ABSTRACT
Genesis Rabbah is an Amoraic commentary on the book of Genesis. Composed in the land of Israel in the fifth century, it is one of the oldest running commentaries on the first book of the Torah. In Genesis Rabbah, halakhic and aggadic materials are interwoven in a manner indicating that the two genres are on a par, neither having a preferential status. But it is not my intention to discuss the relationship between halakha and Aggada in general. Indeed, in this context, I would prefer to see the salient contrast as that between rules and narrative. Even if, technically speaking, the narrative segments can usually be classed as Aggada, this characterization is in some ways too broad, and obscures the issue on which I want to focus — the crystallization and refinement of the law by way of its contextualization. That is, I want to explore the impact of embedding a rule in a narrative, and the consequences of presenting it in a particular context.
