A simple exegetical grammatical method, readily
understood by everyone, is the skillful use of singular-
plural. Verses Lv12-07:08 states
And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled,
for a son, or for a daughter,
- she shall bring a lamb of the first year
for an up offering, and
- a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a
sin offering, to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
to the priest;
The priest
- shall offer it before the Lord,
and make an atonement for her;
and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood.
Rashi comments on the singular pronoun, it,
versus the plural up, sin offerings:
She brings two offerings; but only one of them
is needed to achieve ritual cleansing.
Note that the Scriptural text does not identify
which offering - up or sin - effects
ritual cleansing. Rashi therefore makes a reasonable
conjecture:
[Most probably] It is the sin offering which effects
ritual cleansing since sin offerings are typically brought
for atonement [which is a synonym for ritual cleansing].
Advanced Rashi:
This Rashi is typical: Rashi first makes a clear inference
from the Biblical text based on a sound grammatical
foundation. Rashi then conjectures on the applicability
of this inference. Thus in this example Rashi first infers
that only one of the two offerings is required for ritual
cleansing. Rashi makes this inference from the contrast of
the singular pronoun, it vs. the plural
reference up,sin offering. Then Rashi applies this
inference of one offering effects ritual cleansing
to the sin offering since sin offerings are typically brought
to effect atonement which is a synonym for
ritual cleansing.
The idea that Rashis should be understood in stages
was first advocated in my paper
Simple and
Exegetical Meaning: A New Approach. This principle of
stages facilitates
the appreciation of many Rashis as being the
simple intended meaning of the Biblical text.
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