Overheard in Jerusalem #1

“It’s not that there isn’t any value in learning the p’shut meaning of the text, it is after all one of the 70 panim of the Torah, but it’s value is only 1/70th of what there is to learn… And as far as the overall goal of our learning, it’s often next to useless.”

“OK, ok, but consider this: There are many types of midrashim; halakhic, homiletic, historical, narrative, and… expository. The expository midrashim are there mainly to explain pshat, not to add extra-biblical ideas or stories… The fact that we have a whole category of midrash which focuses on the pshut reading of the text shows that there a value in the p’shut reading of the text.”

“But wait; we are descendants of the Pharisees, the word itself alludes to the fact that we are the creators and the maintainers of the commentaries, we are m’phareish! We value the tradition of taking the Torah, figuring out what Gd wants us to do, and maintaining our explanations as a tradition that goes back to Moshe… We hold this mission in such high regard, that even the bas kol doesn't overturn all that we've been able to learn! It’s disingenuous to take one part of that tradition, a specific category of midrashim, and throw out the rest of the tradition that we’ve maintained. I guess I’m saying that without the various extra-biblical sources the basic text of the bible is at best very basic, and at worst, misleading.”

“But isn’t that assuming what you’re trying to prove, after all; often times the only reason that you know that the p’shut reading is incorrect is because it doesn’t match up well with halacha l’maisah?”

“You’re right, but we also believe “with perfect faith” that the entire Torah now in our hands is the same one that was given to Moshe… That’s the entire thing, not just what’s written; so it’s all or nothing, you can’t separate the basic translation of the written text from the additions… Our halacha is completely intertwined with the meaning of the written word because both come from the same source; so an understanding of one that contradicts the other is by necessity an incomplete or flawed understanding.”

“Don’t we say that the Torah contains everything?”

“Yeah”

“So it follows that there should be some value to what the Torah writes without resorting to smoke and mirrors.”

“The ‘other stuff’ as you’d call it isn’t smoke! It’s all fire.”

“Alright, so what does a “p’shut reading of the text” mean to you? For me it means an exact reading.”

Oh, I guess that in the context of what we’re talking about now I’d say that it’s a loose or basic reading… P’shat is one of those weird words that can mean both extremes of one concept. It’s either the end result of a determined effort to understand, or just a preliminary reading.”

“Yeah, I always thought of it in relation to being exact and straightforward, not just the beginning of an understanding…”

Labels: dvar torah, judaism, overheard