About Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
Rabbi Jack Abramowitz served as Director of Programs for NCSY before becoming Associate Director of the Pepa and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services. Rabbi Abramowitz holds degrees in Jewish studies, communications and Higher Education Administration. Among his accomplishments, he authored NCSY's Torah on One Foot series of educational pamphlets and created negiah.org, the first abstinence web site for Jewish teens. Rabbi Abramowitz is the author of The Shnayim Mikra Companion on Torah, The Nach Yomi Companion volumes 1 and 2 on the books of the Prophets and the Writings, and The Tzniyus Book.

Recent Posts

Taryag: A Mitzvah a Day

Questions? Contact us at taryag@ou.org

Torah Methodology #8 - Yatzah min haKlal l’lameid…


The last part of the preliminary morning service each day is the “Braisa of Rabbi Yishmael.” (A braisa is a teaching contemporary with the Mishna but not included in the final text of that work.) Rabbi Yishmael’s braisa enumerates the thirteen methodologies used for studying the Torah. Once a week for thirteen weeks, we will examine these principles.

“Kol davar shehayah b'klal v'yatzah min haklal l'lameid, lo l'lameid al atzmo yatzah, elah l'lameid al haklal kulo yatzah” - If part of a general statement is singled out, it wasn't singled out only to teach something about itself. Rather, it teaches us something about the entire general category.

There are 39 categories of labor on Shabbos. One of them, lighting a fire, is singled out (Exodus 35:3 - "do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on Shabbos"). If someone inadvertently lights a fire on Shabbos, he must bring a korban chatas (sin offering). This is not only true of lighting a fire, it is the case in each of the 39 types of labor. If one performs many labors on Shabbos, he must bring a sacrifice for each.

Another example can be found in Leviticus 7:19-20. Verse 19 says that sacrificial meat that becomes ritually impure may not be eaten. Verse 20 tells us that one who eats the meat of a korban shlamim (peace offering) while in a state of ritual impurity is subject to the penalty of kareis (spiritual excision). Based on the methodology of "kol davar...," we know that this is equally true of all sacrifices, not just of the sacrifice mentioned in the verse.



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