Midrash Unbound: Transformations and Innovations

by Michael Fishbane (Editor), Joanna Weinberg (Editor)

Overview

Midrash is arguably the most ancient genre of Jewish literature, forming a voluminous body of scriptural exegesis over the course of centuries. There is hardly anything in the ancient rabbinic universe that was not taught through this medium. The diversity and development of that creative profusion are presented here in a new light. The contributors cover a broad range of texts, from late antiquity to the modern period and from all the centres of literary creativity, including non-rabbinic and non-Jewish literature, so that the full extent of the modes and transformations of Midrash can be fully appreciated. A comprehensive introduction situates Midrash in its historical and cultural setting, pointing to creative adaptations within the tradition and providing a sense of the variety of genres and applications discussed in the body of the book. Bringing together an impressive array of the leading names in the field, the volume is innovative in both its scope and content, seeking to open a new period in the study of Midrash and its creative role in the formation of culture.It should be of interest to all scholars of Jewish studies, as well as to a wider readership interested in the interrelationships between hermeneutics, culture, and creativity, and especially in the afterlife of a classical genre and its ability to inspire new creativity in many forms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781906764913
Publisher:	Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
Publication date:	07/28/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Michael Fishbane is the Nathan Cummings Distinguished Service Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Chicago.

Joanna Weinberg is Professor of Early Modern Jewish History and Rabbinics at the University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors vii

Note on Transliteration viii

Introduction Michael Fishbane Joanna Weinberg 1

Part I Origins and Subsurface Traditions

1 Midrash and the Meaning of Scripture Michael Fishbane 13

2 The Hand upon the Lord's Throne: Targumic and Midrashic Perceptions of Exodus 17: 14-16 Robert Hayward 25

3 Unwashed Hands: A Midrashic Controversy in the Gospel of Matthew Piet Van Boxel 41

4 'Tradunt Hebraei': The Problem of the Function and Reception of Jewish Midrash in Jerome Alison Salvesen 57

5 Midrash in Syriac Sebastian Brock 83

Part II Later Midrashic Forms

6 Piyut and Midrash: Between Poetic Invention and Rabbinic Convention Michael Fishbane 99

7 The Mourners for Zion and the Suffering Messiah: Pesikta rabati 34-Structure, Theology, and Context Philip Alexander 137

8 The Toledot yeshu as Midrash William Horbury 159

9 Storytelling as Midrashic Discourse in the Middle Ages Eli Yassif 169

10 Performative Midrash in the Memory of Ashkenazi Martyrs Ivan G. Marcus 197

Part III Medieval Transformations

11 Midrash in a Lexical Key: Nathan ben Yehiel's Arukh Joanna Weinberg 213

12 Rashi's Choice: The Pentateuch Commentary as Rewritten Midrash Ivan G. Marcus 233

13 The Pendulum of Exegetical Methodology: From Peshat to Derash and Back Sara Japhet 249

14 Midrashic Texts and Methods in Tosafist Torah Commentaries Ephraim Kanarfogel 267

15 Zoharic Literature and Midrashic Temporality Elliot Wolfson 321

Part IV Early Modern and Modern Traditions

16 The Ingathering of Midrash Rabbah: A Moment of Creativity and Innovation Benjamin Williams 347

17 Midrash in Medieval and Early Modern Sermons Marc Saperstein 371

18 Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague and his Attitude to the Aggadah Jacob Elbaum 389

19 The Destruction of the Temple: A Yiddish Booklet for the Ninth of Av Jacob Elbaum Chava Turniansky 407

20 Midrash in Habad Hasidism Naftali Loewenthal 429

Index 457