Q&A: The Relationship Between the Thirteen Principles and the General Interpretive Methods of the Sages
The Relationship Between the Thirteen Principles and the General Interpretive Methods of the Sages
Question
Hello,
As is well known, the overwhelming majority of the Sages’ scriptural interpretations that appear in our sources do not use the thirteen principles (at least not in any clear way). It seems that these are more “free-form” interpretations, which do not obey any explicitly formulated rules.
I wanted to ask what, in your opinion, is the relationship between the body of interpretations in general and the formalization of the principles.
Does someone who knows how to use the principles acquire a way of thinking that would enable him to interpret like the Sages even in a freer way? (So that he could then “throw away the ladder”?)
Is it also possible to give the rest of the interpretations a formal structure?
Thank you.
Answer
I assume so, but reasoning is cheap. Rabbi Shilat has just published books that explain the way midrashic thinking works, arranged according to the order of the tractates. It’s worth taking a look there. As I’ve written more than once, the formalization of the thirteen principles also came only after the use of these interpretive methods.