - is transitive since it occurs with the transitive causative conjugation. 

A deeper reading of Rashi exposes a new grammatical rule which he is teaching: Namely, that in a double verb with a single object both verbs may be transitive and using the same object. 
 
APPENDIX
THE 10 RASHI RULE CATEGORIES / THE 30 RASHI RULES
Copyright 2001, Rashiyomi Inc., Dr Hendel President, www.Rashiyomi.com/rules-01.htm
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I-REFERENCE: Dt26-05d We went down to Egypt with a few people explained by Gn46-27: with 70 people
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II-MEANING / Lexicography / Dictionary:  EXAMPLE (Connectives) KI means IF,PERHAPS,RATHER,BECAUSE,WHEN,THAT (Rashi on Gn18-15a Gn24-33a  ) EXAMPLE (Nuances): YDA means FAMILIAR, not KNOW (eg Dt34-10a) eg Gn04-01 Adam was FAMILIAR with his wife EXAMPLE (Idioms) ON THE FACE OF means DURING THE LIFETIME (Rashi on Nu03-04a Gn11-28a Ex20-03c Dt05-07a) EXAMPLE (Synonyms) Marchesheth means  pot; Machavath means frying pan (Lv02-05a, 07a) EXAMPLE (Hononyms) SHAMAH can mean listen, hear, understand: (Gn42-23a) They didn't appreciate that Joseph understood them (Note: They knew he was listening) EXAMPLE (Metonomy) (Lv02-11a) Don't offer ...any honey as sacrifices RASHI: honey includes any sweet fruit juice
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III-GRAMMAR:  EXAMPLE: BA-ah means CAME;ba-AH means COMING(Gn46-26a) 
EXAMPLE: Hitpael conjugation has different rules if 1st root letter is Tzade (Gn44-16a) 
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IV-PARALLELISM: (Ex20-04) Dont POSSESS the gods of others Dont MAKE idols RASHI: So both POSSESSion & MAKING of idols are prohibited
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V-CONTRADICTION: (Nu04-03, Nu08-24a)Levites start Temple work at 25;  Levites start temple work at 30. RASHI: They apprentice at 25 but start actual service at 30.
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VI-STYLE: RABBI ISHMAEL RULES: EXAMPLE: (Simple verses should be generalized): (Rashi Pesachim 6) (Dt25-04a) Dont MUZZLE an OX while THRESHING RASHI: Dont STOP any WORKING ANIMAL from eating  
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VII-FORMATTING:  EXAMPLE (BOLD indicated by Repetition): Ex12-09c) COOK COOK it in water (So COOKED-COOKED is understood the same way bold is understood by modern reader) RASHI: Prefered to COOK it in water; But COOK it at all costs(Even if you dont have water) EXAMPLE: (BULLETS indicated by Repeating keywords) (Ex03-11a) Who am I - THAT I should go to Pharaoh - THAT I should take the Jews out of Egypt  RASHI: Repeated word THAT creates BULLET effect - Pharoh was a difficult king (Bullet one) - Jews were not yet ready for freedom (Bullet two) EXAMPLE (Climax assumed in any Biblical list): (Dt19-11a) If a man HATES, SPIES, CONFRONTS & KILLS. RASHI: Bible identifies 4 stages to murder(indicated by capped words
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VIII-DATABASE: EXAMPLE: God spoke to Moses to say over introduces about 7 dozen biblical commandments; God spoke to Aaron to say over only introduces 2 commandments. RASHI: (Lv10-03b) Aaron was silent when his sons died because they served in the Temple drunk; hence he merited that the commandment prohibiting priests to work in the Temple drunk, was given to him
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IX-NON VERSE: EXAMPLE: (Use of Algebra)(Ex38-26b) Temple donations of silver were 100 Kikar and 1775 Shekel from 630,550 half-shekels RASHI: So one Kikar of silver = 3000 Shekel.
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X: SYMBOLISM: EXAMPLE: (Use of puns) (NuXX-XX) Moses made a copper snake for people to look up to when bitten by snakes (so they should pray and recover) RASHI: (Nu21-09a) The Hebrew root for copper and snake are identical (Cf. The English copperhead) Moses  made the metal snake copper colored to symbolize the snake