The following paper addresses the longstanding notion that Jewish Midrash is exegesis. Hermeneutical methods that were designed to address Halakhic (legal) Midrash have traditionally been applied to texts of Haggadic (story) Midrash, with less than satisfactory results for Haggadic Midrash. By rethinking standard interpretive conclusions regarding this literary form and by advancing a reformulation to one essential aspect of the discussion, this study concludes that Haggadic Midrash is one way in which the ancient rabbis prepared its community to survive the “shock” of future change. It also appears to the author that Haggadic Midrash is better approached connotatively (described) than denotatively (defined).
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