Ideas and Model Lessons in Learning Rashi-#2
Copyright RashiYomi Inc 2003 Adapted From Rashi-is-Simple http://www.RashiYomi.Com/
Written by Dr. Russell Jay Hendel;
A: REVIEW
This is the 2nd in a 30 part series on Methods that are useful for teaching Rashi. Part 1 may be accessed at http://www.RashiYomi.com/wbook-01.pdf. In part 1 we introduced a variety of ideas: More specifically we introduced the following ideas:
METHODS: Something you do each time you read a Biblical verse.
OTHER VERSE-FURTHER DETAILS: A method which requires asking, What other Biblical verses shed light on this verse
NOTATION: For example, Dt26-05d: Deuteronomy, Chapter 26, Verse 5, 4th Rashi (#d)
EXAMPLE: Dt26-05d, a few people came down to Egypt, is illuminated by, Gn46-27, which states 70 people came down
BEYOND RASHI: Gn46-27 also states who the 70 people were (Jacob, his wives, children, and grandchildren)
LESSONS ON 3 STUDENT LEVELS: You can ask students a) to find the other verse someplace in the Bible, b) to find the other verse after giving them the chapter, c) to indicate what the further details are after giving them the chapter and other verse.
LISTS: We discussed how suggested explanations of Rashi could be reinforced by lists of comparable examples
THE RASHI WEBSITE: This website, located at http://www.RashiYomi.com/ is a resource for methods and lists

B: THREE MORE EXAMPLES
In todays article we examine 3 more examples of Rashis which illuminate using OTHER VERSES. There is a very subtle difference between the examples presented today and the examples presented last time. We will discuss this subtle difference after presenting the examples. The reader can therefore also regard these examples as illustrations of the OTHER VERSE method. As in the previous issue, each example that we present is fully developed and can be used in class or for home-schooling.

C: EXAMPLE 1: Dt26-18a, Dt26-19a

The Biblical Text

God has branched you today to become for Him a precious nation as He spoke to you ....And to place you as a leader among the nations that he made .....and to make you a holy nation to God as he said

The Rashi Text(Paraphrased)

The above 2 verses can be illuminated by the following OTHER VERSES: (Ex19-05:06)

And now if you (the Jews) listen to me and watch my convenant then you will be to me precious from among all the nations...and you will become to me a holy nation.

D: TEACHING AT 3 STUDENT LEVELS
The advanced level
The teacher can ask as follows: Dt26-18 and Dt26-19 explicitly make reference to verses where God promises to make the Jews holy and precious. Can you find these verses? Do they use the exact same words?
The Intermediate level
The teacher can introduce the students to a Biblical Concordance*1 or to a standard Biblical search engine. Examples of Biblical search engines are the Bar-Ilan CD Rom, the Davka Rashi CD-Rom*2, or MTR which provides a free dos search engine for the Bible, Talmud and Rambam.*3 The teacher can then ask the student to look up the words PRECIOUS and HOLY and find those verses where God promised to make the Jews a HOLY and PRECIOUS nation.
The Beginning level
The teacher can ask as follows: Dt26-18 and Dt26-19 explicitly make reference to verses where God promises to make the Jews holy and precious. Such promises were made when the Jews received the 10 commandments in Ex19,Ex20. Can you find verses in that section of the Bible where God promises to make the Jews holy and precious.

E: BEYOND RASHI
If, as I hope the reader always does, you have checked the Rashis on Dt26-18, Dt26-19 you will find that Rashi does not cite Ex19-06, to become for me a holy nation, as a support for Dt26-19, you will be a holy nation. Rather Rashi uses Lv19-26, and you shall be holy to me because I God am holy, as a support for Dt26-19, and you will become a holy nation to me.
It is important to emphasize that at an advanced level Rashi's particular selection of illustrative verses is an erudite matter with many nuances and consequences. However at the K-12 level, I would encourage the attitude that Rashi could equally have used either Ex19-06 or Lv19-26 to support the citation made in Dt26-19 that God promised to make the Jews a holy nation.
Such an attitude facilitates mastery of the OTHER VERSE METHOD, since there is focus on the method rather than the particular verse used. It also encourages students to do their own research. Indeed, they may come up with an alternate proof to that of Rashi and this can be exciting for young children. There is then nothing wrong with telling them that there are many Rashi commentaries which spend time speculating why Rashi selected one illustrative source over another and there is much to be learned from these Rashi commentaries.

F: EXAMPLE 2: Lv04-24a

Biblical Text (In a discussion of the sin offering)

And he shall lay his hands on the head of the goat and slaughter it in the place where they slaughter the elevation offering

Rashi

The phrase, in the place where they slaughter the elevation offering, refers to the northern part of the altar as is specified in Lv01-11.

G: THE THREE STUDENT LEVELS
This example can also be presented at 3 student levels.
THE ADVANCED LEVEL
The teacher can ask the student "Where was the elevation offering slaughtered? Cite the verse which gives us this information?"
THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
The teacher can introduce the student to a Concoradance or to Biblical search engines. The teacher can then ask the student to find out what Biblical chapter discusses the laws of the elevation offering. Once the student finds this chapter the student should be asked to identify where the act of slaughtering took place.
THE BEGINNING LEVEL
The teacher can advise the students that Lv01 discusses the elevation offering. The teacher can then ask the student, "Find the verse that identifies where the slaughtering of the elevation offering took place; identify this place"

H: EXAMPLE 3: Gn25--05a

Biblical Text

I will multiply your descendants like the stars and I will give to your descendants all these lands and all nations will be blessed thru your descendants because Abraham harkend to my voice

Rashi Text

The phrase because Abraham harkened to my voice echos Gn22-18: All nations will be blessed thru your descendants because you harkened to my voice
Notice how Gn22-18 besides repeating the phrase because you harkened to my voice also repeats the phrase all nations will be blessed thru you

I: 3 STUDENT LEVELS
The Advanced level
The teacher can ask the student: What does the phrase because Abraham harkened to my voice refer to? Is there another verse with similar phrases? What else does this other verse confirm.?

The Intermediate Level
After introducing the student to a Concordance or a Biblical search engine the student should be told to search for some similar phrase in Gn25-05. The student should identify the source and indicate how it supports Rashi.

The Beginning Level
The student should be told to read Gn22: Find confirmation for the phrase in Gn25-05 that Abraham harkened to Gods voice. What other phrases are identical between Gn22 and Gn25-05.

J: EXPLICIT CITATION
Superficially the 3 examples we brought in todays article resemble the 2 examples that we brought in the last article. All 5 examples illustrate how Rashi finds further support for the meaning of verses using other verses. However there is a subtle difference: In the 3 examples brought today the verse explicitly makes reference to some other event. Thus Dt26-18,19 explicitly mentions a CITATION from God, "...as God said." Similarly Lv04-24 explicitly refers to the PLACE where the elevation offering is offered. Finally Gn25-05 explicitly refers to ABRAHAM'S BEHAVIOR, for he watched my convenant.

K: FURTHER DETAILS
By contrast the 2 examples presented in the previous article did not have explicit references to other items. Dt26-05 mentions that a few people came down to Egypt -- it does not suggest that the actual number is given anyplace. Similarly Lv01-05 simply says that HE will slaughter the ox before God -- it does not suggest that the eligibility for who may slaughter is mentioned anyplace.

L: EXPLICIT CITATION vs FURTHER DETAILS
In summary. the verses in this article's examples explicitly refer to an other event --- where did God promise to make the Jews holy and preciuos? Where was the elevation offering slaughtered? Where do we find that Abraham hearkened to God? By contrast, in the examples in the previous article, there is no explicit reference: few people does not refer to any known number; similarly, the act of slaughtering does not refer intrinsically to class of people.

M: TWO METHODS AND THEIR REQUIREMENTS
For this reason we refer to the Method used in the previous article as OTHER VERSES - FURTHER DETAILS while we refer to the Method used in this article as OTHER VERSES - CITATIONS. If the reader wishes to think of them as the same rule -- OTHER VERSES -- there will not be a great loss.
The OTHER VERSES-FURTHER DETAILS method requires you to ask every time you read a verse, is there some other verse that sheds further details on the content of this verse.
The OTHER VERSES-CITATIONS method, requires you to ask every time you read a verse, Does this verse refer to some citation or event? If so where is it and what does it say? As pointed out, the two methods resemble each other and overlap in application.

N: RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER RASHI-ISTS
Still another way to understand this distinction is the following. Recall from the last article that Dr. Leibowitz and Rabbi Boncheck advocate beginning the study of Rashi by asking, What is bothering Rashi? or What is Rashi's question? Such an approach is useful in the OTHER-VERSES--CITATION method since the verse explicitly refers to something and it is therefore natural to ask the question, Where is it. However, the verse, A few people came down to Egypt, doesnt naturally evoke any questions. It is therefore not as useful here to approach Rashi by seeking what is bothering him. Instead it is more productive to preceive Rashi as augmenting the text (I in fact presented this distinction--natural questions vs. ad-hoc questions on a verse-- to Rabbi Boncheck and he agreed to it).

O: EXAMPLE 4 - Dt12-21b
We close this article with a non-standard example of the OTHER-VERSE-CITATIONS method.

Biblical text:

If you wish to eat meat ....and you are far away from the Temple(and cant offer it as an offering)...then you shall slaughter it AS I COMMANDED YOU.

Rashi:

The citation, AS I COMMANDED YOU, refers to the rules of how to properly perform ritual slaughter. But these rules are not cross-referenced in any other Biblical verse. We conclude that the citation refers to the oral laws handed down to Moses at Sinai (Where Moses was instructed on the proper method of slaugther).

P: FULL APPRECIATION WITH LISTS
To fully appreciate this Rashi a useful (advanced) exercise is to look up the 4 dozen verses which contain the phrase AS I COMMANDED YOU. In ALL of them, except Dt12-21b, there is some other verse referred to. This type of list gives greater support for Rashis inference that the citation -- AS I COMMANDED YOU -- refers to the oral law.

Q: FURTHER SOURCES
For further resources on the Rashi website visit the following URLS
SUMMARY OF THE OTHER VERSE METHODS: http://www.RashiYomi.com/other-20.htm
DIFFERENT LEVELS IN USING THE CONCORDANCE: http://www.RashiYomi.com/ex35-11a.htm

REFERENCES
*1 There are 3 types of Concordances. (A) A Hebrew Concordance with listings by roots (e.g. the Mandelkern Concordance). (B) A Hebrew Concordance with listings by spelling (e.g. the Ibn Shoshan Concordance). (C) An English Concordance. A Hebrew Concordance is preferred but an English Concordance can very often help if one doesn't know Hebrew.
*2 The Davka CD Roms may be purchased at http://www.Davka.com/
*3 The MTR search engine may be downloaded for free at http://www.mechon-mamre.org/
Mechon-mamre uses the Yemenite version of the Torah which differs in 1-2 words and occasionally differs in spelling from the Ashkenazi version. However, the search engine is excellent and free and you can always check what you see. Furthermore, differences in words only occur in two places (VAYIHYU and DACAH).