The 10 RashiYomi Rules
Their presence in Rashis on Parshat VaYeChi
Vol 8, # 11
- Adapted from Rashi-is-Simple
Visit the RashiYomi website: http://www.Rashiyomi.com/
(c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President, Dec - 20, - 2007

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.

FULL HOUSE THIS WEEK ALL RASHI RULES ILLUSTRATED

    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 Gn48-09b
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n6.htm
    Brief Summary: Rashi explains Ho11-03 by cross referencing Gn48-09b: I, God, gentled to the Israelite Kingdom as Jacob gentled to Ephraim - I also (like Jacob) took them on my shoulders [to bless them] but they did not appreciate

Verse Ho10-15 - Ho11-01:03 discussing the rebellion of the Israelite kingdom against God states So shall Beth-El do to you because of your great wickedness; at dawn shall the king of Israel be cut off completely. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to carved idols. I gentled Ephraim, taking him on his arms; but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; and I was to them like those who take off the yoke from their jaws, and I laid food to them. In this passage the bolded words, Beth-El and Ephraim refer to Israelite Kingdom [its capital is Beth-El and its monarch comes from the tribe of Ephraim.] Rashi notes The underlined words, gentled Ephraim, taking him on his arms references and puns verse Gn48-09b which creates an analogy God:Jacob:Ephraim::God:Moses:Ephraim-Israelite-Kingdom. In fact Gn48-09,13,20 states And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I beg you, to me, and I will bless them...Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel?s left hand... And he blessed them that day, saying, By you [as a model] shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim

    The points of the analogy are as follows:
    • God's spirit moved Jacob to gently bring Ephraim near
    • Jacob blessed Ephraim
    • Jacob asserted that his blessing of Ephraim is a model for all blessings.
    In a similar way
    • God's spirit moved Moses to gently bring the Israelites near God
    • Moses blessed the Israelites who were like a newborn child

    Perhaps this sounds excessively poetic. We therefore translate the verse in Hosea:
  • So shall Beth-El[Israelite Kingdom] do to you because of your great wickedness; at dawn shall the king of Israel be cut off completely.
  • When Israel was a child [New in world like Ephraim], then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
  • As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to carved idols.
  • I gentled Ephraim,[pun on Ephraim=Jacob's son; Ephraim=Israelite Kingdom]
  • taking him on his arms; [pun on Moses bearing Jews like nursemaid (Nu11-12)]
  • but they knew not that I healed them.
  • I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; and I was to them like those who take off the yoke from their jaws, and I laid food to them.

Text of Target Verse Ho10-15; Ho11-01:03 Text of Reference Verse Gn48-09,13,20
  • So shall Beth-El[Israelite Kingdom] do to you because of your great wickedness; at dawn shall the king of Israel be cut off completely.
  • When Israel was a child [New in world like Ephraim], then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
  • As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to carved idols.
  • I gentled Ephraim,[pun on Ephraim=Jacob's son; Ephraim=Israelite Kingdom]
  • taking him on his arms; [pun on Moses bearing Jews like nursemaid (Nu11-12)]
  • but they knew not that I healed them.
  • I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; and I was to them like those who take off the yoke from their jaws, and I laid food to them.
And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I beg you, to me, and I will bless them...Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel?s left hand... And he blessed them that day, saying, By you [as a model] shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim
Rashi comments: The Hosean verse puns the Ephraim blessing model. Ephraim is also the name of the Israelite kingdom. The kingdom was newborn like Ephraim. Both received gentle treatment: Ephraim from Jacob and the Israelite kingdom from the prophets like Moses. Both received blessings. So the prophet Hosea uses language to conjur deeply emotional imagery of grandpa Jacob taking Ephraim and blessing him as an analogy to the prophets like Moses gently leading the Israelite kingdom on the way.

Advanced Rashi: There is an interesting twist: Typically Rashi explains the current verse in light of another verse while today Rashi explains another verse using the current verse. Note: Rashi has not deviated from the simple meaning of the Hosean verse. Rather Rashi correctly points out that the language chosen conjurs overlaying images of grandpa Jacob taking Ephraim and blessing him as an analogy to the gentle treatment that God had given Ephraim (and for which they are being punished for double crossing God). In other words Rashi sees pun nuances in the Hosean verses and defends this perspective using references.

      2. RASHI METHOD: WORD MEANING
      BRIEF EXPLANATION: The meaning of words can be explained either by
      • (2a) translating an idiom, a group of words whose collective meaning transcends the meaning of its individual component words,
      • (2b) explaining the nuances and commonality of synonyms-homographs,
      • (2c) describing the usages of connective words like also,because,if-then, when,
      • (2d) indicating how grammatical conjugation can change word meaning
      • (2e) changing word meaning using the figures of speech common to all languages such as irony and oxymorons.
      This examples applies to Rashis Gn49-03c
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n6.htm
      Brief Summary: You were worthy to extra STATURE and extra STRENGTH

When Rashi uses, what we may losely call, the hononym method, Rashi does not explain new meaning but rather shows an underlying unity in disparate meanings. Rashi will frequentlyl do this by showing an underlying unity in the varied meanings of a Biblical root.

In my article Peshat and Derash I advocate enhancing this Rashi method using a technique of parallel nifty translations in modern English. Today's examples show this.

The Hebrew root Nun-Sin-Aleph can mean a) lift b) King c) stature, d) fire, e) donate f) pray g) cloud and several more meanings. Rashi explains the underlying meaning as lift-height. Hence the meanings of a) lift, c) stature, d) fire (which lifts upward), f) prayer towards the God above, g) clouds on high and the b) King who stands above the nation.

In providing these translations we have used the English stature to capture the nuances in verses such as Jb13-11, Shall not his stature make you afraid? or Jb31-23, ...and because of his stature I could do nothing. The punchy English translation captures the Rashi intuition of Nun-Sin-Aleph=height and relates it to modern English nuances.

Rashi further explains stature / strength as referring to the priesthood / monarchy. To understand this we must use rule 7, format. Please read below for further insights into this Rashi.

      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 Gn48-16c
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n6.htm
      Brief Summary: Nouns can be transformed into verbs in several ways: (a) CREATE: To flower (b) REMOVE: To dust (c) USAGE: To hammer. Hence the phrase YOUR WORDS WILL BE TRUTHIFIED means they will be PROVEN.

    Although most conjugation rules refer to the conjugation of verbs, there are also conjugation rules for transfroming nouns into verbs. We list several common methods for transforming nouns into verbs:
  • create the noun: e.g. to flower
  • remove the noun: e.g. to dust
  • use the noun: e.g. to hammer
  • the verb(activity) done to this noun: e.g. Dt21-04b: neck the calf in other words kill it with a blow to the neck

Verse Gn48-16c discussing the blessing Jacob gave Joseph's children states The Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them fishify in the heart of their country Rashi explains: Fishify is a verb form of the noun fish and means to produce schools of swarming fish, that is to prolifically reproduce.

Sermonic Points: The basic etymology is given above. However very often etymologies have overtones. In this case Rashi adds The ocean is dark relative to the land. Hence despite the prolificness of children fish still have modesty and privacy. Thus while giving a blessing of prolificness Jacob also gave a blessing of privacy not usually associated with prolificness.

    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 Gn49-01a
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n6.htm
    Brief Summary: Jacob told his children a) elements of FUTURE messianic era b) PRESENT advice on how they should treat each other.

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses in Gn49-01:02 Both verses discuss Jacob's farewell address. The alignment justifies the Rashi assertion that Jacob's blessings contains elements of both a) the future Messianic era b) present advice on how they should treat each other.

Rashi is based on the alignment in the table below. However we can supplement Rashi by providing references. Notice how the blessing to Judah contains Messianic references (the future!) while the blessings to Joseph contain mostly a present description of events. This supplementation of Rashi with references in the blessings strengthens the Rashi comment: It is not simply based on an alignment but rather is solidly based on an alignment supported by references.

Verse Text of Verse Rashi comment
Gn49-01
    And Jacob called to his sons, and said,
    • Gather yourselves together,
    • that I may tell you
    • that which shall befall you in the future era.
The emphasis here is on future events
Gn49-02
    • Gather yourselves together,
    • and hear, you sons of Jacob; and
    • listen to Israel your father.
Emphasis on present advice.

Advanced Rashi: The technique we have introduced above - supplementing an alignment with references is fundamental to enriching Rashi.

      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 Gn50-16b
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn50-16b.htm
      Brief Summary: Jacob cursed Shimon for Joseph's (attempted murder) but brother's lied and said Jacob wanted him to forgive.

The table below presents presents two contradictory verses. Both verselets speak about Jacob's attitude on the sale of Joseph into slavery and the attempt to murder him. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are their swords. O my soul, do not come into their council; to their assembly, let my honor not be united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their wanton will they lamed an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. while the other verselet states And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Your father did command before he died, saying, So shall you say to Joseph, Forgive, I beg you now, the trespass of your brothers, and their sin; for they did to you evil; and now, we beg you, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ' Which is it? Did Jacob wanted the brother's who initiated the attempted murder and sale of Joseph to be cursed? Or did he want them to be forgiven? Rashi simply resolves this using the broad-literal method: The curse of Shimon and Levi for what they did to Joseph is true. The request for forgiveness is a lie. Joseph's brothers lied in order to bring peace among them.

Summary Verse / Source Text of verse / Source
Jacob cursed Shimon and Levi for selling Joseph into slavery and for attempting to kill him. Gn40-05:07 Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are their swords. O my soul, do not come into their council; to their assembly, let my honor not be united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their wanton will they lamed an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Jacob requested forgiveness for Joseph's sin. Gn50-16:17 And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Your father did command before he died, saying, So shall you say to Joseph, Forgive, I beg you now, the trespass of your brothers, and their sin; for they did to you evil; and now, we beg you, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Resolution: Broad-literal The curse of Shimon and Levi for what they did to Joseph is true. The request for forgiveness is a lie. Joseph's brothers lied in order to bring peace among them.

Sermonic points: Perhaps this is the most famous of all Rashi sermonic points: This sermonic point is actually brought down in Jewish law books: It is obligatory to lie in order to bring about peace.

    6. RASHI METHOD: STYLE
    Rashi examines how rules of style influences inferences between general and detail statements in paragraphs.
    • Example: Every solo example stated by the Bible must be broadly generalized;
    • Theme-Detail: A general principle followed by an example is interpreted restrictively---the general theme statement only applies in the case of the example;
    • Theme-Detail-Theme: A Theme-Detail-Theme unit is interpreted as a paragraph. Consequently the details of the paragraph are generalized so that they are seen as illustrative of the theme.
    This examples applies to Rashis Gn50-12a
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn50-12a.htm
    Brief Summary: GENERAL: The brothers did as their father commanded him. DETAIL: [namedly] they carried him to Canaan.

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. The Theme-Detail form creates a unified paragraph. The style rule requires that we interpret the general theme with special focus on the attributes of the illustrative detail selected. Today's example illustrates this as shown below.

    BIblical verses Gn50-12:13 forms a Biblical paragraph with a theme-detail structure:
  • Theme: And his sons did to him according as he commanded them;
  • Detail: [For] his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

Rashi comments: The two sentences form one paragraph. That is the statement in the theme sentence and his sons did to him according as he commanded them refers to the details mentioned in the second sentence his sons carried himm to Canaan and buried him.

The Davka English translation facilitates this Rashi interpretation by inserting the underlined, subordinating conjunction, for which explicitly connects the two sentences. The use of such punchy textual interpolations hi-lighting Rashi translations was first advocated in my article Peshat and Derash.

      7. RASHI METHOD: FORMATTING
      BRIEF EXPLANATION:Inferences from Biblical formatting:
      • Use of repetition to indicate formatting effects: bold,italics,...;
      • use of repeated keywords to indicate a bullet effect;
      • rules governing use and interpretation of climactic sequence;
      • rules governing paragraph development and discourse
      This example applies to Rashis Gn49-03d Gn49-03c
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n6.htm
      Brief Summary: You were worthy of a) additional STATURE=Priesthood; b) Additional STRENGTH=Monarchy.

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 indicated bullets by using repeating keywords.

That is, if a modern author wanted to get a point across using bullets - a list of similar but contrastive items - then the Biblical Author would use repeating keywords. Today's verse illustrates this principle.

    Verse Gn49-03d discussing the greatness that Reuven should have had states Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of virility; [you have]
  • additional stature, and
  • additional might.

    The bulleted structure indicated by the repeating underlined keyword additional creates a bulleted atmosphere. Rashi explains:
    • You should have had additonal stature, the priesthood
    • you should have had additional might, monarchy.

Advanced Rashi: Why did Rashi equate stature = priesthood and might = monarchy. A review of the logic involved would be illuminating. First the bulleted structure indicated by repeating keywords requires us to see an unspecified emphasis of distinctness in the bulleted items. Next it seems reasonable to associate might = monarchy. There is no obvious association with stature. But it is reasonable if we have already used up monarchy to associate stature with some other Jewish hierarchical social structure. Two obvious candidates are prophecy and the priesthood. Prophecy does not belong to any tribe but rather to any person who aspires to it. So Rashi associates stature=Priesthood.

      8. RASHI METHOD: DATABASES
      BRIEF EXPLANATION:Rashi makes inferences from Database queries. The precise definition of database query has been identified in modern times with the 8 operations of Sequential Query Language (SQL).

      This example applies to Rashis Gn47-29c
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn47-29z.htm
      Brief Summary: Oaths are frequently accompanied by symbolic expressions of seriousness such as nearness to a holy object, a sacred party, transfer of possessions, creation of borders.

    We ask the following database query: How are oaths taken in the Bible. 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: Oaths are accompanied by symbolic expressions of seriousness such as for example: a) bonding parties, b) symbolic borders, c) transfer of ownership, d) nearness to holy objects. The list below presents the results of the database query and shows examples.

And he made them a , and they did eat and drink. And they rose up betimes in the morning, and swore one to another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
Verse Method of Oath Verse Text
Gn26-30:31 Bonding Party
Gn31-52:53 Symbolic fence This heap of stones be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us.' And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac
Gn21-30:31 Symbolic transfer of possessions And he said: 'Verily, these seven ewe-lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.' Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them.
Gn24-02:03 Hand on thigh near holy circumcision And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that he had: 'Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh. And I will make thee swear by the LORD...
Gn47-29:31 Hand on thigh near holy circumcision And the time drew near that Israel must die; and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him: 'If now I have found favour in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. ...And he said: 'Swear unto me.' And he swore unto him

      9. RASHI METHOD: NonVerse
      BRIEF EXPLANATION: The common denominator of the 3 submethods of the NonVerse method is that inferences are made from non textual material. The 3 submethods are as follows:
      • Spreadsheet: Rashi makes inferences of a numerical nature that can be summarized in a traditional spreadsheet
      • Geometric: Rashi clarifies a Biblical text using descriptions of geometric diagrams
      • Fill-ins: Rashi supplies either real-world background material or indicates real-world inferences from a verse. The emphasis here is on the real-world, non-textual nature of the material.
      This examples applies to Rashis Gn48-17a
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n6.htm
      Brief Summary: Joseph LIFTED UP/SUPPORTED his father's hand from his son's head.

Verse Gn48-17a discussing Joseph's removal of his father's hand from his son's head states And when Joseph saw that his father was laying his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he supported his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

    Rashi explains the geometry of the situation:
  • Jacob's hand was on Joseph's head
  • Joseph removed it
  • by lifting the hand up and supporting it
Hence the underlined verse phrase and he supported his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head...

      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 Gn49-22a Gn49-22b
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/gn49-22a.htm
      Brief Summary: Joseph is FRUITFUL can dually mean: a) Joseph is physically FRUITFUL b) Joseph gives FRUITFUL dream interpretations.

Verse Gn49-22 is one of those delightful verses where each word has two meanings and these disparate double meanings wonderously combine to form two distinct interpretations of the same set of words. The verse states: Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall;

    Rashi notes that
  • The Hebrew word Pay-Resh-Hey,fruitful, can, in both Hebrew and English, mean
    • bearing alot of fruit / offspring
    • a fruitful idea
  • The Hebrew word Beth-Nun can equally mean
    • a son
    • a vine, the son of a branch of a tree
  • The English word well with its shimmering water can equally mean
    • the shimmering reality of the dream world.
    • the shimmering emotions of love-making. Note especially how
      • The circular well is a female symbol
      • The upright bough is a male symbol
      • The shimmering water resembles the emotions of love-making

    Hence the exquisitely balanced two interpretations of Gn49-22.
  • Joseph is a son with fruitful interpretations of shimmering dreams
  • Joseph reproduces; he is as fruitful as a plant bough; his fruitfullness is based on on excellence in the shimmering emotions of love.

Conclusion

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