Midrash
Midrash is an expansive Jewish Biblical exegesis using a rabbinic mode of interpretation prominent in the Talmud. The word itself means "textual interpretation", "study", or "exegesis", derived from the root verb , which means "resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require".
Midrash and rabbinic readings "discern value in texts, words, and letters, as potential revelatory spaces", writes the Hebrew scholar Wilda Gafney. "They reimagine dominant narratival readings while crafting new ones to stand alongside—not replace—former readings. Midrash also asks questions of the text; sometimes it provides answers, sometimes it leaves the reader to answer the questions". Vanessa Lovelace defines midrash as "a Jewish mode of interpretation that not only engages the words of the text, behind the text, and beyond the text, but also focuses on each letter, and the words left unsaid by each line".
An example of a midrashic interpretation:
The term Midrash is also used of a rabbinic work that interprets Scripture in that manner. Such works contain early interpretations and commentaries on the Written Torah and Oral Torah, as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature and occasionally Jewish religious laws, which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Hebrew Scripture.
The word Midrash, especially if capitalized, can refer to a specific compilation of these rabbinic writings composed between 400 and 1200 CE. According to Gary Porton and Jacob Neusner, midrash has three technical meanings:
- Judaic biblical interpretation;
- the method used in interpreting;
- a collection of such interpretations.
Etymology
The word midrash occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles 13:22 "in the midrash of the prophet Iddo", and 24:27 "in the midrash of the book of the kings". Both the King James Version and English Standard Version translate the word as "story" in both instances; the Septuagint translates it as βιβλίον in the first, as γραφή in the second. The meaning of the Hebrew word in these contexts is uncertain: it has been interpreted as referring to "a body of authoritative narratives, or interpretations thereof, concerning historically important figures" and seems to refer to a "book", perhaps even a "book of interpretation", which might make its use a foreshadowing of the technical sense that the rabbis later gave to the word.
Since the early Middle Ages the function of much of midrashic interpretation has been distinguished from that of Peshat|, straight or direct interpretation aiming at the original literal meaning of a scriptural text.
As a genre
A definition of "midrash" repeatedly quoted by other scholars is that given by Gary G. Porton in 1981: "a type of literature, oral or written, which stands in direct relationship to a fixed, canonical text, considered to be the authoritative and revealed word of God by the midrashist and his audience, and in which this canonical text is explicitly cited or clearly alluded to".Lieve M. Teugels, who would limit midrash to rabbinic literature, offered a definition of midrash as "rabbinic interpretation of Scripture that bears the lemmatic form", a definition that, unlike Porton's, has not been adopted by others. While some scholars agree with the limitation of the term "midrash" to rabbinic writings, others apply it also to certain Qumran writings, to parts of the New Testament, and of the Hebrew Bible, and even modern compositions are called midrashim.
As method
Midrash is now viewed more as method than genre, although the rabbinic midrashim do constitute a distinct literary genre. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Midrash was initially a philological method of interpreting the literal meaning of biblical texts. In time it developed into a sophisticated interpretive system that reconciled apparent biblical contradictions, established the scriptural basis of new laws, and enriched biblical content with new meaning. Midrashic creativity reached its peak in the schools of Rabbi Ishmael and Akiba, where two different hermeneutic methods were applied. The first was primarily logically oriented, making inferences based upon similarity of content and analogy. The second rested largely upon textual scrutiny, assuming that words and letters that seem superfluous teach something not openly stated in the text."Many different exegetical methods are employed to derive deeper meaning from a text. This is not limited to the traditional thirteen textual tools attributed to the Tanna Rabbi Ishmael, which are used in the interpretation of . The presence of words or letters which are seen to be apparently superfluous, and the chronology of events, parallel narratives or what are seen as other textual "anomalies" are often used as a springboard for interpretation of segments of Biblical text. In many cases, a handful of lines in the Biblical narrative may become a long philosophical discussion.
Jacob Neusner distinguishes three midrash processes:
- paraphrase: recounting the content of the biblical text in different language that may change the sense;
- prophecy: reading the text as an account of something happening or about to happen in the interpreter's time;
- parable or allegory: indicating deeper meanings of the words of the text as speaking of something other than the superficial meaning of the words or of everyday reality, as when the love of man and woman in the Song of Songs is interpreted as referring to the love between God and Israel as in Isaiah 5. Similar systems were later adopted by other religions, such as Christianity, and applied to texts such as the New Testament.
Jewish midrashic literature
Generally speaking, rabbinic midrashim either focuses on religious law and practice or interprets the biblical narrative in relation to non-legal ethics or theology, creating homilies and parables based on the text. In the latter case, they are described as.
Halakhic midrashim
Midrash halakha is the name given to a group of tannaitic expositions on the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. These midrashim, written in Mishnaic Hebrew, clearly distinguish between the Biblical texts that they discuss and the rabbinic interpretation of that text. They often go beyond simple interpretation and derive or support halakha. This work is based on preset assumptions about the sacred and divine nature of the text and the belief in the legitimacy that accords with rabbinic interpretation.Although this material treats the biblical texts as the authoritative word of God, it is clear that not all of the Hebrew Bible was fixed in its wording at this time, as some verses that are cited differ from the Masoretic, and accord with the Septuagint or Samaritan Torah instead.
Origins
With the growing canonization of the contents of the Hebrew Bible there came a need to produce material that would clearly differentiate between that text and rabbinic interpretation of it. By collecting and compiling these thoughts, they could be presented in a manner that helped to refute claims that they were only human interpretations—the argument being that, by presenting the various collections of different schools of thought, each of which relied upon close study of the text, the growing difference between early biblical law and its later rabbinic interpretation could be reconciled.Aggadic midrashim
Midrashim that seek to explain the non-legal portions of the Hebrew Bible are sometimes referred to as or.Aggadic discussions of the non-legal parts of scripture are characterized by a much greater freedom of exposition than the halakhic midrashim. Aggadic expositors availed themselves of various techniques, including sayings of prominent rabbis. Midrash explores theology, ethics, stories, and moral lessons. These aggadic explanations could be philosophical or mystical disquisitions concerning angels, demons, paradise, Hell, the messiah, Satan, feasts and fasts, parables, legends, satirical assaults on those who practice idolatry, etc.
Some of these midrashim entail mystical teachings. The presentation is such that the midrash is a simple lesson to the uninitiated and a direct allusion, or analogy, to a mystical teaching for those educated in this area.
Classical compilations
Tannaitic
- Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva. This book is a midrash on the names of the letters of the hebrew alphabet.
- Mekhilta. The Mekhilta essentially functions as a commentary on the Book of Exodus. There are two versions of this midrash collection. One is Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, the other is Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai. The former is still studied today, while the latter was used by many medieval Jewish authorities. While the latter text was popularly circulated in manuscript form from the 11th to 16th centuries, it was lost for all practical purposes until it was rediscovered and printed in the 19th century.
- * Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael. This is a halakhic commentary on Exodus, concentrating on the legal sections, from Exodus 12 to 35. It derives halakha from Biblical verses. This midrash collection was redacted into its final form around the 3rd or 4th century; its contents indicate that its sources are some of the oldest midrashim, dating back possibly to the time of Rabbi Akiva. The midrash on Exodus that was known to the Amoraim is not the same as our current mekhilta; their version was only the core of what later grew into the present form.
- * Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon. Based on the same core material as Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, it followed a second route of commentary and editing, and eventually emerged as a distinct work. The Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon is an exegetical midrash on Exodus 3 to 35, and is very roughly dated to near the fourth century.
- Seder Olam Rabbah. Traditionally attributed to the Tanna Jose ben Halafta. This work covers topics from the creation of the universe to the construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
- Sifra on Leviticus. The Sifra work follows the tradition of Rabbi Akiva with additions from the School of Rabbi Ishmael. References in the Talmud to the Sifra are ambiguous; It is uncertain whether the texts mentioned in the Talmud are to an earlier version of our Sifra, or to the sources that the Sifra also drew upon. References to the Sifra from the time of the early medieval rabbis are to the text extant today. The core of this text developed in the mid-3rd century as a critique and commentary of the Mishnah, although subsequent additions and editing went on for some time afterwards.
- Sifre on Numbers and Deuteronomy, going back mainly to the schools of the same two Rabbis. This work is mainly a halakhic midrash, yet includes a long haggadic piece in sections 78–106. References in the Talmud, and in the later Geonic literature, indicate that the original core of Sifre was on the Book of Numbers, Exodus and Deuteronomy. However, transmission of the text was imperfect, and by the Middle Ages, only the commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy remained. The core material was redacted around the middle of the 3rd century.
- Sifri Zutta. This work is a halakhic commentary on the book of Numbers. The text of this midrash is only partially preserved in medieval works, while other portions were discovered by Solomon Schechter in his research in the famed Cairo Geniza. It seems to be older than most other midrash, coming from the early third century.