Why “peshat” is a great word
PESHAT — [Noun] The method of Jewish textual interpretation that seeks the plain, literal, or contextual meaning of scripture. From Hebrew פְּשָׁט (peshat), from the root פ-ש-ט (p-sh-ṭ), conveying senses such as 'to spread out,' 'to flatten,' or 'to strip,' hence implying the straightforward, surface meaning. Unlike *derash*, which builds homiletic meaning upon the text, or *remez*, which hunts for allegorical hints beneath it, peshat is the discipline of the ground itself. It is the unadorned syntax of the sentence, the stark geometry of a plowed field, the careful study of a river's visible current—a conviction that meaning, before it is anything else, must be what it plainly says. In this initial, austere clarity, there is a faith that the foundation must be simple to bear the weight of all that follows.