Drush
Logical Deduction
Drush derives from the word that means to investigate or probe. Very often when a text says something it means more than what meets the eye. It is not that we are drawing an analogy from the text to another area of knowledge, or that we are taking initials, numerical values of letters and relating them to other matters, but that when investigating the text at hand itself one can find deeper meanings.
The method of Drush is also a method of drawing inferences. For example, the Torah says that one whose animal injures another animal in a public place has to pay for the damages, we may deduce that if the animal entered into private property and caused damage to another animal, that the owner should certainly pay, even though this situation is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah.
This method is called Kal V’chomer-deducing major from minor and is one of the thirteen methods of Torah interpretation.
While the text says one thing, we may use our minds to reason what the Torah would have said in a similar or stronger case.
Reading Between the Lines
Another example of Drush in a non-legal context is in the story of Joseph who was thrown into a pit by his brothers. The Torah describes the pit in the following manner: “And the pit was empty, it had no water.” The Talmud reasons “By saying that the pit was empty do we not know that it had no water? Rather the Torah wishes to teach us that while the pit had no water it did have snakes and scorpions.”
Here we took the Torah’s words and read into them more than what it says explicitly. We read between the lines.
One can therefore deduce further that the brothers actually tried to kill Joseph by placing him into the pit. Yet it was Reuven who urged them not to kill Joseph. Why did he recommend that they throw him into a [pit of snakes and scorpions?
Two Levels of Drush
Commentators, who follow the method of Drush answer that they were actually testing Joseph. If he was innocent and righteous animals cannot harm him. People however have free choice and can harm even someone who is entirely innocent.
Here we saw two levels of Drush operating in the same subject.
First we deduced that the pit had snakes in it. Then we deduced that Reuven was testing Joseph’s righteousness. One could go on and on – employing the methodology of Drush – to find more and more meaning in the text.
The Talmud uses Drush mostly for legal matters, to extract what the Torah means and how the Torah would rule in a given situation that is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah.
The Midrash, is also interested in the Drush level of interpretation. Indeed, the word Midrash and Drush are related. However, the Midrash mostly uses Drush for nonlegal matters. One major thrust of Midrashic Drush is the way it allows us to derive relevant messages from the Torah.
Sometimes we can derive life lessons from the P’shat of the text itself. But, the Torah has endless messages that show us the proper way of life. Most of these additional messages are embedded in the text of the Torah when we read between the lines.
It should be noted that Midrash is not simply a free for all. Contrary to a popular misconception, Midrash or Drush is not a device that allows everyone license to twist the words of the Torah around to suit ones pre-conceived ideas.
Indeed, even the oft cited statement that “One does not ask questions on Drush,” does not mean that Drush is an open arena for all to enter. What these words, rooted in the great Kabbalist, the Ari’s teachings, really mean is that the rules that govern P’shat do not apply to Drush. Each level of Torah interpretation of Pardes possesses its own system of rules as to what constitutes a basis for the interpretation.
And while the rules of one method cannot be applied to another method – i.e., the rules of P’shat do not apply to the realm of Drush – nevertheless, the level of Drush itself has its own system of rules, though not as exacting and rigid as the rules that govern P’shat.
Sod
Accessing the Knowledge through One’s Pure Soul
We now approach the level of Sod, the secret dimension of interpretation. As was noted in the first section of this series on Safe Kabballah, Sod is the level of interpretation of the Torah that is inherently hidden and secret. It is not just secret information reserved for a limited audience, but that it derives from a different realm than that which can be taught to everyone.
The only way we access Sod is not through conventional means of learning. Sod must be accessed through one’s soul and for whom one’s soul is unhampered by improper behavior.
Received Tradition
In the context of methods of interpretation, Sod is the manner of interpretation that cannot be “extracted” from the Torah. It must have been revealed to a person; received by way of a special communication. Virtually anyone can read a text and tell what its obvious meaning is. Many can look at the initials or gematria of a word and know to what it alludes. Using deductive reasoning -coupled with the knowledge of Drush’s ground rules – enables the student to employ the method of Drush to deduce what the Torah would say about a matter not explicitly covered by the Torah.
By contrast, one cannot simply gaze at a text and say what the secret information the text may be conveying. This knowledge, to be authentic, must be ascertained by a received tradition from an authoritative source of transmission. This knowledge may have been received from a saintly teacher or from the mouth of Elijah the Prophet and similar teachers from the “other” world.
This is essentially what the word Kabballah means. It means “received” and points to the exclusive way one can truly access this secret knowledge.
However, as mentioned before, not everyone is a candidate to receive this knowledge. In addition to the purity of their soul and proper behavior, the person’s soul must be attuned to these teachings. We will explore this idea a little later in this book.
From the book Safe Kabbalah, Part Two: The Fourth Dimension by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
