Aggadah

The first approach (usually that of the uneducated) is to accept the Aggadah as literally true, without admission of any hidden, allegorical explanation—even where a literal interpretation runs counter to common sense. Maimonides treats this approach dismissively.

The second approach (usually of "doctors and philosophers") assumes that anything said by the Sages was intended literally, and therefore rejects as impossible the non-rational or fantastic teachings (and consequently these regard the Sages as "simpletons and ignoramuses"). Maimonides does not entirely reject rationalist interpretation, but he opposes an approach which denies the Aggadah a hidden rationality. "The sages presented their drashot in a style by which the mind of a fool will reject them because of his way of thinking; it is improper to assign any deficiency to the drash—one may rather suspect that the deficiency is a result of his intellectual shortcomings" (Commentary on the Mishnah: Introduction).

exegetical

The third approach (taken by very few) involves recognising that many Aggadot are intended to teach profound truths, and that the teachings thus operate on two levels: "overt" and "hidden". Thus any impossible assertion was, in fact, intended as a parable; further, where aggadot can be understood literally, they may be taken on this level. This is, in general, the view of the Rabbis. "It is proper ... to carefully analyse [the Aggadot] ... when any of these seem far-fetched we must immerse ourselves in the various branches of knowledge until we understand the concepts." (Maimonides, .)

op cit

Sefer Ha-Aggadah (The Book of Legends) is a classic compilation of aggadah from the , the two Talmuds and the Midrash literature. It was edited by Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Rawnitzki. Bialik and Ravnitzky worked for three years to compile a comprehensive and representative overview of aggadah. When they found the same aggadah in multiple versions, from multiple sources, they usually selected the later form, the one found in the Babylonian Talmud. However, they also presented some aggadot sequentially, giving the early form from the Jerusalem Talmud, and later versions from the Babylonian Talmud, and from a classic midrash compilation. In each case every aggadah is given with its original source. In their original edition, they translated the Aramaic aggadot into modern Hebrew. Sefer Ha-Aggadah was first published in 1908–1911 in Odessa, Russia, then reprinted numerous times in Israel. In 1992 it was translated into English as The Book of Legends, by William G. Braude.

Mishnah

Legends of the Jews, by Rabbi , is an original synthesis of a vast amount of aggadah from the Mishnah, the two Talmuds and Midrash. Ginzberg had an encyclopedic knowledge of all rabbinic literature, and his masterwork included a massive array of aggadot. However he did not create an anthology which showed these aggadot distinctly. Rather, he paraphrased them and rewrote them into one continuous narrative that covered five volumes, followed by two volumes of footnotes that give specific sources.

Louis Ginzberg

Mimekor Yisrael, by . Berdichevsky was interested in compiling the folklore and legends of the Jewish people, from the earliest times up until the dawn of the modern era. His collection included a large array of aggadot, although they were limited to those he considered within the domain of folklore.

Micha Josef Berdyczewski

The collected works of Dov Noy. In 1954, Noy established the Israel Folktale Archives and Ethnological Museum at the University of Haifa, an archive containing over 23,000 folktales collected from all the various ethnic communities who live in Israel.

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Aggadic Midrashim (category)

Moses in rabbinic literature

Pardes (Jewish exegesis)

Traditional orientation

Maimonides

Modern

ISBN

. jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Archived from the original on 2017-01-12. Retrieved 2005-01-27.

"Halakha/Aggadata/Midrash"

 Singer, Isidore; Theodor, J. (1904). . The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. pp. 550–569.

"Midrash Haggadah"

. Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 814.

"Haggada" 

CB"N Library

The Key to Understanding Aggadah

Rabbi Aryeh Carmell

Freedom to Interpret

Rabbi Gil Student

Understanding Aggadah

Samuel Rapaport

The Midrash: Introduction