Q&A: Definitions of the Thirteen Principles by Which the Torah Is Interpreted
Definitions of the Thirteen Principles by Which the Torah Is Interpreted
Question
Hello Rabbi Michael,
Could you define the differences between these principles:
Anything that was included in a general category and then singled out in order to teach;
Anything that was included in a general category and then singled out to make a claim similar to its original context;
Anything that was included in a general category and then singled out to make a claim not similar to its original context;
Anything that was included in a general category and then singled out regarding a new matter.
What are these four kinds of "going out"?
Thank you, Raphael.
Answer
Hello, my friend. Unfortunately, I’m not currently familiar with the details of this topic. I recommend the book Middot Aharon (the Korban Aharon section on the Sifra, which deals with Rabbi Ishmael’s baraita), which explains each principle and the differences between them in detail. More briefly, see Rabbi Ostrovski (the Meiri), in his book The Principles by Which the Torah Is Interpreted. Both are available in the Otzar HaChochma database. The second one (Ostrovski) is also available on HebrewBooks: https://hebrewbooks.org/40602
Discussion on Answer
It also appeared on the Bar-Ilan site, but now I see they write that they’re moving to another site, so it isn’t accessible at the moment.
Here, I found the first one: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwJAdMjYRm7IRmM4RGd0dG9zWU0?resourcekey=0-llrN3kZlJQADT4MS2sqVGQ
Thank you. I’ll go over the references, God willing.
I’ve now found that I dealt precisely with the relationship between these four principles in the article “A Good Measure” for Parashat Metzora 5765, and in its continuation for 5766. For some reason, the 5765 articles do not appear on the site (I’ll check with Oren and try to upload them). The continuation is here, and the main points from the first article also appear at its beginning: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwJAdMjYRm7IRmM4RGd0dG9zWU0?resourcekey=0-llrN3kZlJQADT4MS2sqVGQ