[Avodah] Taking Midrashim Literally

[Lisa Liel]

At 07:10 PM 6/23/2011, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
>R"n Lisa Liel wrote:
>
> > Pirkei Avot mentions 10 things that were created erev shabbat
> > bein hashemashot.  All of them are miracles that don't fit in
> > nature.  Short of a literal statement in Tanakh, I assume this
> > means that everything else God does in the world is derekh
> > ha-teva.
>
>How do you understand the story of the Burning Bush? That seems to 
>be a literal statement in Tanakh, and in the Torah in fact.

Hence "short of a literal statement in Tanakh".  That isn't short of 
it.  If the text said it was just a bush and there was a midrash that 
said it was burning and not being consumed, I'd have issues with 
taking it literally.

>One might want to interpret the "burning" as poetic, referring to 
>bright colors or something, but then one would have to explain 
>Moshe's surprise that the bush was not being consumed. Whatever was 
>happening, it seems clear to me that Moshe did NOT consider it to be 
>derech hateva. But the Burning Bush is not included in that list 
>(Avos 5:8 in the siddur, 5:6 in Mishnayos) of supernatural miracles.
>
>Come to think of it, this question is not specifically directed to 
>RLL, but to that Mishna. If that Mishna is an all-inclusive list of 
>things which *had* to be created during Bereishis because there's no 
>way to pull off those miracles within teva, then what is the natural 
>explanation for the Bush?

SFX. ;)

Lisa