Biblical Hermeneutics

PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN
"You, no doubt, know the Talmudical saying, which includes in itself all the various kinds of
interpretation connected with our subject. It runs thus: `The Torah speaks according to the
language of man,' dibra tora ki'lshon bnei adam, that is to say, expressions, which can easily
be comprehended and understood by all, are applied to the Creator." Maimonides
"Jewish scholarship has never regarded the Bible as a textbook for physical or even abstract
doctrines. In its view the main emphasis of the Bible is always on the ethical and social
structure and development of life on earth; that is, on the observance of laws through which
the momentous events of our nation’s history are converted from abstract truths into
concrete convictions. That is why Jewish scholarship regards the Bible as speaking
consistently in “human language;” the Bible does not describe things in terms of objective
truths known only to God, but in terms of human understanding, which is, after all, the basis
for human language and expression." (Rav Hirsch Collected Writings vol. 7 p. 57)
The Bible may, therefore, have employed superfluous words and sounds; and forced values
should not be assigned to them for the purpose of deducing new rules therefrom.
The same statement holds with regard to the repetition of an entire section. Ishmael is of
the opinion that
"The Torah at times repeats a whole section of the Law in order to give a new
application to it"
; וחזרו שנאה במקום אחר לא שנאה אלא בשביל דבר שנתחדש בה פרשה שנאמרה במקום אחד כל "
Sifre, Num. 2, according to the reading of Elijah of Vilna.
It is not necessary, therefore, to draw a new inference from every repetition. Thus, for
instance, in Num. v. 5-8 the Torah repeats the section on אשם גזלות in Lev. v. 20-26 (vi. 1-7, A.
V.) for the purpose of teaching the new ruling that in certain cases recompense for sin shall
be made directly to the priests. Akiva asserts, on the other hand (in Sifre, l.c., according to
the reading of Elijah of Vilna), that "Everything that is said in a section so repeated must be
interpreted" (= מה שנאמר בה צריך להדרש ‏,(כל and that new deductions may be drawn from it.
According to this view, in Num. v. 5-8, for example, a new meaning must be sought in
the repetition of the Law.
Vocalization of words
According to Akiva, the traditional vocalization in the Bible of a word which may be read in
various ways is well founded אם למקרא)‏ ‏;(יש and he deduces many rules from the meanings
which such words have according to traditional pointing. This rule had been formulated before
Akiva by a tanna תנא)‏ Tanna "repeater", "teacher") named rabbi Judah ben Ro'eẓ, who is not
mentioned elsewhere, and of whom, consequently, nothing more is known (comp. Sanhedrin
4a). Ishmael, in opposition to Akiva, follows the principle למסורת יש ‏,אם i.e., that the tradition
regarding only the consonantal text is authoritative, and that rules may be deduced only from
that text. A single example will serve to illustrate the difference between the methods of the
two schools. In Lev. xxi. 11, in the law which forbids a priest to defile himself by touching a
corpse, the word נפשת is written defectively. Since the traditional reading indicates the plural,
"nafshot," Akiva draws the conclusion that a quarter-log of blood, the minimum quantity by
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