Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature

The purpose of the Consultation is to provide a forum at the SBL Annual Meeting to explore midrash. This section, formerly: consultation, proposes a comprehensive study and analysis of midrashic literature and phenomena. Cross-disciplinary participation is encouraged. The consultation on Midrash (2002-2005) continues as a Section (2006 - 2011).

Boston, 2008

SBL23-33

Lieve Teugels, New Providence, NJ, Presiding
Rivka Ulmer, Bucknell University, Presiding

Erica Martin, Graduate Theological Union
The Rabbinic Knife: Why and How the Rabbis Castrated Noah (30 min)
Jesse Rainbow, Harvard University
Sarah Saw a Hunter: The Venatic Motif in Genesis Rabbah 53:11 (30 min)
Eszter K. Fuzessy, University of Chicago
The Fictionalization of the Text (as if—“ke-illu”) as a Hermeneutic Method of Rabbinic Interpretation (30 min)
Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Tel Aviv University
Hyper-Sexualization of Reality in the Bavli (30 min)
Isaac Kalimi, Albright Institute, Jerusalem
The Aqeda in Rabbinic Literature (30 min)

SBL24-128

Theme: Midrash and Visual Art

Rivka Ulmer, Bucknell University, Presiding

Steven Fine, Yeshiva University
Bezalel Son of Uri: A Biblical Artisan with a Rabbinic “Union Card” (40 min)
Victoria Hoffer, Yale University
Visions of Abraham: Pictoral Representations of the Aqedah from Mosaics to Moderns (40 min)
Bogdan G. Bucur, Duquesne University and Elijah Mueller, Marquette University
Biblical Interpretation in Byzantine Iconography and Hymnography (40 min)
Discussion (30 min)

San Diego, 2007

S18-123

W. David Nelson, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, Presiding
Rivka Ulmer, Bucknell University, Presiding

Nehemia Polen, Hebrew College
Derashah as Performative Exegesis in Tosefta and Mishna (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Alex P. Jassen, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
The Origins of the Flood in Second Temple and Rabbinic Interpretation (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Break (10 min)
Eszter K. Fuzessy, University of Chicago
"Dialogues between Sages and Outsiders to the Tradition": Creation of Difference as a Literary Method of Religious Polemics in Rabbinic Literature (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
John T. Townsend, Harvard University
The Demise of the School of Shammai (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)

S20-12

Theme: Modes of Interpretation in Syriac, Rabbinic and Islamic traditions

Chairs: Rivka Ulmer, Bucknell University, and Lieve Teugels, Gorgias Press
Robert R. Phenix, Jr., Saint Louis University
The Sermons on Joseph of Balai of Qennešrin (Early Fifth Century CE) as a Witness to the Transmission History and Interpretive Development of Joseph Traditions (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Michael Pregill, New York, NY
The Ox, the Chariot, and the Glory: Islamic and Jewish Traditions on the Golden Calf (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Break (10 min)
Steven D. Sacks, Cornell College
The Shadow of Abraham’s Camel: An Examination of Shared Traditions in Late Midrash and Early Islam (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Willem Smelik, University College London
The Notion of the Holy Tongue in Early Rabbinic Literature (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Publication:

Midrash and Context: Proceedings of the 2004 and 2005 SBL Consultation on Midrash, edited by R. Ulmer and L. Teugels (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2007).

From the cover: Co-editors, Rivka Ulmer and Lieve Teugels, leading experts on midrash, here present seven groundbreaking essays on Rabbinic midrash by a new generation of erudite scholars of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. The contributions reflect a deep understanding of the languages and literatures of the Middle East in Late Antiquity, a thorough grounding in the history of research, a judicious application of textual criticism of rabbinic texts, an empathetic encounter with the abiding values conveyed by these texts, and three distinct forms of interdisciplinary scholarship. Five of the seven essays compare, contrast and mediate between Rabbinic and Patristic exegesis and elucidate elements of culture shared by these ancient interpreters of Scripture. Another of the essays is a brilliant application of Orality Studies and semiotics to the study of the origin, the forms, and the content of aggadic midrash, and especially the ubiquitous and seldom analyzed “prooftext”. The volume concludes with an exposition, with pictorial illustrations, of the Rabbinic Sages' familiarity with and utilization of the Egyptian Osiris Myth in their homilies and Scriptural exegesis. With hermeneutics, polemics, and even magic, this book is a veritable must for clergy, students, scholars, and laypersons interested in deepening their understanding of Rabbinic and Patristic biblical interpretation.

Washington, DC 2006

http://www.sbl-site.org

Midrash Section S 19-24
Time 9:00am-11:30am
Date Monday, November 19, 2006
Room RW Meeting Room 12

Theme: Religion in Midrash
Rivka Kern-Ulmer, Bucknell University, Presiding
Holger Zellentin, Princeton University
The Bavli's View of Palestinian Dream Interpretation (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Jaroslav Eliah Sykora, South Bohemian University
The Messias and Eschatology in EccR (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Anne Davis, Trinity Southwest University
Divorce and the New Testament: Midrash in Matthew 19:3-12 (25 min)
Respondents: Azzan Yadin, Rutgers University an John Townsend, Harvard Divinity School
Break (5 min)

Business Meeting (25 min)

Midrash Section S 21-16
Time 9:00am-11:30am
Date Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Room CC 159A
Rivka Kern-Ulmer, Bucknell University, Presiding (5 min)
Steven Sacks, Cornell College
The Foundation Stone: Reflections on the Adoption and Transformation of Primordial Myth in Rabbinic Literature (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Willem Smelik, University College London
Adam in Eden and Sanhedrin (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Dr. Isaac Gottlieb, Bar Ilan University
The Extremes of Esther: Midrash on the Megillah (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Mary Bader, College of Wooster
Dinah in the Midrash (25 min)
Lieve Teugels, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (5 min)

Philadelphia 2005

S21-117

Theme: Midrash and Cultural Studies.
After this year's session we will continue as a section.

Lieve Teugels, Gorgias Press, Presiding
Jaroslav Eliah Sykora, South Bohemian University
The Authority of Abraham in Qohelet Rabbah (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Holger M. Zellentin, Princeton University
Rabbinic Play with Ethics, Words and Worlds (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
W. David Nelson, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
Mnemonic Method in Halakhic and Aggadic Midrash (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Deborah A. Green, University of Oregon
Evidence of Spices in Jewish Burials (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Rivka Ulmer, Bucknell University
Methodological Considerations in Respect to Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Publication: "Recent Developments in Midrash Research."

Teugels, L. & Ulmer, R. (eds.). Recent Developments in Midrash Research. Proceedings of the 2002 and 2003 SBL Consultation on Midrash. (Gorgias Press, 2005) Series: Judaism in Context 2 ISBN: 1-59333-201-7

San Antonio 2004

“Jewish and Christian hermeneutics.” Scriptural exegesis was critical to the formation of Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism, the hermeneutic tradition that began with Biblical interpretation (if not even earlier, with inner-Biblical exegesis) developed its distinctive hermeneutics in midrash. Comparable developments took place in early Christianity. What is the relationship between specific types and strategies of hermeneutics and the religious traditions of which they are a part? Can Christian texts be read as midrash?

Theme: Jewish and Christian Hermeneutics

Annette Yoshiko Reed, McMaster University
Sons of God, Giants, and the Generation of the Flood: Genesis 6:1–4 and the Methods of Rabbinic and Patristic Exegesis (20 min)
Matthew Kraus, Williams College
The Late Antique Context of Jewish Exegetical Traditions in Jerome's Targum of the Bible (20 min)
Jason Kalman, McGill University
Repeating His Grandfather’s Heresy: The Significance of Esau and Job’s Denial of the Resurrection of the Dead in Rabbinic Anti-Christian Polemic (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Break (5 min)
Elke Toenges, Ruhr University of Bochum
The Letter to the Hebrews: Between Jewish and Christian Hermeneutics (20 min)
Joshua L. Moss, American Hebrew Academy
Being the Temple: Early Jewish and Christian Interpretive Transpositions (20 min)
Herbert Basser, Queen's University
The Value of the Gospels for Reading Rabbis (20 min)
Discussion (15 min)

Atlanta 2003

"Where do we stand in midrashic text editions and translations?” There is an enormous interest in rabbinic midrashic texts that, after all, are the foundation of any discussion about midrash. Many major and minor midrashic works as well as hitherto unknown midrashic texts were hidden in manuscript collections. At the same time numerous midrashim are translated into English. In fact, midrashic works are often first edited in an English translation. The session is open to paper proposals."

2003 SBL Annual Meeting
Atlanta, Georgia
22-25 November 2003

Midrash Consultation

Session Theme or Title: Midrashic Text Editions and Translations -- Theory and Practice
Session Type: Papers with responses
Participants: (in appearance order)

1. Rivka B. Kern Ulmer, Bucknell University - Presider

2. Dennis C Stoutenburg, Wilfrid Laurier University - Presentation Title: Where Do We Stand in Midrash Rabbah Text Editions and Translations?

3. W. David Nelson, Brite Divinity School - TCU- Presentation Title: Translating the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon b. Yohai: Challenges and Considerations

4. Vered Noam, Tel Aviv University - Presentation Title: From Philology to history and literature: The case of Megillat Taanit

5. Break (10 min)

6. Burton L Visotzky, Jewish Theological Seminary - Presentation Title: Critical Editions of Rabbinic Literature

7. Rivka B. Kern-Ulmer, Bucknell University- Presentation Title: Creating Rabbinic Texts: Moving from a Synoptic to a Critical Edition of Pesiqta Rabbati

Toronto 2002

Monday, November 25th

===================================
S25-22
----------------------------------------
Special
9:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Theme: Midrash

Rivka B Kern-Ulmer, University Of Pennsylvania, Presiding
Marc Bregman, Hebrew Union College
Midrash
Lieve M Teugels, Univ Of Utrecht, Panelist
Yaakov Elman, Yeshiva University, Panelist
W F Smelik, University College London, Panelist
John T Townsend, Harvard Divinity School, Panelist
Discussion.

Abstracts of the papers and responses:

Steering Committee Members

Co-chair: Professor Rivka B. Kern Ulmer, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chair in Judaic Studies, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, received her Dr. phil. in Judaic Studies from Goethe Universität in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in 1985 with a dissertation in midrash. She holds M.A. degrees in Linguistics, American Studies and Judaic Studies; undergraduate studies at Ben-Gurion University, Israel; postdoctoral at Hebrew Union College. Some of her appointments include: Yale University, Brown University, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Harvard University, Jüdische Hochschule Heidelberg, University of Copenhagen. She organized sessions in rabbinics, Regional SBL/New England; she was Director of the Jüdisches Lehrhaus in Frankfurt. She has authored/edited nine books and published fifty articles. A Synoptic Edition Of Pesiqta Rabbati Based Upon All Extant Hebrew Manuscripts And The Editio Princeps is a three volume edition of a midrashic work. Selected publications: Turmoil, Trauma and Triumph. The Text of Megillas Vintz. New York & Frankfurt: P. Lang, 2001; “Further Manuscript Evidence of Pesiqta Rabbati: A Description of MS JTS 8195 (and MS Moscow 214)” Journal of Jewish Studies 52 (2001) 269-307; “The Mishnah in the Later Midrashim.” In: Contemporary Study of the Mishnah. (Leiden: Brill, 2002); and others in Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies, Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, Encylopaedia of Judaism, Journal for the Study of Judaism, Encyclopaedia of Midrash, Approaches to Ancient Judaism, Henoch, Judaism, Encyclopédie Philosophique, Theologische Realenzyclopädie, Linguistica Biblica, Juden in Kassel, Annual of Rabbinic Judaism, Kairos, Plesse-Archiv, Diskussionsbeiträge aus dem Jüdischen Lehrhaus, Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge, Bulletin of the Oriental Institute in Cairo, Judaica .

Co-chair: Lieve Teugels, Ph.D., Acquisition and Production Editor at Gorgias Press, received her PhD from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1994. She holds a BA in Semitic Languages from the same university. She served as Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at the Faculty of T heology of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands (since 1994). Since Sept. 2000 she has been Visiting Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, where she has been teaching several classes in midrash, and the Introduction to Rabbinic Literature. She is section leader of the Jewish Studies section of the European Association of Biblical Literature; and of the Ancient Judaism Section at the Conference of the European Association for Jewish Studies in Amsterdam, July 2002. She has published an annotated translation of a late rabbinic Midrash: Aggadat Bereshit. Translated from the Hebrew with an Introduction and Notes (Jewish and Christian Perspectives, 4), Brill, Leiden 2001. Her articles in the field of midrash and rabbinics include: “Concern for the Unity of Tenakh in the Formation of Aggadat Bereshit”, in L.V. Rutgers, H.W. Havelaar, P.W. van der Horst & L. Teugels (eds.), The Use of Sacred Books in the Ancient World, Peeters, Leuven (1998) 187-202; “The Background of the Anti-Christian Polemics in Aggadat Bereshit”, Journal for the Study of Judaism 30 (1999) 178-208; “New Perspectives on the Origins of Aggadat Bereshit. The Witness of a Geniza Fragment”, in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the 20th Century. Proceedings of the 6th EAJS Congress, Toledo 1998, Ed. by J. Targarona Borras and A. Saenz-Badillos, Leiden-Boston-Köln: Brill, 1999. Vol. I Biblical, Rabbinical and Medieval Studies, 349-357; “Aggadat Bereshit and the Triennial Lectionary Cycle”, Journal of Jewish Studies 51/1 (2000) 117-132; “Two Centuries of Midrash Study: A Survey of Some Standard Works on Rabbinic Midrash and its Methods”, Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 54 (2000) 125-144; “Textual Criticism in Late Rabbinic Midrashim: The Example of Aggadat Bereshit” in Wim Weren/ Diet-rich-Alex Koch (eds.), Recent Developments in Textual Criticism: New Testament, Early-Jewish and Early-Christian Writings (Studies in Theology and Religion) van Go rcum, Assen 2002.

Professor Yaakov Elman, Yeshiva University, received his PhD from New York University in 1986; he is Professor at Yeshiva University, New York. He has published widely in all fields of rabbinic studies and Dead Sea Scrolls. His publications include: Authority and Tradition: Toseftan Baraitot in Talmudic Babylonia, Yeshiva University Press, NY, 1994; "Babylonian Echoes in a Late Rabbinic Legend," Journal of the Ancient Near East Society 4 (1972), 13-19;"The Order of Arguments in Kalekh baraitot in Relation to the Conclusion," Jewish Quarterly Review 79/4 (April, 1989), 295-304; "When Permission is Given: Aspects of Divine Providence," Tradition 24/4 (Summer, 1989), 24-45;"The Suffering of the Righteous in Babylonian and Palestinian Sources," Jewish Quarterly Review 80 (1990), 315-39; "Righteousness as Its Own Reward: An Inquiry into the Theologies of the Stam," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 57 (1991), 35-67;"Progressive Derash and Retrospective Peshat: Non-Halakhic Considerations in Talmud Torah," in S. Carmy, ed., Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations, Northvale, NJ, 1996, 189-287;"'It Is No Empty Thing': Nahmanides and the Search for Omnisignificance," The Torah U-Madda Journal 4 (1993), 1-83; "Le-Toledot ha-Ribbuy ba-Talmud ha-Bavli," Proceedings of the Eleventh World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, 1994, 87-94; "The Contribution of Rabbinic Thought Towards a Theology of Suffering," in S. Car-my, ed., Jewish Perspectives on the Experience of Suffering, Jason Aaronson, Inc., 1999, 155-212;"Rava veha-Heqer ha-Artziyisraeli be-Midrash Halakhah," in I. Gafni and L. H. Schiffman, eds., Ba-Golah u-Vatefutzot, Jerusalem, 1999; "Order, Sequence, and Selection: The Mishnah's Anthological Choices," in D. Stern, The Anthological Imagination (Oxford UP) (forth-coming);"Classic Rabbinic Interpretation," Jewish Study Bible (Oxford UP).

Professor Willem Smelik, University College London, received his PhD from Theologische Universiteit Kampen (Netherlands) in 1995. He is editor of Aramaic studies, Vice-President of the International Organization for Targum Studies, previous Chief Editor of the Bilingual Concordance of the Targum to the Prophets. Dr. Smelik is lecturer in Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic at University College London, Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies. His publications include: The Targum of Judges (OTS. 36; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995); Judges (A Bilingual Concordance to the Targum of the Proph-ets, 2; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996;“On Mystical Transformation of the Righteous into Light in Judaism”. Journal for the Study of Judaism 26 (1995), 122-44; “Translation and Commentary in One: The Interplay of Pluses and Substitutions in the Targum of the Prophets”, Journal for the Study of Judaism 29 (1998), 245-260; “Concordance and Consistency: Translation Studies and Targum Jonathan”, Journal of Jewish Studies 49 (1998), 286-305; “The Use of hizkir beshem in Classical Hebrew: Josh 23:7, Isa 48:1, Amos 6:10, Ps. 20:8, 4Q504 iii 4, 1QS 6.27”, Journal of Biblical Literature117 (1998), 321-32 and 118 (1999), 321-332; “The Rabbinic Reception of Early Bible Translations as Holy Writings and Oral Torah”, Journal for the Aramaic Bible 1 (1999), 249-72; “Twin Targums: Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22, in A. Rapaport-Albert and G. Greenberg (eds.), Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Texts: Essays in Memory of Michael P. Weitzman (JSOT.S, 333; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 244-81; written together with Marian Smelik; “Language, Locus and Translation Between the Talmudim” Journal for the Aramaic Bible 3 (2001). `Orality, the Targums, and Manuscript Reproduction, in A. den Hollander, U. Schmidt and W.F. Smelik (eds.), Paratext and Megatext in Jewish and Christian Traditions, forth-coming).

Professor John Townsend, Harvard Divinity School, received his ThD from Harvard in New Testament in 1959. He began teaching in 1960 at the Philadelphia Divinity School, which merged in 1974 with the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, MA, to form the Episcopal Divinity School. He retired from there in 1994, and is now Professor Emeritus of New Testament, Judaism, and Biblical Languages. Since 1994 he has been Visiting Lecturer on Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School, where he teaches an advanced course in Midrash Tanhuma (Buber) and assists in the New Testament doctoral seminars. Also in 1979/80 he was Visiting Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. His major publication in the area of midrash is his translation of Midrash Tanhuma (Buber) with notes, the last volume of which is in the press at Ktav. He also deals with Rabbinic hermeneutics and gave a presentation on the subject to the Philo of Alexandria Group at the SBL in 1999. In 1972 and again in 1976, the ADL published two volumes of bibliographical essays on Jewish studies which included two lengthy papers of Dr. Townsend (106 pp). The first covered the main Rabbinic writings, while the second sorted out the various collections of minor midrashim. He has also published various shorter articles on Rabbinic subjects. At present he is working on a chapter concerning passages in the New Testament with parallel issues treated by the houses of Hillel and Shammai for the Saldarini memorial volume.

Professor Marc Bregman, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, received his BA from the University of California at Berkeley in Judaic Studies in 1968, his MA from the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles in 1971 and his PhD from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. Bregman is Professor of Midrash at the Jerusalem campus of the Hebrew Union College, where he has been teaching since 1978. He also taught at The Hebrew University, the Seminary for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Yale University, and the University of Washington in Seattle. He has published academic research and belles lettres in Hebrew and English on a wide variety of topics and serves on the editorial board of several scholarly journals. Selected Publications: "The Depiction of the Ram in the Aqedah Mosaic at Beit Alpha," Tarbiz 51 (l982), 306-309 (Hebrew); "El Darshan: Predicador y Maestro de la Epoca Talmudica," Maj'shavot (Buenos Aires) 24:4 (l985), 51-57; "Toward a Textcritical Approach to the Tanhuma-Yelamdenu Midrashim," Tarbiz 54 (l985), 289-292 (Hebrew). "The Parable of the Lame and the Blind -- Epiphanius' Quotation from an Apocryphon of Ezekiel", Journal of Theological Studies 42:1 (1991), 125-138. "Early Sources and Traditions in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Midrashim", Tarbiz 60 (1991), 269-274 (Hebrew). "The Art of Retelling", The Sagarin Review 4 (1994), 177-181 (Repr. in The Jerusalem Post and in Jewish Book Annual 53 (1995/ 1996) 177-182). The Four Who Entered Paradise – Introduction and Commentary to a novella by Howard Schwartz (Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ,1995). "The Riddle of the Ram in Genesis Chapter 22: Jewish-Christian Contacts in Late Antiquity", The Sacrifice of Isaac in the Three Monotheistic Religions, ed. Frederic Manns, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Analecta 41 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1995), 127-145, Fig.1-8; Serah bat Asher: Biblical Origins, Ancient Aggadah and Contemporary Folklore, The Bilgray Lectureship, University of Arizona, 1997; “The Parable of the Lame and the Blind - Epiphanius' Quotation from an Apocryphon of Ezekiel in the Light of Rabbinic and New Testament Parallels, The Apocryphal Ezekiel, ed. by M.E. Stone and B. Wright (in press) and others in: Tarbiz, Hebrew Annual Review, Revue de Qumran; Immanuel, Journal of Jewish Studies; Studies in Aggadah, Targum and Jewish Liturgy in Memory of Joseph Heinemann, Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies, The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, the Urbach Memorial Volume. In preparation: The Sign of the Serpent and the Plague of Blood - The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Midrashim and Exodus Rabbah to Exodus 7:8-25 (Brown Judaica Series). Interpreting Scripture - Text and Techniques for the Study of the Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22); Serah bat Asher -- Lady of Legend.

Members of the Steering Committee, Term starting in the Fall of 2003:

Professor W. David Nelson, Rosenthal Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, Brite Divinity School and Texas Christian University.

Professor Burton Visotzky, Nathan and Janet Appleman Professor of Midrash and Inter-religious Studies, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York.

Professor Gary G. Porton, Charles and Sarah Drobny Professor of Talmudic Studies and Judaism, Urbana, Illinois.

Professor Herbert Basser, Professor, Queen's University, Canada.

Professor Alan J. Avery-Peck, Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies, College of the Holy Cross.

Karin Zetterholm, B.A., teol. dr., Lund University, Sweden.

Professor Azzan Yadin, Rutgers University.

Professor Edward A. Goldman, Professor of Midrash, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati.

Members of the Steering Committee, Term starting in the Fall of 2004:

Professor Isaac Kalimi, Jerusalem, Albright Institute.

Rationale and Statement of Aims

Midrash has recently become part of the curriculum at many universities, colleges and schools of theology and is studied outside the rabbinical seminaries. Presently, one may notice a surge in midrash studies. Additionally, many scholarly approaches to midrashic texts are in the planning stages. Midrash is a creative part of the “Oral Torah” which in Judaism complements the “Written Torah” (the Hebrew Bible). The rabbinic commentators of late antiquity and the early medieval period created a tremendous amount of midrashic literature not only in Israel but also in the Jewish Diaspora. Traces of midrash are already found in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, but midrash fully developed during the formative period of Judaism. Midrash was the first venue to interpret the “Law.” Midrash is a hermeneutic, religious enterprise that comprises rabbinic, apocalyptic, messianic and mystic traditions. It contains polemical material that is of interest in respect to the emergence of distinct Christian and Jewish groups and their relationship to one an-other in the first few centuries of the Common Era. Midrash has a connection with other Jewish as well as Christian and Islamic texts. Midrashic analytical reasoning is important for hermeneutics and literary analysis in general; modern literary theories are often based upon the hermeneutics of midrash. A Consultation on Midrash allows scholars to focus on the Hebrew Bible and its interpretative literature and advance hermeneutic reflections on the similarities/differences between the interpretations of the Bible.

The field of midrash has not been represented in a unit of its own at the SBL. Research in respect to midrash at the SBL Annual Meetings has only occasionally been presented in sessions dedicated to Philo, Hellenism, Qumran, Bible, and The History of Early Rabbinic Judaism. At a time when many midrashic works are edited in scientific editions and new methods and issues are applied to the study of ancient texts, including Midrashim, the Midrash Consultation would be a venue to present ongoing research projects and new approaches by midrash specialists and scholars from other disciplines such as Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Targum, Peshitta, Septuagint, New Testament, Patristics, Bible Interpretation, Mysticism, Apocalyptic Literature, Qur’an and Jewish Liturgy.

Indications of Cross-Disciplinary Interests and Diverse Perspectives:

The members of the Steering Committee represent diverse scholarly perspectives that are appropriate to the study of midrash: The Book of Chronicles; Dead Sea Scrolls (the Rewritten Bible and Qumranic pesher that are pre-forms of midrash); Targum (the Jewish Aramaic Bible translations that contain material and strategies which are found in midrash); New Testament literature; Midrash; and rabbinics. The members of the Steering Committee have all made significant contributions to the study of midrash and related literature. Additionally, the steering committee members utilize different methodologies: cultural, literary criticism, theological, religious, Near Eastern, Egyptological, rabbinic, historical, textual, comparative, iconographic, semiotic, gender-specific and text-linguistic. The members are from different universities, backgrounds, and countries, they are male and female, and they are at different stages in their careers.

Collaboration with Other Units:

As mentioned above, midrash intersects with other areas of biblical and rabbinic studies. We will attempt to coordinate some papers with the History of Early Rabbinic Judaism session. We intend also to enlist participation from those units that already from time to time turn to midrash. Such as History of Interpretation, Qumran, Neoplatonism, Bible and Visual Art, inter alia.