ABSTRACT
Unlike the Mishnah, which consists of legislation presented without explicit reference to a Scriptural text, rabbinic aggadah focuses on the contemporary relevance of specific Biblical texts. The early halakhic midrashim consist of Tannaitic commentaries on the legal verse of the Bible such as the Mekhilta on Exodus, the Sifra on Leviticus, and the Sifrei on Numbers and Deuteronomy. Narrative midrashim, on the other hand, derive from sermons given by the Amoraim in synagogues and academies and include such texts as Midrash Rabbah (a series of commentaries on the Pentateuch and the Hagiographa – the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther). Though the sages were not speculative philosophers, they nevertheless expressed their theological views in these works and attempted to apply this teaching to daily life. This midrashic literature along with the aggadic sections of the Talmud serve as the basis for reconstructing the theology of early rabbinic Judaism.
