SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
One of Rashi's 10 major methods is the study of FORMATTING
effects that indicate emphasis. We call this the Rashi method
of FORMATTING.

Modern authors have a variety of methods to indicate FORMATTING
such as a) bold-underline-italics, b) bullets, c) paragraphing.
Modern authors use bold-underline-italics to indicate
emphasis. The Biblical authors use REPETITION to indicate
emphasis. We call this the Rashi sub-method of REPETITION.

EXAMPLE Nu05-22c
----------------
The following verse repeats a word
--------------------------------------------------------------
And the priest curses the women suspected of adultery ...
if you have indeed sinned then may your belly swell
and thighs swell...and you will be a curse in your nation

And the women answers AMEN AMEN
--------------------------------------------------------------

Rashi (paraphrased) commenting on the repeated word AMEN AMEN
states
---------------------------------------
The repetition connotes AFFIRMATION in
all circumstances --no matter what--
no exceptions
---------------------------------------

To appreciate our interpretation of Rashi we cite the
literal translation of Rashi
------------------------------------------------------
The word AMEN signifies acceptance of an oath
- ACCEPTANCE whether she committed adultery from
the suspected person OR from any other person
- ACCEPTANCE whether she cheated while married or
whether she cheated while (BiblicallY) engaged
- ACCEPTANCE of both the OATH (I didnt commit adultery)
as well as the consequent CURSE (May I be punished
if I did commit adultery)
------------------------------------------------------

As can be seen from the THREE interpretations that
Rashi presents the basic idea is the abstract idea
of ACCEPTANCE IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES (That is the
REPETITION indicates IN ANY EVENT)

LIST150a below presents other examples where verses are
interpreted broadly because of a REPETITION.

List of verses with REPEATED words interpreted broadly

SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
Rashi frequently makes powerful inferences from the alignment
of ALMOST similar verses. The minor variations between these
almost similar verses suggests nuances and differences or
even meaning. We call this the Rashi rule of ALIGNMENT

When Rashi identifies two cases from the ALIGNMENT we call
this the Rashi subrule of TWO CASES

When Rashi infers nuances from the variations betweent the
almost similar verses we call this the Rashi subrule of
NUANCES.

When Rashi infers MEANING from the ALIGNMENT of almost
identical phrases we call this the Rashi SUBRULE of MEANING.

EXAMPLE Nu05-22b
------------------
Note the subtle shift from possessive in the
following sequence of verselets in Nu05-21:23
---------------------------------------------
Priest swears women: If you have sinned then...
- God will make      YOU    for a curse
- in                 YOUR   nation
- when               YOUR   thigh falls
- and                YOUR   belly swells*1
- these waters enter YOUR   belly*1
- to                 *1     swell bellies
- to                 *1     fell thighs
- and                SHE    answers AMEN
---------------------------------------------

Note the absence of a possessive in the two
asterisked clauses. Rashi comments
------------------------------------------
Notice how the curse BELLY SWELL - THIGH FALLS
is mentioned twice, once with a possessive and
once without it. This blatant absence of a
possessive suggests that the second BELLY SWELL -
THIGH FALL curse applied to the ADULTERER (Although
the ceremony is on the women the man is punished
also)
---------------------------------------------

LIST308t below summarizes this alignment.

Align verses Nu05-21:22  Discussing curse of adulteress

SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
One of Rashis 10 main tasks is to explain grammar the same way
a dictionary explains grammar.  There are various aspects to
grammar including verb conjugation, gender agreement, plurality
agreement etc. In todays posting we focus on a brilliant
discovery of the Malbim: The meaning of Hebrew words is not
dependent only on 3 letter roots but rather is dependent on
the combination of 3 letter roots with prepositions.That is,
the meaning of a ROOT depends on the PREPOSITION following it.

In this posting we review the meaning of the root
beth-resh-caph (To Bless). When
- This root is followed by no preposition it means
TO BLESS.
- But when this root is followed by the preposition IN
(BLESSED IN YOU) it means a BLESSING STANDARD.

Thus the famous blessing of Jacob in Gn48-20
------------------------------------
JEWS WILL  BLESS IN EPHRAIM/MENASEH
------------------------------------
means that
----------------------------------------------
when Jews bless their children they say
MAY YOU BECOME AS BLESSED AS EPHRAIM/MENASHEH
----------------------------------------------
This interpretation is explicitly stated in the verse!

EXAMPLE Gn48-20a (Explicit usage)
---------------------------------
The Jews will BLESS IN YOU: May God make you like Ephraim
and Menasheh

EXAMPLE Gn12-03a
----------------
(God to Abraham) IN YOU (that is BY YOU) will people BLESS
(That is they will say may you become like Abraham)

EXAMPLE Gn26-04a
----------------
(God to Isaac) IN YOUR DESCENDANTS will people bless
(May you become like the Jews)

EXAMPLE Nu05-21a Nu05-21b,Nu05-21c
----------------------------------
(Priest to adulteress-suspect) People will CURSE/SWEAR IN YOU
(that is, people will say MAY YOU BECOME LIKE SO AND SO THE
ADULTERESS) Hence this oath which the priest administers to
the suspected adulteress is called the CURSE OATH

EXAMPLE Nu05-27c
----------------
Nu05-27 states
---------------------------------------
If the women did sin then her belly swells and her thigh
falls and the women WILL BE A CURSE IN HER NATION
---------------------------------------

Rashi comments on the capped phrase BE A CURSE IN HER NATION
--------------------------------------------------
This means, as I have explained above, that
people will use the women as a CURSE STANDARD
eg If someone loses his temper he will curse by saying
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
May you become like so and so the adulteress
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
--------------------------------------------------

LIST901m below summarizes the above Rashis.

List of verses with      Blessed IN YOU=may you be like so&so

VERY BRIEF SUMMARY
------------------
One of Rashis 6 main goals is to explain
Grammar the same way modern Grammar books do.
Grammar deals with many topics. In this posting
we deal with the grammatical rules governing
sentences. Most Biblical verses are complete
sentences. However in certain rare cases TWO
or more Verses form ONE sentence.

EXAMPLE: Nu05-19:22
-------------------
Nu05-18:22 is a 6 verse sentence containing
the curse that the priest administers to
the suspected Adulteress. It has two main
clauses (IF YOU DID...IF YOU DIDNT) as well
as parenthetical phrases. Rashis job is to
clarify its structure.

-------------------------------------------------------
VERSE   TEXT OF VERSE
------- -----------------------------------------------
Nu05-19 And the priest swears her
       A) IF you didnt commit adultery
          THEN be free
Nu05-20 B) If you did commit adultery
Nu06-21    (And the priest swears her)
          THEN you will be a curse in your nation
          [THEN] you will have swollen belly,fallen thigh
Nu06-22    [THEN] thighs will fall, bellys swell
C) And the women affirms the oath: AMEN AMEN
-------------------------------------------------------


LIST070a summarizes this argument.

List of clauses in       Nu05-19:20(Oath of adulteress)

SUCCINCT SUMMARY
----------------
One of Rashis 10 main goals is the explanation of
meaning the same way a dictionary explains meaning.
We call this the Rashi method of WORD MEANING.

Rashi had 10 vehicles by which to explain words.
Today we examine three submethods of meaning.

The UNIFIED MEANING submethod seeks to find a UNIFIED
MEANING to a root with disparate meanings.


EXAMPLE: Tzade Beth Hey (CBH) = Gradual slow growth
---------------------------------------------------
Following Radack we infer 3 meanings from this root
- Deer and Deerskin (Deer bags are firm but expand as needed)
- Desirable (Something that Grows surely but gradually)
- Swelling (appears like a slow growth but is bad)

The following examples come from Rashi and the
Radack, Book of Roots

-Nu05-21e and her belly will SWELL and her thighs fall
NOTE: This is the only time in the Bible that CBH has
the perjorative meaning swell

-Dn11-17 And he stood in the DESIRABLE land
(The land is DESIRABLE because it continuously experiences
gradual growth--we contend that all usages of CBH to
denote DESIRABLE indicate GRADUAL GROWTH)

- Dt14-08 a DEER (Deerskin can be used for a FIRM
carrying case that also adjusts with mild expansion
as needed)

Note: The Radack himself conjectures that all meanings
are unified under DESIRABLE (We have been more specific
in this and identified the DESIRABILITY with gradual
expansiveness)

List of verses with      Root Tzade-Beth-Hey=Gradual Growth

Lightning summary of Rashis with emphasis on Rashi rules*10