|
The dilemma of Midrashic
studies.
The first Midrash essay in Israel was done by Myron
Bialik
Lerner
in 1971. In his study about Midrash Ruth
he "made an attempt to
save one of the principal Midrashim of the Bible".
Sten Hidal
from
Lund challenged the writer with his statement that
this Midrash would
not
be an exception in the Jewish literature, "and
where lies its
speciality
if it has any". The leading authority in Midrashic
studies, Jacob
Neusner
answers to this problem. He gives his
characterization of Midrash Ruth:
"Our document has only one message, which is
expressed in a variety of
components but single and cogent - the Messiah out
of Moab." "This is
the
message of the document, and I think, seen as a
whole, the principal
message,
to which all the other messages prove peripheral."
|
Our author Risto Santala found
Midrash
Ruth while preparing
his two main Hebrew books about the Messiah
in the Old and New
Testaments
in the Light of Rabbinical Writings. Midrash
Ruth reveals an eternal
perspective
on the Messianic banquet similar to the Holy
Communion in the New
Testament.
The concepts as "to eat in this world, and
in the Messianic age, and in
the World to Come", "the bread of the
kingdom", the Messiah, who "was
wounded
for our transgressions", the Messiah who
will "rain down manna" upon
his
people, the discussion concerning Elijah
recording
our good deeds and "the Messiah and the Holy
One subscribing and
sealing
them" provided imposing spectacles for
studying other Rabbinical
writings.
According to Jewish scholars Midrashic
studies must be based on the
normative
Rabbinical sources like the Talmud, the
Zohar, Yalkutim, the Jewish
prayer
literature and Medieval Rashi commentaries.
It requires the ability to
use freely the above Hebrew sources. |
|
|
The main dilemma in these studies derives from the
difficulty entailed
in gaining accessibility to these sources. Prof. Gottlieb
Klein
complained politely about the "prophet and universal
genius" of this
trend
in research, A. Harnack, from whom he says
he had learned the
most,
that he "was not able to move independently in the
area of Rabbinic
literature."
Our study has corresponded to the aim of Midrash -
which according to
the
definition of Renée Bloch seeks to
reinterpret and
actualize
a given text of the past for present circumstances. |
|