Midrash

Midrash takes the biblical narrative and makes it personal. It takes the words written on the scoll of the Torah and gives them life to those who study them. By asking questions and by diving further into the text, Midrash, as a process, makes the bond between Torah and the individual stronger.

By filling in some of the details which the bible leaves out (i.e. character descriptions), Midrash creates a much more emotive story. I liken Midrash to some of the Jesus films we watched in the Jesus and the Gospels class. The Last Temptation of Christ attempted to show Jesus' struggle on the cross and expanded on the biblical text in order to create a more personal telling of the narrative.

Midrash challenges the reader to look past the text and to not just digest what they read on a page. Midrash challenges the reader to create a relationship with the text...to be comfortable enough to question it and work to find an answer.