Midrash

Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש) is from the root darash, meaning to seek, to inquire, or to investigate[1]. The literal sense is the seeking out or interpretive investigation of a text, especially scripture. The term names both a mode of rabbinic reading and a body of literature that records that reading[2].

midrash is not merely commentary in the narrow sense; it can be imaginative, legal, narrative, and theological.

Midrash is the classical rabbinic practice of close, often imaginative interpretation of biblical texts. It addresses gaps in the narrative, theological questions raised by the text, contradictions and difficulties, and the ongoing application of scripture to Jewish life[3]. Midrash is not commentary in the narrow modern sense; it includes legal analysis, narrative expansion, ethical reflection, theological speculation, and creative retelling.

The classical midrashic collections were redacted in the centuries after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) through the early medieval period[2]. Major works include Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and the other Rabbah collections; the Mekhilta on Exodus; the Sifra on Leviticus; the Sifre on Numbers and Deuteronomy; and the Midrash Tehillim on Psalms. Each follows particular interpretive patterns and serves particular communities.

Two broad categories are distinguished: midrash halakhah (legal midrash) explores the legal implications of biblical texts and is closely related to the development of halakhah; midrash aggadah (narrative or non-legal midrash) explores stories, characters, theology, and ethics[2]. The two often appear together in the same collections.

Midrash is also a method that continues. Contemporary rabbis and scholars produce new midrashic readings of biblical texts, sometimes addressing modern concerns (feminist midrash, environmental midrash, midrash on the Holocaust). The midrashic mode of reading, attentive to gaps and questions in the text, continues to shape Jewish engagement with scripture[3].

Midrash studies has developed significantly in recent decades. Daniel Boyarin's Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash[4], Jacob Neusner's many works, James Kugel's writing on biblical interpretation[5], and others have established the field. Comparative work has placed midrash alongside other interpretive traditions including Christian patristic exegesis and Islamic tafsir.

• Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrashby Daniel Boyarin
  book
• The Bible as It Wasby James L. Kugel
  book