Sunday, February 13, 2011

Devarim 31:12, Question 1:

1) How can one verse be used to mean two separate ideas? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

3 comments:

  1. A verse can be used to mean two separate ideas by taking it out of context. This is generally a bad thing, because if the verse is taken out of context, it loses its original meaning, and can be distorted to mean something completely different.

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  2. I agree with anonymous. If a text is viewed without looking at the context, then the meaning can be totally different.

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  3. I also agree with anonymous. As with anything, a verse in the Talmud can be taken out of context, and its original meaning can be completely distorted. However, if the original text is ambigious, that is another way in which the same verse can convey two different ideas (depending on whose reading it). Ambiguous text is not necessarily a bad thing -- intelligent debate between people can be great. When something is taken out of context, though, that is a bad thing.

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