Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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Two fundamental approaches exist regarding three incidents involving Avraham: one maintains that the plain reading of the text suggests that the acts in...
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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A plain reading of the text shows that it is difficult to find any flawless figures: the forefathers, Moshe, the kings and the prophets all display human...
Part 6 - Contradictions between Different Parshiot
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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Chazal interpret even the verses in Shemot and in Devarim, which speak of the Hebrew slave serving "forever," as meaning "until the Jubilee." This is not...
Part 5 - Rabbinic Interpretations that Contradict the Peshat (cont.)
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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Chazal taught that "from the day after the Shabbat" means "from the day after the festival". Chazal's interpretation was accepted by all of the...
Part 4 - Rabbinic Interpretations that Contradict the Peshat (cont.)
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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The changing understanding of “an eye for an eye” can be explained as follows: during the biblical period there was no compunction about severing limbs as...
Part 3 - Rabbinic Interpretations that Contradict the Peshat
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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If the literal text indeed suggests one understanding, why do Chazal not rule in accordance with it? If, on the other hand, it is Chazal’s interpretation...
Part 2 - Midrashei Halakha that Contradict the Peshat
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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In instances where there is a blatant contradiction between the peshat and midrash halakha, Ibn Ezra systematically interprets the verses in accordance...
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
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The conventional approach among the commentators is thus that all of Chazal's interpretations are halakhically binding, but they do not void the validity...
Part 6 - The Rambam and his son, Rabbi Avraham
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
Rabbi Avraham, son of the Rambam, in the footsteps of his father, joins the prevailing spirit of the medieval commentators in explaining the text in...
Part 5 - Peshat Commentators in Spain and in Provence - Radak
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
Radak, the greatest of the Provencal commentators, cites many midrashim, however, he too notes the need to draw a distinction between peshat and derash,...
