Torah Methodology #10 - Yatzah liton to'an acheir shelo k'inyano…

“Kol davar shehayah b'klal v'yatzah liton to'an acheir shelo k'inyano, yatzah l'hakeil u'l'hachamir” - Something that is singled out from a category to discuss that that is not similar to the category is singled out both to be lenient and to be stringent.

Getting back to the ritual impurity of blemishes, Leviticus 13:29-30 tells us that a blemish of the hair and beard is impure through yellow hair but not through white hair. Others types of blemishes are impure through white hair but not yellow hair (see verse 13:3). The case of the blemish in one's hair or beard is therefore more stringent than the general category when it comes to yellow hair but more lenient when it comes to white hair.

Another example deals with indentured servants. Exodus chapter 21:7-11 tells us about the female servant, whose manner of going free differs entirely from those of the male servant. In some ways this is to be lenient (it might be sooner than in the case of the male) and it others ways it is more stringent (the master might marry the girl to himself or to his son).