Midrash as mnemonic. A new approach to rabbinic exegesis

Midrash Aggada has many functions, not all purely exegetical, as when it links the eighteen mentions of the Tetragrammaton in Psalm 29 to the eighteen benedictions of the Amida. Starting with this psalm, and moving on to other examples in Midrash Tehillim and elsewhere, the mnemonic functions of mid...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hallo, William W. 1928-2015 (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: College 2003
In: Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Year: 2003, Volume: 74, Pages: 157-174
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Exegesis / Rabbinic Judaism
RelBib Classification:BH Judaism
HB Old Testament
Further subjects:B Memory
B Bible. Psalmen 19
B Midrash
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:Midrash Aggada has many functions, not all purely exegetical, as when it links the eighteen mentions of the Tetragrammaton in Psalm 29 to the eighteen benedictions of the Amida. Starting with this psalm, and moving on to other examples in Midrash Tehillim and elsewhere, the mnemonic functions of midrashim are found to anticipate or replace other aids to memory not or not readily available to rabbinic exegetes, including concordances, dictionaries, masoretic glosses, and chronological frameworks (not to mention printed or written editions of the text). The role here suggested for midrash is thus one of helping to fix the text of scripture in memory. It is not intended to exclude any of the more traditional approaches to midrash, briefly reviewed in the introduction, which understand it as serving in one way or another to interpret that text.
ISSN:0360-9049
Contains:In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion