Q&A: Hekesh and Clarification of Meaning
Hekesh and Clarification of Meaning
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi. The Rabbi writes in Midah Tovah, Vayigash, part 2, “What is hekesh?” as follows: The exegetical tool called ‘hekesh’ is rather vague. It is not entirely clear what it means, and when it is applied. It is fairly clear that in certain places in the Talmud and among the medieval authorities (Rishonim), the expression ‘hekesh’ refers to a different rule, or to comparative interpretation in general. In its appearances in rabbinic literature as a distinct rule, hekesh usually expresses a comparison between two things that were written adjacent to one another.
Is there an example of a hekesh that is a clarification of meaning, and not merely an analogy between two things placed next to each other? On the face of it, this seems unlikely to me, because why would the Torah encode that same clarification of meaning as a hekesh of two adjacent words (I am asking only about such a case), instead of simply writing it explicitly? For example: “And Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, that is Hebron,” and the verse did not write “in Kiryat Arba in Hebron,” while expecting us to draw a hekesh between them.
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. Do you mean a hekesh that reveals the meaning of a word, as we find regarding a gezerah shavah such as “taking-taking” and the like?
Currently I don’t recall an example, but I don’t see any reason this should be impossible. Your question could also be raised regarding a gezerah shavah that serves as a clarification of meaning.
Discussion on Answer
I would be glad to hear the Rabbi’s response, given his deep familiarity with the topic. For example, how could such a hekesh between two adjacent words be formulated as a clarification of meaning?
I don’t know
Yes, that is exactly my question. It seems to me that unlike gezerah shavah, in a case of hekesh where the two words are simply adjacent to one another, why would the Torah write “y x” and expect us to make a hekesh between them, instead of simply writing “x is y”? In a clarification of meaning via gezerah shavah, the Torah in any case did not want to write what that word means (for its own reasons), and we merely make use of the revealing verse in order to explain the meaning in another verse. Also, a gezerah shavah that is a clarification of meaning is not really an exegetical rule but more a way of interpreting the text according to its plain sense, which is why one learns by gezerah shavah from the Prophets and Writings to the Torah, etc. Moreover, I can imagine myself making a gezerah shavah that is a clarification of meaning in any text, not only in the Torah. A hekesh that is a clarification of meaning, by contrast, I do not see any way to understand like that.