Reply To: Symbolism in The Torah

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#1206165
WinnieThePooh
Participant

I can see the potential confusion coming from this thread, and these are very important issues.

The Torah is meant to be literal, to the best of our understanding, unless there is a mesora stating otherwise. In other words, when the Torah mentions the Hand or Finger of G-d, etc., we know that is not literal since chazal tell us that Hashem has no form. when the Torah tells us to take “an eye for an eye” we know that is not literal because our Oral Torah tells us that it means the monetary value of the limb. But the stories are real, the people existed and are not symbolic, although obviously their lives and actions have an educational relevance for us and are not meant to only be historical figures. when we say “ma’aseh Avos siman l’bonim”, we mean that their actions are both a guide and foreshadowing for the children’s future experiences, but not that they themselves were merely symbolic. To rephrase the quote from R Miller above, there is a huge difference saying that Pharoah was a title referring to multiple actual kings (which comes from Chazal), much as we would use President or Czar or Caesar, and that Avrohom and Soro Chas v’shalom did not exist.

In terms of midrash, some are literal, some are not, one need to rely on talmudei chachamim to understand them and not pick and chose and decide on your own.