The 10 RashiYomi Rules
Their presence in Rashis on Parshat BreiShitH 
Vol 19#6 - Adapted from Rashi-is-Simple 
(c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel President, Nov. 1st, 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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Plural vs. Singular  Daily Rashi: Sunday Nov 4 2012

All languages have the capacity to indicate plurality - many vs one:
•	In English, the plural is indicated by a terminal s: For example, apples, would indicate many apples.
•	In Hebrew, the plural can be indicated by a terminal mem, or in the case of the Hebrew construct, by a terminal yud.

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 - for example the "s" in "apples". The important issue therefore, is not how many characters drive the exegesis but rather the grammaticity of the inference.

Example 1: Gn21-07
And she [Sarah, after giving birth to a child at age 90] said: Who would have thought about Abraham that his wife would nurse childen but indeed I have born to him a child when he was old.  Rashi demurs: But Sarah only gave birth to one child, not to children! Rashi continues and answers: People were skeptical about Sarah's birth - maybe she picked up a foundling in the marketplace and claimed she gave birth to it! Therefore to remove suspicion, Sarah, at the baby-welcome party, nursed all children to prove that indeed she had become pregnant and the child was hers.

Verbs - Active and Passive Voice Daily Rashi: Monday Nov 5 2012
 
All languages have the capacity to express concepts in the active or passive voice. Here are some simple examples in English.
•	Active: I ate the apple
•	Passive: The apple was eaten by me.
Both these sentences describe identical scenes. They however differ in style. 

Style conveys extra nuances of meaning. A skilled author can use style to indicate things not explictly stated in the text  There is no one set of rules for style. As we go through the year we will tune our ears to the various nuances implicit in use of active and passive. We present below a Rashi on today's Parshah based on the active-passive motif.

Example 1: Gn18-04
[Background: Abraham invites passerbys as guests to his house.] Here is the biblical text.
•	Please have water taken for you
•	Wash your feet
•	Rest under the tree
•	I will take a bread loaf
•	You will satiate your desires 
•	Then you will pass on

For convenience, I have underlined the verbs. Rashi comments on the voices of the verbs as follows: Notice how the last five verbs are in the active voice - whether by the guests or by Abraham - while the first verb in the first bullet, taken. is in the passive voice. This implies that someone else - not the guests themselves - possibly a servant, would bring water to the weary guests. 

This Rashi comment has philosophical overtones and nuances. Abraham did not simply allow his guests to draw water and wash themselves - after all, they were journeying and fatigued. Hence Abraham emphasizes that the water will be brought to them by a servant; they can then wash themselves. 

This is also consistent with the 3rd bullet: Rest under the tree. Here again, Abraham shows sensitivity and emphathy for the feelings of the guests: It is not enough to give  them washing water and food; their needs to rest and avoid work must also be recognized.
Interestingly, Jewish law explicitly codifies requiements of empathy in the laws of charity - it is not enough to give; one must also feel for those who receive (Rambam Matnoth Evyonim Chapter 10)

Puns Daily Rashi: Tuesday Nov 6 2012

We tend  to think of puns as something clergy 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 her. Abraham acquiesed to Sarah and married Hagar who immediately became pregnant. Hagar in turn would tease 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, creeeatd 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: Wednesday Nov 7 2012

What is the difference between 
•	"You walked to the store in the rain."
•	"You walked to the store in the rain?"

There is a 
•	difference in form, and a
•	difference in meaning.

The differences are as follows:
•	Form: One sentence ends in a period while the other ends in a question mark.
•	Meaning: One sentence is a declarative statement while the other is a question.

Biblical Hebrew  has a similar rule for transforming declarative sentences
into interrogative questions.
•	English: You indicate a question by changing the terminal punctuation mark to a question mark.
•	Hebrew: You indicate a question by prefixing the Hebrew letter hey punctuated with a chataf-patach to the first word in the sentence.

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.

Rashi, who lived at a time when Hebrew grammar books were not accessible, saw as one of his goals in his commentary to introduce students to rules of grammar. Hence Rashi makes comments on the following biblical sentences which indicate the interrogative.

Example 1: Gn18-25
Biblical text: And Abraham said [To God]: The Judge of the entire land will not do justice? Rashi: The prefix hey with a chataf-patach indicates that this is a question.

An important point is being made here. The context of Gn18 appears to be an argument between Abraham and God. Abraham tries to pursuade God that Sedom should not be destroyed. Hence, it is reasonable, within this context, to suppose that Abraham actually accused God of injustice, rather than just questioned Him. Rashi, based on the biblical text, emphasizes that Abraham's arguments were a questioning of God for understanding, not a criticism of God's actions.

Example 2: Gn18-17
Biblical Text: And God said: I am concealing from Abraham what I am doing? Rashi: The prefix hey at the beginning of the sentence indicates that this is a question not a declaration.

An important point is being made here. Normally, 
•	In biblical Hebrew, a prefix hey punctuated with a patach indicates the English word the.
•	In biblical Hebrew, a prefix hey punctuated with a chataf patach indicates the interrogative.

But Gn18-17 begins with a prefix hey punctuated with a patach, not a chataf-patach. Rashi explains that nevertheless it still indicates a question. This corresponds to the following important subrule about the interrogative hey: 
•	To indicate the interrogative you usually prefix a hey with a chataf patach to the first word of the sentence
•	To indicate the interrogative when the first word of the sentence begins with a shva you prefix a hey with an ordinary patach. In this case there is no difference between hey as meaning the and hey as meaning the interrogative (since they both have the same form). Rather, meaning must be inferred from context.

Example 3: Gn04-09c
Biblical Text: [Kayin, who just murdered his brother Hevel, responds to God's question, "Where is your brother", by stating] (Gn04-09c) I am my brother's watcher?" Rashi: Because of the prefix hey this is really a question not a statement. It should be translated, "Am I my brother's watcher?"
 
Verbs Daily Rashi: Thursday Nov 8 2012

 What is the difference between the following English sentences.
•	I ate the apple.
•	I am eating the apple.
•	I eat apples
•	I will eat the apple.
•	I had eaten the apple.

The above sentences show a difference in both
•	Form and
•	Meaning. 

The differences in form, actually the form of the verb, is indicated by the underline. The sentences differ in when the apple was eaten, that is, at what time relative to the present moment was the apple eaten.
•	Past: I ate the apple.
•	Present: I am eating the apple.
•	Habitual Present: I eat apples
•	Future: I will eat the apple.
•	Past Perfect: I had eaten the apple.

We refer to the time when a verb or activity was done as the tense of the verb. For example, a past tense means the activity was done formerly, that is, in the past.

But what is the difference between
•	Present: I am eating the apple.
•	Habitual Present: I eat apples?

The difference is as follows:
•	The present refers to a one-time activity being done now;  
•	The habitual present refers to a habit of mine - for example, it might mean that I eat apples instead of oranges for breakfast. Or it might mean that when I snack I eat apples. It refers to an activity that periodically recurs. This activity refers to things done in both the past, present and future. We call it the habitual present because a habit is a prototype of something done in the past, present and future.

Notice how in English each tense has its own distinct form corresponding to that meaning. English is a rich language with 14 tenses. We refer to the form of a verb as its conjugation. 

So a grammarian would say that in English each tense has its own distinct conjugation by which the grammarian would mean that for each intention of meaning - past, present, future, etc. - there is one specific form that you should use.

By contrast, Hebrew only has 2 conjugational forms: the past and future conjugation. When speaking biblical Hebrew one has to use these conjugations not for one meaning but for many possible meanings.

Rashi in several places teaches us that the future conjugation can be used 
•	To indicate a meaning of future activity, or
•	To indicate a meaning of a present habitual activity.

This can be confusing, since the reader must figure out himself what the author intended. There is no one-to-one correspondence between meaning and form. But that is the way the Hebrew language is.

It is interesting that this multi-use of conjugations is often not taught in Hebrew schools and university Hebrew courses. Thus even those proficient in Hebrew grammar may not be aware of this principle.

Hence the Rashi comment on Gen. 18:19 which is literally translated as follows: For I [God] will let him [Abraham] know in order that he will command his children after him, [so that] they will guard the way of God to do justice and charity.

The Hebrew Ye-Tza-Veh, has the form of the future conjugation. Hence the translations improperly translate this as he will command  with a future meaning.

Not so! The intent of the sentence is not a one-time command but rather an ongoing parent-child relationship. It really refers to a habit of teaching rather than a one-time future activity. Here the future conjugation means and refers to the habitual present. To capture this nuance we would translate the verse as follows: For I [God] will let him [Abraham] know in order that he commands his children after him, [so that] they will guard the way of God to do justice and charity. 

APPENDIX
THE 10 RASHI RULE CATEGORIES / THE 30 RASHI RULES
Copyright 2001, Rashiyomi Inc., Dr Hendel President, www.Rashiyomi.com/rules-01.htm
NOTE ON COPYRIGHTS:
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======================================================== 
I-REFERENCE: Dt26-05d We went down to Egypt with a few people explained by Gn46-27: with 70 people
======================================================== 
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
==============================================================  
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.
================================================================= 
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