The Classic Midrash: Tannaitic Commentaries on the Bible (Classics of Western Spirituality)

By Reuven Hammer

Book Overview

"Paulist Press deserves credit for adding this new dimension to interfaith dialogue." The Jewish Spectator Classic Midrash, The: Tannaitic Commentaries on the Bible translation, introduction and commentaries by Reuven Hammer, preface by Judah Goldin Do you want to come to know He Who Spoke and the world came into being? Learn haggada (rabbinic lore) for by doing that you will come to know He Who Spoke and the world came into being and hold fast to His ways. Sifre Deuteronomy 49 Midrash (from the Hebrew root "to seek out"), which contains both legendary and legal material, is both a process and a product. It reflects the process of searching the text of Scripture in order to better understand it and apply it to life. Begun by the Sages of Israel when the Torah was canonized by Ezra in the fifth century B.C.E., its classic period culminated in the editing of the Tannaitic Midrashim (the "product") in the land of Israel in the fourth to fifth centuries C.E. The classic midrash presented here is a collective work. Although presenting interpretations in the name of individual Sages, it has no one author: rather, it reflects the collective wisdom of the leaders of Pharisaic Judaism which later became Rabbinic Judaism. Each succeeding generation added its own layer and remained a part of the ongoing process. Multiple interpretations are presented. There is no one way of understanding the word of God. There are always new levels of meaning to be uncovered. Midrash is the enemy of fundamentalism. Simplistic, literalistic interpretation of a text is its death knell. Rather than closing the text, midrash opens it up and emphasizes the interaction between the reader and the text. This volume presents and introduction to midrash in general and to these specific Tannaitic works, explaining the history and development of midrash as well as its methodology and message. It then offers translations of major sections of these works, with a commentary to each section and a running commentary to the text to help the reader understand the midrash, its background and its meaning. No student of the Bible should read it without the insight of the classic Sages. No student of religion should neglect the insights of these masters of the spirit. No student of culture and literature should ignore the methods and the products embodied in these creations. No one concerned with the problems of being human in this day and age should ignore the answers to these problems, which are found in these classic works. +

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809135035
• ISBN13: 9780809135035
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Paulist Press
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Valuable Reading For the Jew and Non-Jew Alike

The Classic Midrash is a series of Biblical commentaries written by the Sages - Rabbinical scholars after the fall of the second temple in 70 CE. Reading the Midrash is a lifetime work, and I would be unable to do it justice in a single reading and a single review. The Midrash reminded me that scriptual reading takes on many levels, including allegorical, literal and symbolic, and that there is a depth to our Western scripture that can and does keep us coming back to it for thousands of years. There is also a not so subtle reminder that the Pentateuch in Hebrew holds a deeper meaning than any translations could, given common word roots, gematria and "sounds like" elements that are unfortunately lost in translation. Rabbi Hammer does a nice job of providing commentaries on the commentaries - which were necsessary for me as the work was not written for the modern reader, is not in Hebrew, and I am not Jewish and so would miss many of the subtleties and cutural references but for his well written exegesis. If you have an interest in the Bible, in studying religious history, Judacia or want to get in touch with Western Spirituality, this is a good book. It is also one in a long series of Classics of Western Spirituality published by Paulist Press which covers a broad landscape in a scholaraly way.

classic Midrash Tannaitic Commentaries

A good resource book for a Jewish library in the home