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 Ex23-19a URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w33n9.htm Brief Summary: The command to bring first-fruits to the temple (Ex23-19) is detailed in Dt26-02

Verse Ex23-19a discussing the command to bring first fruits to the Temple states The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of HaShem thy G-d. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. Rashi clarifies the underlined words first fruits by referencing verse Dt26-01:02 which states And it shall be, when you come in to the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, and possess it, and live in it; That you shall take from the first of all the fruit of the earth, which you shall bring of your land that the Lord your God gives you, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to place his name there. Hence the Rashi comment: (a) 'When you come take the first fruit' implies that when you go down to your field and see the first date or olive that you tie a string around it and declare 'This is first fruit.' (b) Other laws are inferred from Dt26-02: It says that you should take from the first fruit emphasizing that not all first fruits are given but only special ones such as the first fruit of the 7 species for which Israel was known. Other details to these laws are also stated in Dt26.

Text of Target verse Ex20-19a	Text of Reference Verse Dt26-01:02
The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of HaShem thy G-d. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.	And it shall be, when you come in to the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, and possess it, and live in it; That you shall take from the first of all the fruit of the earth, which you shall bring of your land that the Lord your God gives you, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to place his name there.
Rashi comments: (a) 'When you come take the first fruit' implies that when you go down to your field and see the first date or olive that you tie a string around it and declare 'This is first fruit.' (b) Other laws are inferred from Dt26-02: It says that you should take from the first fruit emphasizing that not all first fruits are given but only special ones such as the first fruit of the 7 species for which Israel was known. Other details to these laws are also stated in Dt26.

Today's meaning example uses three Rashi meaning methods:
• We use the root-meaning deriving the meaning of a word from the meaning of its underlying Biblical root;
• We use the metonomy / synechdoche method which derives meaning from related items; for example honey refers to anything sweet and give me a hand refers to lending help. We have frequently singled out what we have called the triple FFF rule of metonomy: Form, Function , and Feel. This rule states that words can be named by form: e.g. the pentagon is a building with a pentagonal form; Furnction: e.g. the United Nations is a building whose function is to unite nations of the world; or Feel: e.g. a hardship feels like something hard, not soft;
• We use the synonym method which focuses not only on the meaning of a word but also on its nuances.

Before explaining the meaning we wish to we clarify Rashi/Rav Hirsch's position on two-letter roots. We have clarified numerous times that Rashi and Rav Hirsch believed that
• Grammatical roots are triliteral and are conjugated according to rules found in Grammar textbooks
• Rashi and Rav Hirsch additionally believed that just as Hebrew words have an underlying three letter root so too Hebrew roots have underlying two letter roots, which determine not their conjugation but their meaning.
• Here is an alternative way to look at this.
  • 2 letter roots determine root meaning
  • 3 letter roots determine verb conjugation.

With this background we translate Ex23-08 as follows: And you shall take no bribe; for the bribe blinds the wise, and burdens the words of the righteous. Here we have translated the Biblical root Samech-Lamed-Pay as meaning burden. We derive this meaning from the underlying two-letter root, Samech-Lamed which means moving up a hill or inclined surface. The list below shows that a terminal pay indicates application of metonomy, meaning related to the meaning of the other two letters. It follows that Samech-Lamed-Pay is something with the same feel (metonomy) as an incline or hill. Hence we have translated Samech-Lamed-Pay as meaning burden. The idea seems to be that if a judge takes bribes he will not outright distort justice but will make it burdensome to achieve (in the hope of helping the briber). The Bible prohibited bribes because the resulting burdensome atmosphere is poisonous to the legal system.

This list illustrates the idea that a terminal pay indicates a meaning reasonably related to the meaning of the other two letters.

Hebrew Biblical Root	Meaning	Meaning of First two root letters	Metonomyc relation between 1st 2 letters and whole root
Aleph-Shin-Pay	Trash	Fire	A trashpile has the same form as the remains of something burnt
Gimel-Resh-Pay	clumped, fist	drag	The form or physical attributes of something dragged (e.g. snow removal) would be that it is clumped (A fist is simply a clumped hand)
Dalet-Lamed-Pay	Drip	Pull a pail from a pit; growth of a branch	The form of a dripping motion resembles slow growth of a branch or the pulling of a pail from a pit - the pail gets pulled drop by drop; the branch grows drop by drop
Samech-Lamed-Pay	Burden	move up an incline or hill	the emotional feel of moving up an incline or hill is burdensomeness; the act can be accomplished but with burden.

The bulk of traditional Biblical Hebrew grammar deals with the conjugation of verbs and nouns. However Biblical Hebrew grammar also deals with other issues such as a) pronoun reference, b) gender/ plurality agreement, c) adjectives /adverbs / determiners, d) compound nouns/ verbs/ sentences, e) possessives, and f) use of connective words.

Today Rashi deals with the connective Biblical word, Vav. In Biblical Hebrew Vav can be translated as meaning any logical connective such as and, or, but, if, then,...

To fully understand this Rashi we cite a beautiful Malbim explaining the use of the Hebrew Vav. Malbim suggests three principles:
• In a simple command Vav means and; For example, Take on the first day of Succoth an ethrog, and lulav, and myrtles and willows (Lv23-40.)
• In a simple prohibition vav means or; for example, don't abuse [either] a widow or an orphan (Ex22-21)
• In a conditional statement there is a controversy between Rabbi Oshia and Rabbi Yonathan whether Vav means and or or. Malbim ingeniously cites two dozen Talmudic passages where this controversy occurs. Rashi translates in accordance with the opinion that it means or. For example Rashi translates Ex21-15 as follows: [if] you smite [either] your father or your mother [then] you receive a death penalty.

The table below presents an aligned extract of verselets in Ex23-13b,c Both verselets discuss the obligation to observe commandments and avoid idolatry The alignments justify the Rashi assertions that (a) The abstention from idolatry is equivalent in moral worth to observing the entire Torah. (b) One should not (b1) mention idolatry casually, e.g. 'We will meet by that statute' nor (b2) cause others to mention idolatry, e.g. bring a person to court and force him to swear by his god.

Verse	Text of Verse	Rashi comment
Ex23-13	And in all things that I have said unto you take ye heed;	Do all the commandments
Ex23-13	and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither cause it to be heard by your order.	We can align do all the commandments and avoid idolatry to infer that abstention from idolatry is equivalent in moral impact to observance of the entire Torah. From the sub-alignment no mention of other gods vs. no cause of mention by your order we infer that one should neither casually mention idolatry as e.g. telling someone 'meet me by that statute' nor should one cause others to mention idolatry as e.g. by suing someone in court and forcing them to swear by their god.

Advanced Rashi: Notice the unusual features of two alignments in the verse. The two verse halves from an alignment - do all commandments, don't associate with idols - and the two halves of the second verse also align suggesting a spectrum of mentioning of idolatry from casual to serious.

The table below presents two contradictory verses / verselets. Both verses speak about female slaves. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse says the woman goes out after 6 years while the other verse states the woman belongs to her master We see the contradiction---which is it? Do women remain slaves or do they go free at six? Rashi simply resolves this contradiction using the 2 aspects method: Jewish female slaves go free at 6 years; however, non-Jewish female slaves remain with their master.

Summary	Verse / Source	Text of verse / Source
Both male/female Jewish slaves are freed at 6 years	Dt15-12	And if your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
The [non Jewish] female slave remains with her master	Ex21-04a	If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
Resolution:	2 Aspects	Jewish female slaves go free at 6 years Non-Jewish female slaves remain with their master.

Advanced Rashi: The literal language of Rashi shows more clearly the underlying logic: When the verse says If his master give him a wife it could refer to either a non-Jewish or Jewish woman. Since however the verse continues He goes free but the woman remains with the master and another verse explicitly states that ....Jewish female slaves...go free in the seventh year I therefore conclude that the verse must be speaking about a non-Jewish wife that the master gives him. In other words Rashi does not emphasize contradiction but rather describes the derivation as selection between competing alternatives. This alternative viewpoint helps us understand the contradiction Rashi rule.

Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a Theme-Development-Theme form. In other words a broad general idea is stated first followed by the development of this broad general theme in specific details. The paragraph-like unit is then closed with a repetition of the broad theme. The Theme-Detail-Theme form creates a unified paragraph. The detailed section of this paragraph is therefore seen as an extension of the general theme sentences. Today's example illustrates this as shown immediately below.

Biblical verses Ex22-08 form a Biblical paragraph with a theme-detail-theme structure. The paragraph discusses on which theft disputes is there a fine of double payment.
• General: On any dispute of transgression
• Detail:
  • On oxen
  • On donkeys
  • on sheep/goat kids
  • on garments
• General: On any loss on which he says This is it...it will come to court....if convicted he will pay double

Rashi generalizes the detail clause oxen, donkeys, kids, and garments as illustrative of the general clause, disputes of transgression and states: This double-fine law applies to all disputes of movables of worth whether living, like oxen, or non living, like garments. The law does not apply to disputes of real-estate which is dissimilar to oxen, donkeys, kids and garments, and it similarly does not apply to bonds and IOUs which do not have intrinsic worth like oxen, donkeys, kids and garments.

We all know that Shavuoth happens on the 6th of Sivan and that the Torah was either received on Shavuoth itself or on the 7th of Sivan. (Rav Hirsch explains that if the Torah was received on Shavuoth then Shavuoth celebrates the receipt of the Torah. However if the Torah was received on the 7th of Sivan then Shavuoth celebrates our preparation and being ready for receipt of the Torah - that is, the preparation to receive the Torah would be considered the primary thing to celebrate).

The Table below presents the verses that support the calculation that the Torah was received on the 6th or 7th of Sivan.

Justifying Verse	Event	Date of Occurrence	Rational
Ex19-01a	Jews arrive at Sinai	1st Day of Sivan	Verse explicitly says: On 1st of 3rd month they arrived at Sinai.
Ex19-03a	Moses receives prophetic orders	2nd Day of Sivan	Reasonable assumption that each event was done on a new day giving time to prepare responses.
Ex19-08a	Moses relates prophetic orders of day 2 to nation	3rd day of Sivan	Reasonable assumption that each event was done on a new day giving time to prepare responses.
Ex19-09c	Moses relates response of nation to orders of God	4th day of Sivan	Reasonable assumption that each event was done on a new day giving time to prepare responses.
Ex19-11b	God, after receiving nation's affirmative response, asks for 3 days of separation	Days 4,5,6 of Sivan	The 3 days began on the 4th and hence were concluded on 6th.
Ex24-04b	Nation offers sacrifices in preparation for receipt of Torah; prophetic visions happen	Day 5 of Sivan	The response of the nation - We will do [the convenant] is explicitly mentioned at both Ex19-08 and Ex24-03. As pointed out two rows ago, this happened on the 4th. The next verse Ex24-04 states Moses got up in the morning and built an altar. We consequently infer that the sacrifices happened on the 5th.
Ex19-15b	Nation receives Torah (Prophetic revelation of decalogue)	Day 6 or 7 of Sivan	We know there were 3 days of preparation ordered by God. Moses commanded a triplet of days of preparation. Hence either the Torah was received on the 3rd of these 3 days (day 6) or after them (day 7). We can read the text either way.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi points out that Ex24, the sacrifices prior to the receipt of the Torah happened on the 5th of Sivan while the Decalogue itself is stated in a prior chapter Ex20. Rashi concludes that Textual Biblical sequence does not necessarily indicate temporal sequence. It is important to supplement this Rashi comment with the grammatical observation that in Biblical Hebrew, the past, as indicated by a future conjugation preceded by a vav, indicates the simple past, while the past, as indicated by the past conjugation, indicates the past perfect (Which in English is indicated with the participle had.) Hence Ex24-01, stated in a chapter that occurs after the chapter with the description of the revealed law, states, And God had told Moses to come up for revelation... The use of the past perfect, had told gives grammatical support to the temporal precedence of Ex24 to the revelation mentioned in Ex20, Ex21, Ex22, Ex23. This simple but convincing grammatical proof for the dictum Textual Biblical sequence does not indicate temporal sequence seems to be an innovation of mine not mentioned by other Biblical commentators.

Verse Ex24-09:10b discussing the revelation at Sinai states Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; And they visioned the God of Israel; and there was
• under his feet [Rashi: God supported his trek from Exodus to Revelation]
• a kind of paved work [Rashi: God's work - his miracles.]
• of a sapphire [Rashi: The word Sapphire, comes from the Hebrew root, Samech-Pay-Resh which means to tell a story - in fact, the Sapphire is simply a precious gem that everyone tells stories about because of its great beauty.]
• bricks, [Rashi: The story of the brick-labor in Egypt.]
Rashi explains the Symbolism as indicated in the bracketed comments in the above verse.Rashi explains that the work of Sapphire brick at God's feet, refers to God treking from Egypt to Revelation on the story of the miraculous works by which he saved the Jews from the brick-labor in Egypt.

Advanced Rashi: I have added to Rashi's literal statements additional explanations of works as symbolizing miracles, feet as symbolizing God's trek through history, and the sapphire, the story gem as symbolizing the stories of the exodus. Such supplementing of Rashi symbolic comments is justified since the text uses 4 keywords - feet, sapphire, work, brick - but Rashi only explains one of them, brick. Hence the teacher is obligated to complement Rashi by explaining the others.