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Much of rabbinic law derives from the hebrew Torah's unique spelling (eg plene vs deficient) and wording (eg "את" to include) etc.

Rashbam writes that he will explain the Torah literally as rabbinic law—which controls—is mostly derived from textual subtleties (and the 32 and 13 hermeneutical rules) and not from peshuto shel mikra, and therefore the rabbis hadn't put much emphasis on explaining the plain meaning of the Torah.

That being the case how can halacha allow for Sifrei Torah to be written in languages other than Hebrew as wouldn't that do away with many of the allusions that are embedded in the original Hebrew which are crucial for the development of rabbinic law?

(A subset of the question is how can it have full fledged kedushas sefer Torah being that it is missing such a vital component. Inspired by Meshech Chochmah)

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    No source, just intuition... Presumably the dispensation to write the Torah in Greek was primarily intended for exilic communities where unfortunately the Torah was not readily understood in Hebrew. However in E"Y - which is where any legislation of the Sanhedrin would come from, there was no danger that the Greek version would displace the Hebrew and therefore not a threat to how the Hakhamim interpreted it.
    – Deuteronomy
    Commented Feb 29 at 19:00
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    I'm not seeing the problem here. You have a not as useful scroll. Ok.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 29 at 19:59
  • @Deuteronomy There doesn't seem to be any limitation (rambam.alhatorah.org/Full/Tefillin_uMezuzah_veSefer_Torah/1/…).
    – Nahum
    Commented Feb 29 at 20:35
  • @DoubleAA I am not aware of any halacha mandating public Torah reading/study from the original Hebrew (ie I believe non Hebrew scrolls possess the full sanctity of torah scrolls). That being the case a situation could presumably develop where eventually (especially where Hebrew isn't the spoken language) Hebrew language scrolls become extinct as Halacha doesn't mandate their use.
    – Nahum
    Commented Feb 29 at 20:46
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    "the concern is... they'd lose out on the Hebrew version's subtleties which account for much of rabbinic law." Why does this matter? If the people can't understand the original text then at least they'll understand something rather than nothing. Its foregone that subtlety is lost among such a population, at least not everything would be lost. Not sure what the downside here is that your suggesting.
    – Deuteronomy
    Commented Feb 29 at 23:12

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If you don't mind a chassidic-inspired answer, Rebbe Nachman points to the fact that one of the halachot regarding tefillin (that there should be four compartments) is learned from the word totafot

ר"ע אומר אינו צריך טט בכתפי שתים פת באפריקי שתים
Rabbi Akiva says: The word tot in the language of Katfei means two, and the word pat in the language of Afriki also means two. [Menachot 34b]

Rebbe Nachman uses this as a paradigm to say that since everything and every language came from Hashem, there is the possibility of finding holiness in any language.

כִּי כְּבָר גִּלּוּ לָנוּ חֲכָמֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה, שֶׁבְּכָל דְּבָרִים גַּשְׁמִיִּים, וּבְכָל לְשׁוֹנוֹת הָעַכּוּ"ם, יָכוֹל לִמְצֹא בָּהֶם אֱלֹקוּת, כִּי בְּלֹא אֱלֹקוּתוֹ אֵין לָהֶם שׁוּם חִיּוּת וְקִיּוּם כְּלָל, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (נחמיה ט׳:ו׳): וְאַתָּה מְחַיֶּה אֶת כֻּלָּם... וְזֶה שֶׁגִּלּוּ חֲכָמֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה, וּפָתְחוּ לָנוּ פֶּתַח, שֶׁהַמַּשְׂכִּיל יֵדַע וְיָבִין שֶׁבְּכָל הַדְּבָרִים גַּשְׁמִיִּים יֵשׁ אֱלֹקוּתוֹ וְחִיּוּתוֹ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁאָמְרוּ חֲכָמֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה (מנחות לד:): טַט בְּכַתְפִי שְׁתַּיִם, פַּת בְּאַפְרִיקֵי שְׁתַּיִם; לְהוֹדִיעַ שֶׁבְּכָל לְשׁוֹנוֹת הָעַכּוּ"ם יֵשׁ שָׁם אֱלֹקוּתוֹ הַמְחַיָּה אוֹתָהּ.

Our Sages have already revealed to us that Godliness is to be found in all corporeality and in all the languages of the nations. For without His Godliness, they have no life-force or existence whatsoever. As is written, “You keep them all alive”... This is as our Sages revealed, opening a way for us so that the discerning will know and understand that all corporeal things have His Godliness and His life-force in them. As our Sages said: Tot in Katfi means two, pat in Afriki means two (Menachot 34b), indicating that every one of the nations’ languages contains His Godliness, which is what gives it life.[Likkutei Moharan 33.2]

Don't know if that's convincing, but the potential for drash is there in all languages.

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    So, the famous 'gematria' on the word "God" (7 + 15 + 4 = 26) being the same as Havaya is in theory a holy drash?
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Mar 31 at 15:36
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Ralbag's (radical) opinion is that even the 13 middos shehatorah nidreshes bahen are no more than ramazim and asmachtaos but not actual derivations based on the Torah.

That would provide a neat solution to this problem.

(רלב"ג ביאור הפרשה בראשית – הקדמות והנה בבָאֲרֵנוּ המצוות והשורשים אשר מהם יצאו כל דיניהם אשר התבארו בחכמה התלמודיית, לא יהיה מנהגנו בכל המקומות לסמוך אותם השורשים אל המקומות אשר סמכו אותם חכמי התלמוד באחת משלש עשרה מידות לפי מנהגם. וזה, שהם סמכו אלו הדברים האמיתיים המקובלים להם במצוות התורה לַפּסוקים ההם, להיותם כדמות רמז ואסמכתא לדברים ההם, לא שיהיה דעתם שיהיה מוצא אלו הדינין מאלו המקומות. כי כבר יוכל האדם להפך כל דיני התורה בכמו אלו ההיקשים, עד שאפשר בהם לטהר את השרץ כמו שזכרו ז"ל (ערובין יג, ב).)

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