Resolving Tosfos' Challenge to Rashi on Dimua and Almanah

Date: Erev Erev Shabbos HaGadol 5577

From: Rabbi Moshe Sofer

To: Rabbi Moshe

Description

The Chasam Sofer resolves two textual difficulties: first, he explains why the Torah's use of 'almanah' as an allusion to the rabbinic kesubas almanah does not serve as a valid analogy to defend Rashi's reading of 'dim'acha' against Tosfos' challenge, since 'almanah' is a proper noun while 'dimua' is a deliberate deviation from the standard term 'terumah'; second, he reconciles Rashi's apparent contradiction between his Chumash and Talmud commentaries by distinguishing between a word's basic etymological meaning and its secondary allusive hint, proposing that Rashi in the Chumash sought the unknown root meaning of 'dimua' while in the Talmud he identified only its connotative hint.

Source: Shu"t Chasam Sofer EH II §170

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