The Holy Books of Judaism:  Midrash
Sermon, July 15, 2005
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

Most Jews have heard the story of Abraham and the idols.  One day, when Abraham’s father had to go away on business, he left Abraham in charge of his idol shop.  Abraham took a stick and smashed all of the idols except the largest one.  He placed the stick next to the largest idol.

When his father returned, he could not believe his eyes.  “What happened,” he asked.  Abraham responded, “You would not believe it.  That big idol took this stick and smashed all of the other idols!”

“That’s ridiculous!” his father said, “Idols can’t do that.”

“Then why do people buy them and pray to them asking them to do many things?”

What many Jews do not realize is that this story is not contained in the Torah.  If you read the book of Genesis you will not find it.  This story and many similar to it are found in the Midrash. 

The word Midrash comes from the Hebrew root dalet-resh-shin, meaning to seek or inquire or expound or interpret.  A Midrash is an attempt to interpret a text, usually the Bible.  Now, no single book contains all the Midrash.  Rather, there are many different collections of Midrashim which were compiled throughout Jewish history, beginning in the fourth century (C.E.). 

Like the Mishnah, which I discussed last week, Midrash was originally passed down orally, and is considered part of the Oral Torah which God gave Moses at Mt. Sinai.  Eventually, it became necessary to collect and edit the Midrash so that they would be preserved for future generations.

Midrashim pertaining to Genesis were collected into a work entitled Beresheet Rabbah, the Great Genesis.  Midrashim pertaining to portions of Exodus were collected into a work called the Mechilta of Rabbi Ishmael, the Treatise of Rabbi Ishmael.  A few centuries later, another collection of Midrashim about Exodus was created and called Sh’mot Rabbah, the Great Exodus. 

In fact, there are many different collections of Midrashim on the books of the Torah compiled in different places in different centuries.  A particular story or Midrash will often be found in many collections, and it is possible to trace the development of a particular Midrash through a number of stages.  The Talmud contains many Midrashim that are also found in collections of Midrash, and some that are only found in the Talmud. 

And since Midrash is a process of textual interpretation, it continues to this day.  When writers such as Elie Wiesel offer their interpretations of biblical stories, they are creating what is sometimes called modern Midrash.

Collections of Midrash fall into two categories:  Midrash halachah and Midrash aggadah.  Midrash halachah, legal Midrash, helps us understand and interpret the laws of Torah. For example, in Leviticus we are told, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear a grudge…” (19:18). The midrash explains these statements thusly:  “If a person says, ‘I will not lend you the tool you require, because you did not lend it to me when I asked for it,’ that is vengeance.  If a person says, ‘I will lend you the tool even though you refused to lend it when I asked for it,’ that is bearing a grudge.” 

Another example of midrash halachah is the rabbis’ interpretation of the biblical teaching “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” (Exodus 21).  Rather than interpret this verse literally, the rabbis insisted that the text referred to monetary compensation.  The rabbis recognized that stories were often the best way to clarify and explain biblical passages, even legal texts.

All other midrash falls under the category of midrash aggadah, which includes “narrative literature, parables, theological or ethical statements, and homilies.”  These midrashim were created to fill in the gaps in the biblical text, to answer the reader’s questions, to expand on the stories and in many ways to make them relevant to a new generation of readers.  Some collections of midrash are sermons that rabbis gave about a particular Torah portion or holiday.

Understanding midrash is in many ways like playing Jeopardy.  Midrash is often an answer to a question; but since the question is not stated, the reader must figure it out.  For example, the midrash about Abraham and the idols answers the question, “Why did God choose Abraham?”  The midrash demonstrates that unlike his fellow countrymen, Abraham rejected idol worship, and was therefore the ideal person to begin a religion that would oppose idolatry.

The Bible is an ideal text for the creation of midrash, for it provides few details in its narrative passages and often raises more questions than it answers.  Literary critic Erich Auerbach, comparing the Bible to Homer’s Odyssey, wrote that “the Bible is loath to tell us the motivations, feelings, or thoughts of characters.  Rarely giving us descriptive details of people or places, it is written in a stark, uncompromising style.”  (Holtz, Back to the Sources, p. 180).

Barry Holtz writes, “Midrash comes to fill in the gaps, to tell us the details that the Bible teasingly leaves out:  what did Isaac think as his father took him to be sacrificed?  The Bible doesn’t tell us, but Midrash fills it in with rich and varied descriptions.  Why did Cain kill Abel?  Once gain the Bible is silent, but Midrash is filled with explanation…. The human mind desires answers, motivations, explanations.  Where the Bible is mysterious and silent, Midrash comes to unravel the mystery.”

James Kugel suggests that the process of creating midrash in ancient times was similar to the process of circulating jokes in our day.  He writes that midrashim “were a kind of joking, a learned and sophisticated play about the biblical text, and like jokes they were passed on, modified and improved as they went, until a great many of them eventually entered into the common inheritance of every Jew, passed on in learning with the text of the Bible itself.” (Prooftexts, vol.3, no. 2, p. 147).

Midrash was limited only by the imagination of the rabbis and some had incredible imaginations.  For example, in the first chapter of Genesis, God says:  “Let us make man in our image” (1:26).  You are probably thinking:  Who is “us”?  So were the rabbis, who offered this answer:

“When God came to create the first human being, the ministering angels divided into groups and parties, some saying:  ‘Let him not be created,’ and others saying:  ‘Let him be created….’  The angel of mercy said:  ‘Let him be created for he will be merciful,’ but the angel of truth said:  ‘Let him not be created for he will be all lies.’  The angel of righteousness said:  ‘Let him be created, for he will do righteous deeds;’ the angel of peace said:  ‘Let him not be created, for he is full of strife.’  While the angels were arguing, God created the first human being and said:  ‘Why do you argue?  A human being is already made.’” (Beresheet Rabbah 8:5)

This midrash is only one of many which answer the question.  The rabbis were not fundamentalists, searching for the right answer or the correct interpretation.  Rather, they understood that there could be a variety of answers to a given question, and each one could add to our appreciation of the text.

Midrash, thus provides a virtually unlimited source for biblical interpretation, as rabbis and other readers attempt to better understand the text, to make it relevant to their lives and to pass it on to the next generation.  We not only can see how individuals throughout Jewish history made meaning of these stories, but we, too, can participate in the process of creating midrash. 

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