Midrash - Bringing Torah to Life

by Boruch Clinton

The great prophets gave flesh to the bones of The Law. They showed us that, beyond simply doing what is right, we should aspire to greatness. They showed us how our daily interactions with elements of the world around us - whether human, animal or the very soil beneath our feet - must be infused with a thirst for justice and a love for all creation. But the principles and attitudes to which they hint - ever at risk of becoming lost beneath the sheer weight of their breadth and subtlety - are clarified and organized by the various collections of midrash.While remaining passionately loyal to traditional Jewish thinking, this book offers new thoughts about specific - and often well known - midrashic passages, along with more general what's a student to do when faced with a midrash whose simple reading is patently deceptive? What about one filled with unnecessary characters, complicating what by all rights should be straightforward? And what about theological contradictions? Since the authors of the midrash obviously knew better, these calculated "errors" are clearly designed to teach.Now it's time to learn...

Genres: Nonfiction

99 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2012