What’s In a House? (Shemot)
As you may know, I love midrash. Midrash is a type of Jewish text that simultaneously pays close attention to…
Tag: shemot
Ibn Ezra: Knowing God (Ki Tissa)
Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights. God spoke, then gave Moses the tablets. What else did Moses begin to know?
Rashbam: Uproot and Interpret (Tzav)
Rashbam – an avowed pshat interpreter – nonetheless includes a rabbinic interpretation that “uproots the plain meaning of the verse.”
Rashbam: The Curse of Leadership (Mishpatim)
Exodus 22:27 prohibits cursing judges and leaders. Is this a way to silence those questioning leadership? Rashbam thinks it is something more fundamental.
Rashbam: Parallel Play (Beshallach)
Biblical poetry works primarily with parallelism. Rabbinic commentary mostly ignores this formal quality of biblical language, but not Rashbam!