Midrash

Midrash (/ˈmɪdrɑːʃ/; Hebrew: .mw-parser-output .script-hebrew,.mw-parser-output .script-Hebr{font-size:1.15em;font-family:'Ezra SIL','Ezra SIL SR','Keter Aram Tsova','Taamey Ashkenaz','Taamey David CLM','Taamey Frank CLM','Frank Ruehl CLM','Keter YG','Shofar','David CLM','Hadasim CLM','Simple CLM','Nachlieli','SBL BibLit','SBL Hebrew',Cardo,Alef,'Noto Serif Hebrew','Noto Sans Hebrew','David Libre',David,'Times New Roman',Gisha,Arial,FreeSerif,FreeSans}מִדְרָשׁ; pl. Hebrew: מִדְרָשִׁים midrashim) is biblical exegesis by ancient Judaic authorities, using a mode of interpretation prominent in the Talmud.Outline of Bible-related topics—— Tannaitic ———— Exodus ———— Tannaitic ———— Torah ——' A set of interpretive practices, including translation, exegesis, and biblical narratives, that attends to marginalized characters in biblical narratives, specially women and girls, intentionally including and centering on non-Israelite peoples and enslaved persons. Womanist midrash listens to and for their voices in and through the Hebrew Bible, while acknowledging that often the text does not speak, or even intend to speak, to or for them, let alone hear them. In the tradition of rabbinic midrash and contemporary feminist biblical scholarship, womanist midrash offers names for anonymized characters and crafts/listens to/gives voice to those characters.' Midrash (/ˈmɪdrɑːʃ/; Hebrew: .mw-parser-output .script-hebrew,.mw-parser-output .script-Hebr{font-size:1.15em;font-family:'Ezra SIL','Ezra SIL SR','Keter Aram Tsova','Taamey Ashkenaz','Taamey David CLM','Taamey Frank CLM','Frank Ruehl CLM','Keter YG','Shofar','David CLM','Hadasim CLM','Simple CLM','Nachlieli','SBL BibLit','SBL Hebrew',Cardo,Alef,'Noto Serif Hebrew','Noto Sans Hebrew','David Libre',David,'Times New Roman',Gisha,Arial,FreeSerif,FreeSans}מִדְרָשׁ; pl. Hebrew: מִדְרָשִׁים midrashim) is biblical exegesis by ancient Judaic authorities, using a mode of interpretation prominent in the Talmud. Midrash and rabbinic readings 'discern value in texts, words, and letters, as potential revelatory spaces,' writes the Reverend and Hebrew scholar Wilda C. 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.' The term 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 (spoken law and sermons), as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature (haggadah) and occasionally Jewish religious laws (halakha), which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Hebrew Scripture (Tanakh). 'Midrash', especially if capitalized, can refer to a specific compilation of these rabbinic writings composed between 400 and 1200 CE. According to Gary Porson and Jacob Neusner, 'midrash' has three technical meanings: 1) Judaic biblical interpretation; 2) the method used in interpreting; 3) a collection of such interpretations. The Hebrew word midrash is derived from the root of the verb darash (דָּרַשׁ), which means 'resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require', forms of which appear frequently in the Bible. 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'. KJV and ESV translate the word as 'story' in both instances; the Septuagint translates it as βιβλίον (book) in the first, as γραφή (writing) 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.