Have you ever been puzzled by contradictions in the Bible? Or wondered why there are four Gospels, three sets of Ten Commandments, or two creation stories at the beginning of Genesis? Beginning with the first pages of Genesis, the Bible tells most of its stories through multiple versions, which contain both similarities and disagreements. The inherent arguments in Scripture did not seem to bother the Jewish faith. A practice called midrash developed in Judaism sometime before the days of Jesus. Rabbis and scholars sparred over opposing passages, developed theological arguments, and filled gaps in biblical stories with their own understandings. This book will use the threefold prayer of St. John of the Cross to allow the divergent voices in Scripture to speak and practice midrash with each other, enabling the reader to join the conversation. The contradictions and arguments have a divine purpose. Not only did they prompt the Bible's evolution over hundreds of years, but have enabled it to remain a living word for thousands of years. This pluralism in the Bible is good news for the faithful living in a multi-cultural, pluralistic age.

Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer represents a late development in “midrash”, or classical rabbinic interpretation, that has enlightened, intrigued and frustrated scholars of Jewish culture for the past two centuries. Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer’s challenge to scholarship includes such issues as the work’s authorship and authenticity, an asymmetrical literary structure as well as its ambiguous relationship with a variety of rabbinic, Islamic and Hellenistic works of interpretation. This cluster of issues has contributed to the confusion about the work’s structure, origins and identity. Midrash and Multiplicity addresses the problems raised by this equivocal work, and uses Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer in order to assess the nature of “midrash”, and the renewal of Jewish interpretive culture, during its transition to the medieval era of the early “Geonim”.

This theological commentary to the Rabbinic Midrash explores a simple proposition, in three parts. I. The reading of Scripture by principal parts of the Rabbinic Midrash is formed by compositions and composites that are animated by a cogent theological system. II. These primary components of the Midrash-compilations, further, are in part aimed at systematic demonstrations of theorems of a theological character. III. While forming a principal part of a large theological structure and system, each document is unique. This commentary in its concluding chapter presents what is common to the animating theology of Rabbinic Judaism in all its documentary components and what is unique to Leviticus Rabbah.

Midrash provides a revolutionary guide through the most difficult passages of our life stories. This groundbreaking volume examines the spiritual shortfalls of our current healing environment and explores how midrash can help you see beyond the physical aspects of healing to tune in to your spiritual source. Pushing the boundaries of Jewish knowledge, physicians, rabbis, social workers, psychologists and philosophers investigate the role of midrashic thinking in addressing seemingly intractable social and personal issues. Topics discussed include: How metaphors and parables can aid healing How Jewish tradition can inform and enrich health, hospice and nursing-home care New ways of reading Jewish texts in the discussion of medical ethics The role of community in addressing aging, loss and suffering.

This collection of original materials provides a sweeping view of medieval and early modern Jewish ritual and religious practice. Including such diverse texts as ritual manuals, legal codes, mystical books, autobiographical writings, folk literature, and liturgical poetry, it testifies to the enormous variety of practices that characterized Judaism in the twelve hundred years between 600 and 1800 C.E. Its focus on religious practice and experience--how Judaism was actually lived by people from day to day--makes this anthology unique among the few sourcebooks available. The volume encompasses the broad scope and complex texture of Jewish religious practice, taking into account many aspects of Jewish culture that have hitherto been relatively neglected: the religious life of ordinary people, the role and status of women, art and aesthetics, and marginalized as well as remote Jewish communities. It introduces such remarkable personalities as Moses Maimonides, Leon Modena, and Gluckel of Hameln, and presents extraordinary texts on festival practice, Torah study, mystical communities, meditation, exorcism, the practice of charity, and folk rites marking birth and death. Representing state-of-the-art scholarship by distinguished academics from around the world, the volume includes many materials never before translated into English. Each text is preceded by an accessible introduction, making this book suitable for college and university students as well as a general audience. Whether read as a deliberate course of study or dipped into selectively for a glimpse into fascinating Jewish lives and places, Judaism in Practice holds rich rewards for any reader.

In this book Kadushin examines each rabbinic text or sequence of homilies in order to uncover specific value concepts which are reflected in them either explicitly or implicitly. After skillfully revealing these value concepts, he proceeds to elucidate them in light of the midrashic context under consideration, and then discusses their meanings and significance within the entire rabbinic value complex. These explications, based upon Kadushin’s conceptual approach, clarify the frequently obscure nexus between the biblical citations, which initially served as verbal stimuli, and the rabbinic comments, which appear to be so far removed from them. Furthermore, Kadushin adroitly demonstrates the similarities and differences in meaning and nuance between the distinctive levels of usage, particularly when analyzing rabbinic texts in which conceptual terms are employed. In addition, Kadushin’s notes underscore the organismic relationship and interdependence of all rabbinic value concepts, highlight the indeterminacy of belief and the genuine emphatic trends that distinguish rabbinic Judaism. His notes also call attention to the special character of the rabbinic religious experience which he had earlier described as normal mysticism.

Nonviolence for the soul. Nonviolence for the world. The future of democracy. How are we going to find our way through all the polarizations to a new world that works for everyone? Against the backdrop of his Quaker heritage and his own life story, Dan Snyder brings together the four disciplines of theology, depth psychology, strategic nonviolence, and spirituality. The resulting conversation points toward a reimagining of God, self, and world. We can be both incredibly joyful and deeply responsible citizens. We can drink from the deep wells of compassion and mercy. Those wells are fed by hidden springs that are beyond fixed ideologies, beyond belief and doubt, beyond action and inaction, even beyond all of our convictions about religious, moral, or political correctness. We are created by Love, for love. We drink deeply from Love’s hidden spring when we learn to pray in the dark.

This volume includes commentary and interpretation of Scripture taken from the early rabbinic masters, the Tannaim, along with a running explanation of their theological, literary and historical importance. The editing of the Tannaitic Midrashim took place in the Land of Israel in the 4th to 5th centuries C.E.

Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck's Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash is an important reference work for illustrating the concepts, theological background, and cultural assumptions of the New Testament. The commentary walks through each New Testament book verse by verse, referencing potentially illuminating passages from the Talmud and Midrash and providing easy access to the rich textual world of rabbinic material. Volume 1 comments on the Gospel of Matthew. Originally published between 1922 and 1928 as Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, Strack and Billerbeck's commentary has been unavailable in English until now.

The Rabbis of classical Judaism, in the first six centuries of the Common Era, commented on the teachings of ancient Israel's prophets and shaped, as much as they were shaped by, prophecy. They commented on much of the Scriptural heritage and they made it their own. This collection of the Rabbinic comments on biblical books makes easily accessible the Rabbinic reading of the prophetic heritage and opens the way to the study of how normative Judaism responded to the challenge of the prophetic writings.