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 Lv01-03b contains the command to offer perfect offerings: If his offering be a burnt-offering of the herd, he shall offer it as a perfect male; he shall bring it to the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before HaShem. The meaning of the underlined word perfect is clarified by verse Lv22-21 where it is explicitly stated that perfect means without blemish: And whosoever bringeth a sacrifice of peace-offerings unto HaShem in fulfilment of a vow clearly uttered, or for a freewill-offering, of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

Verse Lv01-11 states And he shall kill it on the thigh of the altar northward before HaShem; and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall dash its blood against the altar round about. Rashi explains that thigh means side. Here Rashi explains meaning based on a common form. There are many other examples in many languages. For example an orange dress has the same color(i.e. visual form) as the fruit orange..
Some other common examples of naming by form that occur in Rashi are
• Ex25-31h names sculptored gold flowers by their form: And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it.
• Lv13-02 names a cloud-white skin disease by an object, the cloud, with that color When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a cloud-white, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it become in the skin of his flesh the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests.
• Ex28-33a names a pomegranate appairel ornament by its form And upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round about:

Sermonic points: There is a subtle sermonic point here: If language can name objects by form then people can classify their colleagues by form. Hence the moral implication is that we should pay attention to the form by which we appear since whether rightly, or wrongly, we are judged by that form.

3. RASHI METHOD: GRAMMAR
BRIEF EXPLANATION: Rashi explains verses using grammar principles, that is, rules which relate reproducable word form to word meaning. Grammatical rules neatly fall into 3 categories
• (a) the rules governing conjugation of individual words,Biblical roots,
• (b) the rules governing collections of words,clauses, sentences
• (c) miscellaneous grammatical, or form-meaning, rules.
This examples applies to Rashis Lv01-06b Lv02-06a
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/dt01-24b.htm
Brief Summary: Aleph Tauv Vav (Otho) means only it; a terminal suffix Vav (Oh) means it.
A beautiful rule of grammar discovered by the great Malbim is that there are two words for it in Hebrew
• Aleph Tauv Vav (Otho) means only it and connotes limitation
• A terminal suffix vav means it
The examples below illustrate usage and connotation of Aleph Tauv Vav
• Verse Lv01-06b states And he shall flay the burnt-offering, and cut only it into its pieces. Rashi: The priest only cuts the offering but does not cut the cuts since the verse explicitly says cut only it
• Verse Lv02-06a states Thou shalt break only it in pieces, and pour oil thereon; it is a meal-offering. Rashi: The priest only breakes the matzoh offering but does not further break the broken pieces again since the verse explicitly says break only it
• Verse Lv20-05b discussing the punishment of a person who worshipped idols states then I will set My face against that man, and against his family, and will cut only him off, and all that go astray after him, to go astray after Molech, from among their people. Rashi: Although God places His Face against the person and his family nevertheless God only cuts him off, but not his family, since the verse explicitly says I will only cut him off.
4. RASHI METHOD: ALIGNMENT
BRIEF EXPLANATION: Aligning two almost identically worded verselets can suggest
• (4a) 2 cases of the same incident or law
• (4b) emphasis on the nuances of a case
• (4c) use of broad vs literal usage of words
This examples applies to Rashis Lv05-09a
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lv05-09a.htm
Brief Summary: Up bird offering: head cut off;Sin offering: Head partially cut off.
The following two verses both discuss the be-heading procedure in bird offerings:
• Verse Lv05-08 discussing the sin bird offering states And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin-offering first,
  • and pinch off its head close by its neck,
  • but shall not divide it asunder.
• Verse Lv01-15 discussing the up bird offering states And the priest shall bring it unto the altar,
  • and pinch off its head,
  • - - - - - - -
  and make it smoke on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be drained out on the side of the altar.

Notice that the underlined phrase but shall not divide it asunder is present by the sin bird offering but not by the up bird offering. Rashi comments:

• In the up bird offering the head is completely cut off
• In the sin bird offering the head is partially cut off(only one of the two pipes in the neck are severed).

Sermonic points: The bird symbolically refers to poverty. The offering procedures symbolically describe the type of depression that occurs in poverty. Sin is not totally devastating in the poor since they blaim their sins on their poverty. By contrast poverty totally destroys the aspiration to ascend and progress -- hence the head is totally cut off indicated by the absence of the underlined phrase but shall not divide it asunder in the bird up offering.

5. RASHI METHOD: CONTRADICTION
BRIEF EXPLANATION:Rashi resolves contradictory verses using 3 methods.
• (5a) Resolution using two aspects of the same event
• (5b) Resolution using two stages of the same process
• (5c) Resolution using broad-literal interpretation.
This example applies to Rashis Lv04-03b
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ex21-03c.htm
Brief Summary: The priest brings a young adult; both a child bullock and ox
Note the contradiction in the following verse discussing the Chief Priest sin offering: Lv04-03 states if the anointed priest shall sin so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he hath sinned,
• An ox
• a child bullock
without blemish unto HaShem for a sin-offering.

We see the contradiction. Which is it? Is the offering a child bullock or an adult ox?

Rashi resolves this contradiction using the broad-literal meaning method. He offered a young adult. Hence
• it was still a child bullock
• but also a beginning ox adult.

Sermonic points: It is easy to have 20 years of experience and not make mistakes. It is also easy to be a child and not do anything right. But young adulthood is when occasional serious mistakes are made. The priest must recognize this as a transitional period through which he will reach perfection thru intense learning, study and practice. The sprinkling of the blood seven (=many) times towards the holies symbolizes this intensity.

Biblical verse Lv01-02c is written in a General-Detail style as follows: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When any man of you bringeth an offering unto HaShem,
• General: From the animals
• Detail: [you may offer an offering] from cattle, and from flock

We have embedded the interpretation of the general-detail construction in the translation of the above verse: If you bring from animals then you may only bring from cattle and flock. This is typical of the general-detail construction -- the interpretation restricts interpretation of the general category [animals] only to the items in the detail category [cattle, flock]. That is you may not offer any other type of animals such mules, donkeys, lions, monkeys etc.

We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf, that the Biblical Author indicates bulletss by using repeting keywords.

Hence we would translate Lv05-01:05 using bullets as follows: And if any one sin,
• in that he heareth the voice of adjuration, he being a witness, whether he hath seen or known, if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity;
• or if any one touch any unclean thing, whether it be the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean swarming things, and be guilty, it being hidden from him that he is unclean;
• or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever his uncleanness be wherewith he is unclean, and it be hid from him; and, when he knoweth of it, be guilty;
• or if any one swear clearly with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall utter clearly with an oath, and it be hid from him; and, when he knoweth of it, be guilty in one of these things;
and it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that wherein he hath sinned;

Rashi simply states: In all the above bulleted situations a person committed a sin which was hidden from him (or he hid testimony in the first bullet). In all these cases a person must bring an economic level offering. There are other premeditated-action-sins below (Such as denying under oath) for which other offerings must be brought.

Here we see that the focus of the Rashi comment is on the paragraph structure: All these offerings share a commonality (hidden) and bring the same offering. Rashi further contrasts this paragraph with other Biblical paragraphs which have other themes, such as denial under oath, and which require other types of offerings.

Today we ask the database query: What drives people to bring offerings? The simple answer is that there are two types of offerings
• obligatory and
• voluntary.
Linguistically you can recognize the
• voluntary offerings by verses that begin when a person / soul offers... indicating that the offering is voluntary.
• The obligatory offerings can be recognized by verses that begin If a person sins then... or If person offers on Thanksgiving then.... In other words these offerings are driven by specific events.
The database of verses below illustrates this distinction.

Advanced Rashi: The above database is an example of the Rabbi Ishmael method of Generalization from several verses. By examining the verses we infer that there are two types of offerings, voluntary and obligatory.

Verse Lv05-16b discussing restitution of robbed items states
1. And he shall make restitution for that which he hath done amiss in the holy thing,
2. and shall add the fifth part thereto,
and give it unto the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt-offering, and he shall be forgiven.
Rashi's comments are purely spreadsheet computations. We illustrate them with a numerical example:
• Say the person robbed $100 of Temple meat
• As indicated in item #1 above he must restore the $100
• Rashi interprets item #2 above to mean he pays $25 extra as a fine
  • The total paid is $100 + $25 = $125
  • Hence the $25 fine is $25/$125 = 1/5 = a fifth of the total as indicated in item #2 above
• It emerges that an equivalent formulation of the law is Return the original amount with a 25% fine.
10. RASHI METHOD: SYMBOLISM
BRIEF EXPLANATION: Rashi provides symbolic interpretations of words, verses, and chapters. Rashi can symbolically interpret either
• (10a) entire Biblical chapters such as the gifts of the princes, Nu-07
• (10b) individual items, verses and words
The rules governing symbolism and symbolic interpretation are presented in detail on my website.
This examples applies to Rashis Lv05-08a
URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/lv05-08a.htm
Brief Summary: First repent from SIN; then ELEVATE UPWARD.

The varying economic level offering requires both a sin and an up offering: Verse Lv05-07:08 And if his means suffice not for a lamb, then he shall bring his forfeit for that wherein he hath sinned, two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, unto HaShem: one for a sin-offering, and the other for an up-offering. And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin-offering first, and pinch off its head close by its neck, but shall not divide it asunder. Rashi comments on the symbolism of bringing the sin offering first: The up offering symbolizes a person's desire to elevate his activities to a spiritual level. The sin offering symbolizes a person's desire to remove his non-spiritual aspects. Clearly the proper sequence is (a) removal of the non-spiritual followed by (b) elevation to a new spiritual level. Hence the Biblically required sequence (a) sin offering (b) up offering.

Sermonic points: Here Rashi includes the symbolic sermonic points in his commentary.

Conclusion

This week's parshah contains examples of all Rashi methods. This concludes this weeks edition. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples.