Jewish Thought On Scripture Interpretation

[Serenity Now]

Would like your opinions and thoughts on literal translation of the events in scripture. To be fair I will disclose mine:

It is my understanding (if I am incorrect absolutely no offense was intended) that the use of parable type stories were very common in Judaism in order to teach morale lessons or explain certain events so people could understand them. For example:

Adam & Eve - I do believe we came from a common ancestor which Adam represents and I'm sure early civilization struggled with some of the issues in the story but don't necessarily believe the events happened exactly as recorded.

Noah - I do believe their was a severe flood and this story was used to explain it but not necessarily that every animal on earth was put in an Ark.

Samson - I think this is a story used to teach morals that could have been based loosely on actual events.

Again I mean no offense but I am interested in the Jewish perspective of the scriptures. Obviousily the exodus, Moses, David and Prophets are actual history and I do not want anyone to think I am references the entire as Old Testament as parables only a few chosen parts.

Thanks

 

[Tumah]

The position of Orthodox Judaism to my understanding is that the general events of any given story did happen, albeit in a bare bones format or at times in allusion or metaphor. There is usually more to a story in terms of details, background and general events that are provided by our Midrashic sources.

 

[Serenity Now]

The position of Orthodox Judaism to my understanding is that the general events of any given story did happen, albeit in a bare bones format or at times in allusion or metaphor. There is usually more to a story in terms of details, background and general events that are provided by our Midrashic sources.

So my thinking is in line with the Orthodox view? Just want to make sure. I think too many Christiand try to "hijack" the OT and forget it's Jewish scripture and they are the true experts.

 

[Tumah]

So my thinking is in line with the Orthodox view? Just want to make sure. I think too many Christiand try to "hijack" the OT and forget it's Jewish scripture and they are the true experts.

The way you understand the stories seems to be more to the left of the way we do. We believe there was an Adam and Eve, the flood covered the world and Samson was mighty mighty. Just that there is more to all these stories.

 

[TheKnight]

You also have to realize that the literal translation you encounter in English is quite different than what you literally encounter in Hebrew. In this regard study of a source like Rashi will prove enlightening as you learn the nuances of scripture in the original language. As an example, the very first verse of Tanakh, normally translated as "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", is very different in the Hebrew "Bereshis bara elohim et ha'shamayim v'et ha'eretz" such that the "literal" interpretation is itself confusing. To steal from Rashi: "This verse calls for a midrashic interpretation [because according to its simple interpretation, the vowelization of the word bara, should be different, as Rashi explains further]. It teaches us that the sequence of the Creation as written is impossible, as is written immediately below] as our Rabbis stated (Letters of R. Akiva , letter “beth” ; Gen. Rabbah 1:6; Lev. Rabbah 36:4): [God created the world] for the sake of the Torah, which is called (Prov. 8:22): “the beginning of His way,” and for the sake of Israel, who are called (Jer. 2:3) “the first of His grain.”

From the very first verse we can also learn that study of Torah is about more than understanding the sequence and details of events. The literal interpretation itself (In the original language) prompts us to further study. From that we can derive that examination of Torah is less about learning what happened in the past and more about a constant study of Torah for our own edification.


So while your question of "what is the Jewish interpretation" is a good one, the answer is complicated as the Jewish perspective on any singular verse in all of Torah is a matter of discussion, study, and reflection. All of which is supposed to bring us closer to HaShem. Jews do not simply declare a verse to be literal or metaphorical for the sake of reaching some static solid conclusion about the value of the verse, but rather we take the verses in mind considering the whole of Torah, the value of what is written, and the many different levels of "intepretation" (see: PaRDeS) so that we can properly apply each verse to our daily lives.

 

[Serenity Now]

You also have to realize that the literal translation you encounter in English is quite different than what you literally encounter in Hebrew. In this regard study of a source like Rashi will prove enlightening as you learn the nuances of scripture in the original language. As an example, the very first verse of Tanakh, normally translated as "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", is very different in the Hebrew "Bereshis bara elohim et ha'shamayim v'et ha'eretz" such that the "literal" interpretation is itself confusing. To steal from Rashi: "This verse calls for a midrashic interpretation [because according to its simple interpretation, the vowelization of the word bara, should be different, as Rashi explains further]. It teaches us that the sequence of the Creation as written is impossible, as is written immediately below] as our Rabbis stated (Letters of R. Akiva , letter “beth” ; Gen. Rabbah 1:6; Lev. Rabbah 36:4): [God created the world] for the sake of the Torah, which is called (Prov. 8:22): “the beginning of His way,” and for the sake of Israel, who are called (Jer. 2:3) “the first of His grain.”

From the very first verse we can also learn that study of Torah is about more than understanding the sequence and details of events. The literal interpretation itself (In the original language) prompts us to further study. From that we can derive that examination of Torah is less about learning what happened in the past and more about a constant study of Torah for our own edification.


So while your question of "what is the Jewish interpretation" is a good one, the answer is complicated as the Jewish perspective on any singular verse in all of Torah is a matter of discussion, study, and reflection. All of which is supposed to bring us closer to HaShem. Jews do not simply declare a verse to be literal or metaphorical for the sake of reaching some static solid conclusion about the value of the verse, but rather we take the verses in mind considering the whole of Torah, the value of what is written, and the many different levels of "intepretation" (see: PaRDeS) so that we can properly apply each verse to our daily lives.

Fantastic response and very educational. If you have additional information I would be extremely interested in reading it.

Thank you.