Einführung in die jüdische Literatur und Kultur

Treffen VII: Biblical Commentary 26.05.11

PaRDeS (פרדס)

ודסרש, דמז, רשט, פPeshat: litteral, historical, grammaticalRemez: hint, allusion; allegory, metaphorDerash: homiletical (Midrasch)Sod: esoteric, mystical

Derash (דרש)

• Gen. 41,9-13• 9 Da redete der oberste Schenke zu Pharao und sprach: Ich

gedenke heute an meine Sünden. 10 Da Pharao zornig ward über seine Knechte, und mich mit dem obersten Bäcker ins Gefängnis legte in des Hauptmanns Hause, 11 da träumte uns beiden in einer Nacht, einem jeglichen sein Traum, des Deutung ihn betraf. 12 Da war bei uns ein hebräischer Jüngling, des Hauptmanns Knecht, dem erzählten wir's. Und er deutete uns unsere Träume, einem jeglichen seinen Traum. 13 Und wie er uns deutete, so ist's ergangen; denn ich bin wieder in mein Amt gesetzt, und jener ist gehenkt.

Derash (דרש)

Cursed be the wicked whose kindness is not total. (Der oberste Schenke) refers to Joseph in derogatory language. “Ein Jüngling” (he means:) a fool, unsuitable for greatness. “Ein Hebräer”: he doesn´t even know our language. “Ein Knecht”: It is written in the protocols of Egypt that a slave may not govern and may not dress in the garments of courtiers.

Derash (דרש) vs. Peshat (פשט)

5 Die Brüder Simeon und Levi, ihre Schwerter sind mörderische Waffen. 6 Meine Seele komme nicht in ihren Rat, und meine Ehre sei nicht in ihrer Versammlung; denn in ihrem Zorn haben sie den Mann erwürgt, und in ihrem Mutwillen haben sie den Ochsen verlähmt.

7 Verflucht sei ihr Zorn, daß er so heftig ist und ihr Grimm, daß er so störrig ist. Ich will sie zerteilen in Jakob und zerstreuen in Israel.

Derash (דרש) vs. Peshat (פשט)

R. Solomon ben Isaac, Rashi (1040-1105) zum vers 7: “I shall separate this one from that one so that Levi will not be in the number of tribes—and they are indeed dispersed among the tribes.”

R. Samuel ben Meir, Rashbam (1085?-1174?) “For Levi was dispersed among the twelve tribes, as it is written in Joshua (ch. 21).”

Derash (דרש) vs. Peshat (פשט)

Exodus 13,6-9:6 Sieben Tage sollst du ungesäuertes Brot essen, und am siebenten Tage ist des HERRN Fest.

7 Darum sollst du sieben Tage ungesäuertes Brot essen, daß bei dir kein Sauerteig noch gesäuertes Brot gesehen werde an allen deinen Orten.

8 Ihr sollt euren Söhnen sagen an demselben Tage: Solches halten wir um deswillen, was uns der HERR getan hat, da wir aus Ägypten zogen.9 Darum soll es dir wie ein Zeichen in deiner Hand und ein Denkmal vor deinen Augen, auf daß des HERRN Gesetz sei in deinem Munde; denn der HERR hat dich mit mächtiger Hand aus Ägypten geführt.

10 Darum halte diese Weise zu seiner Zeit jährlich.

Derash (דרש) vs. Peshat (פשט)

Rashbam zum Vers 9:“As a sign on your arm: According to the actual peshat sense (of the verse, this means) it shall be a constant remembrance to you as though it were written on your arm. It is like the (verse in Hohelied 8.6:) ‘Setze mich wie ein Siegel auf dein Herz.’”

Tefillin/Phylacteries

Über “Peshat” zwischen Juden und Christen

• Beryl Smalley, The Bible in the Middle Ages• Herman Hailperin, Rashi and the Christian

Scholars

Derash (דרש) vs. Peshat (פשט)

• “Earlier commentators out of their piety busied themselves by tending toward the homiletical (derash) interpretations, as they are the essential ones, and for this reason did not become trained in the actual peshat of Scripture”

• (Rashbam zu Genesis 37,2)

Rashi zu Genesis 3,8:

8 “Und sie hörten die Stimme Gottes des HERRN, der im Garten ging, da der Tag kühl geworden war.” “There are many aggadic homilies (on this verse), and our rabbis have already arranged them in their place in Genesis Rabbah and the other Midrash collections. I come only to present what the text says directly and such aggadah that sets the wording of the text on its proper bearings.”

Rashbam on Rashi

“Our rabbi, Solomon (i.e. Rashi), the father of my mother, who enlightens the eyes of the Diaspora, who interpreted the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, also set his mind to explain the direct sense of Scripture. Yet I, Samuel, son of R. Meir, his son-in-law, of blessed memory, debated with him in his presence, and he admitted to me that if he had the opportunity he would compose different commentaries according to the new peshat interpretations coming to light every day.”

Rashi vs. Rashbam

Exodus 3,11:“Mose sprach zu Gott: Wer bin ich, daß ich zu Pharao gehe und führe die Kinder Israel aus Ägypten?”

Rashi dazu:Wer bin ich? What importance have I to speak with kings? Dass ich…führe die Kinder Israel aus Ägypten. And even if I have the importance, what merit has Israel that a miracle should be done for them by my taking them out of Egypt?

Rashi vs. Rashbam

Rashbam dazu:Moses said, Wer bin ich, daß ich zu Pharao gehe…? Even if I brought him tribute and gifts (could I get in to see Pharaoh)? Can a foreign man like me be suitable to enter the king´s court? Daß ich führe die Kinder Israel aus Ägypten? That is to say, even if I were suitable to enter before Pharaoh, fool as I am in other matters, what could I say to Pharaoh that would be acceptable to him? Is Pharaoh a fool that he would listen to mean and send a large nation of his own slaves free from his land? And what could I say that would be acceptable to him such that I would take them out of Egypt with the permission of Pharaoh?

R. Joseph Bekhor Shor (12. Jahrhundert)

Leviticus 19:19:“Meine Satzungen sollt ihr halten, daß du dein Vieh nicht lassest mit anderlei Tier zu schaffen haben und dein Feld nicht besäest mit mancherlei Samen und kein Kleid an dich komme, daß mit Wolle und Leinen gemengt ist.”

R. Joseph Bekhor Shor (12. Jahrhundert)

Dein Vieh nicht lassest mit anderlei Tier zu schaffen…

“If you would breed a horse and an as, it would produce a mule, which I (God) did not create; you see, you would have altered the act of creation. This applies to any two species, such as a sheep and a goat, for (by breeding them together) you would be making yourself into the creator!...You would be creating a creature which is not natural in the world, you would be altering the order of the world, and it is forbidden…”

Ezekiel (Anfang)1 Im dreißigsten Jahr, am fünften Tage des vierten Monats, da ich war unter den Gefangenen am Wasser Chebar, tat sich der Himmel auf, und Gott zeigte mir Gesichte. 2 Derselbe fünfte Tag des Monats war eben im fünften Jahr, nachdem Jojachin, der König Juda's, war gefangen weggeführt.

3 Da geschah das Wort des HERRN zu Hesekiel, dem Sohn Busis, dem Priester, im Lande der Chaldäer, am Wasser Chebar; daselbst kam die Hand des HERRN über ihn.

Rashi zum Bereshit

A. “IN THE BEGINNING: Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:1), ‘This month shall be unto you the first of the months,’ which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text (Psalm 111:6) ‘He declared to His people the strength of His works (i.e. He gave an account of the work of Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.’ For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, ‘You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan,’

Rashi zum Bereshit

Israel may reply to them, ‘All the earth belongs to the Holy One blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed it He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us.’”

B. “IN THE BEGINNING: If you wish to explain it in accordance with its plain meaning, explain it thus: ‘at the beginning of the creation of the heaven and earth and the earth was formless and void and there was darkness, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, Let there be light.’ If so, the whole text leads into the creation of light.”

Nahmanides zum Bereshit

R. Moses ben Nahman (Spain, 1194-c. 1270 ):

“One may object that it was indeed very necessary to begin the Torah with the chapter of ‘In the beginning God created’ for this is the root of faith, and he who does not believe in this and thinks the world was eternal denies the essential principle of the [Jewish] religion and has no Torah at all.”

Samson Raphael Hirsch zu Bereshit

Samson Raphael Hirsch (Germany, 1808-1888):

“…the word Bereshit proclaims that nothing existed prior to God’s act of creation and that both heaven and earth came into existence only through Divine creation. This is the concept of creation ex nihilo, the basis of the conviction that the Torah seeks to build up for us. The opposing notion, i.e. that matter [did not have to be created but] was always in existence, and that the Creator therefore acts only as the molder of preexisting matter, has been the basis of pagan thinking to this very day. It is…a most shameful denial of all freedom of will in both God and man, which would undermine the very foundations of morality. If matter had antedated Creation, then the Creator of the Universe would not have been able to form a world that was absolutely “good”, but only the best world possible within the limitations of the material given Him to shape.

Samson Raphael Hirsch zu Bereshit

• In that case, all evil, physical and moral, would be due to the inherent faultiness of the material available to the Creator, and not even God would be able to save world from evil, physical or moral. Then man could be as little master over his body as God could be over the matter from which the world was made. Freedom would vanish from the earth, and all the world, including its God as well as the men who live upon it, would be propelled by a blind, immutable fate. This gloomy concept of God, the world and mankind is dispelled at the very outset with the first word of the Teaching of God.”

(The Pentateuch with a translation by Samson Raphael Hirsch and excerpts from the Hirsch commentary, ed. Ephraim Oratz; trans. Gertrude Hirschler. (New York: Judaica Press, 1986), p. 3.)

• �ֲע ֹק�ב ַי ְל�ב�ַית ת�אמ�ר ��ה , ֹּכ  . ר�א�ַית�ם, א�ת��ם ד ִיש��ר�א�ְל �ַי ְל�ב�ֵנ ��ַיד �ת�ֵּג ו , - ; �א�ב�א ו �ש!�ר�ַים ֵנ �פ�ַי ��ֵנ ֹּכ ֲע�ְל א�ת�ֹּכ�ם �א���א�ש ו ְל�מ�ְצ�ר�ִים ֲע�ש��ַית�ַי א ש!�ר , , - ,  . �ש!�מ�ר�ת��ם ו �ב��ֹק�ְל�ַי �ש!�מ�עו ת� ש!�מו�ֲע� א�ם �ֲע�ת��ה ו ה א�ְל�ַי א�ת�ֹּכ�ם  . - - , - -- ה�א�ר�ץ- �ְל� ֹּכ ְל�ַי ��ַי ֹּכ ַים ה�ֲע�מ�� �ְל� ֹּכ מ� �ה� ֵּג%ְל ס� ְל�ַי �ה�ִיַית�ם ו ב��ר�ַית�ַי א�ת , ,  : , - ��ב�ר�ַים ה�ד ��ה א�ְל ֹק�דו�ש! �ֵּגו�ַי ו �ַים ��ה ֵנ ֹּכ מ�מ�ְל�ֹּכ�ת �ְל�ַי �ה�ַיו ת� �א�ת��ם ו ו

- , ִיש��ר�א�ְל �ַי ��ֵנ ב א�ְל �ד�ב��ר ת� .א ש!�ר Exodus 19:3-6Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now then, if you shall obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

Rashi

And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, princes, as it is said, And the sons of David were priests (2 Samuel 8:18).

Abraham ibn Ezra (c. 1092-1167)

A kingdom of priests, according to my opinion every priest in the Bible is like a servant, and the evidence is serve me as priests (Exodus 28:41), and likewise the priest of Midian (i.e. Jethro, Exodus 18:1) who was a God-worshipper like Melchizedek. And likewise, the sons of David were priests (2 Samuel 8:18). Now we know that the sons of kings have greatness, so the text teaches us here that they were God-worshippers. And the meaning of kingdom of priests is that thanks to you my kingdom will appear when you will be servants unto me.

Ramban (1194-c. 1270)

And you shall be to me, that you shall be special unto me and not like the other nations…And you shall be to me, as it were, I don’t appoint or establish anyone else as a ruler over you except myself…, a kingdom of priests, and you shall be a kingdom of my servants and a holy nation, to cleave unto the holy God, as it says, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:2)…

Obadiah Sforno (c. 1470-c. 1550)

And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and in this you will be distinguished from everyone, because you will be a kingdom of priests, to explain and to teach to the entire human race, that everyone will call upon the name of God and will serve him in unison (Zephaniah 3:9), just as it will be the concern of Israel in the future to come, as it says, And you will be called priests of God (Isaiah 61:6) and as it says, because the Torah will come out of Zion (Isaiah 2:3)

Samson Raphael Hirsch

“And it is just for this ultimate destiny of the whole world that you are to become a ֹּכהֵנַים kingdom of) ממְלֹּכתpriests) and a ֹקדוש ממְלֹּכת .unto Me (holy nation) ֵּגוַי each and every individual of you ,(kingdom of priests)ֹּכהֵנַיםis to become a ֹּכהן (a priest), inasmuch as he is to allow all his actions to be ‘regulated’ by Me, to take the מְלֹּכות עוְל faithfully on his (yoke of the kingdom of heaven) השמַיםshoulders and become a trueֹּכהן who by his word and example spreads the knowledge of God and loyalty to Him, as Isaiah expresses it in 61:6, ‘But ye shall be named the Priests of God, men shall call you the Ministers of our God.’

Samson Raphael Hirsch

And ֹקדוש just as, individually you are ,(holy nation) ֵּגוַיto appear priestlike, so is the impression which Israel as a nation is to make on the world to be one of holiness to God. You are to be a unique nation amongst the nations, a nation which does not exist for its own fame, its own greatness, its own glory, but the foundation and glorification of the Kingdom of God on Earth, a nation which is not to seek its greatness in power and might but in the absolute rule of the Divine Law—the Torah—for that is what ֹקדושה (holiness) is…”