Dr. Brachi Elitzur will lead the readers through the paths of Aggadah on the book of Genesis. Brachi lectures on Tanakh and Rabbinic literature at Herzog Teachers College, and is a researcher in the field of Midrash. Her research involves tracking biblical narratives and characters through postbiblical and Rabbinic literature, in an attempt to follow the reasons behind the shift of the character or story throughout the generations. She is the author of Portraits through the Generations.
In the Paths of the Aggadot of Bereishit Rabbinic Midrashim have became foundational stories of Jewish heritage. Young children are well versed in these texts, which are often viewed as inseparable from the biblical narrative, and even adults are often surprised to find that the details of what they know of the biblical plot are midrashic additions to the biblical text.
Sometimes the midrash intertwines with the narrative, providing an additional dimension; at other times, it reverses the evaluation of the protagonists’ actions altogether.
The proposed book will analyze some foundational midrashic texts, trace the early building blocks that led to their design, and grapple with the question of their objectives, and the reason they have been adjoined to the biblical narrative.
This analysis will enable the reader to go back in time to the flourishing midrashic era in Israel, during the Talmudic period; to imagine the bustle of Batei Midrash in Lod and Tiberius; to become familiar with the questions and debates that troubled Jewish society at that time, and understand the religious and cultural challenges posed by non-Jewish neighbors, and also, the yearning for redemption that throbbed in the hearts of Jews throughout the generations.