The 10 RashiYomi Rules 
Their presence in Rashis on Parshat MeTzoRaH
Vol 1#9 - Adapted from Rashi-is-Simple 
Visit The RashiYomi Website: http://www.RashiYomi.Com/
(c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr Hendel President, Apr 13 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 Lv14-20a Lv14-21a Lv14-10b
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lv14-20z.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. Additionally the other verse method can shed light on word meaning Nu15-01:11
The three verses Lv14-10, Lv14-20 and Lv14-21 all mention Minchah offerings: Lv14-10 And on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and one log of oil. Lv14-20. And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering upon the altar; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.  Lv14-21. And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil;
The reference to Minchah offering in these verses is clarified by reference to other verses at Nu15-01:05 which require Minchah offerings to accompany animal offerings: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land of your habitations, which I give to you, And will make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savor to the Lord, of the herd, or of the flock; Then shall he who offers his offering to the Lord bring a meal offering of a tenth measure of flour mixed with the fourth part of an hin of oil. And the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering shall you prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb.
In fact: the one tenth deal of fine flour mentioned in Lv14-21 neatly corresponds to the tenth measure of flour mentioned in Nu15-01:05. In this case the other verses at Nu15-01:05 shed additional details on the target verses at Lv14-10 and Lv14-20:21, since the other verses at Nu15-01:05 also mention requirements and measures of oil and wine brought with each minchah offering.

2. RASHI METHOD: WORD MEANINGS / new meanings 
This example applies to Rashis Lv14-14a Lv14-14b
URL reference:(c) http://www.RashiYomi.com/lv14-14a.htm

The word meaning method seeks to present dictionary meaning. Rashi uses 10 vehicles to infer word meaning.  Rashi sometimes derives meaning of three letter roots by examining the meanings of two letter subroots. Although Rashi did believe in Hebrew grammar as we know it, a grammar based on 3 letter root conjugation, nevertheless, besides conjugational grammar Rashi also believed in a semantic grammar, a grammar of meaning based on 2 and 1 letter roots. 

Rashi does not always explicitly mention the two letter theory. The most conspicuous place he mentions it is with 4 letter roots: For example the meaning of the 4 letter Hebrew root Mem-Mem-Zayin-Resh, (Illegitimate), can be inferred by decomposing the 4 letter root as a sum of two two-letter roots: Thus the 2 letter Hebrew root Mem-Mem means blemished while the Hebrew 2 letter root Zayin-Resh means strange. Hence illegitimate would mean a blemish caused by a stranger.  

We feel justified in extrapolating Rashis 2 letter root theory as applied to 4 letter roots to various other places where this theory neatly fits. Today, we examine three letter roots which have the Hebrew letter Nun. The word Nun means descendant. Hence to be a nun of an attribute means to be a descendant of that attribute, that is, to possess it, be a good example of it, or be a consequence of it.

Hence the earlobe (root, Tauv-Nun-Kaph) is a good example (Nun) of middle (Tauv-Kaph). Some other examples are as follows: Damage (Nun-Zayin-Kuph) is the consequence (Nun) of sparks (Zayin-Kuph); the leopard (Nun-Mem-Resh) is a good example (Nun) of brazenness (Mem-Resh); revenge (Nun-Kuph-Mem) is a good example(Nun) of standing up [for oneself](Kuph-Mem); saving someone is exemplified (Nun) by finding shade(Tzade-Lamed); hollow (Nun-Beth) is a good example (Nun) of in (beth). 

3. RASHI METHOD: GRAMMAR / conjugation
This example applies to Rashis  Lv14-12c
URL reference:(c) http://www.RashiYomi.com/lv14-12c.htm

The grammar method seeks to apply and teach Hebrew grammar. One goal of grammar is to present the various rules of plural-singular. Lv14-12 states And the priest shall take one male lamb, and bring it near for a guilt offering, with the pint [literally log] of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.

Rashi commenting on the Biblical phrase and wave them states [Them refers to] 
•	the lamb and 
•	pint of oil. 
Rashi is terse and enigmatic. To fully understand Rashi we must read the full Sifrah which he cites. We in fact cite the Sifrah using the simple grammatical explanation offered by the great 19th century commentator Malbim: Note the contrasts of 
•	the singular it, and bring it near 
•	the plural them, and wave them
•	the singular wave offering, for a waive offering.
Proper grammar, as taught say in high school and introductory college courses would require, for purposes of clarify, a consistent use of singular and plural. The verse should read as follows: And the priest shall take one male lamb with the pint of oil and bring them near for a guilt offering and wave them for a wave offerings before the Lord.

We therefore can make inferences from the alternate uses of singular and plural
•	The singular wave offering vs plural wave offerings shows that there is one waive offering  not two waive offerings
•	the plural them, shows that this singular wave offering is done to both objects, the lamb and oil-pint
•	the singular bring it near shows that a separate treatment for the lamb and oil-pint was possible. For example, if inadvertently the priest brought the lamb and waived it and then remembered and brought the oil-pint and waived it separately then the procedure is ok (but, as indicated above,  the items should preferably be brought together and waived once together).

4. RASHI METHOD: ALIGNMENT
This example applies to Rashis  Lv14-28a
URL reference:(c) http://www.RashiYomi.com/lv14-28a.htm
Lv14-17 on place of blood Lv14-28 on blood (even if blood has evaporated)
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. Another goal of alignment is the discovery of meaning. Today we consider the following verses describing the leprosy impurity that can occur in clothes. 

Both Lv14-17 and Lv14-28 speak about sprinkling oil over sprinkled blood. Carefully note the difference in the underlined phrases:
Lv14-17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the big toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the guilt offering;
Lv14-28 And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering

Note the contrast: Upon the blood of the guilt offering vs upon the place of the blood of the guilt offering. Rashi comments: Even if the blood has evaporated the priest still places the oil on the place where the blood was (even though he cannot place the oil on the blood itself).

6. RASHI METHOD: STYLE
This example applies to Rashis  Lv14-09a
URL reference:(c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lv14-09a.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, Lv14-09a nicely illustrates the issues in the style rules.

•	Theme Sentence:  he shall shave all his hair
•	Detail:   
- his head 
- his beard and
- his eyebrows 
•	Theme Sentence: and all his hair he shall shave off

Hence, the verse Lv14-09 has a theme-detail-theme structure.  The Rabbi Ishmael style rules see the theme-detail-theme structure as a paragraph unit. Consequently, the details are not seen as exclusive but rather as the development of the theme sentence, that is, the details are interpreted broadly as exemplifying and defining the theme sentence.

Applying this idea to Lv14-09 we see that the theme sentence idea shave all hair is exemplified by the hair of the head, beard and eyebrows. These three organs have visible and dense coating of hairs. Therefore the paragraph as a whole is interpreted as requiring shaving of all hair that occurs densely in a visibile place. This would exclude a requirement to shave the hair of 
•	the arms, since it is visible but not dense
•	the armpits, since it is not visible but is dense
•	the nose since it is not visible and not dense.

Normally the analysis of the paragraph would end here: However Lv14-09 uses the emphatic word, all, he shall shave all his hair. Hence the verse is interpreted more broadly:
•	dense and visible hair such as that of the head, beard and eyebrows, is shaven (and this is inferred from the theme-detail-theme structure)
•	dense or visible hair such as that of the arms and armpits is required to be shaven (and this is inferred from the emphatic word all)
•	hair that is neither dense nor visible such as that of the nose is not shaven

7. RASHI METHOD: Bullets
This example applies to Rashis  Lv14-10a Lv14-10b Lv14-10c Lv14-12a Lv14-12b
URL reference:(c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lv14-10a.htm
 
The bullet method seeks to make inferences from the biblical text based on parallel structure which implies similarity among the parallel items. What we have called the bullet method is better known as the Rabbi Ishmael exegetical rule of context.  What we have added to the Rabbi Ishmael exposition is the idea that parallel structure is one method of making inferences from context. The Bible itself does not contain bullets but there are a variety of methods to infer parallelism. An important component of the bullet method is the careful examination of paragraph phrases and keywords. Today we examine parallelism in Lv14-10 and Lv14-11:21.

Lv14-10  And on the eighth day he shall take 
•	A: two male lambs without blemish, and 
•	B: one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and 
•	C: three tenth deals of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and 
•	D: one log of oil.

Note the four bulleted items: Their purpose and function is clarified by the rest of the paragraph:
Lv14-11:20 
•	Introduction: And the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the Tent of Meeting; 

•	B: And the priest shall take one male lamb, and offer him for a guilt offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord; And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the guilt offering; it is most holy; And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot; 

•	D: And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand; And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord; And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the big toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the guilt offering; And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall pour upon the head of him who is to be cleansed; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord. 

•	A: And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering; 

•	C: And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering upon the altar; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.  

The above bulleting and labels clearly indicates the correspondences pointed out by Rashi:
•	A: The two lambs are used for a sin and burnt offering
•	B: The one lamb is used for a guilt offering
•	C: The fine flour is used for the meal offerings
•	D: The pint [literally, log] of oil is used for the extra sprinkling procedures
The emphasis here is that Rashi has made these inferences by noting the parallelism in the above bulleted lists.

8. RASHI METHOD: DATABASES
This example applies to Rashis  Lv13-02c Lv14-36a
URL reference:(c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lv13-02c.htm

The database method seeks to discover biblical ideas using the methods of modern database theory and sequential query language (SQL). The Talmudic sages and Rashi were totally familiar and frequently used all aspects of modern database theory. 

In today's example we make the query: How does the Bible describe that things become ritually impure?  The examples uncovered by the query clearly show that in one instance, in leprosy impurity, that a formal declaration of a priest is required. Hence the law: All other statuses of impurity, such as impurity from contact with a dead body, are achieved objectively, by the cause of the impurity being present; by contrast, leprosy impurity is achieved by both (a) the cause of the impurity being present and (b) a declaration of the priest.  To illustrate the consequences of this law, if you touch a dead ox then you become ritually impure while if you have leprosy spots you don't become impure until a priest examines you and declares you ritually impure. A partial output of the database query of verses is presented below:

Example 1: Lv11-23:24 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination to you.
And for these you shall be unclean; whoever touches the carcass of them shall be unclean until the evening.

Example 2: Lv11-04:08 Nevertheless these shall you not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those that divide the hoof; the camel, because it chews the cud, but its hoof is not parted; it is unclean to you. And the coney, because it chews the cud, but its hoof is not parted; it is unclean to you. And the hare, because it chews the cud, but its hoof is not parted; it is unclean to you. And the swine, though its hoof is parted, and is cloven footed, yet it chews not the cud; it is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall you not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.

Example 3: Lv11-29:32  These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the rat, and the mouse, and the tortoise after its kind, And the gecko, and the monitor-lizard, and the lizard, and the snail, and the chameleon. These are unclean to you among all that creep; whoever touches them, when they are dead, shall be unclean until the evening. And upon whatever any of them, when they are dead, falls, it shall be unclean; whether it is any utensil of wood, or garment, or skin, or sack, whatever utensil it is, where any work is done, it must be put in water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; so it shall be cleansed.

Example 4: Lv13-02:03 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a swelling, a scab, or bright spot, and it is on the skin of his flesh like the disease of leprosy; then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests;  And the priest shall look on the disease in the skin of the flesh; and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the disease looks deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a disease of leprosy; and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

10. RASHI METHOD: SYMBOLISM
This example applies to Rashis  Lv14-04c Lv14-04d Lv17-11a
URL reference:(c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lv14-04c.htm
 
The symbolism method seeks to extract meaningful inferences from the symbolism of the biblical text.  The concept of symbolic interpretation is very involved. A good, compact, clear reference explaining when symbolism can be used and how to apply it may be found in my article Genesis 1 speaks about the creation of prophecy not the world which you can find at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gen-1.htm.  Today we explore the symbolism in Lv14-04 which describes the purification procedure for the MeTzoRaH.

Lv14-04 Then shall the priest command to take for him who is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop;

Rashi explains the symbolism of these objects
•	Cedar = a high and lofty plant/person vs. hyssop = a low plant/person
A supportive verse for this symbolic interpretation may be found at Ju09-15 And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. In this verse the bramble is seen as a low plant form while the cedar is depicted as a high plant form.

•	 Worm = low life form
A  supportive verse for this symbolic interpretation may be found at P022-07 But I am a worm, and not a man; scorned by men, and despised by the people

Armed with these symbolic passages we can understand Rashi: The Leper's sin consists of slandering people. His cure is to expose himself to the full spectrum of people from the lowest social classes, the worms and hyssops, to the highest social classes, the cedars and lambs. By exposing himself to the full spectrum of people the leper learns the value of all people and thereby helps himself cure his leprosy. 

Conclusion

This week's parshah contains no examples of the contradiction and spreadsheet methods. This concludes this weeks edition. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ for further details and examples.