Midrash Unbound: Transformations and Innovations(The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

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.

Table of Contents:
Note on Transliteration Introduction - Michael Fishbane and Joanna Weinberg Part I Origins and Subsurface Traditions 1 Midrash and the Meaning of Scripture - Michael Fishbane 2 The Hand upon the Lord’s Throne: Targumic and Midrashic Perceptions of Exodus 17: 14--16 - Robert Hayward 3 Unwashed Hands: A Midrashic Controversy in the Gospel of Matthew - Piet van Boxel 4 ‘Tradunt Hebraei . . .’ The Problem of the Function and Reception of Jewish Midrash in Jerome - Alison Salvesen 5 Midrash in Syriac - Sebastian Brock Part II Later Midrashic Forms 6 Piyut and Midrash: Between Poetic Invention and Rabbinic Convention - Michael Fishbane 7 The Mourners of Zion and the Suffering Messiah: Pesikta rabati 34---Structure, Theology, and Content - Philip Alexander 8 The Toledot jeshu as Midrash  - William Horbury 9 Storytelling as Midrashic Discourse in the Middle Ages - Eli Yassif 10 Performative Midrash in the Memory of Ashkenazi Martyrs - Ivan G. Marcus Part III Medieval Transformations 11 Midrash in a Leixical Key: The Arukh of Nathan ben Yehiel - Joanna Weinberg 12 Rashi’s Choice: The {H.}umash Commentary as Rewritten Midrash - Ivan G. Marcus 13 The Pendulum of Exegetical Methodology: From the Peshat to the Derash and Back - Sara Japhet 14 Midrashic Texts and Methods in Tosafist Torah Commentaries - Ephraim Kanarfogel 15 Zoharic Literature and Midrashic Temporality - Elliot Wolfson Part IV Early Modern and Modern Traditions 16 The Ingathering of Midrash Rabbah - Benjamin Williams 17 Midrash in Medieval and Early Modern Sermons - Marc Saperstein 18 Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague and his Attitude to the Aggadah - Jacob Elbaum 19 The Destruction of the Temple: A Yiddish Booklet for the Ninth of Av - Jacob Elbaum and Chava Turniansky 20 Midrash in Habad Hasidism - Naftali Loewenthal Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author :
Michael Fishbane is Professor of Jewish Studies in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, an elected fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research and holder of a Lifetime Award for Textual Studies from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture in America. Joanna Weinberg is Professor of Early Modern Jewish History and Rabbinics at the University of Oxford.

Review :
'[Midrash Unbound] is, both in the field of Judaism but also in the various historical disciplines of religious studies and theology, indispensable.' Görge K. Hasselhoff, Brill Review  'Midrash Unbound is a significant and substantial contribution to the study of midrashic literature, method and process as manifested in diverse Jewish sources and select non-Jewish writings, from Late Antiquity to the Modern age. Fishbane and Weinberg have brought together an impressive array of scholars to explore the nature of Midrash in varied historical and geographical contexts, pointing out, as the aptly chosen title suggests, transformations and innovations in the development of the genre. [...] It is a volume that enriches and meaningfully extends discussion on how we can understand Midrash and its development in diverse literary forms and historical contexts.' Dr Helen Spurling, BAJS Review