`          Whats new and hot in this issue?

VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
There are only a dozen commandments where it mentions
the EXODUS from Egypt--that is, it states DO THESE
COMMANDMENTS AND REMEMBER THAT I, GOD, TOOK YOU OUT
OF EGYPT. There are 4 reasons for mentioning the Exodus:
(1) BE NICE TO SLAVES AND ORPHANS (cf Dt15-15,Dt05-15
Dt16-12, Dt24-18); (2) SANCTIFY YOURSELVES by avoiding ritual
impurity; (cf Lv22-33, Lv11-45, Nu15-41, Ex29-46).(3) AVOID
ANXIETY PRODUCING BUSINESS PRACTICES (Cf Lv25-38, Lv19-36)
(4) SERVE THE TRUE ONE UNIQUE GOD: (cf Ex20-01,Ex29-46)
All these practices were intrinsic to Egypt.

-----------------------------------------
TODAYS RASHI RULE:       DATABASE METHODS
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE:    DATABASE METHODS
-----------------------------------------

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RULE
-------------------------
One of Rashis main goals was to function as a Masorite:
A scholar who preserves the accuracy of the Biblical
text.

A primary vehicle for preserving the Biblical text is
noting RARITY. RARITY simply means that in some domain
of knowledge, Biblical language rarely uses certain
words or terms.

Examples of Biblical rarity are (a) Grammatical conjugations
that do not occur that often in Tnach; (b) Special topics
that occur in only a FEW of the Biblical commandments; (c)
grammatical roots that only occur a few times in the Bible.

I have coined the phrase: TO RASHI A TEXT--which means to
especially note all RARITY that occurs in that text. Rashi
will frequently NOT EXPLAIN this RARITY but simply NOTE IT.
As indicated this is the task of the Masorite.

For those who are familiar with Database theory this can
be succinctly formulated (See footnote *10)

STANDARD EXAMPLE
----------------
There are 613 BIblical commandments. But only a dozen
or so mention the Exodus. Hence the EXODUS is a Biblical
Rarity relative to the commandments. The list below shows
the dozen or so verses containing Biblical commandments.
In most of them Rashi comments on the emphasis that
----------------------------------------
God took us out of Egypt (Exodus) on
condition that we perform these commandments
----------------------------------------

STUDENT EXERCISES:
------------------
- Gather/find all Biblical commandments that mention
the Exodus

- How many such commandments do you have?

- Are there common themes to these Biblical commandments

RASHIS SOLUTION
---------------
Rashi did NOT have a solution! Rashi simply notes
the Rarity. In each of the dozen or so commandments
mentioning Egypt he mentions this Rarity.

Nevertheless by seeking underlying themes in these
commandments we enrich our understanding of Rashi

STANDARD REFERENCES FOR THIS RULE
---------------------------------
http://www.RashiYomi.com/database.htm
A definitive scholarly paper on Database methods with
many examples.

Todays example may be found at
http://www.RashiYomi.com/dt05-15a.htm

One can also find this example at the Rashi calendar
See http://www.RashiYomi.Com/egypt-5.htm

Or visit the Rashi calendar at
http://www.RashiYomi.com/calendar1.htm
The Exodus series was presented in August 2000

HOW TO USE THESE LISTS FOR SCHOOL PROJECTS
------------------------------------------
You can use the LISTS referenced above for
school projects. Here is how. If you are a
teacher then you can present rarity themes
and ask the students to perform the
3 student exercises listed above.

The students can then compare their analysis with that
of Rashis. This leads to greater appreciation of Rashi.

TODAYS EXAMPLE
--------------
We present the dozen or so commandments where
the exodus is mentioned. Footnotes elaborate further

VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
The Bible describes the task of the levites using various words
such as CRAFTSMANSHIP, SERVICE, BEARING. An alignment of about
a dozen verses where these terms occur shows special emphasis
on two types of tasks: SERVICE/BEARING. By referring to other
Biblical verses we see that the Levites performed two primary
tasks-- SINGING ACCOMPANIMENT TO SACRIFICES and TRANSPORT-
BEARING OF THE TEMPLE on trips.Logically, it seems satisfactory
to connect BEARING=TRANSPORT; SERVICE=SINGING. The emphasis in
our approach is not on etymologies but rather on seeking other
verses supporting nuances.

----------------------------------------
TODAYS RASHI RULE:       ALIGNMENT
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE:    FURTHER NUANCES
----------------------------------------

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RULE
-------------------------
Many Rashis do NOT focus on an internal analysis of the verse.
There may be nothing bothering Rashi in THAT verse. The words
used may all be normal.

But when the given verse is compared with another verse--that
is, when the two verses are ALIGNED together-- we see blatant
differences.

The ALIGNED verses therefore suggest that these ALIGNED
DIFFERENCES were deliberately placed there to emphasize
certain nuances. The standard example will illustrtae this.


STANDARD EXAMPLE
----------------
Recall that the Moabite King BALAK was apprehensive about
Israel journeying throught its territory. It wanted Israel
banished. It hired a professional curse-man, Bilam who would
curse the Jews. Bilam however describes his job SLIGHTLY
differently. Here are the verses.

-----------------------------------------------
BALAK: Nu22-06 I will banish Jews FROM THE LAND
BILAM: Nu22-11 ...... banish Jews -------------
-----------------------------------------------


EXERCISE
--------
To fully appreciate Rashi perform the following 2 exercises
- What is the minor difference between the aligned verses?
- What NUANCE do YOU think this implies?


RASHIS SOLUTION
---------------
BALAK only wanted Jews away from his land; his goals were
political. By contrast, BILAM wanted them DESTROYED. Hence...

BALAK wanted Jews BANISHED FROM THE LAND. But Bilam wanted
them BANISHED PERIOD (That is destroyed).


STANDARD REFERENCES FOR THIS RULE
---------------------------------
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-58.htm

This summary may be a bit too terse. You can browse the
57 postings leading up to by going to
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-1.htm
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/align-2.htm etc.

Or you can visit the Rashi Yomi Calendar at

http://www.RashiYomi.com/calendar1.htm

This calendar presents a day by day listing of Rashis.
The ALIGNMENT series occurs between 7-28-01 and 10-10-01.


HOW TO USE THESE LISTS FOR SCHOOL PROJECTS
------------------------------------------
You can use the LISTS referenced above for
school projects. Here is how. If you are a
teacher then you can present the two aligned
verses and ask the students to perform the
following exercises

-- What are the minor differences between the verses
-- What nuances do they imply

The students can then compare their analysis with that
of Rashis. This leads to greater appreciation of Rashi.

TODAYS EXAMPLE
--------------
Here is the list of verses of Levite service. Further
support is found in the footnotes. Other approaches to
Rashi are mentioned in the longer footnotes.

VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
Nu05-06:08 describes a person who stole, feels guilty but
the agrieved has no relatives to return the stolen object to.
The Bible describes a specific atonement procedure. Rashis
task on this chapter is to FILL IN phrases to make the
reading smoother. Rashi identifies the antecedents of
the sentence subjects which continuously change in both
reference and plurality. This helps the reader read the
Biblical paragraph. Rashi also uses the technique of OTHER
VERSES to give a detailed description of how the theft
described could have happened.

----------------------------------------
TODAYS RASHI RULE:       GRAMMAR
TODAYS RASHI SUBRULE:    FILL-IN
----------------------------------------

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RULE
-------------------------
Many Rashis focus on the two main concerns of a text:
MEANING and GRAMMAR.

When Rashi focuses on GRAMMAR he might discuss
-- roots and their conjugations
-- subject-predicate/gender agreement
-- constructs, connective prepositions and object designation
-- multi-sentence verses,
-- discuss issues of ellipsis, antecedents, referents etc

The important point to remember in such Rashis is that
Rashi is acting the same way a modern grammar textbook
would act. Very often Rashi can be properly understood
by looking up the above topics in standard textbooks.

STANDARD EXAMPLE
----------------
Perhaps the simplest example of Rashi on grammar is Dt02-16a
There are 6000 Biblical verses. Most of them are complete
sentences. However about 2 dozen of them are part of
multi-verse sentences. Rashi simply alerts the reader to this.
Here is the text of Dt02-16:17

--------------------------------------------------------
Dt02-16 When all the sinners died from the nation
Dt02-17 [Then] God spoke to me (Moses) to say over
--------------------------------------------------------

Rashi in effect inserts the elliptical word [Then] to
smoothen the reading of these sentences. Note that if
one tries to read each verse separately then the
verses appear awkward.

(STUDENT) EXERCISES
-------------------
Most readers of Rashi will actually learn the grammar
from Rashi. However for those who wish to put in a little
more effort it is worth the while to take a modern grammar
book (Any one will do) and look up the given topic in that
grammar book. Then apply the technique to the verse in
question. Such an exercise enriches our understanding
of Rashi.

STANDARD REFERENCES FOR THIS RULE
---------------------------------
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/grammar.htm