Musings on Midrash - what's it all about?

                           B"H

 If you're reading this, then ברוכים הבאים! In the spirit of the day come into the metaphorical Sukka, pull up a chair, and make yourself at home. Sorry about the lack of decor, but as this blog is intended to outlast Sukkot hopefully when you next pop in there will be more to see :-)

Why this blog?


I've been interested in Aggadic literature and particularly Midrash Aggadah (i.e. aggadah which is specifically linked to the Biblical text) for some years. What fascinates me is how this literature - which for ease I will refer to as 'Midrash' from now on - can take the smallest word, or even a single unexplained letter or piece of punctuation, and use it as a springboard for textual interpretation. Often, this results not only in deeper insights into the original text itself, but also into other Biblical texts and wider concepts in Jewish thought etc. And in true 'two Jews, three opinions' style you will often also find conflicting midrashic interpretations of a text which, in being resolved, themselves yield fresh insights.


I first realised this three years ago while writing one of my final-year dissertations for my English Lit degree. The said dissertation was on how a traditional Scottish ballad had been reworked by modern writers in ways which brought out new levels of meaning from the original ballad. It was then that I had a 'Eureka' moment - why not do the same for my Torah learning and look at exactly how Midrash brings out the Torah text's deeper meaning?


So, after a few years of gradually improving my learning while also focusing on other things (like becoming officially Jewish...), I now feel it's a good time to finally tackle this project. Hopefully it will also give me something to get my teeth into learning-wise at least over the next year, if not for far longer. 


How will the blog work?


Each week, I will take the upcoming Shabbat's parsha, pick one or two interesting midrashim, analyse these and hopefully pull together an interesting dvar Torah. I will try and get each week's dvar posted by Thursday, although the first two posts (Bereishit and Noach) may end up being a double-posting after the chagim as I would rather wait until after Simchat Torah to finalise the post for Bereishit.


Whenever you feel like it (hopefully each week but it's completely up to you), you can visit this blog to read my musings. I would really appreciate it if you could take some time to comment, share your own thoughts, or even just let me know you've read the blog, as when other pressures such as work/gigs etc. kick in it will be much easier to stay motivated if I know there are interested readers out there. Plus, if I make it to the second part of Shemot/Vayikra I really will need some support as I always find these much harder to relate to than the 'narrative' parts of Torah...

I may also start learning the Parsha with a chevruta sometime after the chagim, in which case whoever ends being my chevruta is welcome to do their own posts as well!  




About me - important background facts.



For anyone reading this who doesn't know me, I am a 20-something giyoret (convert) living in NW London. This means the following:

1) I have not had the benefit of a formal Jewish education, either at school or (to date) at sem. My Jewish learning has therefore been a hodge-podge of tutoring for my conversion, various regular/ad-hoc shiurim at university and in NW London over the past 6 years, and a lot of personal reading.  

2) On the other hand, as above I do have an English Lit degree from a fairly respectable university. I will inevitably therefore be bringing some of the skills and methodologies from this to my learning of Midrash, whether consciously or unconciously.


3) While I will do my best to work from the original Torah and Midrash sources in Hebrew, ultimately I will rely on translations of these and of any commentaries. I may also transliterate some source texts in posts, as I cannot always rely on being able to post in block script as above.

So...if any of what I write over the coming year appears slightly unconventional, controversial, or just plain inaccurate, please bear points 1)-3) in mind before responding as the chances are that I am not being intentionally unconventional etc. If I do intend to be controversial (which may happen once or twice ;-), I will make this clear at the outset.  In all cases, (constructive) comments are welcome. 

Sources

Finally, for reference here are the main sources I will be relying on:

Midrash - Metsudah Midrash Tanchuma  (pointed Hebrew, English translation and English footnotes). So far I only have Bereishit I and II - as I get the impression this particular work is not easily obtainable in the UK, suggestions as to where I could lay my hands on the rest of the set from Shemot onwards would be v. welcome.
Chumash - Stone edition with English translation and commentary
Tanakh - JPS (for the English translation). Open to other suggestions as long as they don't break the bank.
Methodology - while I'm not entirely relying on this, I will be using 'Learning to Read Midrash' (Simi Peters) as an important aid. 
Any other texts will be referred to as appropriate in each post.