while the tithe might be eaten by anyone. Both the firstling and the tithe might be eaten, prepared for food in any fashion, anywhere in the city during two days and one night. The paschal lamb, however, had to be eaten on that night only—and not later than midnight. It might be eaten only by those numbered for it; nor might it be eaten except when roasted.
Talmudic Exposition of the Scriptures
Sifra, Introduction
Rabbi Ishmael says:[1] The Torah is interpreted by means of thirteen rules:
1. Inference is drawn from a minor premise to a major one, or from a major premise to a minor one.[2]
2. From the similarity of words or phrases occurring in two passages it is inferred that what is expressed in the one applies also to the other.[3]
3. A general principle, as contained in one or two biblical laws, is applicable to all related laws.[4]
4. When a generalization is followed by a specification, only what is specified applies.[5]
5. When a specification is followed by a generalization, all that is implied in the generalization applies.[6]
6. If a generalization is followed by a specification and this in turn by a generalization, one must be guided by what the specification implies.[7]
- ↑ רבי ישמעאל בן אלישע, a contemporary of Rabbi Akiba, died as a martyr in the year 135 during the Roman persecutions. The Baraitha d’Rabbi Ishmael, which constitutes the introduction to the Sifra (tannaitic commentary on Leviticus), has been inserted here to complete the daily minimum of Bible and Talmud study required of every Jew. This section is prefaced (on page 13) by two blessings concerning Torah study.
ILLUSTRATIONS
- ↑ 1. If, for example, a certain act is forbidden on an ordinary festival, it is so much the more forbidden on Yom Kippur; if a certain act is permissible on Yom Kippur, it is so much the more permissible on an ordinary festival.
- ↑ 2. The phrase “Hebrew slave” (Exodus 21:2) is ambiguous, for it may mean a heathen slave owned by a Hebrew, or else, a slave who is a Hebrew. That the latter is the correct meaning is proved by a reference to the phrase “your Hebrew brother” in Deuteronomy 15:12, where the same law is mentioned (...“If your Hebrew brother is sold to you...”).
- ↑ 3. (a) From Deuteronomy 24:6 (“No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge”) the Rabbis concluded: ‘‘Everything which is used for preparing food is forbidden to be taken in pledge.” (b) From Exodus 21:26-27 (“If a man strikes the eye of his slave... and destroys it, he must let him go free in compensation for his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave... he must let him go free...”) the Rabbis concluded that when any part of the slave's body is mutilated by the master, the slave shall be set free.
- ↑ 4. In Leviticus 18:6 the law reads: “None of you shall marry anyone related to him,” This generalization is followed by a specification of forbidden marriages. Hence, this prohibition applies only to those expressly mentioned.
- ↑ 5. In Exodus 22:9 we read: “If a man gives to his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, to keep, or any animal, and it dies .. ."’ The general phrase “any animal,” which follows the specification, includes in this law all kinds of animals.
- ↑ 6. In Exodus 22:8 we are told that an embezzler shall pay double to his neighbor “for anything embezzled [generalization], for ox, or ass, or sheep, or clothing [specification], or any article lost” [generalization]. Since the specification includes only movable property, and objects of intrinsic value, the fine of double payment does not apply to embezzled real estate, nor to notes and bills, since the latter represent only a symbolic value.
