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Your question on whether Midrashim are literal isn't exactly the right question to ask. Literal? Well, it depends. The ideas held in the Misrash are woven throughout the fabric of who we are as a people and there's tons to learn from the Midrashim. They are literal in certain contexts and not in others.
How do you know which ones are literal and which ones aren't, without relying on later commentators?
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Originally Posted by iwishiwerethin
Yes. Midrashim are Oral Torah.
Are the stories in the midrashim historical events?
If you go back in time to 1948, you'll see Ben Gurion declaring the State of Israel. That's a historical event. If you go thousands of years back in time, would you be able to see the stories of the midrash as told by our Sages being acted out?
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Originally Posted by theflipflop
Truth (emes) and literal are two entirely different things, btw. Something can be entirely non-literal and still be emes. Something can be factually incorrect and still be emes.
Emes is something that brings us and the people around us closer to Hashem.
What is an example of something that is factually incorrect but still emet?
How do you know which ones are literal and which ones aren't, without relying on later commentators?
Are the stories in the midrashim historical events?
If you go back in time to 1948, you'll see Ben Gurion declaring the State of Israel. That's a historical event. If you go thousands of years back in time, would you be able to see the stories of the midrash as told by our Sages being acted out?
What is an example of something that is factually incorrect but still emet?
Let me give you an classic example.
"Honey, that dress makes your tush look enormous."
That may be a "true" statement, but it's absolute falseness (sheker) to say it.
Emes would be to say "honey, I really love the color of your dress. That color really looks great on you."
What about statements that Chazal (our Sages of Blessed Memory recorded in the Oral Torah) made about medical cures that clearly don't work, spontaneous generation of life from non-life (salamanders being born from fire, lice coming from dust and sweat), hyenas changing gender, 7-month-old fetuses being more viable than 8-month old ones, and the Sun going around the Earth? Unless you believe in "nishtana hateva" (nature changed since). Aren't these statements factually incorrect but due to coming from chazal, also emet?
What about statements that Chazal (our Sages of Blessed Memory) made about medical cures that clearly don't work, spontaneous generation of life from non-life, and the Sun going around the Earth? Unless you believe in "nishtana hateva" (nature changed since).
You may be looking only at the surface of their statements, when oral tradition (i.e. a qualified Orthodox rabbi) could help you understand what chazal was saying.
You used to be an Orthodox Jew. Did you give up your "emunas chachamim" card when your Yiddishkite slipped?
You may be looking only at the surface of their statements, when oral tradition (i.e. a qualified Orthodox rabbi) could help you understand what chazal was saying.
Many rabbis have written about these statements, with the ultra-Orthodox burying their head in the sand and more modern Orthodox ones having an understanding similar to that of rabbi Natan Slifkin.
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You used to be an Orthodox Jew. Did you give up your "emunas chachamim" card when your Yiddishkite slipped?
I think you're confusing me with someone else. I was raised non-observant with an Ashkenazi Jewish mother and a Vietnamese-Canadian father, rediscovered my Jewish roots in college, started affiliating with the Orthodox community and considered myself a baal teshuva until I was put off by the Orthodox community's attitudes toward my fiancee who converted Reform but is otherwise a sincere committed Jew. I continue to learn and observe the Torah and its mitzvot to the best ability I can, every day trying to climb in my observance and knowledge. I realized that the Orthodox Jewish community did not live up to the ideals described in the Torah of derech eretz and ahavat yisrael, and that the belief that (Ashkenazi) Orthodox Judaism represented the unbroken mesorah from Mount Sinai was a lie.
Last edited by usuario; 03-24-2014 at 03:59 PM..
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