Midrash Halakha - The Midrash of The Earlier Halakha

The Midrash of The Earlier Halakha

The earlier halakha did not confine itself to the mere literal meaning of single passages, but sought to draw conclusions from the wording of the texts in question by logical deductions, by combinations with other passages, etc. Hence its midrash differs from the simple exegesis of the older halakha. It treats the Bible according to certain general principles, which in the course of time became more and more amplified and developed (see Talmud); and its interpretations depart further and further from the simple meaning of the words.

A few examples will illustrate this difference in the method of interpretation between the older and the younger Halakah. It was a generally accepted opinion that the first Passover celebrated in Egypt, that of the Exodus, differed from those that followed it, in that at the first one the prohibition of leavened bread was for a single day only, whereas at subsequent Passovers this restriction extended to seven days. The older halakha (in Mek., Bo, 16 ), represented by R. Jose the Galilean, bases its interpretation on a different division of the sentences in Ex. xiii. than the one generally received; connecting the word "ha-yom" (= "this day"), which is the first word of verse 4, with verse 3 and so making the passage read: "There shall no leavened bread be eaten this day." The younger halakha reads "ha-yom" with verse 4, and finds its support for the traditional halakha by means of the principle of "semukot" (collocation); that is to say, the two sentences, "There shall no leavened bread be eaten," and "This day came ye out," though they are separated grammatically, are immediately contiguous in the text, and exert an influence over each other (Pes. 28b, 96b). What the older halakha regarded as the obvious meaning of the words of the text, the younger infers from the collocation of the sentences.