Reading Midrash - Einzelansicht

Many use the term Midrash, but few have read the texts called midrash. Often called “Rabbinic interpretation of the Hebrew Bible”, the experience of encountering midrash for the first time has often been described as confusing. The writing of midrash stretches from the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism in the second century CE to early medieval times. In modern times it has become customary to distinguish between midrash halakhah and midrash aggadah, i.e., midrash that deals with halakhah versus midrash that deals with non-halakhic matters, otherwise called Aggadah.

Our course will focus on midrash Aggadah, and grapple with basic questions of interpretation:

• What is the relation to the Biblical text?
• What are the various literary forms used by Midrash?
• What is the point of the midrashic interpretation?
• What is the context of this interpretation?
• What is the relation to parallel or related texts?

Selections from Classical midrash aggadah

secondary scholarly texts on aggadah

secondary scholarly texts in literarary theory

Text will be in Hebrew and English. No knowledge of Hebrew required, but ability to read academic texts in English is necessary. Primary texts and secondary scholarly texts will be assigned, and students are required to come prepared to discuss the material. Brief writing assignments will be distributed throughout the course, to be submitted during the course. These will serve as basis for the final grade.

Brief writing assignments will be distributed throughout the course, to be submitted during the course. These will serve as basis for the final grade.

The student will get to know a basic genre of Classical Jewish Literature, and key motifs, ideas, and arguments in Rabbinic Judaism. In order to contextualize the material, secondary scholarly texts will introduce basic terms in literary and cultural studies.