Midrash

To search, to examine, to investigate Rabbinical commentaries on biblical text

Midrash halakhah

Rabbinic discussions and answers to a variety of legal questionsI.e. you shall not murder: does this include self-defence, suicide, warfare?

Midrash Aggadah

An attempt to reveal the story behind the story? For example why did G-d choose Abraham as the father of many nations

Creating Midrash

DeuteronomyAs a living text the Bible can have different meanings in different contexts as Rabbis respond to their contemporary challengesAssumption that every letter is sacred and needs to be decodedIntersecting verses lists

Creative Philology Attention to unusual spellingsPunsLiteral and idiomatic meaningsSuperfluous wordsDoubling of words, “Moses, Moses”Gematria – finding hidden meanings through the numerical sum of a word’s lettersEtymology of namesGezeira Shava: two stories share the same word or phrase

Juxtaposition of sections

Creative Historiography

Kol va-homer – logic through reasoningResolving conflicting storiesBible as a paradigm of historyHidden political commentaryFilling in the historical gaps

The Punishment fits the crimeWhen the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked: and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.Gen 3:6-7

And they perceived that they were naked. Even the one mitzvah that they had was stripped from them. And they sewed together fig leaves. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai said, “this is the leaf that brought grief to the world. Rabbi Yitzhak said, “You have ruined things! Take a thread and sew it up.

Better me than them.Gen 33:1-2 Looking up, Jacob saw Esau coming, accompanied by four hundred men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids, putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, Rachel and Joseph last. He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he was near his brother.

Gen Rabbah 78,8 Putting the maids and their children first. From this it is said, the very last is dearest. He went on ahead. This is what’s written. As a father has compassion for his children, (Ps. 103:13) Rabbi H. taught , “Like the merciful one among the Fathers.” Who is the merciful one among the Fathers? Rabbi Y. said, This is Abraham, Ab said, Far be it from You to do such a thing (Gen 18:25). Rabbi L said, this is Jacob. He himself went on ahead. He said Better that he should injure me than them.

Modern MidrashEmily Grotta (Oct. 96)Have you ever noticed that women seem to have the ability to communicate without words? They feel each other's pain, they share each other's joys across generations and cultures. Some call it women's nature; others call it women's intuition. Where does it come from? Has it always been so?It all began in a valley in the land of Shinar. The sons of Noah, and the sons of Noah's sons, decided to build a city. The men worked diligently, building bricks as hard as stone. And with the stone, they built a tower - the very first skyscraper - reaching to the heavens.God was not pleased at seeing the skyscraper. God thought, "Rather than build decent housing, schools, places of worship, public baths and meeting houses, these men are only interested in their own egos and whether they rise above others. How vain to think a tower makes a name great! "

Cont. God then looked for the women, but they were not at the tower building site. God found them elsewhere in the city. They were working, keeping the city running: caring for their families, educating the children, tending the sick and elderly. God saw that the women had not participated in the building of the tower of Babel. God therefore decided to thwart the egos of men by confounding their speech, so that they would not understand one another. But to the women, who had not taken part in building the tower, God gave the power of intuition and the ability to communicate with each other across boundaries.Thus, when God scattered the people across the face of the earth, even though women may not speak the same language they are still able to understand one another.

Targum

Scripture translated into an Aramaic paraphrase with the intent to fill in some missing gaps of knowledge along the way

Palestinian TargumI. At the beginning (min avella) the Lord created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was vacancy and desolation, solitary of the sons of men, and void of every animal; and darkness was upon the face of the abyss, and the Spirit of mercies from before the Lord breathed upon the face of the waters.And the Lord said, Let there be light and to enlighten above; and at once there was light. And the Lord beheld the light, that it was good; and the Lord divided between the light and the darkness. And the Lord call the light Day; and He made it that the inhabiters of the world might labour by it: and the darkness called He night; and He made it that in it the creatures might have rest. And it was evening, and it was morning, the First Day.

And the Lord said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate between the waters above and the waters beneath.And the Lord made the expanse, upbearing it with three fingers, between the confines of the heavens and the waters of the ocean, and separated between the waters which were below the expanse, and the waters which were above, in the collection (or covering) of the expanse; and it was so. And the Lord called the expanse the Heavens. And it was evening, and it was morning, the Second Day.

And the Lord said, Let the lower waters which remain under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and the earth be dried, that the land may be visible. And it was so. And the Lord called the dry (land) the Earth, and the place of the assemblage of waters called He the Seas; and the Lord saw that it was good. And the Lord said, Let the earth increase the grassy herb whose seed seedeth, and the fruit-tree making fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth produced grasses (and) herbage whose seed seedeth, and the tree making fruit after its kind. And the Lord saw that it was good. And it was

evening, and it was morning, the Third Day.