MIDRASH.
Meaning and Essence of Midrash (§1).
Date and Structure (§ 2).
Three Tannaitic Midrashim (§3).
Genesis Rabba, Midrashim on Lamentations, Pesi^ta, and
Tanhuma (§ 4). Homiletic Midrashim (§ 5). Other Exegetical Midrashim (§ 6). Compilations (§ 7). Narrative, Ethical, and Esoteric Midrashim (§ 8).
The word midrash occurs in II Chron. xiii. 22, xxiv. 27 (A. V. " story," margin " commentary," R. V. " commentary "), but the meaning in both passages is doubtful. In post-Biblical usage, the verb from which the noun is derived means " to examine, to elucidate," while the noun expresses
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
SEiddleton Midrash
" interpretation," especially the interpretation of Scripture, and then comes to mean the haggadic (i.e., illustrative and practical) or, i. Mean- sometimes, the halachic (i.e., exegeting and ical) commentaries on the Old Testa- Essence of ment, especially such works as the Midrash. Mishna,T osephta, and Talmud (q.v.; cf. W. Bacher, Die dlteste Terminologie der judischen Schriftauslegung, pp. 25 sqq., 103 sqq., Leipsic, 1899). The period of the kingdom in Israel was followed not by a hierocracy but by a rule under the Law (nomocracy), which more and more controlled the common external life and also the spiritual life of Israel. This is indicated by Haggai (ii. 10 sqq.), who makes the priests the recognized teachers of the law, while Ezra's whole striving was to bring the law of Moses into relation with common life. It is no wonder, in view of the changed conditions, that when other institutions were lost the Jews clung fondly to the written law, their only possession from the past. Yet this law was not a complete code; it hardly sufficed for the period immediately following the exile, still less could it supply the need when a fuller development of national life had bloomed. It had to be fitted to these later times and to be expanded, and this was done by the process of midrash. The name given to this activity was halachic, a collection of the results being called halakoth. The first authoritative collection of this material is that of Judah ha-Nasi, another is the Tosephta, while very early halachic material is found in the Baraithoth, in the midrashim Mekhilta, Siphra, Siphre, etc. Since the Old Testament was for the Jews the sum total of all that is good, beautiful, and worthful, it followed that it was regarded as the sufficient norm for all purposes of life. The application of this norm to practical purposes was brought about through midrash, but in this relation it was usually called haggada. Haggada sometimes adheres closely to the Scriptural text, sometimes takes it as a starting-point for varied expositions, which latter might be given in the synagogue or at private homes, in public observances as the Sabbath or festival occasions, or at important events of public or private life. (For the rules of halachic and haggadic interpretation, consult H. L. Strack, Einleitung in den Thalmud, VII., § 2, Leipsic, 1900).
In spite of regulations once existent against reducing haggada and halacha to writing, it is abundantly evident that this material did exist in written form as early as the first part of the third century, though the purely haggadic midrashim now extant date from a later time. The time when this reduction to writing took place is dif- 2. Date and ficult to ascertain because of the fre- Structure. quent redactions to which the material at hand has been subjected and because the text has not been carefully transmitted, (cf. L. Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vortrdgeder Juden, Berlin, 1832). Much arduous work upon the manuscripts is necessary before a history of midrashic literature can be written. The most productive midrashic activity dates immediately after the close of the Babylonian Talmud and ends about 1040 a.d., being supplanted by philosophical studies. Many
midrashim contain consecutive exposition of some book of the Old Testament, e.g., Genesis rabba; others consist of homilies based either on the cycle of synagogue readings or on the cycle of feasts. The homilies are usually the development of a theme on the basis of a text or verse of Scripture, and in the homiletic midrashim the compilers have been at pains to collect proems of various kinds to the themes (cf . S. Maybaum, Die dltesten Phasen in der Entwickelung der jiidischen Predigt, i. 14-27, Berlin, 1901). Thus it is reported of Rabbi Meir that his lectures were composed of halachic, haggadic, and illustrative materials, and of Rabbi Thanchum that he prefixed to a halachic lecture a haggadic introduction. The later midrashim often introduce a haggadic lecture by discussion of a halachic problem. The discussion which follows the proem is usually concerned with only a few verses, is often concentrated into a single verse or part of one, for the rest of the section chosen the exposition being rather cursory in character.
In the midrashim Mekhilta (on Exodus), Siphre (on Numbers and Deuteronomy), and Siphra (on Leviticus) two tendencies are discerned, that of the school of Rabbi Akiba and that of the school of his contemporary and opponent Rabbi Ishmael. The second is easily recognized by the
3. Three learned by the names of the teachers
Tannaitic which are given and also by certain Midrashim. technical expressions which appear. Mekhilta was in earlier times included under the term Siphre; it treats of Ex. xii. 1-xxiii. 19, xxxi. 12-17, xxxv. 1-3. Originally this was only halachic in character, the more strictly exegetical material being of later date. Many traces indicate that it covered a larger part of the book than the material which has survived. Editions are: Constantinople, 1515; Venice, 1545; Vienna, 1865; ib. 1870. "Siphre" (a Talmudic plural meaning " books ") was originally a collective designation of the Tannaitic midrashim on Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; when " Mekhilta " was applied to the midrash on Exodus, " Siphre " was applied only to the midrash on Numbers and Deuteronomy. The extant Siphre on Numbers arose in the school of Ishmael, though it is of diverse authorship; the haggadic parts on Deuteronomy also are of that school, but in the legal portions (on chaps, xii.-xxvi.) it suggests the school of Akiba. Editions are: Venice, 1545; Vienna, 1864 (part 1 only). Siphra (" the book ") is halachic and of the school of Akiba, except in viii. 1-x. 8, xviii. 1-5, xxvi. 3-46. It takes its name from the fact that instruction began not with the first book of the Pentateuch, but with the third. The basis is the teaching of Rabbi Judah, a pupil of Akiba; the final redactor was Chiyya the elder, pupil and friend of Judah ha-Nasi. The midrash of Ishmael's school is used only indirectly (cf. Z. Frankel, Hodogetica in Mischnam, pp. 307-311, Leipsic, 1859; D. Hoffmann, Zur Einleitung in die halachischen Midraschim, Berlin, 1887). Editions of Siphra are: Venice, 1545, 1609-11; Bucharest, 1860; Vienna, 1862; Warsaw, 1866.
Genesis rabba, or Bereshith rabba, the larger midrash on Genesis, is probably so called in distinction
Midrash