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 Dt32-44a Dt32-50a URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w34n14.htm; Brief Summary: (Dt32-44a Dt32-50a) Moses Died the way Aaron died. Rashi: Aaron saw his son priested and Moses saw Johsua lead before death

Verse(s) Dt32-50a, discussing Moses' last days states And die in the mount where you go up, and be gathered to your people; as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people; Rashi clarifies the underlined words as Aaron your brother died by referencing chapter Nu20-28, Dt32-44a which states And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount...And Moses came and spoke all the words of this poem in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. . Hence the Rashi comment: Just as Aaron saw Elazar his son robed in the High priest garments before his death, so so Moses saw Joshua as leader before his death.

Text of Target verse Dt32-50a	Text of Reference Verse Nu20-28, Dt32-44a
And die in the mount where you go up, and be gathered to your people; as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people;	And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount...And Moses came and spoke all the words of this poem in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.
Rashi comments: Just as Aaron saw Elazar his son robed in the High priest garments before his death, so so Moses saw Joshua as leader before his death.

Advanced Rashi: The main driving force of the Rashi comment is the underlined words as Aaron your brother died. One especially nice thing about Aaron's death is that he saw Elazar his son robed prior to this death. Using this idea Rashi searches the parshah and notes that when Moses spoke to the people the verse says spoke...He and Hoshyah. Rashi sees these added words Moses ....He and Hoshayah as echoing back to the theme of seeing the son robed before his death. Hence the Rashi comment Usually Moses spoke and Joshua translated; on that day Joshua spoke and Moses translated. The issue of who translated and who spoke is not in the text but Rashi introduces this as a reasonable association with see the son robed prior to death. In this case Moses saw Joshua leading before death.

An idiom is a collection of words which means more than the sum of the meanings of each of the phrases' individual words. Verse Dt32-21 discussing the sin and punishment of the Jews states
• They have infuriated me with a No-God
• they have angered me with their vanities;
• and I will infuriate them with a No-Nation
• I will anger them with a despicable-nation. Rashi explains: The phrase(s) No-God, No-Nation is an idiom meaning having no God-like, or nation-like, qualities As can be seen from the underlined words the Rashi comment is compactly and explicitly combined in the Biblical text.

Advanced Rashi: In fact, in English we have a similar idiom; we refer to a despicable person as a no-goodnick

Two familiar functions of grammar in all languages are pronoun reference and plurality.

Hebrew is more flexible than English in pronoun reference. In other languages a a pronoun refers to the last mentioned person. However in Hebrew pronoun reference can be determined by the most logical connection even if it is not the last mentioned noun.

Verses Dt32-41:42 discussing the punishments God will visit on Jewish enemies states
1. If I [God] whet my glittering sword,
2. and my [God] hand takes hold on judgment;
3. I will render vengeance to my enemies,
4. and will requite those who hate me [God].
5. I will make my arrows drunk from blood [of my enemies], and
6. my sword shall devour flesh [of my enemies];
7. from [because of] the blood of the slain and of the captives [of Jews];
8. from [because of ] the head wild orgies of the enemy.

To fully appreciate Rashi I cite the Davka English translation which is much more bland!
1. If I [God] whet my glittering sword,
2. and my [God] hand takes hold on judgment;
3. I will render vengeance to my enemies,
4. and will requite those who hate me [God].
5. I will make my arrows drunk from blood [of my enemies], and
6. my sword shall devour flesh [of my enemies];
7. from the blood of the slain and of the captives [of my enemies];
8. from the heads [of] wild orgies of the enemy.

Here is a brief summary of Rashi-Davka differences:
• Rashi: God will shed the blood of Jewish enemies because these enemies shed the blood of Jews since the beginning (Head) of their nationhood.
• Davka: God will shed the blood of Jewish enemies; the blood will come from wars against the enemies.

The above side by side comparison of the Rashi and Davka translation affords us a rare opportunity to see the richness of poetic translation. Here are the main differences, and justifications!, of the Rashi-Davka differences:
• Rashi takes the word from in bullet 7 as meaning because; Davka sees the from in bullet 7 as echoing back to the From in bullet 5. Hence Davka identifies the blood in bullets 5 and 7 as the same - God will shed blood; the blood from wars on Jewish enemies. However Rashi sees these bullets contrastively: The blood of the enemy is a retaliation for the enemy causing bloodshed of Jews. As such Rashi is richer since the poetry does not merely repeat with detail (Davka) but contrasts and explains.
• Both Rashi and Davka see the From in bullets #7 and #8 as the same. Hence Rashi, who interpreted the From in bullet #7 as meaning because interprets the from in bullet #8 as meaning because also - God will shed enemy blood because from the head of their nationhood these enemies shed Jewish blood. However Davka sees the from in bullets 5,7, and 8 as referring to source - God will shed blood of Jewish enemies; the blood from beheadings of orgies on the Jewish enemies.
• Rashi interprets bullet #8 as referring to the heads of the nationhood since they engaged in orgies against the Jewish people. Davka interprets bullet #8 as refering to the slain heads of the enemy.

Summary: Rashi accomplishes his translation through pronoun references: God is making his swords drunk from the blood of His enemies. He is doing this because the enemies, at the inception of their nation, and later on, shed the blood of Jews. Rashi's translation is richer then conventional English translations since Rashi captures both the event (sheding blood of enemies) and the cause (they shed Jewish blood).

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Dt32-51 Both verses/verselets discuss Moses' sin at MayMerivah The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: The Bible in Numbers is very terse but harsh on Moses' sin. The Bible only speaks about rebelling against me (Nu20-24). It is not clear what the rebellion was. Superficially the only hint of rebellion is that God said speak to the rock and let it bring waters while Moses did not speak but hit the rock. Even so this does not appear as rebellion that would warrant non entry to Israel! However Dt32-51 clarifies what happened by describing the MayMerivah incident as Lack of sanctification, descecration of a sacred relationship. It follows that God symbolically Wanted Moses to speak (not strike) to the rock who would give its waters; this would be symbolic of Moses speaking, not striking, the stone cold Jewish people who would then comply (like the rock). This Symbolism if accomplished would achieve sanctification of God's name since the people would comply not rebel against God. However Moses descecrated the sacred relationship of prophecy for his own personal use---Moses was rightfully frustrated with the people and utilized the prophetic order of God to achieve his own ends of exhorting the people. Moses sin was similar to an adulterer desecrating a marriage relatinship or a priest desecrating the Temple relationship to obtain food. Such adulterous descecrations are serious and warrant serious punishment.

Verse	Text of Verse	Rashi comment
Dt32-51	Because you trespassed against me among the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you did not sanctify me in the midst of the people of Israel.	The Bible in Numbers is very terse but harsh on Moses' sin. The Bible only speaks about rebelling against me (Nu20-24). It is not clear what the rebellion was. Superficially the only hint of rebellion is that God said speak to the rock and let it bring waters while Moses did not speak but hit the rock. Even so this does not appear as rebellion that would warrant non entry to Israel! However Dt32-51 clarifies what happened by describing the MayMerivah incident as Lack of sanctification, descecration of a sacred relationship. It follows that God symbolically Wanted Moses to speak (not strike) to the rock who would give its waters; this would be symbolic of Moses speaking, not striking, the stone cold Jewish people who would then comply (like the rock). This Symbolism if accomplished would achieve sanctification of God's name since the people would comply not rebel against God. However Moses descecrated the sacred relationship of prophecy for his own personal use---Moses was rightfully frustrated with the people and utilized the prophetic order of God to achieve his own ends of exhorting the people. Moses sin was similar to an adulterer desecrating a marriage relatinship or a priest desecrating the Temple relationship to obtain food. Such adulterous descecrations are serious and warrant serious punishment.
Dt32-51	Because you trespassed against me among the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you did not sanctify me in the midst of the people of Israel.

Advanced Rashi: Note the repeated underlined word, because. Technically when the Bible uses a repeating keyword it is creating a bullet like effect. This is explained in rule #7, bullet. Very often the line between bullet and alignment is thin. The example presented above could have been explained either here in rule #4, alignment or rule #7, bullet.

See below, rule #10, Symbolism for a more thorough discussion of the symbolic interpretation presented here.

The climax principle asserts that a sequence of similar phrases should be interpreted climactically even if the words and grammatical constructs used do not directly suggest this. That is the fact of the sequence justifies reading into the Biblical text a climactic interpretation even if no other textual source justifies it. For this reason we consider the climax method a distinct and separate method.

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 Dt32-46a URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w34n14.htm Brief Summary: The Bible commands Torah study with 3 phrases - see, hear, focus your heart - thereby indicating 3 requirements for study.

Today we ask the database query: How does God command required Torah study? The query uncovers 3 examples. An examination of these examples justifies the Rashi assertion that Proper Torah study requires a) study (seeing), b) discussion (hearing), and c) analysis (Place one's heart.) The table below presents results of the query along with illustrations of Rashi's comment.

Rashi observes that Geographically, Israel is perceived on top of the world; Consequently verses always speak about going up to Israel vs. going down from Israel. The verses listed below exemplify this usage.

We have classified this as the geometric method since Rashi clarifies the meaning of a word using diagrams.

In the following verses the underlined words up,down indicate relative position to Israel and confirm the above Rashi comment:
• Dt01-25a, discussing the bringing of fruit, by the spies, from Israel to the desert states And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us back word, and said: 'Good is the land which HaShem our G-d giveth unto us.'
• Gn45-09a discussing the requested journey of the patriarch Jacob from Israel to Egypt, states Hasten ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him: Thus saith thy son Joseph: G-d hath made me lord of all Egypt; come down unto me, tarry not.
• Ex33-01a discussing the journey from the desert to Israel, states And HaShem spoke unto Moses: 'Depart, go up hence, thou and the people that thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying: Unto thy seed will I give it--
• Dt32-13b discussing the gift of Israel by God to the Jews states states He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he did eat the fruitage of the field; and He made him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the flinty rock;
• Gn46-03:04 presenting a prophecy that Jacob must journey from Israel to Egypt, states And He said: 'I am G-d, the G-d of thy father; fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.'
• Dt17-08f discussing the requirement to journey to Jerusalem for legal inquiry from the Sanhedrin in complex cases, states If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, even matters of controversy within thy gates; then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which HaShem thy G-d shall choose.

Note that in the last example we supplement our basic thesis that the word up is used when going to Israel while down is used when going from Israel by extending the up-down metaphor for journey to or from Jerusalem relative to the rest of Israel.

Sermonic Points: Traditionally up symbolizes heavenly maters while down symbolizes hellish earthly matters. This symbolism is valid in all languages. By associating Israel and Jerusalem with up the Bible symbolically affirms Israel's spiritual values.

By way of background, recall, that God frequently introduces prophetic communications thru symbolic examples. Thus Jr01-13 God showed a burning pot in the north to symbolize the prophecy that destruction (burning) would start in the north. Similarly, God told Hosaah to name his children no-mercy and not-mine to symbolize that God would not any more have mercy on the Jewish people and not consider them my nation.

In Nu20 God symbolically wanted Moses to speak (not strike) to the rock who would then give its waters. This would be symbolic of Moses speaking, not striking, the stone cold Jewish people who would then comply (like the rock).

The symbolic method used here is called anthromorphism - the substitute of inanimate, plant or animal objects to symbolize humans. It is a very common method in all cultures and a powerful symbolic method. This command by God that Moses should engage in symbolic exhortation, if accomplished, would achieve sanctification of God's name since the people would comply not rebel against God.

Advanced Rashi:Any symbolic assertion such as the above can always be supplemented with further support and proofs. The use of rock to symbolize cold people is explicitly found in verse Ez11-19 which states And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit inside you; and I will take the stone heart from their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;