Today Hebrew grammar is well understood and there are many books on it. Rashi, however, lived before the age of grammar books. A major Rashi method is therefore the teaching of basic grammar.

Many students belittle this aspect of Rashi. They erroneously think that because of modern methods we know more. However Rashi will frequently focus on rare grammatical points not covered in conventional textbooks.

There are many classical aspects to grammar whether in Hebrew or other languages. They include
• The rules for conjugating verbs. These rules govern how you differentiate person, plurality, tense, mode, gender, mood, and designation of the objects and indirect objects of the verb. For example how do you conjugate, in any language, I sang, we will sing, we wish to sing, she sang it.
• Rules of agreement. For example agreement of subject and verb, of noun and adjective; whether agreement in gender or plurality.
• Rules of Pronoun reference.
• Rules of word sequence. This is a beautiful topic which is not always covered in classical grammatical textbooks.

Today we use two rules, one from meaning and one from grammar.
• The synechdoche rule says we name items by good examples of them. So honey can refer to anything sweet and father can refer to any good caring leader.
• The verb-noun principle states that a noun (a thing) can be transformed into a verb meaning making the thing. For example, to flower converts the noun plant into the verb meaning to make plants, to build takes the noun building and converts it into the verb meaning to make buildings.

Using these rules we explain verse Dt22-21c which discusses the death penalty for a adultery. In describing the execution the Bible declares ....for she has done a vile thing in Israel to prostitute her father's house. Rashi explains the awkward sounding phrase to prostitute her father's house as meaning to prostitute while in her father's house.

In explaining this Rashi we make use of the two principles mentioned above.
• The Hebrew word Nun-Beth-Lamed-Hey, Nevalah means dead carcass
• However the dead carcass is a Good example of something vile and disgusting. This uses the synechdoche principle which names things by good examples. So honey can mean sweet and dead carcass can mean vile.
• But then isn't prostitution another good example of something vile? So the word prostitute can also mean vile.
• Next we use the verb-noun principle: to plant converts the noun plant into the verb meaning to make plants, to build takes the noun building and converts it into the verb meaning to make buildings, and so to prostitute takes the noun prostitute which we just saw means something vile and converts it into the verb meaning to make vile.
• But the verb to make vile takes a direct object. Hence the verse says to prostitute her father's house which we translate to make vile her father's house.
• So the whole verse together has a delicious double pun on the vileness of adultery. The entire verse would mean ...she is stoned....because she has done something vile [literally, a dead carcass] in Israel to vile [literally, to prostitute] her father's house.

Good puns have overtones, flavors and scents which enrich, beautify and deliver punchy points. Here the Bible attacks the sympathies we may have towards adulterous sinners.
• We tend to see adultery as an act of passion. We imagine lovers and tempting beautiful bodies, and so the Bible deliberately uses the word dead carcass as a pun describing the bodies of the adulterers.
• We tend to see adultery as a sin between consenting adults and so the Bible reminds us that the woman viles her father's house indicating that the adultery has implications and ramifications for those who brought up the woman - she is not doing something private but rather publicly affecting other peoople.

Advanced Rashi: We tend to look at the Bible as a legal book of laws and exhortations. We forget that the Bible is capable of irony, puns, inuendos - paintings with words and connotations. I hope the above example shows the potential richness in any Biblical verse. The above example also shows how Biblical grammar when properly used is not technical but romantic, poetic and full of nuances.