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.

Verse Nu12-06:08c states And he said, Hear now my words; If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses, for he is the trusted one in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, manifestly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? The underlined phrase the form of the Lord is clarified by an Other verse, Ex33-21:23 which provides further details: And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand upon a rock; And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by; And I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.

Hence the Rashi comment: The underlined phrase the form of the Lord in verse Nu12-08 means God's back as clarified by the other verse Ex33-23.

One of Rashi's 10 major methods is the word meaning method. One word meaning method is metonomy. Metonomy refers to the naming of an item by a related item. For example the sentence America defeated Iraq really means the American people defeated the Iraqy people. Here the land America names the related item, the people that reside in America. Let us now review two verses with simple applications of the metonomy principe.

Verse Nu10-11:28 states
• And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the Testimony. And the people of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran. And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
• In the first place went the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah according to their armies; and over his army was Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
• And over the army of the tribe of Issachar was Nethaneel, the son of Zuar.
• ...
• ...
• Thus were the journeys of the people of Israel according to their armies, when they set forward.
• And they journeyed

Rashi comments on the two underlined words journeyed
• The phrase Journeys of the people of Israel refers to the journey sequence of the tribes. Thus as the bulleted list above shows, Judah went first, Issachar went next etc.
  
  Here Rashi uses the metonomy principle. The word journey is identified with the sequence of journeys. This identification is inferred from the context of the chapter Nu10 which clearly talks about the sequence of tribes journeying.
• Rashi continues: The terminal phrase and they journeyed clearly refers to the actual journeying from Sinai to Paran indicated in the bolded bullet.
  
  Here Rashi's comments comes from the the use of the verb journeyed.

Today we explain a grammar rule governing word arrangement in sentences. All languages have rules governing the position of adjectives. In Hebrew when there are a sequence of adjectives to a noun, then the numerical adjectives go at the end. It follows that if the numerical adjective comes in the middle it should not be treated numerically. Hence
• Rashi translates the adjective one that does not occur last as meaning unique
• Rashi translates the adjective two that does not occur last as meaning similar

Note, in translations to English, adjectives usually come before the noun and numerical adjectives come first. Hence in rendering the Hebrew text we will adhere to comparable violations of English grammar. We could use the list style: e.g. sandwiches, 10; drinks, 20; straws, 20 but for our purposes it is easier expositionally to say 10 sandwiches, 20 drinks, 20 straws. This poetic license in our translation will not altar the basic explanation of Rashi.

The actual text of Nu07-15 states A young one bull, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering. Notice how in English the phrase young one bull sounds peculiar because of the position of the numerical adjective. Rashi therefore translates this as a young unique bull. Rashi states The bull gift was a bull that was distinguished among its fellow bulls

We believe that the above explanation of Rashi based on adjective position is sound and appealing. The traditional Rashi methods argue that one bull is a redundancy since the singular implies it is one. Such an approach, emphasizing redundancy, ignores the numerous examples of one such and such which are common in Hebrew. There are no comparable exegesii on these numerous biblical occurrences. By contrast every deviation from proper adjective order is properly explained in Rashi. We presented another example last week.

Note the underlined differences in the alignment of the following two verses.
• Lv23-44 And Moses spoke to the people of Israel about the festivals.
• Nu09-04 And Moses spoke to the people of Israel, that they should perform the Passover.

Rashi literally simply says as follows
• Lv23 contains a general overview of the festivals.
• By contrast Nu09 contains a review of laws for a specific upcoming holiday.

Here Rashi focuses on the contrast between the bolded words, festivals vs. Passover, in the two verses.

However in this case the alignment methods suggests supplementing Rashi with a focus on the extra underlined word perform which occurs in Nu09-04 but not in Lv23-44.

Just as there is an obligation to learn the laws of the festivals generally so too there is an extra obligation to review the laws of each holiday upon the arrival of that holiday season.

In fact the code of Jewish law states explicitly Rabbis should expound on the laws of Passover starting 30 days before Passover, on the laws of Succoth,30 days before Succoth, ...

I believe both the Rashi text and the suggested supplement show how knowledge of Rashi methods enrich the understanding of both the Biblical text and Rabbinic sources.

Note the contradiction indicated by the underlined phrases in the following two verses which discuss Moses' wife's family.
• Ex02-18:21 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come so soon today? And they said, .... And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
• Nu10-29a And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, We are journeying to the place about which the Lord said, I will give it you; come with us, ....

We see the contradiction.
• What is the relation between Reuel and Moses? According to Ex02 Reuel was the father of Tzipporah, Moses' wife; that is, Reuel is Moses' father-in-law
• However according to Nu10-29 Reuel is the father of Moses' father-in-law.

Rashi resolves this Contradiction using the broad-literal interpretation method. Reuel was the Grandfather. Moses married Tziporah daughter of Chovav son of Reuel. However grandchildren often call their grandfather, father.

In other words the underlined phrase Reuel their father in Ex18-21 should be translated Reuel their grandfather. Here Rashi resolves a Contradiction by broadly interpreting the word father to mean grand-father.

Note the General-specific style of Nu09-02a indicated by the underlined words:
• General: Let the people of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed season.
• Specific: In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening you shall keep it in its appointed season; according to all its rites, and according to all its ceremonies, shall you keep it.

Hence the Rashi: Recall the rule that verses stated in a General-specific style require a narrow literal interpretation. Hence the General-Specific style of Nu09-02a implies that Passover is always on the fourteenth day of this month;--even if circumstances suggest otherwise such as e.g. the 14th falls on a Sabbath or the person is ritually unclean and cannot perform the Passover sacrifice procedure.

Rashi's comment focuses on the General-specific style which requires observance in its time---on the 14th. This general-specific style creates an emphasis and narrow interpreation without further flexibility. The Passover is always observed on this date even if circumstances suggest otherwise.

Some popular views of Rashi posit that Rashi was answering a question or responding to something that bothered him. This approach can be very useful at times. But sometimes Rashi is simply commenting on format--nothing was bothering Rashi---he was simply clarifying the text to the reader in a hurry. Let us apply this formatting idea to Nu10-01:08

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
• Object--On what is the activity done Make two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shall you make them; that you may use them for calling the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.
• Verb--what is done And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
• Adverb--how is it done And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are chiefs of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. When you blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey; they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the congregation is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.
• Subject-who is doing it And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance forever throughout your generations.
• Indirect Object-when is it done And if you go to war in your land against an enemy who oppresses you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God; I am the Lord your God.

To help the reader we have placed section headings. These section headings correspond to grammatical functions of a sentence. We could summarize the whole Biblical paragraph as follows The Priests blow the trumpets, with certain numbers of and types of blasts, on certain occasions. Such a summary helps give the reader a bird's eyeview of the paragraph. It also enables the reader to focus on the point of each verse in the paragraph.

With this background we can easily understand the Rashi on the following verse Subject-who is doing it And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance forever throughout your generations. Rashi states: This particular verse is indicating who blows according to this manner on these occasions.

We have generalized, extended and supplemented Rashi's observation by indicating the focus of all the verses as indicated in the bulleted list above. In this particular example it is not useful to see Rashi as answering a question or responding to something that is bothering him. Rashi is simply helping the reader to digest a big Biblical paragraph by showing the disparate verses as belonging to a harmonious whole.

Today Rashi examines a database query on Biblical verses that report that people did as commanded. Most verses with commands to people simply list the command without stating that the person who was commanded acted accordingly. Several verses however emphasize that the person commanded actually complied. Furthermore the Bible can indicate this compliance with a variety of phrases: (a) they did so; (b) they did as Moses commanded; (c) they did as God commanded Moses. These varied phrases justify Rashi ascribing different nuances to different phrases. We emphasize that the driving force of the Rashi inference is from the database query which exhibits several recurring themes; we do not believe that one phrase by itself would justify a Rashi exegesis. Furthermore the database query greatly enriches the point Rashi is emphasizing by showing consistent patterns of Biblical interpretation throughout the Bible.

Let us examine some of these verses and see the consequent Rashi comments:
• Ex14-01:04c And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-Zephon; before it shall you encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has closed them in. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored over Pharaoh, and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they [the Jews] did so [as commanded].
  
  Rashi focuses here on the underlined phrase they did so which is not always present by comments: The Torah praises the Jews for complying with Moses order
  
  I would argue that there is a reason why and they did so is stated here: even though in the past the Jews complained excessively at the first sight of danger, here they listened to Moses.
  
  
• Nu08-01:03a And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand. And Aaron did so; he lighted its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses.
  
  Rashi again says The Torah praises Aaron-- And Aaron did so -- for complying with the commands as indicated.
  
  I would argue that there is a reason why And Aaron did so is stated here: Even though Aaron's sons made their own sacrificial procedures (and thereby incurred death) nevertheless their father was different and did exactly as commanded.
  
  
• Lv16-34a At the conclusion of the service for Yom Kippur it states ...And this shall be an everlasting statute to you, to make an atonement for the people of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.
  
  Rashi here comments on the phrase and he did as God commanded Moses which is different and more emphatic than simply he did so. The Torah praises Aaron for following orders. The Torah indicates that Aaron followed orders solely to comply with God's will and did not for example think of the grandeur and honor that was bestowed on him in that he was dressed in full Priestly garb and entered the holy of holies.
  
  

Notice how we only scratched the surface of this database query. This is typical of database Rashis. The reader, (you!), is expected to look at all verses that contain and they did so and to apply and extend Rashi's basic ideas, indicated in the above Rashis, and test their consistency.

Biblical verse Nu12-04 states And the Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out you three to the Tent of Meeting. And the three came out. However verses Nu12-06:08 identify prophecy not as a physical voice in the real world but rather as a voice speaking within the prophet -- the prophet hears internally. And he said, Hear now my words; If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak in him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses, for he is the trusted one in all my house. With him I speak in him mouth to mouth, manifestly, and not in dark speech; and he behold the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

Hence the Rashi: Each of the 3--Moses, Aaron, Miryam--heard within them, at the same time, a command from God for all 3 of them to assemble at the tent of meeting.

Rashi literally says The 3 of them heard the voice at one time. It would not be possible physically [using ordinary voice] to communicate simultaneously to 3 people in different locations.. We have clarified Rashi's explanation by citing Nu12-04:06 which emphasizes that prophetic communication happens within the person. This emphasis explains why Rashi had to clarify that the simultaneity could not have happened with ordindary voice.

We have classified this Rashi as a Spreadsheet Rashi. The verse says God spoke to the 3 of them and Rashi explains that God spoke to the 3 of them. Rashi does not address any issues of meaning, grammar, style,contradiction or alignment. Rather Rashi is explaining the physical process by which simultaneous communication can take place. Thus Rashi is simply clarifying physically how something took place. Any Rashi clarifying how is classified by us as a Spreadsheet Rashi. Typically Rashi will give geometric diagrams. However in this verse, Rashi explains how physically.