This week in the Valletta Old Testament study guide Jewish Midrash was mentioned in one of the commentaries and I know you guys mentioned the Rabbinic Midrash in this week’s episode. Can you explain that a little or is there a link you guys trust that would explain it more? Also, you’ve mentioned before the three types of Jewish ______… writing? Study? Rabbinic vs parable vs deeper meaning… am I getting that even close to right? And is that part of what the Midrash is? I feel like we need a supplementary episode on this one, or would it be two?, things! Thank you so much for this podcast. I’ve so enjoyed feeling like I’m back in institute again each week!
Author
Kirsten, Midrash is commentary. See: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/midrash-101/ See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midrash
In this podcast, we give commentary on the texts. As far as interpretive lenses to read the text, I (Mike) talk about PARDES, which is a Hebrew word that means “orchard” and is an acronym for four ways to read the text of the Hebrew Bible.
Peshat (פְּשָׁט) – “surface” (“straight”) or the literal (direct) meaning.
Remez (רֶמֶז) – “hints” or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense.
Derash (דְּרַשׁ) – from Hebrew darash: “inquire” (“seek”) – the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences.
Sod (סוֹד) (pronounced with a long O as in ‘lore’) – “secret” (“mystery”) or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation. To me, the Sod reading is all about revelation, the temple, coming unto Christ, and the liturgical and otherwise hidden meaning of scripture.
I like to read Ruth (the podcast you are commenting on here) as a “secret” text, introducing deep ideas about fertility, Jesus’ Atonement, the temple, and the grand scheme of God’s salvific power to reach all the men and women of the earth, even the “enemies” of Israel. But to get to the “Sod” you gotta go through the peshat. I hope this makes sense. A good book you may want to read is Bradley Kramer’s Beholding the Tree of Life: A Rabbinic Approach to the Book of Mormon (Contemporary Studies in Scripture) published in 2014 by Greg Kofford Books. It is worth owning.
Thanks for listening to the podcast and sorry for the late reply!
-Mike
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This week in the Valletta Old Testament study guide Jewish Midrash was mentioned in one of the commentaries and I know you guys mentioned the Rabbinic Midrash in this week’s episode. Can you explain that a little or is there a link you guys trust that would explain it more? Also, you’ve mentioned before the three types of Jewish ______… writing? Study? Rabbinic vs parable vs deeper meaning… am I getting that even close to right? And is that part of what the Midrash is? I feel like we need a supplementary episode on this one, or would it be two?, things! Thank you so much for this podcast. I’ve so enjoyed feeling like I’m back in institute again each week!
Kirsten, Midrash is commentary. See: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/midrash-101/ See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midrash
In this podcast, we give commentary on the texts. As far as interpretive lenses to read the text, I (Mike) talk about PARDES, which is a Hebrew word that means “orchard” and is an acronym for four ways to read the text of the Hebrew Bible.
Peshat (פְּשָׁט) – “surface” (“straight”) or the literal (direct) meaning.
Remez (רֶמֶז) – “hints” or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense.
Derash (דְּרַשׁ) – from Hebrew darash: “inquire” (“seek”) – the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences.
Sod (סוֹד) (pronounced with a long O as in ‘lore’) – “secret” (“mystery”) or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation. To me, the Sod reading is all about revelation, the temple, coming unto Christ, and the liturgical and otherwise hidden meaning of scripture.
I like to read Ruth (the podcast you are commenting on here) as a “secret” text, introducing deep ideas about fertility, Jesus’ Atonement, the temple, and the grand scheme of God’s salvific power to reach all the men and women of the earth, even the “enemies” of Israel. But to get to the “Sod” you gotta go through the peshat. I hope this makes sense. A good book you may want to read is Bradley Kramer’s Beholding the Tree of Life: A Rabbinic Approach to the Book of Mormon (Contemporary Studies in Scripture) published in 2014 by Greg Kofford Books. It is worth owning.
Thanks for listening to the podcast and sorry for the late reply!
-Mike