[Avodah] Local, Non-Global or Global Flood

[Arie Folger]

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 3:00 PM, Zev Sero <zev at sero.name> wrote:
> Rashi already in
> this pasuk accepts that shamayim and eretz were created on the first
> day.  What he rejects is that they were created first.  Mayim had to
> be created before eretz, and both esh and mayim had to be created
> before shamayim.

We obviously disagree as to how to read a text. Some of what you write
evokes in me the question regarding what the meaning of is is. Rashi
is quite explicit, but doesn't spell everything out., because some of
the blanks I filled in are simply obvious, for anyone who has read
three pessukim in a row. Once Rashi spelled out that it is incongruent
to claim that heavens were created bereishit, all the rest follows,
but you want Rashi to spell out every detail. Sorry, that ain't going
to happen, because Rashi is, well, Rashi, and even more than being a
commentator, he is a master biblical educator, a pedagogue, and by
spelling out all these details, he would be as long winded as the
Ramban. His would then be a masterful commentary, but no longer Rashi,
no longer the standard commentary we all refer to.

Rashi needs to be studied, not read like in elementary school. Once
Rashi puts you on a path, it is absolutely OK and in fact a duty, to
follow that path in order to figure out what he wants, and so once he
tells us there is an incongruity, that is what he means, and that is
his main point.

-- 
Arie Folger,
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