9. RASHI METHOD: NonVerse BRIEF EXPLANATION: The common denominator of the 3 submethods of the NonVerse 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 examples applies to Rashis Nu03-39b Nu03-46a Nu03-49a Nu03-50a URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm Brief Summary: 300 Firstborn Levites remained. 22000 Firstborn redeemed by Levites. 273 firstborn redeemed @ 5 per head=$1365. Redeemers identified by lottery

Background: Originally the firstborn served at the sacrifices. When the Jews sinned by the Golden calf God took this privilege away from them and gave it to the Levites. The process of transfer of responsibility from the firstborn to the Levites was called a redemption process. The redemption process is described in the table below. Because this aspect of the Bible involves computations and spreadsheets we classify this Rashi as non-verse/spreadsheets.

Very roughly there are 3 types of redemption:
• The 300 Levites that were firstborn remained in service
• There was an exchange of 22000 Levites for 22000 Firstborn
• The remaining 273 non Levite firstborn were redeeemed at $5 shekel per person or $1,365 aggregate.

There was the further problem of who to collect the $1,365 from. After all each particular firstborn could claim he corresponded to an actual Levite and didn't have to pay. Therefore the redemption was done by lottery which picked 273 firstborn each of whom paid $5 shekel.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi also mentions the 20 silver price by which Joseph was sold. We will discuss this aspect of Rashi in a later year.