P’shat
These four levels can be translated and explained as follows: P’shat refers to the simple level of interpretation. The word P’shat is related to the word pashut, which means simple. The word pashut also allows for an interpretation that means, “spread out” or popularized.
This level of interpretation is thus the straightforward, surface meaning of the text; the level that is on the surface for everyone to see.
I did not use the word “literal” meaning of the text, because, the literal meaning is not necessarily the simple meaning of the text.
To cite just three examples:
When the Torah speaks of G-d’s “outstretched arm” we cannot take this literally. A literal rendition implying that G-d is in possession of human, physical characteristics is not only incorrect, but also a total repudiation of one of Judaism’s basic principles of faith. Maimonides goes to great lengths in his Guide for the Perplexed to establish that one cannot ascribe any physical properties to G-d.
Thus, the simple meaning of the phrase “outstretched arm” is its figurative meaning.
Another example of where the literal meaning is not its simple and straightforward meaning is in the prophecies of Bilam. The Torah prefaces some of them with the words “Vayisa M’sholo-and he began his parable.” For example when he speaks of how he sees the Jewish people from the top of the mountain, Rashi explains that it refers to the patriarchs of the Jewish people who are likened to mountains. Other commentators take it literally that Bilam was standing on the top of a mountain from which vantage point he observed the Jewish people.
Why does Rashi – who claims to be interested in the simple meaning of the text, pshuto shel mikra – deviate from his normal style and explain the word “mountain” allegorically?
The answer is that the text itself says that these words are a moshol, an allegory or parable. The simple meaning of a parable is not its literal meaning.
When a person uses an expression, the simple meaning of what they are saying is not its literal meaning.
To cite one more example:
When the Torah says “an eye for an eye” – a verse often cited by Judaism’s detractors because it demonstrates a penchant for vengeance – it has actually never been translated that way. The Talmud goes to great lengths to show that the simple meaning of this statement is that one must pay compensation for the eye, not literally take out an eye.
It is therefore ironic that the most conscientious Jews who accept all of the Torah, the Written as well as Oral traditions, and who are often accused of “fundamentalism” are the ones who least interpret verses literally.
It were the Sadducees of the Second Temple Era and then the Karaites who broke away from rabbinic Judaism and who accepted only the Bible, who insisted on interpreting the Torah literally.
The Kabbalists identify the source of P’shat with the lowest of the four spiritual worlds, the world of Asiyah- Action. It I the world that is closest to us and to our way of seeing the surface layer of Torah.
From the book Safe Kabbalah, Part Two: The Fourth Dimension by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
