[Avodah] Medrash

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, March 10, 2007 2:16 pm, Zoo Torah wrote:
: Maharsha, in his commentary to the first of Rabbah bar bar Chanah's stories,
: and apparently referring to all of them, does say that these stories are
: true in their literal meaning as well as in their deeper meaning; he notes
: that sailors see weird and wonderful things. Rashbam writes similarly. So it
: seems that there is a long-standing dispute in these matters.

Note that neither argue for accepting "fantastical" aggadot. Rather, they
argue that sailers regularly report such amazing things of the places they
visit -- and therefore do not consider RBBC's stories to be relatively
"fantastic".

The Maharsha isn't disagreeing with his own haqdamah.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi