Judaism

===Rabbinic hermeneutics===
{{Quote box|width=35%|align=right|quote=13 Principles of Hermeneutics:
# A law that operates under certain conditions will surely be operative in other situations where the same conditions are present in a more acute form
# A law operating in one situation will also be operative in another situation if the text characterizes both situations in identical terms.
# A law that clearly expresses the purpose it was meant to serve will also apply to other situations where the identical purpose may be served.
# When a general rule is followed by illustrative particulars, only those particulars are to be embraced by it.
# A law that begins with specifying particular cases, and then proceeds to an all-embracing generalization, is to be applied to particulars cases not specified but logically falling into the same generalization.
# A law that begins with a generalization as to its intended applications, then continues with the specification of particular cases, and then concludes with a restatement of the generalization, can be applied only to the particular cases specified.
# The rules about a generalization being followed or preceded by specifying particulars (rules 4 and 5) will not apply if it is apparent that the specification of the particular cases or the statement of the generalization is meant purely for achieving a greater clarity of language.
# A particular case already covered in a generalization that is nevertheless treated separately suggests that the same particularized treatment be applied to all other cases which are covered in that generalization.
# A penalty specified for a general category of wrongdoing is not to be automatically applied to a particular case that is withdrawn from the general rule to be specifically prohibited, but without any mention of the penalty.
# A general prohibition followed by a specified penalty may be followed by a particular case, normally included in the generalization, with a modification in the penalty, either toward easing it or making it more severe.
# A case logically falling into a general law but treated separately remains outside the provisions of the general law except in those instances where it is specifically included in them.
# Obscurities in Biblical texts may be cleared up from the immediate context or from subsequently occurring passages
# Contradictions in Biblical passages may be removed through the mediation of other passages.
|source=—[[Rabbi Ishmael|R. Ishmael]]<ref name="translated" />|}}

[[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] and many other [[Jews]] do not believe that the revealed [[Torah]] consists solely of its written contents, but of its interpretations as well. The study of [[Torah]] (in its widest sense, to include both poetry, narrative, and law, and both the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud) is in Judaism itself a sacred act of central importance. For the sages of the [[Mishnah]] and Talmud, and for their successors today, the study of Torah was therefore not merely a means to learn the contents of God's revelation, but an end in itself. According to the Talmud:
{{blockquote|These are the things for which a person enjoys the dividends in this world while the principal remains for the person to enjoy in the world to come; they are: honoring parents, loving deeds of kindness, and making peace between one person and another. But the study of the Torah is equal to them all. (Talmud Shabbat 127a).}}

In Judaism, "the study of [[Torah]] can be a means of experiencing God".<ref name="publishing3" /> Reflecting on the contribution of the [[Amoraim]] and [[Tanaim]] to contemporary Judaism, Professor Jacob Neusner observed:

{{blockquote|The rabbi's logical and rational inquiry is not mere logic-chopping. It is a most serious and substantive effort to locate in trivialities the fundamental principles of the revealed will of God to guide and sanctify the most specific and concrete actions in the workaday world.&nbsp;... Here is the mystery of Talmudic Judaism: the alien and remote conviction that the intellect is an instrument not of unbelief and desacralization but of sanctification.<ref name="invitation" />}}

To study the Written Torah and the Oral Torah in light of each other is thus also to study ''how'' to study the word of God.

In the study of Torah, the sages formulated and followed various [[logic]]al and [[hermeneutics|hermeneutical]] principles. According to David Stern, all Rabbinic hermeneutics rest on two basic axioms:
{{blockquote|first, the belief in the omni-significance of Scripture, in the meaningfulness of its every word, letter, even (according to one famous report) scribal flourish; second, the claim of the essential unity of Scripture as the expression of the single divine will.<ref name="indeterminacy" />}}

These two principles make possible a great variety of interpretations. According to the Talmud:
{{blockquote|A single verse has several meanings, but no two verses hold the same meaning. It was taught in the school of R. Ishmael: 'Behold, My word is like fire—declares the Lord—and like a hammer that shatters rock' (Jer 23:29). Just as this hammer produces many sparks (when it strikes the rock), so a single verse has several meanings." (Talmud Sanhedrin 34a).}}

Observant Jews thus view the Torah as dynamic, because it contains within it a host of interpretations.<ref name="indeterminacy4" />

According to Rabbinic tradition, all valid interpretations of the [[written Torah]] were revealed to Moses at Sinai in oral form, and handed down from teacher to pupil (The oral revelation is in effect coextensive with the Talmud itself). When different rabbis forwarded conflicting interpretations, they sometimes appealed to hermeneutic principles to legitimize their arguments; some rabbis claim that these principles were themselves revealed by God to Moses at Sinai.<ref name="indeterminacy5" />

Thus, [[Hillel the Elder|Hillel]] called attention to seven commonly used hermeneutical principles in the interpretation of laws ([[baraita]] at the beginning of [[Sifra]]); [[R. Ishmael]], thirteen (baraita at the beginning of Sifra; this collection is largely an amplification of that of Hillel).<ref name="introduction" /> [[Eliezer b. Jose ha-Gelili]] listed 32, largely used for the exegesis of narrative elements of Torah. All the hermeneutic rules scattered through the [[Talmudim]] and [[Midrashim]] have been collected by [[Malbim]] in ''Ayyelet ha-Shachar'', the introduction to his commentary on the [[Sifra]]. Nevertheless, R. Ishmael's 13 principles are perhaps the ones most widely known; they constitute an important, and one of Judaism's earliest, contributions to [[logic]], [[hermeneutics]], and [[jurisprudence]].<ref name="introduction6" /> [[Judah Hadassi]] incorporated Ishmael's principles into Karaite Judaism in the 12th century.<ref name="introduction7" /> Today R. Ishmael's 13 principles are incorporated into the Jewish prayer book to be read by observant Jews on a daily basis.<ref name="jerusalem" /><ref name="congregations" /><ref name="publications" /><ref name="publication" />