Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, particularly the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

and

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine.

Etymology

The Hebrew word () is derived from the Hebrew root , meaning "declare, make known, expound", also known from the common Hebrew verb .Berachyahu Lifshitz, "Aggadah Versus Haggadah : Towards a More Precise Understanding of the Distinction", ''Diné Yisrael'' 24 (2007): page 23 (English section). The majority scholarly opinion is that the Hebrew word ''aggadah'' () and corresponding Aramaic ''aggadta'' (אֲגַדְתָּא) are variants of ''haggadah'' based on a common linguistic shift from ''haphalah'' to ''aphalah'' forms. However, a minority of scholars believe that these words derive from a separate Aramaic root נגד meaning "draw, pull, spread, stretch" (corresponding to the Hebrew root משך or נטה). According to the latter etymology, ''aggadah'' may be seen as "the part of the Torah which draws man towards its teachings", or the teachings which strengthen one's religious experience and spiritual connections, in addition to explaining texts. (See similar re '' Masorah'' – in the sense of "tradition" – at .)

As part of the Oral Torah

The Aggadah is part of

's Oral Torah, the traditions providing the authoritative interpretation of the Written Torah. In this context, the widely-held view in rabbinic literature is that the Aggadah is in fact a medium for the transmission of fundamental teachings (Homiletic Sayings—) or for explanations of verses in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Exegetic Sayings—). Rabbinic thought, therefore, understands much of the Aggadah as containing a hidden, allegorical dimension, in addition to its overt, literal sense. In general, where a literal interpretation contradicts rationality, the rabbis seek an allegorical explanation: "We are told to use our common sense to decide whether an aggada is to be taken literally or not" (Carmell, 2005).

Literal-allegorical teachings

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (17071746), discusses this two-tiered, literal-allegorical mode of transmission of the Aggadah in his ''Discourse on the Haggadot''. He explains that the Oral Law, in fact, comprises two components: the legal component (), discussing the mitzvot and

halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

; and "the secret" component (), discussing the deeper teachings. The Aggadah, along with the

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

, falls under the latter. The rabbis of the Mishnaic era () believed that it would be dangerous to record the deeper teachings in an explicit, mishnah-like, medium. Rather, they would be conveyed in a "concealed mode" and via "paradoxes". (Due to their value, these teachings should not become accessible to those "of bad character"; and due to their depth they should not be made available to those "not schooled in the ways of analysis".) This mode of transmission nevertheless depended on consistent rules and principles such that those "equipped with the keys" would be able to unlock their meaning; to others they would appear as non-rational or fantastic.

Interpretation of the Aggadah

In line with the above, Samuel ibn Naghrillah (9931056), in his "Introduction to the Talmud", states that "Aggadah comprises any comment occurring in the Talmud on any topic which is not a commandment (i.e. which is not halachic) and one should derive from it only that which is reasonable." As regards this,

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

(11381204), in his preface to the tenth chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin (''Perek Chelek''), describes three possible approaches to the interpretation of the Aggadah: * The first approach (usually that of the uneducated) is to accept the Aggadah as literally true, without admission of any hidden, allegorical explanation—even where a literal interpretation runs counter to common sense. Maimonides treats this approach dismissively. * The second approach (usually of "doctors and philosophers") assumes that anything said by the Sages was intended literally, and therefore rejects as impossible the non-rational or fantastic teachings (and consequently these regard the Sages as "simpletons and ignoramuses"). Maimonides does not entirely reject rationalist interpretation, but he opposes an exegetical approach which denies the Aggadah a hidden rationality. "The sages presented their ''drashot'' in a style by which the mind of a fool will reject them because of his way of thinking; it is improper to assign any deficiency to the ''drash''—one may rather suspect that the deficiency is a result of his intellectual shortcomings" (''Commentary on the Mishnah'': Introduction). * The third approach (taken by very few) involves recognising that many Aggadot are intended to teach profound truths, and that the teachings thus operate on two levels: "overt" and "hidden". Thus any impossible assertion was, in fact, intended as a parable; further, where aggadot can be understood literally, they may be taken on this level. This is, in general, the view of the Rabbis. "It is proper ... to carefully analyse he Aggadotnbsp;... when any of these seem far-fetched we must immerse ourselves in the various branches of knowledge until we understand the concepts." (Maimonides, op cit.) Maimonides' approach is also widely held amongst the non-rationalistic,

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...

streams of Judaism—thus, for example, Isaiah Horowitz ( – 1630) holds that "none of these sometimes mind-boggling 'stories' are devoid of profound meaning; if anyone is devoid of understanding, it is the reader" (''Shnei Luchos HaBris'', introduction). See also the Maharal's approach.

In the Talmud and Midrash

The Aggadah is today recorded in the

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

and the

. In the Midrash, the aggadic and halakhic material are compiled as two distinct collections: # The Aggadic Midrashim, generally, are explanatory aggadah, deriving the "sermonic implications" from the biblical text. # The Halakhic Midrashim derive the laws from the text. Many of the Torah commentaries, as well as the Targumim, interpret the Torah text in the light of Aggadic statements, particularly those in the Midrash, and hence contain much material on Aggadah interpretation. Throughout the Talmud, aggadic and halakhic material are interwoven—legal material comprises around 90%. (Tractate Avoth, which has no gemara, deals exclusively with non-halakhic material, though it is not regarded as aggadic in that it focuses largely on character development.) The Talmudic Aggadah, generally, convey the "deeper teachings"—though in concealed mode, as discussed. The aggadic material in the Babylonian Talmud is also presented separately in '' Ein Yaakov'', a compilation of the Aggadah together with commentaries. Well-known works interpreting the Aggadot in the Talmud include: * ''Chiddushei Aggados'' ( Novellæ on the Aggadot) by Samuel Edels (1555–1631). * ''Chiddushei Aggados'' (Novellae on the Aggadot) by Judah Loew (as well as many other works by Loew, especially ''Be'er ha-Golah''). * ''Yehoyada'' and ''MeKabtziel'' (names based on 2 Samuel 23:20) by Yosef Hayyim. * ''Beur Aggados'' (Clarification of the Aggadot) and ''Perush al Kamma Aggadot'' (Commentary on several Aggadot) by the Vilna Gaon. * '' Ein Yaakov'' (En Jacob) Agada of the Babylonian Talmud by Jacob ibn Habib (Translated into English, 1916, by Samuel Hirsch Glick). * ''Etz Yosef'', ''Anaf Yosef'' and ''Yad Yosef''—as well as others—by Zundel ben Joseph * '' Ein Ayah'' four volume commentary on ''Ein Yaakov'' by Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935)

Development

The Aggadah has been preserved in a series of different works, which, like all works of traditional literature, have come to their present form through previous collections and revisions. Their original forms existed long before they were reduced to writing. The first traces of the midrashic exegesis are found in the Bible itself; while in the time of the Soferim the development of the Midrash Aggadah received a mighty impetus, and the foundations were laid for public services which were soon to offer the chief medium for the cultivation of Bible exegesis. Abtalion and Shemaiah are the first to bear the title ''darshan'', and it was probably by no mere chance that their pupil Hillel was the first to lay down hermeneutic rules for the interpretation of the ''

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

''; he may have been indebted to his teachers for the tendency toward ''aggadic'' interpretation. These two scholars are the first whose sayings are recorded in the ''aggadah''. The new method of ' (Biblical interpretation) introduced by Abtalion and Shemaiah seems to have evoked opposition among the Pharisees. Much Aggadah, often mixed with foreign elements, is found in the Apocrypha, the

Pseudepigrapha A pseudepigraph (also :wikt:anglicized, anglicized as "pseudepigraphon") is a false attribution, falsely attributed work, a text whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. Th ...

, the works of Josephus and

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

, and the remaining Judæo-Hellenistic literature; but aggadic exegesis reached its highest development in the great epoch of the Mishnaic-Talmudic period, between 100 and 550 CE. The Aggadah of the Amoraim (sages of the Talmud) is the continuation of that of the Tannaim (sages of the Mishna). The final edition of the Mishnah, which was of such signal importance for the Halakah, is of less significance for the Aggadah, which, in form as well as in content, shows the same characteristics in both periods.

Exegetic and homiletic Aggadah

It is important to emphasize the fundamental difference in plan between the midrashim forming a running commentary (מאמרים ביאוריים) to the Scripture text, and the homiletic midrashim (מאמרים לימודיים). When the scholars undertook to edit, revise, and collect into individual midrashim the immense array of haggadot, they followed the method employed in the collections and revisions of the halakhot and the halakhic discussions. The form which suggested itself was to arrange in textual sequence the exegetical interpretations of the Biblical text as taught in the schools, or the occasional interpretations introduced into public discourses, etc., and which were in any way connected with Scripture. Since the work of the editor was often merely that of compilation, the existing midrashim show in many passages the character of the sources from which they were taken. This was the genesis of the midrashim which are in the nature of running haggadic commentaries to single books of the Bible, as Bereshit Rabbah, Eikah Rabbati, the midrashim to the other Megillot, etc. See

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

for more details.

Modern compilations

'' Ein Yaakov'' is a compilation of the aggadic material in the Babylonian Talmud together with commentary. It was compiled by Jacob ibn Habib and (after his death) by his son Levi ibn Habib, and was first published in Saloniki (Greece) in 1515. It was intended as a text of aggadah, that could be studied with "the same degree of seriousness as the Talmud itself". Popularized anthologies did not appear until more recently—these often incorporate "aggadot" from outside of classical Rabbinic literature. The major works include: * '' Sefer Ha-Aggadah'' (''The Book of Legends'') is a classic compilation of aggadah from the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

, the two Talmuds and the

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

literature. It was edited by Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Rawnitzki. Bialik and Ravnitzky worked for three years to compile a comprehensive and representative overview of aggadah. When they found the same aggadah in multiple versions, from multiple sources, they usually selected the later form, the one found in the Babylonian Talmud. However, they also presented some aggadot sequentially, giving the early form from the Jerusalem Talmud, and later versions from the Babylonian Talmud, and from a classic midrash compilation. In each case every aggadah is given with its original source. In their original edition, they translated the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

aggadot into modern

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. Sefer Ha-Aggadah was first published in 1908–1911 in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, Russia, then reprinted numerous times in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. In 1992 it was translated into English as ''The Book of Legends'', by William G. Braude. * '' Legends of the Jews'', by Rabbi

Louis Ginzberg Louis Ginzberg (, ''Levy Gintzburg''; , ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, contributing editor to numerous articles of '' The Jewis ...

, is an original synthesis of a vast amount of aggadah from the Mishnah, the two Talmuds and Midrash. Ginzberg had an encyclopedic knowledge of all rabbinic literature, and his masterwork included a massive array of aggadot. However he did not create an anthology which showed these aggadot distinctly. Rather, he paraphrased them and rewrote them into one continuous narrative that covered five volumes, followed by two volumes of footnotes that give specific sources. * ''Mimekor Yisrael'', by Micha Josef Berdyczewski. Berdichevsky was interested in compiling the folklore and legends of the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish people, from the earliest times up until the dawn of the modern era. His collection included a large array of aggadot, although they were limited to those he considered within the domain of folklore. * The collected works of Dov Noy.According to Peninnah Schram, "Dov Noy is the fourth major figure in the renaissance of preserving and perpetuating the Jewish oral tradition. While he has published many books and important essays (including the entry "Folklore" in the '"

Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a multi-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, Jewish holida ...

"'), his two main contributions are: 1) he applied an international classification system to Jewish traditional narrative; and 2) he established the Israel Folktale Archives" In 1954, Noy established th
Israel Folktale Archives and Ethnological Museum
at the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

, an archive containing over 23,000 folktales collected from all the various ethnic communities who live in

References

Notes Bibliography * Traditional orientation ** ''Introduction to the commentary on the Mishnah'',

, transl. Zvi Lampel (Judaica Press, 1998). ** ''Discourse on the Haggadot'', Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, transl. in "The Juggler and the King" below. ** ''The Infinite Chain: Torah, Masorah, and Man'', Nathan Lopes Cardozo, (Philipp Feldheim, 1989). ** ''The Juggler and the King'', Aharon Feldman, (Philipp Feldheim, 1991). ** ''The Talmud: A Reference Guide'', Adin Steinsaltz, (Random House, 1996). * Modern ** ''Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales'', Micha Joseph bin Gorion, translated by I. M. Lask, Trans. Three volumes. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1976 ** ''Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales Abridged and Annotated Edition'' Micha Joseph bin Gorion. This is a one volume abridged and annotated version, with an introduction and headnotes, by Dan Ben-Amos. Indiana University Press. 560 pages. . ** ''Four Master Folklorists And Their Major Contributions'' Peninnah Schram, from ''Opening Worlds of Words'', Peninnah Schram and Cherie Karo Schwartz

Discussion on Aggadah in the Introduction to the Commentary on the Mishna

Discourse on the Haggadot
, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto
Discourse on the Sayings of the Rabbis
, Avraham son of Rambam�
translation
Textual resources * Links to full-text resources *

*

* Excerpted translations *

*

{{Authority control Ancient Hebrew texts Articles which contain graphical timelines Jewish folklore Jewish philosophy Jewish theology Oral Torah

Etymology

As part of the Oral Torah

Literal-allegorical teachings

Interpretation of the Aggadah

In the Talmud and Midrash

Development

Exegetic and homiletic Aggadah

Modern compilations

See also

References

External links