How to read Rashi

Each Rashi comment opens with bold words - a short quote from the Gemara. That is the "dibbur hamatchil". Find the same words in the main text and you know exactly which line he is explaining.

1. 1Read a Gemara passage and try to understand it on your own.
2. 2Mark a word or step you did not understand.
3. 3Find the dibbur hamatchil quoting it in the Rashi column.
4. 4Ask: is Rashi translating, filling in context, or explaining the logic?

Rashi is printed in a special typeface, "Rashi script". The letters match ordinary Hebrew letters but look different. Practise: after a few pages the eye adjusts. The site reader can also show Rashi in ordinary letters.