SUCCINT SUMMARY:
----------------
One of Rashis 5 main goals was the explanation of grammar
similar to the explanations we find in modern textbooks. We
call this the Rashi rule of GRAMMAR.

Most people are familiar with those parts of grammar that
deal with the individual word--for example, the rules of verb
conjugation.

However an equally important part of grammar are the rules
of development in paragraphs: Given a paragraph theme what
types of sentences can exist in that paragraph and what are
their relations to the central theme. The rules of paragraph
development also apply to chapter development: How are the
constituent paragraphs of a chapter related to the central
theme. For this reason we call this Rashi subrule, the rule
of CONSECUTIVE PARAGRAPHS.

Rashi knew 4 means of relating consecutive sentences or
consecutive paragraphs in a paragraph or chapter:
- CAUSE
- CONTRAST
- ENABLEMENT
- UNIFYING THEME.

EXAMPLE Ex04-10:11
------------------
The text of Ex04-10:11 is given below:
The bracketed inserts are not in the Biblical
text but are comments of Rashi which indicate
the flow of the text. The context deals with
Gods request to Moses to lead the Jewish people
out of Egypt. Moses however refused.
--------------------------------------------------
Moses said to God: I have never been a man
of words and in fact I am a stutterer.

God replied:
- Who gives speech to a person
[You already have confronted an Egyptian
policement and several Jews (Ex02-11:14);
so you are prepared to confront
the Egyptian chief of Police, Pharoh]

- Who gives muteness to people
[Pharoh is an evil king; he should have ordered
you dead immediately when you killed a policeman;
but I made him a bit mute to give you enough time
to flee]

- who gives deafness to people
[Pharohs staff lives in fear of him and therefore
they always carry out orders; but I placed partial
deafness in his staff not to follow his order to
kill you]

- who gives blindness to people
[Pharoh-s staff lives in fear of him and therefore
they always carry out his orders; yet I placed
blindness in his border guards to give you enough
time to escape]
---------------------------------------------------

Rashi paraphrased comments
-----------------------------------------
- I gave you speech to confront an Egyptian policeman
- I gave muteness to Pharoh to delay your execution order
- I gave deafness to Pharoh-s staff not to obey the
execution order
- I gave blindness to Pharoh-s border guards to enable
you to escape
-----------------------------------------

In the above verses Rashi should be seen as commenting
on the unity of the paragraph of verses Ex04-10:11 which
form a comment-response. Rashi-s main contribution is to
enable us to see the contrast between comment & response
- Moses did not want to go to Pharoh because he wasnt
a good speaker
- God showed him that he already had speaking experience
with Pharoh and God also showed him how God protected
him in his actions

LIST061b below presents several Rashis exhibiting contrast
between verses.

A list of paragraphs     having a CONTRASTING connection

SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
A major Rashi method is the ALIGNMENT method. The
ALIGNMENT rule makes inferences from the alignment of
almost identical verses or phrases. When the inferences
are NUANCES that are implied by the minor differences
in the aligned verses we say that Rashi is using the
subrule of NUANCES.

EXAMPLE Ex04-07a
----------------
The text of Ex04-06:07 states
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex04-06 He placed hand in bossom   He took out             was leprous
Ex04-07 He returned hand to bossom He took out from Bossom was cured
Differs *1                         *2                      *3
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Rashi comments
--------------------------------------------------------
NOtice difference *2: HE TOOK OUT vs HE TOOK OUT FROM BOSSOM
The alignment suggests the following nuance: AS SOON AS HE
took out his hand from his bossom it was cured (Whereas in
the first case the setting of leprosy did not happen immediately
after taking out his hand but after a little while).

We conclude that CURE happens quicker than PUNISHMENT---Gods
good promises come quicker than his bad promises
---------------------------------------------------------

LIST308m below summarizes Moses punishment and cure and
the Biblical phrases used to describe them.

List of verses with      Description of Moses punishment & cure

SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
An advanced Rashi method is the use of symbolism to explain
Biblical chapters. The general guidelines for symbolic
interpretation are compactly presented in my essay GENESIS
ONE SPEAKS ABOUT THE CREATION OF PROPHECY NOT THE CREATION
OF THE WORLD which may be found at URL
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gen-1.htm We call this the Rashi
method of SYMBOLISM / symbolism.

As pointed out in the above essay, Rav Hirsch emphasized
that one cannot whimsically apply symbolic methods. Rather
the Biblical text must demand or require the use of symbolism.

At http://www.rashiyomi.com/ex04-10b.htm we have shown that
the phrase LISTEN TO VOICE vs LISTEN emphasizes LISTENING TO
NUANCES. Since the Bible uses the phrase LISTEN TO VOICE there
is an explicit Biblical emphasis that the Bible wanted us to
interpret the signs God gave with nuances, that is,symbolically.
We now examine the Rashis:

EXAMPLE Ex04-03:08
-------------------
The background is as follows. God had asked Moses to be a leader
to get the Jewish people out of Egypt. Moses complained: BUT THEY,
THE JEWS,WONT LISTEN TO ME---THEY WILL DENY THAT I SAW GOD. God
then gave him two signs. The Biblical text states
----------------------------------------------------------
(Sign 1) God said to Moses what is in your hand
Moses answsered: A stick
GOd said: Throw it to the ground
Moses threw it to the ground and it became a snake
....
(Sign 2) God said to Moses place your hand in your bossom
Moses placed his hand in his bossom and when he took it out
is was leprous-white.
...
God said if they dont believe the first sign they will believe
the second sign
----------------------------------------------------------

Following Rav Hirsch we interpret signs based on their Biblical
usage.  We have as follows

- The ROD symbolizes RULERSHIP (e.g. Gn49-10)
- The SNAKE symbolizes SLANDER (E.g. Ec10-11, Gn03)
- SNOW WHITE SKIN symbolizes punishment for slander
	(e.g. Dt24-08:08,Nu12)

(We lightly sketched Biblical support for these symbols: We
could spend more time and fully develop these symbols but
this will not be done here)

I would therefore interpret the signs symbolically as follows
-----------------------------------------------
* Moses held ROD--Moses was going to be LEADER
* Moses thru rod down and it became a SNAKE
=Leadership very often requires seeing the bad and
uncooperative in people
* Moses placed hand in bossom and it became leprous
= God punished Moses for slandering Jews (Moses said
they will not believe me)
------------------------------------------------

Using the above we can understand Rashi who comments
------------------------------------------------
The Jews will believe the second sign rather than
the first sign since there is a history of leaders
being punished for hurting the Jews as we find in
several stories in Genesis
------------------------------------------------

Much much more could be said on this or any other symbol
We have only indicated the basics to explain why Rashi
is using this approach and the direction the symbols
should be taken in.

LIST975m below summarizes the symbolism

List of symbolism in     Moses punishment for slandering Jews

SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
Very often Rashi is not commenting on Grammar or
words but rather commenting on overall structure
This in fact is the Rabbi Ishmael rule of CONTEXT

We have contributed to the Rabbi Ishmael rule of
CONTEXT the idea that context can be governed by
repeating KEYWORDS. We therefore call this the
BULLET/PARAGRAPHS rule (though it could also be
called the CONTEXT rule).

When the KEYWORD is repeated several times to
introduce several phrases we perceive the Bible
as creating a BULLETED list. In other words, Rashi
interprets the verse with several phrases and
several keywords the same way we would interpret
in English a bulleted list. We call this the
KEYWORDS AS BULLETS method.

EXAMPLE Ex04-09b
----------------
The text states
-------------------------------------------
And if they dont believe the first two signs
then take water from the nile
- AND IT WILL BE - the water you take from the Nile
- AND IT WILL BE - blood on the ground
-------------------------------------------

Rashi, paraphrased, comments
-------------------------------------------
The repeated phrase, AND IT WILL BE, creates
an emphasis. It clearly shows two stages
- the water taken from the Nile will not
immediately turn to blood in Moses hand
- however upon reaching the ground it will
turn to blood
[This heightens the miracle---if the water
turned to blood in Moses hand we might say
creatures in the water died when being
withdrawn from the Nile and caused a red color]
----------------------------------------------

LIST106k below summarizes this BULLETED Structure

BULLETED structure of    Ex04-09b

SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
One of Rashis 5 main goals is the clarification of meaning
the same way the dictionary clarifies meaning. Rashi will
frequently comment on special connective words such as IF,
BECAUSE, PERHAPS. We call this the Rashi method of SPECIAL
CONNECTIVE WORDS / connective words.

EXAMPLE Ex04-26c
----------------
The word EL, Aleph-Lamed is usually translated
at TO. However it can equally mean TO, ON, IN,
WITH, and FROM. This rule applies equally to
the whole word Aleph-Lamed as well as to the
individual prefix letter, Lamed. In the verse
below we, following Rashi, translate prefix Lamed
as CONCERNING, not as TO.

The text of Ex04-26 states
-------------------------------------------
When the angel trying to kill Moses for not
circumcising his son stopped trying to kill
Moses, after Moses had circumcised his son,
Tziporah said: My hubby almost died CONCERNING
circumcision
-------------------------------------------

Rashi comments
---------------------------------------------
[The prefix Lamed means] CONCERNING circumcision.
The remainder of the word is a noun--CIRCUMCISION
The prefix LAMED means CONCERNING. Another
example may be found in Ex14-03 AND PHAROH SAID
CONCERNING THE JEWISH PEOPLE. The aramaic
translation...
---------------------------------------------

List of meanings of      EL / LAMED = TO, ON, IN, WITH, FROM

List of verses with      EL / LAMED = TO, ON, IN, WITH, FROM

Lighting summary of Rashis with emphasis on Rashi rules*10