[Avodah] Local, Non-Global or Global Flood

[Arie Folger]

You asked
> What bar did I set higher than what the sources demand?

Well, in writing:
> Rav Saadia Gaon, the Rambam and the Ikkarim explicitly, and others
> implicitly, maintain the meaning of the word must be its primary meaning,
> unless it transgresses one of the rules you mentioned

you have, I believe, conflated secondary meanings of words with
allegory. Also, the second condition, "Where it[the literal reading --
arie] is repudiated by obvious logic" is a possibly large category.
Depends on which Rishon or Acharon you ask. Ralbag and Malbim would
both include physics in this.

In general, I take issue with the formulation "... maintain the
meaning of the word *must* be its primary meaning, unless ..." That is
the phrase I had in mind when I wrote that language is not math,
especially the verb "must." I consider that rule what I call a
dominant preference, not an absolute rule, because language just
doesn't behave like that.

KT,
-- 
Arie Folger,
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