The Rabbis of old believed that the Torah was divinely revealed and therefore contained eternal, perfect truths and hidden meaning that required elucidation. The meaning of a text was more complicated than simply reading it. And meaning changed over time. This understanding of how the Bible mystically relates to all of life is the fertile ground from which midrash emerged.

The rabbis believed that nothing in the Bible, not the choice of words or their spellings, not the order of events or the relationship of one text to another, was haphazard or inconsequential. Everything was there with purpose. They deemed it their reponsibility to discover connections and harmony where on the surface none appeared to exist. A text may contain multiple meanings. Time is of no consequence. They felt free to read back into old stories what happened in future eras, and to see in the early stories of Genesis a foreshadowing of future events.

In this engaging book, Rabbi Sasso explores how midrash originated, how it is still used today, and offers new translations and interpretations of more than twenty essential midrash texts.

"Between 400 and 1200 C.E., a group of rabbis expounded on the text of the Bible, making it relevant to their times and to subsequent readers. This extensive collection of explanations and interpretations is known collectively as Midrash. Sasso, the second woman ever ordained as a rabbi, considers Midrash 'both a product, a body of literature... and a process... that continues to the present day' and has assembled a themed collection of text, extrapolations and guided self-evaluation in the hopes that more people will see not only how the ancients still speak to us but how our own experiences make us writers of Midrash as well. Her brief history of the practice and depiction of the four-fold method used for approaching a particular text provides a good starting point for newcomers. However, while she admits to choosing certain portions regarding rejection, anger and repentance because they're 'part of [her] story' and advocates taking ownership of the narratives as they apply in present times, she, for the most part, shares very little of herself or her reasons for selecting these themes. Despite her best efforts to excite a new audience to this tradition, the finished product feels disappointingly more like a series of lessons or sermons cobbled together. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Join award-winning author and rabbi, Sandy Sasso, as she explains the origins and beauty of midrash.