Midrash
The rabbinic genre of creative biblical interpretation — filling gaps, drawing moral lessons, and reading the text in surprising directions.
Summary. Midrash (literally “inquiry” or “search”) is the rabbinic genre of creative interpretation of the Tanakh. There are two main types: Midrash Halacha (deriving legal rulings from the text) and Midrash Aggadah (deriving narrative, ethical, and theological insights). The great Midrashic collections — Bereshit Rabbah, Vayikra Rabbah, Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Tanchuma, Midrash Tehillim — were compiled between the 3rd and 11th centuries and continue to be drawn upon by every Jewish commentator. Midrash is the imagination of the tradition.
Two Types
Midrash Halacha derives legal rulings from the close reading of the Torah’s text. The major Tannaitic Midrash Halacha collections are the Mekhilta (on Shemot), Sifra (on Vayikra), Sifrei (on Bamidbar and Devarim), Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and others. Midrash Aggadah collects the rabbinic narrative, ethical, and theological readings. The great Aggadic collections include Bereshit Rabbah, Vayikra Rabbah, Eichah Rabbah, the Pesikta literature, Tanchuma, the Yalkutim (later anthological collections), and Midrash Tehillim.
How Midrash Reads
Midrashic interpretation operates by attention to the smallest features of the text — extra words, unusual phrasings, repetitions, juxtapositions of unrelated verses, gematriot (numerical values), notarikon (acronymic readings). A famous example: Bereshit 1:1 begins with the letter bet rather than aleph; the Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 1:10) reads in the bet the meaning bracha (blessing) — the world was created in a state of blessing — and reads from the choice of bet rather than aleph various lessons about the relation of creation to mathematics, theology, and ethics.
The Status of Midrashic Material
Midrash Halacha has the binding force of Halacha; the rulings derived in Midrash Halacha are part of the Oral Torah. Midrash Aggadah does not have legal force; its readings are valued for their depth, beauty, and ethical insight but are not Halachically binding. The Rambam (Guide for the Perplexed III:43) noted that Midrash Aggadah operates more in the manner of poetry than of legislation; one need not commit to every Midrashic statement as literal historical claim.
Why It Matters
The medieval Jewish commentators — Rashi above all — are saturated in Midrash. To read Rashi is to read a curated selection of Midrashic material brought to bear on the parshah. The Midrash continues to shape Jewish self-understanding, the holiday liturgies (much of the Pesach Haggadah is Midrash), and the contemporary Jewish ethical imagination. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’s weekly parshah essays were a contemporary master class in working with Midrash.
Where Denominations Diverge
Midrash is universally valued across all denominations. Modern Orthodox and Conservative scholars have done much of the recent scholarly work; Reform Judaism’s historic preference for ethical-prophetic religion has often elevated Midrash Aggadah as the more accessible material. Renewal Judaism and feminist commentary (e.g., the Women’s Torah Commentary) have produced new Midrash in a continuation of the genre.
Sources
Bereshit Rabbah; Vayikra Rabbah; Eichah Rabbah; Tanchuma; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana; Mekhilta; Sifra; Sifrei; Midrash Tehillim.
Talmud Bavli, Berachot 11b; Megillah 3a (on the relationship of Midrash to Torah).
Rambam, Moreh Nevuchim III:43.
Midrash — Sefaria.
What Is Midrash? — Chabad.org.
Further Reading
James Kugel, The Bible As It Was.
Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire.
Yair Zakovitch, Inner-Biblical and Extra-Biblical Midrash.
Aviva Zornberg’s entire corpus.