הטקסט המקראי הקאנוני והאתגר ההרמנויטי: עיון ביקורתי בעקבות הרמב" ן: עיון ביקורתי בעקבות הרמב"ן

The article analyzes Nahmanides' hermeneutical position concerning the relationship between a scriptural text and its exegetes. Ostensibly, Nahmandies suggests two different approaches. The first claims that exegesis constitutes the biblical text as such; the second, arguing that exegesis penetrates its deeper strata, presumes that the biblical text is multilayered. According to the analysis in this article, however, Nahmanides' approach consists of a synthesis. For him, the biblical text is multilayered and, therefore, its specific articulation is established by its exegetes. This approach, as I show, is the mainstream voice in Jewish rabbinical tradition. This perception of Nahmanides' view helps to explicate the puzzling indifference of Jewish tradition to the challenge of biblical criticism. The latter's reliance on philological and literary tools as the starting point of studying the original biblical text contradicts Nahmanides' view of Scripture. When modernity challenged Jewish tradition at its core and biblical criticism became a crucial problem, the response was formulated through a hermenuetical position drawing on Nahmanides. Hence, two approaches emerged. According to Samson Raphael Hirsch, the status and meaning of Scripture are determined by tradition, while the text as such is no more than the notes of those present at the Revelation. According to Meir Loeb Malbim, the meaning of the text can be grasped through philological-linguistic tools. The perception of the text as unfolding through a process of interpretation fits the post modernistic views, which were already anticipated by Nahmanides and his followers.