[Avodah] Diberah Torah

[Micha Berger]

R' Yishma'el's dictum "diberah Torah belashon benei adam" is very specific
in scope.

There were two schools of derashah, R' Aqiva's and R' Yishma'el's. R'
Aqiva darshened lexically, focusing on buzzwords. R' Aqiva famously
darshened "es" lerabos, "akh" and "raq" as mi'utim. "Ta'aseir ta'aseir"
is repetitive, and thus gives room for derashah.

R' Yishma'el says that derashah is semantic. Whereas R' Aqiva's
notions of ribui umi'ut involve words, his rules of kelal uperat are
about meanings. If "es" is the normal prefix for an object, an "tithe
a tenth" the normal turn of phrase for biblical Hebrew, they aren't
usable for derashah. Kelal uperat is about the meaning of a pasuq,
such as "min habeheimah, min habaqar umin hatzon" (Vayiqra 1:2) --
the general followed by two examples.

See <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2005/09/midrashei-halakhah.shtml>
for much more of my thoughts on the topic, complete with which school
produced which sifrei medrash.

Getting back to the point... "Diberah Torah belashon benei adam" doesn't
have to do with use of allegorization, idioms, how naaratives are told
in the Chumash, or even derashah in the aggadic sense.

It's simply about the mechanics of middos of derashah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Nothing so soothes our vanity as a display of
micha at aishdas.org        greater vanity in others; it makes us vain,
http://www.aishdas.org   in fact, of our modesty.
Fax: (270) 514-1507              -Louis Kronenberger, writer (1904-1980)