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      7. RASHI METHOD: FORMATTING
      BRIEF EXPLANATION:Inferences from Biblical formatting: --bold,italics, and paragraph structure.
      • Use of repetition to indicate formatting effects: bold,italics,...;
      • use of repeated keywords to indicate a bullet effect;
      • rules governing use and interpretation of climactic sequence;
      • rules governing paragraph development and discourse
      This examples applies to Rashis Ex23-05c
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n9.htm
      Brief Summary: PERHAPS you will see the donkey of your enemy overburdened with transport and you will abstain from helping him? You must, WITH HIS HELP, UNLOAD UNLOAD.

Todays example combines the meaning, grammar, and formatting rules #2,#3 and #7.The interested reader is referred to the discussion in the previous examples.

We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf, that the Biblical Author indicates bold, italics, underline by using repetition. In other words if a modern author wanted to emphasize a word they would either underline, bold or italicize it. However when the Biblical author wishes to emphasize a word He repeats it. The effect - whether thru repetition or using underline - is the same. It is only the means of conveying this emphasis that is different.

Verse Ex23-05c states perhaps you will see the donkey of your enemy overburdened with transport and you will abstain from helping him? You must, with his help, unload unload. Rashi commenting on the repeated words unload unload connoting an unspecified emphasis states You must always unload the donkey even e.g. if the person is elderly and cannot help you.

    Advanced Rashi: To fully appreciate this Rashi we remind ourselves of the emphasis brought by the use of a full word to indicate the pronoun, with him. explained above in rule #3, Grammar
    • From the use of a full word to indicate with him we infer that you shoud only help when the owner of the donkey participates with the unloading
    • but from the repeated unload unload we infer that you must always unload even if the owner is not there.
    Thus these two emphasii - only with him vs. always unload - create two contradictory albeit unspecified emphasis. Such appearances of dual emphasis occurs frequently in the exegetical literature. Rashi following the mechiltah and talmud resolves this by skillfully identifying two cases
    • Obviously if the person is elderly you must still unload even though he can't help
    • But equally obviously if the person is a smart-alec who sits down and says 'You are obligated to unload - go do it' then you do not have to assist.

The above Rashi is therefore fundamental and illustrative of a broad class of Rashi comments with talmudic flavor. The serious student of exegesis would do well to study it throughly. 


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