For the source text click/tap here: Shavuot 47
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Shimon ben Tarfon says: With regard to the prohibition of following after an adulterer,i.e., providing him with assistance in carrying out adultery, from where is it derived? The verse states:
“You shall not commit adultery [lo tinaf ]” (Exodus 20:13). If the verse is vocalized slightly differently, it may be read: You shall not cause adultery [lo tanif ].
Commenting on the verse describing the response of the Jewish people to the spies’ slander of Eretz Yisrael: “And you murmured [vatteragenu] in your tents and said: Because the Lord hated us, He has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us” (Deuteronomy 1:27), Shimon ben Tarfon says:“Teragenu” is interpreted as though it is composed of two Hebrew expressions: You explored [tartem] the land, and: You disparaged [ginnitem] it, in the tent of the Omnipresent.
A King’s Servant Is Like the King
“If you touch someone anointed with oil, you will also be anointed.” With this statement Shimon ben Tarfon explains why the Torah defines the Euphrates as “the big river” (Deut. 1:7) despite its relative smallness (Rashi, Gen 15:18), because it borders on Eretz Yisroel. On the other hand, according to Rabbi Yishmael, the Euphrates is called “big” because “a king’s servant is like the king.” In other words, the servant – the Euphrates – is regarded like the king – Eretz Yisroel.
We explore the issue of Critical Analysis of Hermeneutics of Subtlety and Wordplay and Rabbi Shimon ben Tarfon's Interpretive Method in Comparative Perspective.