Skills: Source Analysis, Hebrew Terminology, and Textual Interpretation
Domain 7: Skills - source analysis, Hebrew terminology, and textual interpretation. The exam tests method: how you identify, contextualize, and argue from a source.
Method
- Source analysis: author, date, genre, audience, purpose, bias, corroboration, silence.
- Hebrew: three-letter roots; binyanim such as qal, nif'al, pi'el, hitpa'el; key terms including peshat, derash, halakhah, aggadah, mitzvah, averah, teshuvah, brit, kedushah.
- Interpretation: close reading, structure, keywords, intertextuality, parashah, mefarshim; distinguish translation from interpretation.
Worked example
Exodus 3:14, 'Ehyeh asher ehyeh.' Translate as 'I am/will be what I am/will be.' Reasoning: the verb is imperfect, so 'will be' is possible; the Septuagint renders ho on ('the one who is'), pushing toward ontology; Rashi reads 'I will be with you' in distress. Show the grammar, the ancient versions, and the reception. A strong answer names the ambiguity and its interpretive consequence rather than asserting one translation.
Traps
- Quote-mining without context.
- Anachronism: reading modern categories into ancient texts.
- Confusing transliteration with translation.
- Ignoring the difference between a source's claim and your inference.