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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 Nu13-23b
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n22.htm
    Brief Summary: The 10 spies carried: 1) 1 person a pomegranate, 2) 1 person a fig; 8 people carried a grape cluster on a board with 4 corners(2/corner).

    Verse Nu13-23b discussing what the spies brought back from Israel states And they came to the brook of Eshkol,
    • and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it in pairs per pole;
    • and they brought of the pomegranates,
    • and of the figs.
    Before proceeding we should review the bolded phrase pairs per pole. The actual Hebrew literally means they carried it on a pole with two.. This phrase could be interpreted to mean
    1. Two spies carried the grape cluster which hung from a pole
    2. They carried the grape clusters with two people per pole (with 4 poles in a square position).
    Rashi preferred method 1. Here Rashi was not using grammatical or word-meaning methods but rather using spreadsheet methods as we will show immediately below.

    Here is a bulleted list showing Rashi's argument. As indicated above they are not the only approach but they make a great deal of sense.
    • Number of spies available to carry back items:
      • 12 spies were sent (Nu13-04:15)
      • 2 spies-Joshua and Caleb-broke off from the main spies (Nu14-06:09)
      • Hence there were 10 spies left to carry items
    • What items were brought and how many carried them
      • Pomegranates were carried - presumably one person carried these
      • Figs were carried - presumably one person carried these
      • A clustere of grapes was carried by two
    • Readjustment of counts
      • Current count: 1(pomegranate)+1 figs+2 for grapes =4
      • Alternate count:1 (pomegranate)+1 fig +8 for grapes =10 = number of spies
      • 8 carried grapes by supporting them on a 4 cornered object
      • Each corner had a pair of people (two)
      • 4 corners x 2 people = 8 people
In summary: Rashi assumes that The number of people available (10) were used to carry the fruit and that grapes were enormous reflecting the beauty of Israel We again emphasize that this explanation is not forced but motivated by spreadsheet considerations. It is a very reasonable explanation. In this explanation Rashi assumes that all 10 spies were against Israel.

It is also reasonable that only 4 people carried the fruit and possibly wanted to praise Israel with 6 spies adamant against going there. In other words I am suggeting an explanation that a) 2 spies supported conquest, b) 6 spies opposed and c) 4 spies were undecided but were swayed at the end to join those opposed. Such an explanation is very reasonable also and consistent with political disagreement.

In this case Rashi is commenting on the logical inference in the verse. Hence we classify this as a logical non-verse method similar to the numerical spreadsheet methods and the diagramatic geometric methods.


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