THE MIDRASH

For centuries, the rabbis of the Land of Israel and Babylonia asked the Torah questions no one else thought to ask. Why does the very first word of Genesis open with that particular letter? What did Cain and Abel really quarrel about? What did Abraham say when God announced the fate of Sodom? Their answers, gathered into the collections called the Midrash, are some of the most inventive, humane, and surprising writing in the history of religion.

This volume is a guided journey through the whole range of that tradition, arranged by its great collections: the early legal commentaries on Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; Genesis Rabbah and the other Rabbah volumes; the festival sermons of the Pesikta and the Tanhuma; the legends of Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer; the ethical teaching of Avot de-Rabbi Natan; and the later midrash on Psalms and Proverbs.

Every passage is an original retelling in modern English, with its source named so that you can find the original, followed by plain-spoken explanation of how the rabbis read the verse and why. Both strands of the tradition are here: Halakha, the way of law and practice, and Aggadah, the way of parable, legend, and wonder.

You will meet Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Ishmael, Hillel, and the unnamed preachers of the ancient synagogue. You will learn the interpretive rules they used, and you will see how they imagined creation, the garden, the flood, the patriarchs, the exodus, the fall of Jerusalem, and the world to come. A glossary, a chronology, and a note on sources help you place every voice.

Written for students, study groups, clergy, and curious readers of any background, this volume assumes no knowledge of Hebrew. It is an introduction to the tradition, not a replacement for studying the original texts with a qualified teacher.