Aggadic Exegesis in the 16th century

Abstract

The sages of the 16th century viewed the Aggadic and Midrashic texts as the source and basis of an originally Jewish philosophy of a hidden and implicit character. These sages saw their main role in uncovering the philosophical ideas concealed in the sayings of the sages and accommodating them to the general, explicit philosophy. It was easy for them to disseminate these ideas in public by incorporating them in sermons, rather than by writing philosophical tracts. The sermon, which originally addressed the public at large, challenged the speaker to explain the philosophical ideas so that they would be easily understood by the congregation as a whole. By combining the two sources of knowledge – the Rabbinical sources on the one hand and the philosophical sources of the other – the former were established as highly valuable conceptually and as the very source of the philosophical ideas borrowed from them. Three major stages can be shown that mark the preoccupation with Rabbinical sayings from this perspective: 1. Incorporating the sayings into a broader framework and explicating them within the pertinent context. At this stage, the sayings of the sages and the Aggadic texts of the Midrash or the Talmud serve as the basis of the sermon, but the main purpose in delivering the sermon is to elaborate on its underlying theme. 2. Gathering a collection of such sayings, removing them from their context and presenting them as separate, autonomous entities. 3. Completing the collection and arranging it in a suitable sequence.