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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 Dt30-15a Dt30-16a Dt30-16b Dt30-17a
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/dt30-15a.htm
    Brief Summary: In Dt30-15:18, we have GOOD=Love God; LIFE=live; EVIL=worship other gods; DEATH=perish.

Today is a peach of an example of the Rashi Format method. Most people identify Rashi with comments on meaning, grammar, alignment and extra words. I have introduced the idea that some Rashis are commenting on none of the above-instead they are commenting on Format and Structure, that is, inferences are made from the Structure / Format of the Biblical paragraphs rather than from their contents. In today's example Rashi simply points out how successive verses echo each other. Rashi points out for example how good and life in one verse refers to Loving God and living a long life in the next verse. In fact Rashi makes half a dozen comments and each comment is simply a structural comment that words and phrases in one verse echo similar word and phrases in subsequent verses. I have changed the order of one of the verses to hi-light the Rashi comments. As I pointed out in my article Biblical Formatting by taking advantage of modern formatting techniques (such as tables) we can literally see the Rashi comments before our very eyes.

Dt30-15 See, I have set before thee this day good and life, and evil and death,
Dt30-16 in that I command thee this day to love HaShem thy G-d, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances; then thou shalt live and multiply, and HaShem thy G-d shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest in to possess it.
Dt30-17:18 But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I declare unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish; ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over the Jordan to go in to possess it.
Rashi comment based on column structure: Good = Loving God
  • If you do good then you will live.
  • Life = you will live and multiply.
Evil = Worship other Gods

Advanced Rashi: The serious student of Rashi should study this beautiful example. Take a Chumash and Rashi and literally see how each column in the table above corresponds to one Rashi. For example the Rashi comment: The word Good in Dt30-15 corresponds to the phrase Love Hashem in Dt30-16. This Rashi comment is succinctly presented by the columnar alignment of phrases. Similarly for the other Rashi comments.


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