The 10 RashiYomi Rules 
Their presence in Rashis on Parshat PeKuDaY
Vol 1#4 - Adapted from Rashi-is-Simple 
Visit The RashiYomi Website: http://www.RashiYomi.Com/
(c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr Hendel President, Mar 8, 2005
English translations of the Bible come mostly from the Davka translation with changes made by me

The goal of this Weekly Rashi Digest is to use the weekly Torah portion to expose students at all levels to the ten major methods of commentary used by Rashi. It is hoped that continual weekly exposure to these ten major methods will enable students of all levels to acquire a familiarity and facility with the major exegetical methods.

1. RASHI METHOD: OTHER VERSES     
This example applies to Rashis Ex25-16b Ex38-21c
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ex39-43a.htm

The other verse method seeks to confirm the contents of a target verse by cross referencing other verses which either confirm the target text or add details to it.

Ex25-16 states And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. The term testimony in Ex25-16 is clarified by an other verse Ex34-28:29 which explains that the testimony refers to the tablets containing the 10 commandments: And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of Testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. Using these other verses we can better understand Ex38-21c which calls the Temple, the Temple of Testimony: Ex38-21c states This is the sum of the things of the Temple, of the Temple of Testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest. The net effect of these other verses is the understanding that a primary purpose of the Temple is to house the ten commandments, also called the Testimony. In other words a primary purpose of the Temple is to encourage man to learn and apply the 10 commandments which indicate the chapter headings to all moral law. They are called the testimony because they testify to what God wants of man.

2. RASHI METHOD: WORD MEANINGS / 8 methods of naming  
This example applies to Rashis  Ex38-27b Ex30-13c Ex28-04g Lv16-04b
URL reference:(c) http://www.RashiYomi.com/ex29-33d.htm

The word meaning method seeks to present dictionary meaning. Rashi uses 10 vehicles to infer word meaning. Rashi frequently identifies the meaning of a word by items related to that word. Secular scholars call this the principle of metonymy. For example the English phrase, the pen is mightier than the sword uses the word pen to refer to written texts since texts are frequently written by pens. Here written text is metronomically named by a related item, the pen. Using this metonymy rule we can easily see that the word holy can adjectivally refer to any object that is used and related to the Holy Temple. 

Hence the phrase holy coins refer to coins used by (Holy) Temple treasurers.  This usage of holy coin occurs in Ex30-13 This they shall give, every one who passes among those who are counted, half a shekel in holy shekels; a shekel is twenty gerahs; a half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Similarly the phrase holy sockets would refer to sockets used in the temple construction. This usage of holy sockets occurs in Ex38-27: And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the holy sockets, and the sockets of the veil; a hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket

3. RASHI METHOD: GRAMMAR / conjugation
This example applies to Rashis  Ex40-22a
URL reference:(c) http://www.RashiYomi.com/ex26-07b.htm

The grammar method seeks to teach and apply Hebrew grammar. One goal of grammar teaching is to enable proper usage of connective prepositional words. Very often, connective words in Hebrew can have multiple and even contradictory meanings. The Hebrew prepositional connective word ayin-lamed has 7 distinct usages. Ayin-lamed is traditionally translated as on but it can equally mean on, with, during, towards, for, near, besides. Examining Ex40-22, And he put the table in the Tent of Meeting, near [Ayin-Lamed] the northern wall of the Temple, outside the veil, we see that Ayin-Lamed is best translated as near.  Indeed the translation near the northern wall sounds much clearer than the translation on the northern wall.

4. RASHI METHOD: ALIGNMENT  
This example applies to Rashis  Ex40-03a
URL reference:(c) http://www.RashiYomi.com/ex40-03a.htm

The alignment method seeks to extract nuances from the minor differences in the alignment of two almost identical verses. The contrast of the two almost identical verses points to an emphasis and equality in the minor aligned nuances. One major goal of alignment is the discovery of meaning. In todays example we examine the following two verses:

•	Ex26-33 Bring inside the veil the Ark of the 10 commandments; and the veil shall separate for you between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies.
•	Ex40-03  Place there the Ark of the 10 commandments, and the veil will Samech-Caph-Caph the ark

Comparing the alignment of the two verses allows us to infer that the Hebrew root Samech-Caph-Caph indicates a separating barrier. Rashi states: the veil  functioned as a protective barrier since its [explicitly declared] purpose was separation. We see that this inference---that Samech-Caph-Caph means protective barrier-- is consistent with the normal meaning of the Hebrew root Samech-Caph-Caph which means to cover.

5. RASHI METHOD: CONTRADICTION  / 2 aspects 
This example applies to Rashis Ex40-31a
URL reference: (c) http://www.RashiYomi.com/ex40-31a.htm

The contradiction method, made explicit in Rabbi Ishmael's 13 exegetical principles, seeks to infer biblical content by resolving contradictory biblical verses. Rashi used 4 methods to resolve contradiction. The following 2 verses show a  contradiction in who used the Temple basin.

•	Ex30-18:19 You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its pedestal also of bronze, to wash with; and you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it For Aaron and his sons shall wash there their hands and their feet
•	Ex40-30:31  And he set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water there, for washing. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet there

As the underlined words show one verse states that basin washing is a requirement of the priests while the other verse indicates that sometimes a non-priest, like Moses, would wash there. This disparity in the verses creates ambiguity and the need for resolution: Is the Temple basin washing a requirement only for priests or does it apply to levites (like Moses) also? The resolution of this ambiguity may be accomplished by Lv08 which shows that Moses, during the consecration of the Temple, functioned as a priest. We see in verses Lv08-15, Lv08-19 and Lv08-21  that Moses performed uniquely priestly activities such as the throwing of blood and offering of sacrifices. Hence we may resolve the contradiction by understanding the above biblical verses as requiring temple basin washing from any person who functions as a priest, whether he is an actual priest or not.

6. RASHI METHOD: STYLE
This example applies to Rashis  Ex39-32a Ex39-33a
URL reference:(c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ex39-32a.htm

The Rabbi Ishmael Style rules are usually thought of as applying to technical legal matters. However in a broader sense they apply to paragraph styles. The fundamental focus of the Rabbi Ishmael style rules is to precisely delineate the relationship between paragraph themes and development details: Are the details examples of a general theme, or, do the details exhaust the paragraph theme? In other words should the examples and details be interpreted literally and exclusively or should they be interpreted broadly and generally? Still another way of looking at style is that it answers the question: How should the paragraph theme and details / examples be integrated? The biblical paragraph, Ex39-32a nicely illustrates the issues in the style rules.

•	Theme Sentence: All the work of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting finished; 
•	Detail: The people of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they do

Quite simply, Rashi sees the Detail clause as the reason for and cause for the theme sentence: That is, Rashi interprets:

•	The work of the Tabernacle was complete precisely because the people of Israel followed their orders

Another way of understanding this is the following: We all know what it is like, e.g., to try and put up a Succah from year to year, and find that the boards don't fit into each other, or the canvas ties are missing. But in the Temple was completed precisely because each Jew followed their specific orders and tasks. The moral lesson here is that by each person being satisfied with what they were suppose to do the task as a whole was completed. 

9. RASHI METHOD: SPREADSHEETS
This example applies to Rashis  Ex38-24b Ex38-26a Ex38-26b
URL reference:(c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ex38-24b.htm

The spreadsheet method seeks to explain complicated biblical inferences using geometry, algebra and spreadsheets. Today we show a delightful example in which the basic principles of first order linear equations is used by Rashi to infer the number of biblical pennies in each biblical dollar. The math is not that hard and can be understood by everybody. Ex38-25:26 states

[A] And the silver of those who were counted of the congregation was a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and seventy five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; [B]A bekah for every man, that is, [C] half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one who went to be counted, from twenty years old and upward, for [D] six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men.

The major equations have been underlined. We see that

A:  Total Silver 		=	100 Talents	+	1775 Shekel
B:  Each person contributed	1 Bekah
C:  1 Bekah			=	1/2 Shekel
D:  Total People		=	603,550

Using these equations we see

Total Silver=	Contributions of 603,550 people, by equation D
		=	603,550 Bekah, by equation B
		=	301,775 Shekel, by equation C(Take half)
		=	100 Talents + 1775 Shekel, by Equation A

So	301,775 shekel=	100 Talents + 1775 Shekel
or	300,000 shekel=	100 Talents
so	  3,000 Shekel=	1 Talent.

That is Rashi uses algebra or spreadsheets to infer that 1 Biblical Talent = 3,000 shekel.

Conclusion

This weeks parshah does not contain examples of the bullet, database, and symbolism methods. This concludes this weeks edition. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ for further details and examples.