1. RASHI METHOD: REFERENCES BRIEF EXPLANATION: Commentary on a verse is provided thru a cross-reference to another verse. The cross references can either provide (1a) further details, (1b) confirm citations, or (1c) clarify word meaning. This examples applies to Rashis Dt11-22b URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/dt11-30e.htm Brief Summary: The statement (Dt15-06) 'God will bless you if you observe as HE SAID' refers to (Dt28-03).

Verse Dt15-06 promises blessings to the Jews if they observe God's commandments as God promised them. Rashi clarifies that this cross reference alludes to Dt28-03.

Target Verse	Text	Cross Reference	Text	Rashi Comment
Dt15-05:06	Only if you carefully listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to take care to do all these commandments which I command you this day. For the Lord your God blesses you, as he promised you; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.	Dt28-02:03	And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.	Rashi illumines the underlined words: The cross reference as God promised you in Dt15-06 refers to Dt28-03.

Verse Dt15-07d states If there is among you a poor man of one of your brothers inside any of your gates in your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not be tight, nor hurried with your poor brother;

From context, we see that the underlined words tight and hurried are synonyms for charity refusal. Normally these words have other meanings. The Bible in effect creates new usages - idioms - from these words that apply to charity refusal. Rashi clarifies the exact nuances of these new idiomatic usages.

Rashi makes comments based on common sense:
• To be tight about charity means to refuse to give charity.
• To be hurried about charity means to give half-heartedly with a sour face.

A miscellaneous rule in Biblical grammar states that the pronoun for himself when used in a sentence functions adverbially to indicate that the activity of the sentence was done for personal reasons.

A good example of this occurs in Nu10-01:02 And HaShem spoke unto Moses, saying: Make for yourself two trumpets of silver; of beaten work shalt thou make them; and they shall be unto thee for the calling of the congregation, and for causing the camps to set forward. Rashi comments on the personal aspect of making the trumpets by providing three possible methods of personal aspect.
• Make the trumpets for yourself--only you can use them.
• Make the trumpets from your own funds
• The trumpets are used for your assemblies

Another example occurs at Ex18-27 which concludes the chapter describing how Jethro recognized the superiority of the Jewish God over other gods. The verse, translated with the above rule, states And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went for personal reasons into his own land. Rashi comments on the adverbial phrase: For personal reasons: He returned to found his own personal society/club of people who believe in a monotheistic God. The club/society he founded is referenced in Ju04-11. which states Now the Kenite society, who was of the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent near the terebinth in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.

An example from the parshah of Shlach Lechah occurs in Nu13-01:02 discussing God's allowance to Moses to send spies to scout out Israel before the Jewish conquest: The verses state And HaShem spoke unto Moses, saying: Send for yourself men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them.' Rashi explains: God told Moses Send for yourself - in other words, God allowed Moses to send spies to scout Israel before conquest,if he wanted to. That is, the spying was at Moses personal discretion.

A current example occurs at Dt13-17a discussing the plunder of the idolatrous city that was destroyed: And you shall gather all the plunder of it into the midst of the street and shall burn with fire the city, and all the plunder from it, for the Lord your God; and it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. Rashi comments on the underlined adverbial phrase for the Lord thy God. It is gathered personally for God. Dedicate it to God. Here Rashi follows the general idea that an adverbial phrase beginning with for indicates personal use such as dedication.

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses in Dt14-01b and Lv21-05 Both verses discuss the prohibition of creating baldness as a sign of mourning. The alignment justifies the Rashi assertion that Although it is traditional (Among idolaters) to place baldness between the eyes the Torah prohibits creating baldness any place on the head. Hence the two aligned verses
• Don't do it in the typical idolatrous way
• Also don't do it in general any place on the head

Verse	Text of Verse	Rashi comment
Dt14-01	Ye are the children of HaShem your G-d: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead	This prohibits making, in response to a death, a bald spot between the eyes, on the head.
Lv21-05	They shall not make baldness upon their head neither shall they shave off the corners of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.	From the alignment we infer that both balding between the eyes as well as balding anyplace on the head is prohibited.

Advanced Rashi: Here is a typical question: If the Torah wanted to prohibit balding any place on the head why didn't it simply say so. The rough answer is that if the Torah only stated Don't bald on the head I would think that this refers to Balding on the head in the center between the eyes since this is the usual way of balding. Therefore the Torah went out of its way to state both Don't bald between the eyes and Don't bald on the head. The combined aligned verses prevent a reasonable restrictive interpretation of Don't bald on the head between the eyes.

Sermonic points: Why did the Torah prohibit this practice. Granted the idolaters did this but they did many things. Why was this singled out. I think the reason is as follows: Hair (in both sexes) is a sexal cue. It indicates youth and invites. A typical reaction to death is emotional collapse. The person may feel suicidal. The balding on the head between the eyes is consequently seen as a withdrawal symptom - the mourner sees youth symbolized by hair as a trap that leads to death and should be avoided. Therefore the Torah prohibited this practice. People should abstain during the week of mourning but thereafter they should resume normal life.

The table below presents presents two contradictory verses. Both verses speak about the annulment of loans in the 7th year The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says loans are annuled at the end of seven years (persumably, 7 years from the date of loan) while the other verse implies that it is the 7th year in the 7th year cycles that annuls loans. Which is it? Are loans annuled 7 years after a loan is made or every 7th year independent of when the loan was made?

Summary	Verse / Source	Text of verse / Source
Annul 7 years after	Dt15-01a	At the end of 7 years thou shalt make a release
Annul at the 7th year point of the 7 year cycles	Dt15-07:09	If there is among you a poor man ... Beware that there be not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The 7th year, the year of release, is at hand; ... and you give him nothing; and he cry to the Lord against you,
Resolution:	Broad literal	The absolute 7th year annuls loans At the end of [Every] 7 year cycle annul loans

Rashi resolves this contradiction using the broad-literal method. Rashi reads the two verses as follows.
• at the end of [Every] 7 year [cycle] annul loans
• Don't say [at the request for a loan] the [absolute] 7th year [of the 7 year cycle] is coming and you will be depressed [at the thought of losing money] and not lend him. But rather lend him.

By using the table structure with underlines we are able to participate and empathize with Rashi in construction of the Rashi comment.

Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a Theme-Development form. In other words a broad general idea is stated first followed by the development of this broad general theme in specific details. Today's example illustrates this as shown below.

Verse Dt15-11c discussing the obligation to give charity states For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying: 'Thou shalt surely open thy hand
• General: unto thy brother
• Detail: to the poor
• Detail: to the indigent in thy land.'

The Rabbi Ishmael style rules require interpreting a General-Detail style restrictively, as referring only to the detail class. Hence the Rashi comment Of all thy brothers you must only give charity to the poor (but not to the rich).

Advanced Rashi: We can understand this better using the classical Talmudic distinction between the person vs. object.
• If poverty is an attribute of the person then you would have to only give charity to poor people!
• But if poverty is an attribute of objects then you would have to give charity whenever even a rich person wanted a certain object.
Hence the restriction of the verse of the obligation of giving charity to the poor can be understood as indicating that poverty is defined by the status of the person vs. the status of the need for a particular object.

The Bible can state a theme in a climactic manner, building up from the obvious to more serious consequences. The job of the commentator is to clarify the climactic manner. The rule of climax is powerful. It is independent of other rules such as word meaning and grammar. That is climax by itself justifies reinterpretation of a verse even if not supported by meaning and grammar.

Verse Dt15-05:06c is written in such a climactic manner as shown below: if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of HaShem thy G-d, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day. For HaShem thy G-d will bless thee, as He promised thee;
• and thou shalt lend unto many nations, [Rashi: You will be an economic leader]
• but thou shalt not borrow; [Rashi: You'll be leader and independent]
• and thou shalt rule over many nations, [Rashi: Economic and political leadership]
• but they shall not rule over thee. [Rashi: Leadership and independence;economic and political]
Rashi's sole purpose in commenting here is to indicate the climax.

We ask the following database query: How many commandments mention a reward of long life for performing them. The reader is encouraged to perform the query using a standard Biblical Konnkordance or search engine. This database query yields the list below. The list justifies the following Rashi inference: 7 commandments mention the reward of a long life. These commandments cover the entire spectrum of commandments
• Thus there are easy commandments (like letting the mother bird escape when capturing its young),
• commandments whose violation is disgusting (like eating blood),
• communal commandments (like have good justice), etc.
Because these commandments cover the entire spectrum therefore we infer that all commandments if observed will provide a reward of long life. The list below presents the results of the database query.

Notice how the commandments above span the entire spectrum
• General commandments
• Easy commandments
• Commandments that would be done anyway
• Communal commandments
• Commandments peculiar to Royal house
• Commandments without action
Hence the Rashi comment: Observance of any commandment leads to reward. We infer this using the Style rule of generalization from several verses.