What Is the Relationship Between Halacha and Aggadah

Midrash

Final Review Spring 2011

Know all the dates in “Intro to Rabinic Lit” slides. Know the names of one Tanna of each generation of Tanaim. Know the names of all books of Tannaitic Midrash, which humash they are on and which school they are from. Know the generation and country of the following Amoraim: Rav, Shmuel, R. Yohanan, Rabbah, Rava and Abaye, Rav Papa, Rav Ashi. Dates for Mishnah, Tosefta, Midrashim, and Talmuds.

I will give you a selection from any text we studies in class and ask you to translate and explain what it is doing and what its significance is.

What is the relationship between Halacha and Aggadah? Cite five sources as well as the writings of Heschel.

What are the three categories of interpreters of Aggadah according to the Rambam. What does R. Abraham ben ha-Rambam add to this discussion?

Reconstruct the setting of the derashot in late antiquity. What sources are relevant here and what can they teach us?

Bavli Shabbat 30 presents what looks like a complete derasha from Amoraic times. What is the structure of this midrash? What is the goal of this structure? What are the themes that run through it and what are the lessons it is teaching?

What are various ways Jews have dealt with the irreligious nature of the book of Esther? What problems present the reader in this regard? How did SecondTemple readers solve the problem and how does the midrash solve it? What do you think is the best answer?

Describe the Petihta format. Provide an example of one.

What is the source of the idea that Rebecca married at 3 years old? Is there an alternate opinion. What can we learn from this about proper and improper use of midrash.

Explain the Mekhilta on Exodus 14:21. What is the problem in the verse? What is the function of Psalm 114 here? How does knowledge of Enuma Elish help explain the theme of this midrash?

What is the myth of Pandora’s jar? How does it appear in the midrash. What aspects of the midrash are the same or different from the original?

What is intertextuality. Provide an example.

Describe the two hermeneutical paradigms discussed by Hadelman. What are the major attributes of each? Which one do you find more intuitive? How can this help us appreciate Midrash?

What are the fundamental points of agreement and disagreement between Handelman and Stern?

What did the seder look like during the times of the Bet haMikdash? What did the seder look like according to the Mishnah? How did the Mishnaic seder develop into the seder we have today? Be specific and cite relevant sources.

Trace the development of the midrash on the four sons. How can this development explain some anomalies in the midrash?

Discuss the origin, method, and purpose of the “Arami Oved Avi” section of the Haggadah.

What is the plot of Shir haShirim perakim 5 and 6? How does the Mekhilta use these chapters to Explain Exodus 15:2? Explain the exegetical steps in the formation of this midrash including other cited or uncited related verses. What is the historical background of this midrash and what does it teach us about the history of martyrdom?

What is the value and purpose of the mashal format? What does the midrash itself say about the goal of mashal – cite 5 meshalim about this. Bring an example of a mashal and explain what the mashal says that couldn’t have been expressed easily without the mashal.

What is the overall structure and message of Vayikra Rabbah, Parasha 1?