MIDRASH. - Homiletic interpretation of the Bible, carried out by the rabbis from approximately the 2nd to the 10th centuries.
The term comes from dāra, which, both in the forms of the verb and in those of the noun, already occurs in the Old Testament; in post-biblical Hebrew it means: "search for meaning, inquiry, explanation," theoretical study as opposed to practice, "interpretation, exposition" of the sense of Scripture (Aramaic dāra).
The m. tends to deduce from the sacred text whatever was needed for the observance of precepts which, from the end of the prophetic period onward, through the activity of the first scholars ("scribes"), becomes an ever more lively concern. The m. thus becomes the further development of the "Law," now called hālāhāh (v.), "practical norm." In the period of the tannaim (v.), the m. is rich in preceptive elements, which slowly give way to others—haggadic (v. HAGGĀDHĀH), homiletic, narrative, recreative, rich in parables and historical narratives, in meditations, in affective and consoling expressions. Midhrāšic interpretation follows a particular hermeneutics and, given the fascination it exercises over its hearers, is the food of the popular soul. From the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. the midhrāšic production begins to be fixed in writing. In the period of the gē'ōnīm (v.) the nomistic tendency prevails. More recently the m. has been replaced by collections of sermons, or by historical and scientific studies.
The midhrāšic homily begins with an exordium ("opening": pētīhāh), in which the m. links itself to some scriptural text (prophetic or hagiographic or sapiential). The m., however, extends into collections that are based on almost all the books of the Old Testament.
Among the m. of tannaitic character figure the Mēkhīthā' ("measure"), Siphra' ("Book") and Siphrē' ("Books"), which comment on Exodus and Deuteronomy. The principal m. of haggadic character are: the m. rabbāh (Pentateuch and the 5 meghīlāth), the Pēsiqā', Talqūṭ. The "pearl" of midhrāšic homiletic literature is the Tanna' dēbē 'Elījāhī. Of esoteric-gnostic character is the "Book of Creation" (Sēpher jēšīrāh), the pivot of the cabala (v.).
Many m. were translated, in particular by Wünsche, into German.
Bibliography
Eugenio Zolli