Midrash Sentence Examples

The term Midrash, however, more commonly implies agada, i.e.

Very important for the study of Midrashic literature are the Yalgut (gleaning) Shim`oni, on the whole Bible, the Yalqut Mekhiri, on the Prophets, Psalms, Proverbs and Job, and the Midrash ha-gadhol, 2 all of which are of uncertain but late date and preserve earlier material.

In the East, Tanhum ben Joseph of Jerusalem was the author of commentaries (not to be confounded with the Midrash Tanhuma) on many books of the Bible, and of an extensive lexicon (Kitab al-Murshid) to the Mishnah, all in Arabic.

The two parts are distinguished by difference of style; the Hebrew principle of parallelism of clauses is employed far more in the first than in the second, which has a number of plain prose passages, and is also rich in uncommon compound terms. In view of these differences there is ground for holding that the second part is a separate production which has been united with the first by an editor, an historical haggadic sketch, a midrash, full of imaginative additions to the Biblical narrative, and enlivened by many striking ethical reflections.

As a teacher he was one of the first to discriminate between the various strata in rabbinic records; to him was due the revival of interest in the older Midrash and in the Palestinian Talmud, interest in which had been weak for some centuries before his time.

Homilies, legends, traditional sayings and explanations, in fact every form of Haggadic expansion are utilized by the Targumist, so that at times his works convey the impression more of a late Midrash than of a translation.

A distinct tendency to Midrash is found even here and there in the earlier books.

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

Both contain Halaka and Haggada, although the Mishna itself is essentially Halaka, and the Midrashim are more especially Haggadic; and consequently further information bearing upon Midrash must be sought in the art.

Now, it is subjective history which we find in the earliest references to Midrash.

The religious significance of the past is dominant, and the past is idealized from a later standpoint; and whether the narratives in Chronicles are expressly styled Midrash or not, they are the fruit of an age which sought to inculcate explicitly those lessons which, it conceived, were implied in the events of the past.

So far then, Midrash tends to include moralizing history, whether we call it narrative or romance, attached to names and events, and it is obviously exemplified whenever there are unmistakable signs of untrustworthy amplification and of some explicit religious or ethical aim colouring the narrative.

This, however, is only one of the aspects which have to be taken into consideration when one advances to the Rabbinical Midrash.

Further, the Megillath Ta'anith (" roll of fasts "), an old source with a collection of miscellaneous legends, &c.; Megillath Antiokhos, on the martyrdom under Hadrian; Seder`Olam Rabbah, on biblical history from Adam to the rebellion of Bar Kokba (Barcocheba); the " Book of Jashar "; the Chronicle of Jerahmeel," &c. Liturgical Midrash is illustrated by the Haggada shel Pesah, part of the ritual recited at the domestic service of the first two Passover evenings.

What is practically Mishnic Hebrew continued to be used in Midrash for some centuries.

The Chronicler tells us that he has drawn his facts from the Midrash (commentary) of the prophet Iddo.

It is not logically distinguishable from the halakha, for the latter or forensic element makes up with the haggada the Midrash, but, being more popular than the halakha, is often itself styled the Midrash.

His editions of the Midrash are the standard texts.

Friedmann, while inspired with regard for tradition, dealt with the Rabbinic texts on modern scientific methods, and rendered conspicuous service to the critical investigation of the Midrash and to the history of early homilies.

The view propounded by Clarke may have been derived from the Midrash, the Kabbalah, Philo, Henry More, or Cudworth, but not from Newton.

The book, which is post-exilic, may therefore be grouped with another Midrash, the Book of Ruth, which also appears to represent a current of thought opposed to the exclusive spirit of Jewish legalism.

The Midrash given by Neubauer has no doubts on this point, as the story is immediately followed by the remark - "Behold we learn how great is the power of alms and tithes!"

In the article Midrash it will be seen that new teaching could justify itself by a reinterpretation of the old writings, and that the traditions of former authoritative figures could become the framework of a teaching considerably later than their age.

Polano (in the Chandos Classics); Chenery, Legends from the Midrash; I.

Midrash, § 4.

Schiller-Szinessy, articles " Midrash," " Mishnah," and " Talmud," in Ency.

Midrash, cover the most important departments of the Rabbinical literature, and may be supplemented from the critical Jewish journals, e.g.

The fact that its legendary material is drawn from Arabic sources, as well as from Talmud, Midrash and later Jewish works, would seem to show that the writer lived in Spain, or, according to others, in south Italy.

More recently Lamar Cope has suggested that Paul did not originally write 10,1-22 it came from an early midrash 5.

In both classes, accepted tradition (written or oral) was reinterpreted in order to justify or to deduce new teaching (in its widest sense), to connect the present with a hallowed past, and to be a guide for the future; and the prevalence of this process, the innumerable different examples of its working, and the particular application of the term Midrash to an important section of Rabbinical literature complicates both the study of the subject and any attempt to treat it concisely.'

Midrash Rabbah (or Rabboth), a large collection of very diverse origin and date, probably not completed before the 13th century.

To him were attributed the important legal homilies called Sifre and Mekhilta (see Midrash), and above all the Zohar, the Bible of the Kabbalah.

This feature recurs in later Palestinian literature (see Midrash, Talmud) where there are later forms of thought and tradition, some elements of which although often of older origin, are almost or entirely wanting in the Old Testament.

Aqiba had an important share in the early development of the Mishnah (Strack, pp. 19, 89); and, in the collecting of material, he was followed notably by the school of Ishmael (about 130-160 A.D.), which has left its mark upon the early halakic Midrashim (see Midrash, § 5, i-3).

Hence arises Midrash, exposition, from darash to "investigate" a scriptural passage.

Of this halakhic Midrash we possess that on Exodus, called Mekhilta, that on Leviticus, called Sifra, and that on Numbers and Deuteronomy, called Sifre.