Searching for Meaning in Midrash
Overview
A comprehensive, clear and accessible guide to the study of Midrash. Rabbis Katz and Schwartz explore the fascinating body of Jewish literature called Midrash—creative interpretations of the Bible that are designed to reveal hidden or deeper meaning in Scripture. Each of the over fifty Midrash selections, in English, featured in this book sit next to its corresponding biblical text (Hebrew and English), along with commentaries (English) on the times and insights of the Rabbis who wrote each Midrash. Guidance by the authors help readers answer the question “What does this text mean to me?”
Top Highlights
“In addition, Midrash often attempts to smooth over a textual oddity or harmonize contradictory texts. These stories passed down by the Rabbis are known as מִדְרָשׁ אַגָּדָה/Midrash Aggadah.” (Page 9)
“This Midrash imagines that even the one mitzvah that they had, not to eat from the tree, was in a figurative sense stripped from them the way clothing would be stripped off a person. It was then that Adam and Eve realized just how ‘bare’ they were, exposed before God as unable to keep the one command that they had.” (Page 28)
“Some traditionalists believe that the midrashim are part of the תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה/Torah she-b’al peh, ‘the Oral Torah,’ given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai along with the תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב/Torah she-bi-khetav, ‘the Written Torah’” (Page 10)
“The Hebrew word הֵחֵל/hey-ḥale means ‘to begin.’ Based upon its use in three contexts, the Rabbis see it as meaning not just ‘to start’ but ‘to rebel—by beginning to deviate from precedent.’ Humankind ‘began to rebel’ by engaging in three types of sins: idolatry (referring to their idols as God); sexual immorality (through wanton promiscuity); and violence (Nimrod—whose name contains the same letters as the word מֶרֶד/mered, ‘rebellion’—is seen as a hunter and a man of war).” (Page 35)
“Yes, accepting the mitzvot, all of the commandments, is a very weighty matter. But sometimes, the hard things that at first seem unpleasant turn out to be good for you in the long run.’ Sometimes in life we need to be forced to do the right thing. Only later do we understand, and appreciate, what it was that we were forced to do.” (Page 6)
- Title: Searching For Meaning In Midrash
- Authors: Michael Katz & Gershon Schwartz
- Publisher: Jewish Publication Society
- Publication Date: 2002
- Pages: 243
Michael Katz received a B. A. from Temple University and a B. H. L. from Gratz College. He received an M. A. from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was ordained in 1979. He is rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Westbury, New York.
Gershon Schwartz received a B. A. from Columbia University and a B. H. L. and M. A. from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was ordained in 1979. He is rabbi of Beth Sholom Congregration in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.