in your World Religions Course Reader, there are a couple dozen short selections of Midrash (titled Wisdom of Israel) related to the Torah and Talmud in the Jewish religion. I want you to read these and then choose one that stood out to you. Explain the meaning of the midrash in your view and how it relates to key elements within the Jewish religion, such as rituals, beliefs, physical, stories, and psychological/spiritual elements. For example, in the midrash entitled “Those Nearest”, the exposition explains that punishments that happen to the Jewish people are meaningful in that they demonstrate the preferential love, connection and moral ideals that the Jewish people have with God. This preferential love is told through Jewish stories such as the calling of Abraham, the liberation of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, the giving of the Torah to Moses and the future messianic age. This interpretation is reinforced through rituals such as the Seder meal during Passover, where when suffering and bondage is remembered through the meal, so is liberation and communal love through the Divine at the same time.
this is the book CONCISE INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS.
