Midrash
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Hebrew מִדְרָשׁ (midrásh, “Midrash”), in turn from Aramaic דרש.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
Midrash (plural Midrashim or Midrashot or Midrashoth)
- A Rabbinic commentary on a text from the Hebrew Scripture.
- 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 19:
- In other stories of the midrashim, Adam, in penance for his fall, abstains from sexuality for 130 years, but he is not able to control his nocturnal emissions; in his dream state female spirits, the succubae, come and have intercourse with him, and with Adam's seed they give birth to demons.
- The Rabbinic technique or tradition of such exegesis.
- 2007, Karen Armstrong, The Bible: The Biography, Atlantic, published 2008, page 82:
- Midrash was not a purely intellectual pursuit and study was never an end in itself: it had to inspire practical action in the world.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
Rabbinic exegetical commentary
Rabbinic exegetical technique