aggadah

Aggadah, from the Hebrew aggadah meaning "narrative" or "telling," denotes the non-legal, narrative, and homiletic material of rabbinic literature. It appears in the Talmud and Midrash and in later rabbinic works, and it encompasses legends, parables, ethical exhortations, theological expositions, and diverse biblical interpretations. It is distinguished from halakha, the legal rulings, though the two routinely interact.

Aggadah includes stories about biblical figures and sages, moral parables, etiologies of customs, and discussions of topics such as creation, providence, the afterlife, and messianism. It often uses miraculous narratives and folklore to illuminate sacred texts and to transmit tradition, values, and interpretive frameworks. It also records methodological debates over interpretation and authority.

Sources and development: Aggadah emerges in the early rabbinic era and continues through late antique and medieval times. Classic collections include the aggadic material in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, as well as midrashic compilations such as Genesis Rabbah and Leviticus Rabbah. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, Yalkut Shimoni, and other works are well-known aggadic texts. In modern scholarship, aggadah is studied as the non-legal aspect of rabbinic literature, informing theology, folklore, and biblical interpretation.

Significance: Aggadah shapes Jewish thought, liturgy, and self-understanding by offering narratives and interpretive motifs that complement legal rulings. It remains a central source for ethics, theology, and the rabbinic imagination.