Lv14-13 states And he shall slaughter the lamb in the place where he 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;
Rashi (paraphrased): The place of slaughtering the burnt offering cross references the burnt offering procedure mentioned in Lv01-03:11 If his offering is a burnt sacrifice ... And he shall slaughter it on the northern side of the altar before the Lord; and the priests, the sons of Aaron, shall sprinkle his blood around upon the altar. Because of this citation of an other verse we therefore conclude that guilt offerings are also slaughtered on the northern side of the altar.
2. RASHI METHOD: WORD MEANINGLv15-31a states Thus shall you Nazarate the people of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my Tabernacle that is among them.
Rashi: The word Nazarate - Nun-Zayin-Resh - means to separate
This is an interesting example of a Rashi that needs modification for proper understanding. The concept separate applies to a variety of situations including (a) separation from one city to another (b) elevation from a lower existence to a higher existence (c)going down from a higher existence to a lower existence.
A proper examination of Biblical verses presented below shows that Nazarate always means separation to a higher existence. Hence we would translate Lv15-31a as follows. Thus shall you Nazarate-- Rashi: that is, elevate the people of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my Tabernacle that is among them.
The following Biblical verses illustrate the theme that Nazarate involves a higher separation and justifies our minor modification of Rashi.
Lv12-07a describes the offerings
brought by a woman who has just given
birth.
And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter,
she shall bring
to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest; He will offer it before the Lord, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the Torah for her who has given birth to a male or a female.
Rashi: Notice that the woman brings two offerings but nevertheless the text says The priest shall offer it. Hence we infer that although two offerings must be brought only one offering is required to effect atonement. It seems logical to assume that the sin offering effects atonement (vs the up offering) since sin offerings are traditionally associated with atonement.
4. RASHI METHOD: ALIGNMENTThe Biblical chapter
Lv15-01:10
has the following
aligned
structure, indicated
by the bullets.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, When any man has a discharge out of his flesh, because of his discharge he is unclean. And this shall be his uncleanness in his discharge; whether his flesh runs with his discharge, or his flesh is stopped from his discharge, it is his uncleanness.
The chapter indicates that
However for the transfer methods of lie,sit we find additional degrees of effect: The person who has the discharge can transfer the status of ritual impurity by either (a) sitting directly on a person or by (b) sitting on a chair and then having a person sit on the chair. By contrast for touch we only have one transfer method: If (a) the person with discharge directly touches a person that person receives the status of impurity but if (b) the person with discharge touched a table and another person touches the table no transfer of impurity is attached.
In summray Rashi's contribution is to explain both the bulleted structure as well as the alignment
Rashi:touching, sitting, riding are all distinct. For example, you can sit on a chair without touching the chair (if there are covers over the chair). Rashi makes this inference of distinctness from the bulleted structure which by our Rashi rules implies that each bulleted item can be distinct (This is actually a Rule #7--Formatting rule).
Lv15-01:15 discusses the ritual impurity of the person with discharge as well as the purification ceremony that follows.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, When any man has a discharge out of his flesh, because of his discharge he is unclean. And this shall be his uncleanness in his discharge; whether his flesh runs with his discharge, or his flesh is stopped from his discharge, it is his uncleanness.
Every bed, on which he, who has the discharge, lies, is unclean; and everything, on which he sits, shall be unclean. ...
And when he, who has a discharge, is
purified of his discharge; then he
and shall be pure
And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord to the door of the Temple,...
The two hilighted words purified indicate the Contradiction:
And when he, who has a discharge, is
purified of his discharge; then he
and shall be pure
Which is it? Does he become ritually pure after (a) 7 days, (b) washing clothes and (c) immersion in water or is he ritually pure before.
Rashi resolves this contradiction using the broad-literal method of contradiction resolution. The verse retranslated with Rashi's comments is as follows:
And when he, who has a discharge, is
purified
of his discharge;
Rashi: That is, the discharge
stops
then he
and shall be pure Rashi:That is, he shall be ritually pure.
In summary Rashi translates the word pure both broadly cessation of the impurity and literally becomes ritually pure.
6. RASHI METHOD: STYLELv14-09 which speaks about
the purification requirements for a lepor
is a classic example of a
General-Detail-General style.
But it shall be on the seventh day,
that he shall shave
DETAIL
and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.
This is an interesting example of a terse Rashi which is further illuminated by examination of Talmudic and Midrashic texts. Rashi paraphrased:The General-detail-General format resembles the modern paragraph. The modern paragraph is delimited by a blank line above and below the paragraph. The author thereby indicates that the paragraph contains a single thought. The Biblical Author did not use blank lines but rather the General-Detail-General format. The resembling opening and closing lines indicate a unified paragraph thought. Consequently, the details of the paragraph are seen as indicative of the General, main theme.
In this case the General idea is that all hair is shaved while the detailed examples include the head, beard and eyebrows Consequently all parts of the body that are visible and densely covered with hair are included in the obligation of shaving.
Rashi does not further elaborate. In fact there is controversy in the Talmud and Sifray and Rashi did not wish to take sides. By reading the examples brought down in the Talmud and Sifray we enrich our understanding of Rashi.
Although Rashi does not state a conclusion, by examining the Talmud and Sifray we gain insight into the issues of generalizing the details of head, beard and eyebrow hair. The insights presented in our interpretation of Rashi were largely motivated by the great modern defender of Midarashic halachah, the Malbim.
7. RASHI METHOD: FORMATTINGThe Biblical chapter Lv15 has the following clear paragraph structure:
This is followed by a summary overview in Lv15-32:33 This is the Torah of him who has a discharge, and of him whose semen goes from him, and is defiled with it; And of her who is sick with her menstrual discharge, and of him who has a discharge; of the man, and of the woman, and of him who lies with her who is unclean.
Rashi's contribution is to perceive the summary overview as reflecting the chapter outline presented above. Hence Rashi interprets the chapter as follows
This is the Torah of discharges
Rashi: That is the whole chapter
Lv15 discusses discharges
Rashi:This refers to item B
above--the seminal emission
Lv13-01:15 presented below describes a variety of situations where a priest sees and reviews skin for leprosy. As one skims thru this chapter notice that the typical phrase by which the review of the priest is indicated: the priest shall look. Similarly in the various if clauses a review of the priest is indicated by the passive phrase he shall be seen by the priest
These phrases are typical and therefore recur several times in the chapter. Notice however in Lv13-12 the one-time phrase: if...wherever the priest looks; And if a leprosy breaks out in the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of him who has the disease from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks;
Hence the Rashi: This one time phrase wherever the priest looks creates emphasis and indicates that only priests with good vision may review leprous spots (Priests with cataracts or macular degeneration were ineligible to review leprosy).
The chapter Lv13-01:015 reads as follows: And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,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. If the bright spot is white in the skin of his flesh, and it looks not deeper than the skin, and the hair on it has not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him who has the disease for seven days; And the priest shall look on him the seventh day; and, behold, if the disease appears to have stayed in place, and the disease has not spread over the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more; And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day; and, behold, if the disease is somewhat dark, and the disease did not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is a scab; and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. But if the scab spreads out in the skin, after that he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again; And if the priest sees that, behold, the scab spreads in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprosy. When the disease of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought to the priest; And the priest shall see him; and, behold, if the swelling is white in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is quick raw flesh in the swelling, It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up; for he is unclean. And if a leprosy breaks out in the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of him who has the disease from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks Then the priest shall look ; and, behold, if the leprosy has covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce clean him who has the disease; it is all turned white; he is clean. But if raw flesh appears in him, he shall be unclean. And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean; for the raw flesh is unclean; it is a leprosy.
10. RASHI METHOD: SYMBOLISMLv14-01:04 states
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
This shall be the Torah of the leper in the day of his cleansing; He shall be brought to the priest;
And the priest shall go out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the disease of leprosy is healed in the leper;
Then shall the priest command to take for him who is to be
cleansed
Rashi literally states:
I would expand and further document Rashi as follows:
The lepors sin was that he slandered other people. Slander typically comes from a haughty attitude that the slanderer is better. Hence the remedy for slander is acceptance of the community as a whole in all its facets: the mighty cedars, the lowly hyssops, the lowly worms and the followers. By acceptance of the community as a whole symbolized by the binding of all four items--cedar, hyssop, worm, sheep wool--together the lepor can undo his bad characteristics and achieve perfection
It is typical of symbolism Rashis that we only touch the surface and indicate a direction.
This week's parshah contains no examples of the spreadsheet method. This concludes this weeks edition. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples.