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

“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.