[Avodah] Freedom of exegesive interpretation

[Arie Folger]

RJR wrote, in reaction to my quote of Tosfot Yomtov Nazir 5:5:
> Sounds like a version of "Judaism is a religion of deed not creed" - you
> can interpret anything anyway you want as long as you don't act
> differently from the din?

I don't see it that way. If there is a creed, which in one way or another we 
all agree there is, then that creed is part of the dinim that our exegesis 
must respect. However, when trying to understand a sugya, we may come up with 
tha, which in our eyes is more elegant explanation or solution to a problem.

For example, did David haMelekh commit adultery, or was she divorced at the 
time? According to the gemara that say that kol ha'omer shedavid chatah eino 
elah to'eh, David was technically saved from adultery. However, according to 
this TYT, you could disagree.

Or, to take a mishnah, for example. We just learned the mishnah of the one 
that was married to three wives, who had ketubot granting them different 
respective amounts, which could not be paid out by the inheritance left 
behind by their deceased husband. When Shemuel and Rav Ya'aqov of Nehar Peqod 
interpret the mishnah as an oqimta, must it be that that is what Rav Natan 
(the author of that mishnah) meant, or can we suggest other interpretations? 
(full disclosure: the quote was provided in the context of that mishnah by 
Prof. Auman of Nobel prize fame, in his article in Moriah where he offered an 
alternative understanding of the mishnah, sans oqimta.) 
-- 
Arie Folger
http://www.ariefolger.googlepages.com