[Avodah] Rishonim and Chazal (was One Opinion)

[Zvi Lampel]

Re: [Avodah] Rishonim and Chazal (was One Opinion)

On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 Micha Berger wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 06:52:00PM -0400, R Zvi Lampel wrote:
>> >  (a) Chazal did not have a single viewpoint on the matter, which left it
>> >  open to analysis (between the viewpoints offered) for an original
>> >  suggestion or, better yet, as the Rambam explains,
>> >
>> >  (b) Chazal's principle that "the world follows its natural course,"
>> >  based upon the /posuk, "/There is nothing new under the sun," is so
>> >  over-arching that it outweighs the opposing/shitta/  implied in the
>> >  /Ahvos/  /mishnah/.
>>      
> I suggested over a decade ago a broader version of (b). That new
> approaches in aggadita and parshanut were valid if there was any
> mesoretic basis, and only invalid if suggested for reasons other than
> issures [issues?--ZL] raised internal to Torah.
>    
I see what you say here as a restatement of (a), except for my 
qualification  (that the peshat is open to analysis "between the 
viewpoints offered").

I did not mention in (a) the possibility of proving that the peshat 
moves a Chazal into the non-peshat intended realm (although I referred 
to that earlier in the essay); nor did I discuss (or feel qualified at 
this point to discuss thoroughly) the legitimacy of proving that peshat 
produces an alternative to _any_ peshat proferred by Chazal, at least if 
it's a machlokess Chazal. The case in question does not require these 
solutions because, as was my thesis, the Ramban under investigation (as 
well as Rav Saadia Gaon, Ibn Ezra, Radak and the Zohar, and I think 
others) does actually follow a Chazal.

The same can be said about the Ramban on the Ark's rate of descent. 
Regarding the Ramban, the only remaining explanation he gives in 
apparent disagreement with the one-and-only known peshat given by 
Chazal, is regarding the years of Egyptian exile. Given the chazaka 
established thus far, I would be very cautious before suggesting that 
there was no Chazal upon which he supported himself.

Zvi Lampel
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