What is Midrash?

Midrash has come up a number of times in our conversations over the last few weeks. Rachel Held Evans suggests the following link in her Reading Guide for Inspired on understanding midrash:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/midrash-101/

Of note from the article: "Midrash responds to contemporary problems and crafts new stories, making connections between new Jewish realities and the unchanging biblical text."

Rachel Held Evans also suggests the following article from the Jewish Women's Archive as an example of midrash on Rachel and Leah:

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/leah-midrash-and-aggadah

I have frequently found the Jewish Women's Archive to be a source of excellent, thought-provoking material. It's worth a look around if you have more questions or interest in how some stories, especially those about women have been understood over time. Since I mentioned the story of the concubine from Judges 19, here is the Jewish Women's Archive article on the midrash concerning that story:

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/concubine-of-levite-midrash-and-aggadah

Rachel Held Evans interview on The Liturgist

In case you're interested: Rachel Held Evans was recently on the podcast, The Liturgist, and you can hear the episode here: http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/2018/9/20/christian-part-1