Musar for Sanhedrin 90:25

רבנן דרשי כללי ופרטי והומת ותלית כלל כי קללת פרט אי הוו מקרבי להדדי אמרינן אין בכלל אלא מה שבפרט הני אין מידי אחרינא לא

So all who deny the fundamental principle [of faith].48 Wherein do they differ?49 — The Rabbis50 employ [the rule of] the general and the particular; whilst R. Eliezer employs [the rule of] extension and limitation.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' These two hermeneutical rules form one of R. Ishmael's thirteen principles by which the law is expounded. The former rule [H] means that when a general term (which may denote an indefinite number of things) is followed by a particular (specifying a definite thing), the law is restricted to the specified thing alone. A particular is then regarded, not as an illustrative example of the preceding general, but as its explanation, so indicating that the content of the general is restricted solely to that of the particular. According to the other theory [H], the general retains its significance as applying to many things, but the particular limits the scope of the preceding general so as to include in it only things which are similar and to exclude such as are not similar thereto. The application of these exegetical principles, however, is dependent on the two terms following each other in the same passage. If they are found in two different passages, the rule is somewhat varied, as explained here in the Talmudic discussion. ');">51 'The Rabbis employ [the rule of] the general and the particular.' [Thus:] And if he be put to death then thou shalt hang him, is a general proposition; for he is hanged [because of] a curse against God is the particular. Now, had these two clauses been placed beside each other,52 we should have said, the general includes nothing [but] the particular, i.e., only this man53 and no one else.

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

Remember that the first of the thirteen principles used for exegesis of the Torah, is the principle of כלל ופרט. [In our daily recitation of these thirteen principles, this one is listed as number four. Ed.] We are told there that the כלל, general rule, cannot include anything which has not been alluded to in the description of the פרט, the detailed example of what is meant by the כלל. It is common knowledge that these thirteen principles are not something conjured up by human intelligence, but that they are principles by which G–d operates both in areas visible to us, i.e. נגלה, and in domains that are completely hidden from us, i.e. נסתר. The overriding rule to remember is that the כלל, whole, does not contain anything which is totally foreign to the פרט, part. When it is part of the פרט, it is נגלה, revealed, visible, whereas when it is part of the כלל, it may remain hidden, invisible to our eyes or faculties. Our sages, when discussing aspects of the מעשה בראשית, the work of creation, have already said with regard to the creation of the physical universe that every little detail that would ultimately be revealed was already part of the matter created on the first day. As creation proceeded these various פרטים, details, were revealed and became functional day after day. Rashi has explained all this in his commentary on Genesis (Genesis 1,14, and 1,24). Philosophers called this first physical existence Hiyuli, the world's raw material. All other elements are derived from that matter called Hiyuli. Something parallel happened in the Celestial Regions. The original Cause, i.e. idea of G–d to create the universe, is what we call the כלל. All other thoughts and plans of G–d are פרטים, "details," by comparison.

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