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.

Dt25-13:15 states You shall not have in your bag different stones, a large and a small. ..... But you shall have a perfect and just stone, ... Rashi clarifies the meaning of the underlined word stones by citing other verses which shed light on the meaning of this word. Lv19-35:36 states You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or quantity. Just balances, just stones, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall you have; .... Hence the Rashi comment: The word stones refers to stone weights

One of Rashi's 10 major methods is the word meaning method. One word meaning sub-method is the root sub-method. One of Rashi's great contributions to our understanding of the Hebrew language was the idea that there are two types of roots: For purposes of conjugation there are 3-letter roots. For purposes of meaning Rashi regarded the meaning of a three-letter root as the sum of meanings of its constituent 1 and 2 letter roots.

Rashi in his commentary on Jb38-28 explains that a prefix letter Aleph indicates a thing. Hence the Hebrew root Gimel Lamed means round or circular while the Hebrew root Aleph Gimel Lamed means a round thing, a droplet.

Rav Hirsch extended Rashi's idea:A prefix Aleph can indicate thing, plant, animal, person, self

Rashis comment on Dt23-14c follows this principle: The Hebrew root Zayin Yud Nun means weapons. The Hebrew root Aleph Zayin Yud Nun means one's personal weapon belt.

Some other applications of this principle are as follows
• Hebrew toot Caph Resh means to dig. Therefore Aleph Caph Resh means a Person who digs, the Farmer.
• Hebrew root Daleth Mem means blood. Therefore Aleph Daleth Mem means a bloody thing, the color red.
• Hebrew root Hey Beth means to give and take. Therefore the Hebrew root Aleph Hay Beth means to give and take the self, to love

Praise be Him who chose them and their learning!

One of Rashi's 10 major goals is to explain the rules of grammar. Part of grammar are the rules governing connecting sentences in a paragraph. Paragraph sentences can be connected by either a) common theme, b) contrast, and c) cause-effect.

Note the contrasts connecting the sentences in the Biblical paragraph Dt23-04:09.
• An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; to their 10th generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever; Because ... You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days for ever.
• You shall not loathe an Edomite; for he is your brother; you shall not loathe an Egyptian; because you were a stranger in his land. The children who are fathered by them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their 3rd generation.

The contrast is immediate
• Amon, Moab are prohibited from ever converting and marrying Jews
• Edom, Egypt are prohibited for 3 generations but afterwards may intermarry with the Jewish community.

Using this contrast Rashi shows both commonality and contrast in the cited underlined nations: Amon, Moab, Edom, Egypt, by citing other verses. of these 4 nations:
• Amon,Moab did not provide food to the Jews at the Exodus
• Amon,Moab hired Bilam (Nu22-02:05) to curse the Jews
• Edom made a military stance on Israel (Nu20-20) but nevertheless shares a common Patriarch and hence 3rd generation converts can intermarry with Jews
• Egypt murdered Jewish babies (Ex01-22) but nevertheless fed us while we were slaves and hence 3rd generation converts can intermarry with Jews.

If one examines the above citations one sees that Rashi's focus is on the commonality of all four nations--they all tortured the Jews. However two of these nations had redemptive merits and therefore are allowed to intermarry with Jews after 3 generations. In other words the driving force of Rashi's comment is the contrast of the paragraph sentences.

A word about the law: Today any person can convert and marry any Jewish female. However in Biblical times an Amonite, Moabite, Edomite,Egyptian who converted could not marry a full fledged Jewish. They could however intermarry among themselves. After three generations, the great great grandchildren of the Edomites and Egyptians could intermarry with full Jews. The reason these laws do not apply today is because these nations have vanished through intermarriage.

Note the alignment of the underlined words in the following verses both of which speak about helping people with animals with burdens.
• Verse Dt22-04 states You shall not watch your brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way,... you shall surely help him to lift them up again
• Verse Ex23-05 states If you see the ass of one who hates you lying under its burden, ... you shall help him to lift it up.

The underlined aligned words motivate the following Rashi comment There are two laws
• Unloading: If an animal has a heavy burden then you must help unload the burden
• Loading: If an animal was lying, resting from its burden you must help lift up the animals and their burden again.

These Rashi comments are hinted at by the underlined words burden and lift it vs Lift them. However the driving force of the Rashi comments are not isolated word differences but rather the two almost identical verses which are clearly speaking about two contrasting cases.

Notice the contradiction in the follow two verses which discuss praying in adverse monetary conditions.
• Dt15-09a: Beware that there be not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of monetary-release, is at hand; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you loan him nothing; for he will cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin to you.
• Dt24-14:15b You shall not withold wages a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brothers, or of your strangers who are in your land inside your gates; At his day you shall give him his hire, nor shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and he sets his heart upon it; lest he cry to the Lord against you and it should be sin to you.

We see the contradiction indicated by the bold underlined words: Which is it? Do people suffering from monetary wrong always pray to God (will pray) or sometimes pray (lest he pray).

Rashi resolves this contradiction by interpreting the modality of the obligations:
• A person who is monetarily aggrieved may always pray to God against the person who wronged him (Even though normally a person may not pray to God against his fellow man) (Hence the language will).
• However the monetarily aggrieved person Is not obligated to pray to God (Hence the language Lest he pray).

The Rabbi Ishmael style rules may be found in the daily Prayer books. One of these methods is the generalization method. Rashi in the tractate of Pesachim folio 6b explains all Biblical laws are to be generalized unless explicitly indicated otherwise. We have interpreted this to mean that every Biblical law is perceived as an example of a more general principle. That is the law is not exhausted by the particular case mentioned but rather is illustrated by the case mentioned and therefore applies generally to other cases.

The classical example of the generalization method occurs at Dt25-04 which states Do not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

Rashi and the Talmud perceive this verse as an example of a more general principle: Three generalizations are mentioned
• The law prohibits muzzling any animal not just an ox
• The law prohibits most inteferences with eating, of which muzzling is simply a good illustrative example
• The law prohibits inteference with animal consumption while the animal is doing its regular routine work, wheter this routine work is muzzling or any other activity.

We can easily see why I have chosen to call this Rabbi Ishmael style rule the example method. Comparing the original Biblical text with the Talmudic generalization hi-lights this point
• General Law: Dont intefer with animal consumption during its regular work activity
• Illustrative Example: Dont muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

A modern author who wished to emphasize several distinct points in a sentence or a paragraph would use bullets. The BiblicaL Author did not use bullets but instead uses repeating keywords. These repeating keywords create a bullet atmosphere and require that each distinct bullet item be given separate contrastive emphasis.

Verse Dt23-04:05b states An Amonite or Moabite shall not enter the congregation of God.... Because they met you not with bread and with water
• on the road
• on the Exodus from Egypt; and because ...