Is Rashi necessarily the correct interpretation?

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asked 7 months ago

Hi, Your Honor.
I saw some people who really disparage Rashi and disagree with his commentaries, and when I asked why, they told me that he was a simple commentator, and they gave me an example from the Rambam that alludes to Rashi in the introduction to the chapter:

“The first, and most of what I have seen, and what I have seen of his writings, and what I have heard about him – they believe them at face value, and they do not under any circumstances believe in any hidden interpretation in them….
And this is the group of the poor in mind, one must pity them for their foolishness, since they honor and exalt the wise according to their own understanding; and they humiliate them to the uttermost, and they do not understand this. And as God lives, blessed be He, this group loses the splendor of the Torah and darkens its splendor, and uses the Torah of God in the opposite way that is intended in it!
And most of what these preachers do is interpret and inform the multitude of the people of what they do not know. And who would have thought, if they did not know and did not understand, that they would have remained silent!”

Does it really make sense that Maimonides referred to Rashi here?

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מיכי Staff answered 7 months ago

It really doesn’t seem to me that he is referring to Rashi, and that is not the content of what he is saying. He is not at all against plain interpretations, but rather against adhering to plain interpretations even where they do not make sense. On the contrary, Maimonides in the second root writes that the correct interpretation of a verse is only the plain interpretation. The others are sermons and are not interpretations of the verse but rather expansions of it. Whoever adheres to plain interpretations is greatly praised, just not where it does not make sense.

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דניאל replied 7 months ago

So who do you think the Rambam was referring to? He is talking about a large group that follows this method. One of the proofs of the validity of Rashi's interpretation is that it was widely accepted by the public. If so, this is also the proof that the Rambam's words are directed at the Rashi.
From what I understand, Rashi turned the sermon into a simple text.
For example, if I ask a religious child in the third grade how old was Rebecca when she met Eliezer, Abraham's servant, at the well? The child is supposed to tell me what the simple text is. Then I will find out that he will give me a delusional answer. What is his source? Rashi did not make a distinction between a sermon and a simple text (at least according to them)