Interpretation is Free Play - Rabbi Dr. David Gottlieb

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Hidabroot - Torah & Judaism’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

you I'm fighting an uphill battle tonight there's a very widespread prejudice that when you're interpreting a text there are no rules it's really a matter of free play anybody can say anything that he wants what does the text mean to you this was even dignified by titles in academia post-modernism or deconstructionism and if you are a culture or religion system bases itself on documents documents are very important it calls into question the entire foundation of your life system it's even has its own tone of voice it's a matter of interpretation anything anybody can say whatever he wants now this is utterly unserious is utterly unserious to speak like that you have to take leave of your senses let's just remind ourselves of some very simple facts about everyday living there are contract businesses sign contracts if texts don't mean anything inherently if text can be interpreted any way you want how can you ever know what the other side is going to do when they sign the contract how can you ever test if later the contract says that Peter has to deliver to PO love $15,000 on the fifteenth of each month every 15 the month he shows up in Paul's office with a box twelve fifteen thousand dollars June fifteenth he comes in for the box Paul opens it up and by golly they're 15,000 monopoly dollars in the box suppose this where's the money there's the money pulses come on you know that's not dollars is it sure it is it not believe dollars so he says come on in a tech contract says us colleges look at the side of the back it just

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1. 0:00you I'm fighting an uphill battle tonight there's a very widespread prejudice that when you're interpreting…
2. 4:55infected with his disease at Yale about 25 years ago one of the people pushing it…
3. 10:23is Jacob's dream I want the first fragment which as I say in terms of falafel…
4. 15:50begging for something what would you do obviously in context is talking about arriving at a…
5. 21:14Shakespeare wrote imply that that's I correct but that's that's play that's frivolous play if you…
6. 26:40places you have a verse in Genesis itself that tells the I've kameen paradigm role model…
7. 31:57it of explanations sits in science all you ever get as explanations never do you get…
8. 37:24types of interpretation now I will teach you something that's really I think pretty subtle and…
9. 42:44didn't mention no universal statement is binding as universal there is no such thing no because…
10. 48:11dry land God Colt the ya basha Eretz so in this passage Eretz means dry land…

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