[Avodah] Historicity of Aggadta

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Dec 25, 2017 at 11:41:54PM -0500, H Lampel wrote:
: The historical mentions the Rambam's makes, treating the plausible
: Midrashim as history without making any qualifications, indicates
: otherwise.

It indicates that some medrashim which both didn't defy evidence or
his philosophy that the Rambam felt had a
literal point worth making. Not that plauisible medrashim should be
assumed to be literal history.

He spends so much time telling you they're all statements of the deepest
truths, and quoting Shelomo, that chakhamim conduct such discussions
via mashal and melitzah.

The fact that some deepest truths has historical impact doesn't give us
license to ignore paragraphs of writing.

: Regarding the Midrashic reports that Adam and the Avos spoke
: Ivris/Lashon Hakadosh, which I assume you agree the Kuzari accepts
: as historical fact (which of course teaches in its historicity an
: important thing to know)... Is your default position that the Rambam
: doesn't care whether it's historically so?

That's the default. Perhaps the Rambam agrees with the Rihal that
the history of Ivris is a significant statement, and would be meant
literally even under his view. Perhaps not. I can't guess, and am
willing to entertain anything.

But there are also reports that they spoke Aramaic, or even
that Adam spoke all 70 leshonos. See the sources I gave in
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol35/v35n141.shtml#11> as well as
Sanhedrin 38b (R Yehudah amar Rav: Adam haRishon spoke Aramaic). Not to
mention historical evidence.

So there is no reason for me to make the Rambam's life difficult.

To complete repeating myself, my own instinct is to say that Adam
spoke some proto-Semitic, and therefore spoke a language which could be
considered both ancient Hebrew AND ancient Aramaic, or proto-everything
and thus an ancestor to all 70 languages. And this would explain the
medrashim as well as allow us to identify Adam's speech with Leshon
haQodesh.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "I think, therefore I am." - Renne Descartes
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