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    9. RASHI METHOD: SPREADSHEETS
    BRIEF EXPLANATION: The common denominator of the 3 submethods of the Spreadsheet method is that inferences are made from non textual material. The 3 submethods are as follows:
    • Spreadsheet: Rashi makes inferences of a numerical nature that can be summarized in a traditional spreadsheet
    • Geometric: Rashi clarifies a Biblical text using descriptions of geometric diagrams
    • Fill-ins: Rashi supplies either real-world background material or indicates real-world inferences from a verse. The emphasis here is on the real-world, non-textual nature of the material.
    This example applies to Rashis Nu27-04b
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w34n2.htm
    Brief Summary: Why should the lack of a son cause our father's name to vanish, rather, give us an inheritance to preserve his name [Rashi: They wouldn't have complained if they had a brother]

Verse Nu25-04b discussing Zelafchad's daughter's petition for inheritance to perpetuate their father's memory states Why should the lack of a son cause the name of our father to be forgotten from among his family? [rather] Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.'

    Rashi is surprisingly modern here. The verse can be interpreted in two ways:
  1. The law states that if there is 1 boy and 5 girls the boy inherits all The petition of the girls was that if girls and boys inherited equally and the estate should be divided 6 ways. The 6 way division would give more exposure to their deceased father's name enriching its preservation.
  2. The law states that if there are no boys, even if there are girls, the estate is given to uncles (the deceased's brothers). The petition of the girls is that the daughters rather than the uncles should inherit (so that the deceased's name should be perpetuated).

Rashi identifies their petition with #2 not #1. In other words the petition was not that non-inheritance of girls causes less of a distribution among the deceased's survivors but rather that the non-inheritance of the girls causes no distribution among the deceased's survivors. This would result in forgetting the deceased. Rashi makes this inference from the underlined words in the verse, cited in the first paragraph: lack of a son cause In other words the petition was about no inheritance not about less inheritance.

Rashi concludes: They were not feminists fighting for more inheritance. Rather they correctly identified the driving force of their petition as the potential erasure of their father's name. To remedy this they wanted to inherit to preserve their father's name. By focusing on non-personal issues (erasure of the deceased's name) we see their perceptive and discrete approach to the whole situation.

Since Rashi makes his inference from the logical connections in the verse - lack of a son causes erasure of our father's name - we classify this Rashi inference as Non-Verse. 


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