[Avodah] The Sin Of Reuven

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 11:19:24AM -0600, Jay F Shachter wrote:
: Another possibility is that the straightforward meaning of Genesis
: 35:22 is different from what we think it is.  This is the position
: taken by the author of Hakkthav V'Haqqabala, a book whose single
: purpose is to argue that the straightforward meaning of various verses
: in the Torah is different from what we think it is...

As the title states, it's to show the unity of TSBK and TSBP. Not that
peshat isn't peshat, but that derash is much more richly implied than it
seems.

:                                                      Many of the
: arguments are unconvincing, and the book is full of bogus etymologies,
: but it is still, in my opinion, very much worth reading, at least once
: (Hirsch's commentaries are also full of bogus etymologies, but that
: does not mean that the commentaries are not worth reading)...

"Bogus" is a bit of a harsh way to put it. You may disagree with the
etymologies, but they weren't "fraudulently or deceptively imitative".
That implies a level of manipulation one can not accord HKVHK or RSRH.
Ben Yehudah uses the word "bogus" as a translation of "mezuyaf". A poor
choice of term.

I am not an authority on HKVHK, but R' Matisyahu Clark (father of R'
Eli Clark who a number of us know from around the O web) used Hirsch's
principles to address every shoresh Hirsch's discusses. There is a
consistency of methodology with large explanatory power. Because of that,
I find it hard to doubt the basic system even if some of the bigger
"stretches" from usual meaning to something that fits in the group
may be questionable on the individual level.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 39th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        5 weeks and 4 days in/toward the omer.
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