Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the scholarly term for rules of Biblical interpretation. The Talmud records several methodologies. One is the Seven Rules of Hillel. These were later expanded by Rabbi Yishmael into thirteen rules (or Middot). These are actually recited in the morning prayers. Rabbi Akiva had a totally different methodology, based on extra or missing words or letters, the use of inclusive words (like "and" or "with") and limiting words (like "but" or "only"). Both methods were employed in the Talmud. Another set of thirty two rules was presented by Rabbi Eliezer ben Rabbi Yosi Hagalili. These later rules were intended not for halachic (legal) exposition, but for aggadic (homiletic, metaphorical) interpretation.
Why bother? Why not just take the text literally? Allow me to pose the following question. Where does the Torah (or any Biblical book) forbid sexual relations between a father and daughter? IT DOESN'T!.Among the incestuous relationships forbidden by the Torah, some blood relatives and some not, we search in vain for what would seem to be a most basic abomination! However, the Talmud points out that we DO find a prohibition of relations with a granddaughter. We have here an argument called "kal V'chomer" (from the minor towards the major). If a granddaughter is forbidden, how much more so a daughter! Is this rabbinic law? NO! It is seen as Biblical; validly derived by the rules that have been handed down to us. (There were, in fact, some views outside the rabbinic tradition that DID allow such a union. See 1 Corinthians 7:36).
But why wouldn't the Torah specify ideas like this? The Torah is a Divine document, far beyond human comprehension, with layers of meaning that remain yet to be discovered. It was revealed with explanation, guidelines, hints to be used in interpretation. There is no extraneous letter. It is written tersely, yet it contains every imaginable (and many beyond imagination) secret and mystery.
I like to think of this as analogous to romantic love. No one EVER really knows another person. In fact, we don't really know ourselves! Yet, when we have known someone for a relatively short time, we may realize that we love them. If it is a good relationship, love matures and grows. Even after several decades, we discover aspects of the other person that make us love them even more! We realize how without that person, how dark our lives would have been! So it is with the Torah. As children, we sit wide-eyed at the telling of the story of the Great Flood, the Exodus, the splitting of the Sea. As we mature and continue studying, we get to know the Torah better. Each story has lessons vital FOR ME! And as we encounter new challenges in life, the Torah provides new answers! We love the Torah when we are children, but love her so much more by the time we have weathered numerous life challenges. We realize that G-d's teachings and guidance are so intricately woven, that each thread tells us exactly what we need, that we may well have overlooked while examining the entire fabric.
I noted above that the thirteen rules of interpretation are in our daily prayers. Why would they be in a prayer? The Kabbalists inform us that these thirteen Torah rules are inextricably bound up with the Thirteen Attributes (also called Middot!) with which we implore G-d's Mercy. If we are studying the Torah correctly, it becomes a prayer. If we pray correctly, finding G-d in all the ups and downs of life, prayer opens up the Torah for us in a new way. Prayer can be the ultimate Torah study! The Zohar says that if the Torah was only what we read on the surface, we could write a much better Torah. But that is NOT the Torah. There are ins and outs, permutations, like a great poem combined with the most personal prayerful devotion, that grows as we grow, and offers ever-widening vistas.

The Asmachta

I have written several times in the past about the centrality of Deuteronomy 17:5-13, which is the very foundation of the Oral Torah and rabbinic authority. When there is a question of how to follow a Torah command, we are to turn to the sages, priests and prophets who formed a central court, later known as the Sanhedrin. We are commanded to follow their teachings, instructions and enactments. With the demise of the Sanhedrin in the fourth century CE, rabbinic authority remains, albeit in a limited form. According to RASHI and most Ashkenazic authorities, the power of the Oral Torah shifted to all the Torah Greats in a generation, who, in a sense, form a kind of Sanhedrin. According to RAMBAM, followed by most Sepharadic opinion, rabbinic authority only extends to a community's rabbi, with no powers beyond his own community. In any case, the Torah is not for individual interpretation of practices, but comes with instructions! Without the Sages, the Written Torah is a closed book.
A fascinating part of the Oral Torah is known as an "Asmachta" (Aramaic for "leaning"). The Torah empowers the sages to enact legislation to protect the Torah ("fences around the Torah"), without adding to the number of Biblical laws. Sometimes, the sages would "lean" a purely rabbinic law on a Biblical text. For instance, the Torah commands us to tie the Tefillin on our arm and head. But which arm? The rabbis had received a clear tradition that it was the left arm (for lefties, most agree that they are to put the tefillin on the right arm). This was always part of the Oral Torah. But the Talmud, the central work of the Oral Torah, says that, in fact, there is a Biblical reference to this idea. Of the four places where the Torah commands Tefillin, in one place, the word "Yadecha" (your hand/arm) has an unusual spelling, so that it can also be read "weaker arm". Now, no one would argue that this is the literal meaning of the verse. Rather, the idea has been "leaned" onto the verse for support. Here, we have two interpretations. One view is that the asmachta was simply a device used to give SOME Biblical authority to a rabbinic enactment. Another, far more accepted view, is that, in fact, the Torah has not as yet revealed all of her secrets. The Torah is wider than the seas, vaster than the Heavens. Besides the laws clearly given in the Torah, or handed down by oral tradition, the Torah contains infinite "hints". Some may be universal, some may apply to a given time, place or situation. Some may even be individual. Some great Tzaddikim, when asked a question, may open a Torah text at random, and find the answer there! (I have seen this with my own eyes). Therefore, "minor" variations in spelling, grammar or syntax can actually be hints to sages of future generations as to how to act in a given situation. The unusual spelling of "Yadecha" was put there by G-d Himself, to guide the sages should a question arise. Over the last seventy years, many rabbis have discovered cryptic  messages in the Torah that were previously unknown, by certain letters occurring at certain intervals (every twenty-fifth letter, for example) which spell out a clear message.
The rabbis tell us that the Torah existed for two thousand years before the world was created. Although there are many interpretations of this idea, one thing is certain. I, you, every man, woman and child who ever lived or will live is in the Torah. The Sages can see this, and guide us accordingly. We must be aware that the Torah is not just a book. The Zohar states that the first word in the Ten Commandments (Anochi/I am) is an acrostic of "ana nafshi ketavit yehavit" (I wrote and gave you My Self). When we touch the Torah, we touch G-d. But we need to learn from those who know how to see this and make it into a reality in our lives.