A Medieval Anthology of Rabbinic Biblical Exegesis

• In Event: Inward Acculturation in Medieval Law and Exegesis

Abstract

The fourfold rabbinic approach to interpretation of the Torah known as PaRDeS (an acronym for PESHAT, DERASH, REMEZ and SOD) was long seen by scholars as a useful shorthand for classifying the various rabbinic commentaries that emerged during the High Middles Ages. Although this taxonomy of traditional modes of Bible study has generally fallen out of favor in scholarship over the past twenty years, especially due to the convincing arguments of Albert van der Heide relating to its late origins and specific contextual use, it continues to be used to describe the 14th century commentary on the Torah authored by Bahya b. Asher, which is said to utilize these four approaches.

In considering Bahya’s method, it is essential to note that he never mentions the term PaRDeS, and that he actually describes five methods of interpretation in the introduction to his commentary. Furthermore, Bahya only rarely utilizes all five methods in his analysis of any single verse, a fact which argues against seeing his introductory discussion of the methods as programmatic.

This paper will demonstrate that Bahya’s commentary is intentionally encyclopedic in its composition and that the various interpretive methods he employs are meant primarily for the sake of comprehensiveness and education, a motivation that would drive the production of similar types of works in Late Medieval Spain. Although Mordechai Cohen and others have noted the encyclopedic nature of the work, it has not been previously recognized that Bahya’s collection of various interpretations was itself an important innovation because it allowed for greater appeal and function to a wider audience.

Moshe Idel and other scholars have long discussed the possible influence on the PaRDeS approach by the fourfold method of biblical interpretation utilized by medieval Christian commentaries, despite the fact that the comparison is far from exact. Based in part on the recent studies of David Stern on the GLOSSA ORDINARIA and its influence upon the eventual production of the Rabbinic Bible, I will argue that Bahya’s commentary may have served as an anthology of rabbinic text and commentary and was stylistically influenced by Christian works of the same genre.

Author

• Yaakov Taubes, Yeshiva University