[Avodah] Vashti's tail etc...

[Micha Berger]

The anonymous blog "avakesh" must be written by one of us. His recent entry is
about taking a medrash literally. Not Vatshti's tail, but a medrash on
parashas Tetzaveh that the menorah stayed lit for a year.

Teaser:
> From standpoint of Halacha this midrash is quite difficult for it appears
> to state that the Menorah in the Temple was lit only once a year. This
> contradicts the account in Bavli (Shabbos 22b-23a) that all lamps were
> cleaned every day and if any candle was still burning, it was extinguished,
> cleaned and relit with new oil. In addition, how is the daily mitsva of
> lighting the menorah fulfilled, if it is lit but once a year?

> Several possible answers suggest themselves. Ultimately, one faces a method
> question of when to allegorize difficult midrashim, such as this one. One
> must resist the temptation to jump to derush for by resorting to homiletics
> too quickly for it is easy to overlook much simpler and better answers.
> That not only shortchanges the learner and the passage but opens one to
> charges of insufficient respect for sacred texts and can even expose one
> to ridicule. Here, though, are three possibilites that I can offer.

(Only one of the three required allegorization.)

See <http://www.avakesh.com/2007/03/keep_it_burning.html>


Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
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