The 10 RashiYomi Rules
Their presence in Rashis on Parshat BaMiDBaR
Volume 14, Number 14
Used in the monthly Rashi-is-Simple and the Daily Rashi.
Visit the RashiYomi website: http://www.Rashiyomi.com/
(c) RashiYomi Incorporated, Dr. Hendel, President,
May 13th, 2010

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.

    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 Nu01-53a
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
    Brief Summary: The warning that the Levites should watch their Temple Guard lest a foreigner come incurring God's anger (Nu01-53a) REFERENCES Nu17-11, the Korach Rebellion showing Gods anger

Verse Nu01-53a discussing Levite Temple guard states But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no anger upon the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.' Rashi clarifies the underlined words that there be no anger upon the congregation of the children of Israel by referencing verse Nu17-09:11 which states And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire in it from the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly to the congregation, and make an atonement for them; for anger has come out from the Lord; the plague has begun. Hence the Rashi comment: The statement Nu01-53 that the Levites should watch their Temple Guard and not let non-Levite Israelites come near lest God lose his anger on them references verse Nu17-09:11 stating how God lost his anger on the Jews who rebelled about Temple matters during the Korach rebellion.

Text of Target verse Nu01-53a Text of Reference Verse Nu17-09:11
But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no anger upon the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.' And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire in it from the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly to the congregation, and make an atonement for them; for anger has come out from the Lord; the plague has begun.
Rashi comments: The statement Nu01-53 that the Levites should watch their Temple Guard and not let non-Levite Israelites come near lest God lose his anger on them references verse Nu17-09:11 stating how God lost his anger on the Jews who rebelled about Temple matters during the Korach rebellion.

Advanced Rashi: The basic reference rule suffices with one verse pointing to another. However, in this particular case, besides the content overlap of the two verses, there is also a word overlap, anger. The identical word anger occurs in both verses hinting and confirming the content overlap of the two verses. Such a word overlap is not necessary in the reference rule but enhances it.

      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 Nu01-49a
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
      Brief Summary: ACH means a)USUALLY, b) PROBABLY, c) MOST OF

    The special word method deals with the few dozen special connective words that exist in all languages. Familiar examples are also, when, that, if, then, all, because, only, this,.... These words are typically
    • adverbs such as all,also or connective words, either
    • conjunctions such as if, then, because or
    • articles or demonstrative or abstract pronouns such as the, this, that or
    • propositional connectives such as in,on,to,from.
    Rashi's job, when he comments on a special connective words, is to enumeratively list the nuances and usages of the word.

The most famous example of the special word method is the Hebrew word Kaph Yud which can mean because, that, when, perhaps, rather, if. Sometimes Rashi explicitly gives all meanings of a connective word as happens with Kaph Yud while at other times Rashi does not give all meanings at once. In such a case the Rashi student must gather all the meanings together from various places.

One can classify the special word method as either a meaning sub-method or grammar sub-method.

Today's special word, akh, is more fully discussed in the following article on the Rashi website: The meaning of Ach which can be found at url http://www.Rashiyomi.com/ach.pdf. Although this article goes into great depth, which the interested reader is encouraged to pursue, the reader on the go can obtain a complete understanding of ach by reading the concise and compact summary presented below.

    Today we deal with the Hebrew special word Aleph-Caph which can have any of the following meanings.
  • most of, for example, Gn07-23 most of Noah remained in the ark ([Rashi: but not all of him since a lion attacked him for bringing his meal late]
  • probably for example, Gn26-09 [seeing the way you behave] she is probably your wife
  • usually for example, Lv23-27 usually on the tenth of Tishray you will have a Yom Kippur day, a day of atonement [Rashi: Usually you will have atonement; but not if the sin was interpersonal in which case you must first seek forgiveness from your fellow man].

Applying this rule to the translation of Usually [Rashi: because the Levites don't participate in national sins] the Levites are not censused during national censii.... As is our practice we have embedded the Rashi translation in the verse.

    Advanced Rashi: In a most fascinating way, Rashi gives two explanations for why the Levites aren't tested: one based on authority and one based on moral reason.
    • The levites aren't censused among national censii because they personally serve God in the Temple
    • The Levites aren't censused because usually they don't sin, for example, they didn't participate in the golden-calf sin. Since they don't sin it is not necessary to count them to see how many were punished because of the sin.
    This comparison of an authority vs. a moral logical approach is most instructive and sheds light on Jewish values.

The word ach can also mean nevertheless a introductory sentence word that alerts the reader to a contrast between the preceding and following sentence. We however have omitted this meaning from the above list.

      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 Nu04-13b
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1413.htm
      Brief Summary: There are 3 ways verbs can come from nouns: a) CREATION OF THE NOUN, e.g. to flower, to beam, b) REMOVAL OF THE NOUN, e.g. to dust, c) TYPICAL USAGE OF THE NOUN, e.g. to hammar.

Today Hebrew grammar is well understood and there are many books on it. Rashi, however, lived before the age of grammar books. A major Rashi method is therefore the teaching of basic grammar.

Many students belittle this aspect of Rashi. They erroneously think that because of modern methods we know more. However Rashi will frequently focus on rare grammatical points not covered in conventional textbooks.

    There are many classical aspects to grammar whether in Hebrew or other languages. They include
  • The rules for conjugating verbs. These rules govern how you differentiate person, plurality, tense, mode, gender, mood, and designation of the objects and indirect objects of the verb. For example how do you conjugate, in any language, I sang, we will sing, we wish to sing, she sang it.
  • Rules of agreement. For example agreement of subject and verb, of noun and adjective; whether agreement in gender or plurality.
  • Rules of Pronoun reference.
  • Rules of word sequence. This is a beautiful topic which is not always covered in classical grammatical textbooks.

    Today we deal with the transformation of nouns into verbs. 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

Applying this rule to verse Nu04-13b we obtain the translation ...and they shall ash the altar.... meaning they shall remove ashes from the altar. Here, the Hebrew coined verb to ash is similar in meaning to the English to dust, that is to remove dust, the verb to dust being derived from the word dust.

    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 Nu03-09b
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
    Brief Summary: The Levites are given to Aaron from the MIDST of the Jewish people

The table below presents an aligned extract of verses or verselets in Nu03-09b,Nu08-19 Both verses/verselets discuss the gift of the Levites to the priests Israel. The alignment justifies the Rashi comment that: The statement Nu03-09b that the Levites are given as a gift to the priests from the Jewish people means what is stated in verse Nu08-19 that the Levites are given as a gift to the priests from the midst of the Jewish people. In other words the Levites are 1)a gift from God, 2) taken from the midst of the Jewish people.

Alignment
Rashi comment
Nu08-19 and I give the Levites -------- Given to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the Jews
Nu03-09 and you give the Levites to Aaron and his sons Given Given to him from the Jews
The statement Nu03-09b that the Levites are given as a gift to the priests from the Jewish people means what is stated in verse Nu08-19 that the Levites are given as a gift to the priests from the midst of the Jewish people. In other words the Levites are 1)a gift from God, 2) but taken from the midst of the Jewish people.

    Advanced Rashi: At first blush Rashi appears to simply equating the meaning of the aligned words, from and from the midst of. However a careful reading shows that Rashi is removing an ambiguity in the word from which can equally indicate the source,giver or the place from which something is given. Rashi is clarifying that
  • the Levites are given as a gift from God who is the source of the gift and that
  • the Levites are taken from the midst of the Jewish people Nu08-19

The above alignment shows many more problems which however were not answered by Rashi. For example why does one verse say given while the other verse says given given. Why is to Aaron and his sons repeated in one verse but not the other? My opinion is that Rashi pointed out the basic idea of the alignment and solved one alignment problem - the difference of from vs. from the midst of. Rashi left it to the teacher and student to try and tackle the other alignment problems that exist in the verse. Even if the teacher can't solve them the proper teaching method is to complete the entire alignment and to show the student all problems.

      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 Nu04-05a
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
      Brief Summary: The Kehathites partnered with the priests. a) The priests PACKED all Holy-Holy items b) The Kehthites CARRIED the packed items

The table below presents two contradictory sets of verses. Both verse sets talk about the transportation of the Holy of Holies. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says this is the work of the Kehatites while the other verse says the Priests come and package items. Which is it? Is the Holy of Holies the responsibility of the Kehatites or the Priests. Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 stages method: (1) The priests package and wrap the Holy of Holies (2) The Kehatites carry the packages Holy of Holies.

Summary Verse / Source Text of verse / Source
The Priests package and wrap the Holy of Holies Nu04-05:14 When the nation camps Aaron and his sons and they ...take a sky blue garment and wrap the Candellabrah... ...and on the golden altar they spread a sky-blue garment and cover it with Tachash skin....
The Kehatites carry the packaged items Nu04-04,15 This is the responsibility of the Kehatites in the Temple, the Holy of Holies....and Aaron and his sons complete covering the holies and then the Kehatites come to carry and they will not touch the holies and die
Resolution: 2 Stages:
  • (1) The priests package and wrap the Holy of Holies
  • (2) The Kehatites carry the packages Holy of Holies.

    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 Nu03-06a
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
    Brief Summary: GENERAL: Levites will help Aaron BY DETAILS: SERVING the temple, not by bringing offerings.

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 and consequently the law only applies to the enumerated details but not to other cases. Today's example illustrates this as shown below.

    Verse Nu03-06a is written in a General-Detail form:
    • General: Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that
    • Detail: They may minister unto him.
    Notice the word that which indicates the transition in the general-detail form. The Rabbi Ishmael style rules require that such a sentence be interpreted restrictively. Levites help the priests only by serving and ministering to them (e.g. by singing songs of praise during the Temple service); but not e.g. by offering sacrifices. Rashi derives this restrictive interpretation from the Detail clause - that they may minister unto him - which restricts the general clause Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest. Here is still another way of looking at it. The general clause by itself means that the Levites help Priests in all matters, including offering sacrifices, singing songs of praise etc. However because the general clause is followed by a detailed clause I therefore interpret the verse to mean that only by ministering - that is singing songs of praise - do the Levites serve the Priests.

Advanced Rashi: Actually the word minister is a bit more general. Besides singing Psalms during the Temple service the Levites assist in a variety of other ways. For example, the Levites assisted with ritual slaughter of the sacrifices. In this posting we have only touched on the basic idea that the assistance the Levites give the Priests is restricted. We have not fully explored how it is restricted. A more thorough analysis would require reviewing many Biblical texts where the Levite methods of assisting the Priests are listed.

      7. RASHI METHOD: FORMATTING
      BRIEF EXPLANATION:Inferences from Biblical formatting: --bold,italics, and paragraph structure.
      • 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 Nu04-15a, Nu04-15b
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
      Brief Summary: a) The HOLY = Ark and Altars b) The HOLY UTENSILS = Candellabrah, Table, and their utensils

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.

Bullets whether indicated through modern notation or through the Biblical method of repeating keywords always indicate contrastive emphasis - that is, each bullet is presumed to be a distinct item contrasted to the other items on the list. Very often the bullets are also used to indicate that the entire list of exhaustive of some spectrum.

    Verse(s) Nu04-15 discussing the carrying of the Holy objects states And Aaron and his sons will complete the covering
    • of the Holies, and
    • of all the utensils of the Holies
    and afterwards the Kehatites will come to carry ...
    The repeated underlined phrase of creates a bullet effect. The bullet effect in turn creates an emphasis on the distinctness of all enumerated items. Rashi interprets the distinctness as follows
    • Holies refers to the A) ark, and B) altars
    • Utensils of the Holies refers to C)candellabrah (and utensils) D) the table (and utensils) .

    Advanced Rashi:Several supporting comments are in order. First: Rashi reviewed the list of items to be covered, presented in verses Nu04-04 through Nu04-14:
    • (Verse 5,6) The Ark and dividing curtain, (Item A),
    • (Verse 7,8) the table and its utensils (Item D),
    • (Verse 9,10) the Candellabrah and its utensils (Item C),
    • (Verse 11-14) the Golden and Copper Altar and their utensils (Item B),
    Rashi took each of these enumerated items and classified them. Items A, B, the Ark and the altars, were classified as Holy, while items C,D the Table, Candellabrah and their utensils, were classified as Holy utensils.

A perhaps more important question is why? Why are some objects called holy while other objects are called holy utensils? I would suggest that the main goals of Judaism, Torah knowledge and the respect for prophecy symbolized respectively by the Ark and the Altar-fires symbolizing prophetic fire visions, are the main Holy objects. By contrast, the Table and Candellabrah, symbolizing learning and dependence on God for food are means to the end of Torah knowledge and prophecy; hence, they are classified as utensils to the holys. The verse by bulleting separately the Holies and the Utensils of the Holies indicated two stages of Temple utensils.

      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 Nu01-01a
      URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
      Brief Summary: God continuously CENSUSED the Jews. Obsessive CENSUSING is typically a sign of great fondness

Today, we ask the following database query: How often are censii taken? 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: God continually counted the Jews with either a complete census or a census of those fallen during a plague. Such obsessive counting typically indicates great attachment and fondness. We conlude God had great love for the Jewish people. The list below presents the results of the database query and shows examples

Occasion Verse Census results After tragedy of Verse for tragedy
Exodus Ex12-07 About 600,000 adult males 80% of Jews died, never left Egypt Ex13-18
Year 2, Month 2 to Exodus, after Golden calf sin Nu01 603,550 Jews, 22,300 Levites 3,000 die after Golden calf sin Ex32-38
Complete census after Moabite-women-sin Nu26 601,730 24,000 die for sinning with Moabite women Nu24-10

    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 Nu03-39b Nu03-46a Nu03-49a Nu03-50a
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule1414.htm
    Brief Summary: 300 Firstborn Levites remained. 22000 Firstborn redeemed by Levites. 273 firstborn redeemed @ 5 per head=$1365. Redeemers identified by lottery

Background: Originally the firstborn served at the sacrifices. When the Jews sinned by the Golden calf God took this privilege away from them and gave it to the Levites. The process of transfer of responsibility from the firstborn to the Levites was called a redemption process. The redemption process is described in the table below. Because this aspect of the Bible involves computations and spreadsheets we classify this Rashi as non-verse/spreadsheets.

    Very roughly there are 3 types of redemption:
  • The 300 Levites that were firstborn remained in service
  • There was an exchange of 22000 Levites for 22000 Firstborn
  • The remaining 273 non Levite firstborn were redeeemed at $5 shekel per person or $1,365 aggregate.

There was the further problem of who to collect the $1,365 from. After all each particular firstborn could claim he corresponded to an actual Levite and didn't have to pay. Therefore the redemption was done by lottery which picked 273 firstborn each of whom paid $5 shekel.

Item Amount Justification (Verse/logic)
Gershon Levites 7500 Nu03-22
Kehath Levites 8600 Nu03-28
Merari Levites 6200 Nu03-34
Total Levites 22,300 Nu03-17
Firstborn Levites 300 Logic
Remaining Levites 22,000 Subtraction
Firstborn redeemed by Levites 22,000 Logic
Total Firstborn 22,273 Nu03-43
Remaining non Levite Firstborn 273 Nu03-46
Redemption of remaining non Levite Firstborn 1,365=273 x 5 Nu03-47

Advanced Rashi: Rashi also mentions the 20 silver price by which Joseph was sold. We will discuss this aspect of Rashi in a later year.

This week's parshah contains no examples of the symbolism Rashi method. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com and http://www.Rashiyomi.com/rule.htm for further details and examples.