Rabbi Yaakov Blau Ramban Does Not Know Rabbi Yaakov Blau The Ramban’s commentary on Chumash is widely considered as an indispensable part of any serious discussion of Chumash. Rav Aharon Lichtenstein Z”L once said that “had the Ramban’s commentary on the Torah had been lost, that would have been catastrophic (for the Jewish people).1” The commentary deals with so many aspects of parshanut, peshat, midrash, halacha, kabbala etc. that many of its components deserve their own analysis. I would like to focus on just one and that is his willingness to say “I do not know.” Rashi is famous for being willing to say that often2, but the Ramban also uses a variation of לא הבינותי,לא ידעתי and לא נתבררdozens of times3. While any attempt to categorize how he uses it will ignore a degree of nuance, I believe that he basically uses this expression to express four kinds of ideas. 1] Where he means that he is not completely confident as to what the passuk means, but nevertheless he then suggests an approach 2] Where he is questioning a midrash, rather
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Seeking His Presence p.50. See the Frisch Torah Journal Volume 3 pp.3-13 3 One could reasonably argue that each expression has its own meaning, but this article will deal with them as if they are all the same. He also uses אינו יודעa few times (Shemot 40:2 and Bamidbar 4:32) as well as ( לא מצאוBereshit 30:20 and Bamidbar 24:3). He uses variations of these expressions several times in his commentary of Shas as well, but that is beyond the scope of this article. He also occasionally uses לא נתפרשin his commentary on Chumash, but I thought that was different enough to not be included. 2
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