X-Nico

18 unusual facts about Midrash


Avraham Gombiner

His work includes Zayit Ra'anan, a commentary on the popular Midrashic collection Yalkut Shimoni.

Bathsheba

The Midrash portrays the influence of Satan bringing about the sinful relation of David and Bathsheba as follows: Bathsheba was bathing, perhaps behind a screen of wickerwork.

Chełm

While superficially Chełm stories seem light-hearted and trivial, they do emulate the interpretive process of Midrash and the Talmudic style of argumentation.

Drash

Midrash, a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text

Jerusalem in Judaism

Until 1967, it was generally considered to be the only surviving remnant of the Second Temple from the era of the Roman conquests; there are said to be esoteric texts in Midrash that mention God's promise to keep this one remnant of the outer temple wall standing as a memorial and reminder of the past.

Jewish business ethics

One Midrash states that geneivat da'at is the worst type of theft because it directly harms the person, not merely their money.

Judgment of Solomon

According to the Midrash, the two women were sisters-in-law, both of whom had borne sons, and whose husbands had died.

Leopold Zunz

It lays down principles for the investigation of the Rabbinic exegesis (Midrash) and of the siddur (prayer-book of the synagogue).

Likkutei Sichos

His commentary on the 5 Books of the Torah elucidates the simple meaning (p'shat), with some additional meanings from the Midrashic method, which initially appear to be utilised when the simple meaning still leaves questions.

Midrash

Gesenius ascribes the etymology of midrash to the Qal of the common Hebrew verb darash (דָּרַשׁ) "to seek, study, inquire".

Midrash was adapted as an interpretive exercise in history and philosophy texts by David L. Marshall of the University of Pittsburgh and Misgav Har-Peled while they were graduate students at Johns Hopkins University.

Marshall calls this process an "argument discovering machine," or Ars Topica, similar to Aristotle's rhetorical canon of invention.

Mitzvah

According to the Midrash, all divine commandments were given on Mount Sinai, and no prophet could add any new ones.

Oral law

Thus, in Judaism, the "Written Instruction" (Torah she-bi-khtav תורה שבכתב) comprises the Torah and the rest of the Tanakh; the "Oral Instruction" (Torah she-be'al peh תורה שבעל פה) was ultimately recorded in the Talmud (lit. "Learning") and Midrashim (lit. "Interpretations").

Outline of Judaism

Midrash (pl. Midrashim) – Hebrew word referring to a method of reading details into, or out of, a Biblical text.

Seligman Baer Bamberger

Koreh be-Emeth (Reading in Truth, 1871 and 1879, a reference to Psalms 145:18) addresses Torah exegesis where Talmud or Midrash use changes in letters to derive meanings from particular words.

Shaddai

It is also given a Midrashic interpretation as an acronym, standing for "Guardian of the Doors of Israel" (Hebrew: שׁוֹמֶר דְלָתוֹת יִשְׂרָאֶל), which is commonly found as carvings or writings upon the mezuzah, a vessel which houses a scroll of parchment with Biblical text written on it, that is situated upon all the door frames in a home or establishment.

Siona Benjamin

Her work is influenced by biblical subject matter, reflections on gender and an interest in Midrashic process.


Similar

Midrash | Beth midrash |

Abraham ben Elijah of Vilna

Of his numerous manuscripts which contained glosses to the Talmud, Midrash, Shulkan 'Aruk, and explanatory notes to his father's works, a commentary on the introduction to the Tikkune Zohar (Vilna, 1867), a commentary on Psalms I-C באר אברהם (Warsaw, 1887), Sa'arat Eliyahu, exegetical notes and biographical data about his father (Jerusalem, 1889), and Targum Abraham, notes on Targum Onkelos (Jerusalem, 1896), have been published.

Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules

The Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules (Hebrew: ברייתא מ"ט מדות) is a work of rabbinical literature which is no longer in existence except in references by later authorities. Rashi, the Tosafists, Abraham ibn Ezra, Yalḳut, and Asher ben Jehiel mention a work, "Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules," and make citations from it (thus, Rashi, ed. Berliner, on Ex. xxvi. 5; Yalḳ., Gen. 61, calls it "Midrash"; Rashi on Ex. xxvii. 6 calls it "Mishnah").

Beth midrash

The origin of the beth midrash, or house of study, can be traced to the early rabbinic period, following the Siege of Jerusalem (70 C.E.) in which the destruction of the Temple took place.

Bruriah

The Midrash on the Book of Proverbs tells that her two sons died suddenly on the Sabbath, but she hid the fact from her husband until she could tell him in a way that would comfort him.

Byzantine calendar

In addition, the traditional Jewish understanding of the creation "days" of Genesis is that they are literal as well, as virtually all the Rabbis have understood in commentaries from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic sources.

Dosetai

He is probably the Dosetai frequently referred to in Midrashic literature as having handed down the sentences of Samuel b. Naḥman and of Levi (Bacher, "Ag. Pal. Amor." i. 488, 492, 503; ii. 431; iii. 695).

Esther Rabbah

Except in the Wilna and Warsaw editions with their modern and arbitrary divisions, this Midrash consists of six "parashiyyot" (chapters, sections; singular = "parashah") introduced by one or more proems; these chapters begin respectively at Esther i.

Jesus in the Talmud

Daniel J. Lasker, 2007, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel ""Introduction to 2006 Reprint Edition", of Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, by R. Travers Herford, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2007

R. Travers Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, KTAV Publishing House Inc, 2007.

Herford, R. Travers, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, London: Williams & Norgate, 1903 (reprint New York, KTAV, 1975)

Lamentations Rabbah

The other arguments of the Gottesdienstliche Vorträge likewise fail to prove such a late date for the Midrash, especially since Zunz himself concludes that the authorities mentioned therein by name are not later than Yerushalmi.

Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon

This Mekilta compiled from the Midrash ha-Gadol preserves abundant material from the earliest Scriptural commentaries, quoting, for instance, a sentence from the Doreshe Reshumot on Ex. xxi.

Midrash Eleh Ezkerah

According to the Midrash Eleh Ezkerah, a Roman emperor commanded the execution of the ten sages of Israel to expiate the guilt of the sons of Jacob, who had sold their brother Joseph—a crime which, according to Ex. xxi.

Midrash Eser Galiyyot

Midrash Eser Galiyyot (Hebrew: מדרש עשר גליות) is one of the smaller midrashim and treats of the ten exiles which have befallen the Jews, counting four exiles under Sennacherib, four under Nebuchadnezzar, one under Vespasian, and one under Hadrian.

Midrash Jonah

The first part, the midrash proper, is found also in the Yalḳuṭ to Jonah (part ii., §§ 550-551), with the exception of a few missing passages and with several variations; but here the Pirḳe Rabbi Eli'ezer is given as the source (for some passages, Yerushalmi and Babli).

Midrash Tehillim

From the 12th century it was called also Shocher Tov (see Midrash Tehillim, ed. S. Buber, Introduction, pp. 35 et seq.), because it begins with the verse Prov. xi.

This omission has been supplied by S. Buber, in his very full edition of the Midrash Tehillim, by printing, under the superscription of the two psalms, collectanea from the Pesiḳta Rabbati, Sifre, Numbers Rabbah, and the Babylonian Talmud, so that the midrash in its present form covers the entire Book of Psalms.

Midrash Tehillim (Hebrew: מדרש תהלים) or Midrash to Psalms is a haggadic midrash known since the 11th century, when it was quoted by Nathan of Rome in his Aruk (s.v. סחר), by R. Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghayyat in his Halakot (1b), and by Rashi in his commentary on I Sam. xvii.

Midrash Vayosha

Entire sections of Midrash Vayosha are taken verbatim from the Tanḥuma, such as the passage on Ex. xv.

Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah

Some scholars (I.H. Weiss, Dor iii. 263-264; and Adolf Jellinek, in a letter to Theodor, reprinted in Monatsschrift, 1879, pp. 237 et seq.), moreover, have assumed a direct connection between such ancient discourses and the present Canticles Rabbah, regarding this midrash as an old collection of these discourses, increased by various later additions.

Shir ha-Shirim Zutta

The De Rossi Manuscript No. 541, at Parma, was discovered by S. Buber to contain, among other things, midrashim on four of the five "megillot": Canticles, Book of Ruth, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes; these he published (Berlin, 1894) under the title of "Midrash Zuṭa," to distinguish them from the "Midrash Rabbah."

Further, Naḥmanides (in Torat ha-Adam, p. 102c) cites it as "Midrash Shir ha-Shirim"; so does his pupil (teacher?) Azriel, in the commentary on Canticles generally ascribed to Naḥmanides himself; Abraham, son of Maimonides (see A. Neubauer, Ḳobeẓ 'Al Yad, iv. 63, Berlin, 1888), calls it "Agadat Shir ha-Shirim"; Recanati, in his commentary on the Pentateuch (on Beha'aloteka), cites the same passage quoted by Judah b. Barzilai.

Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz

His students included Rabbi Shmuel Ozida, author of Midrash Shmuel on Avot, and Rabbi Avraham Galante, author of Yareach Yakar on Zohar.

Sifri Zutta

R. Simeon's authorship is indicated by the fact that he is mentioned least often in the midrash, and that of the later tannaim R. Eleazar b. Simeon is mentioned a few times.

Tseno Ureno

The book was written by Rabbi Jacob ben Isaac Ashkenazi (1550–1625) of Janowa (near Lublin, Poland), and mixes Biblical passages with teachings from Judaism's Oral Law such as the Talmud's Aggada and Midrash, which are sometimes called "parables, allegories, short stories, anecdotes, legends, and admonitions" by secular writers.

Zutta

Devarim Zutta, midrash to Deuteronomy which is no longer extant except in references by later authorities

Shir ha-Shirim Zutta, midrash, or, rather, homiletic commentary, on Canticles