Deep Rich Jewish Content: Textual Layering
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Textual layering is both a method and mindset that has always been crucial to our interpretive tradition. Learn sources about midrash and then see the process in action. This is part of The Jewish Education Project's "Deep Rich Jewish Content" Toolkit.
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This material is part of the Deep Rich Jewish Content (DRJC) e-course. Learn more about the DRJC Toolkit.
The texts that follow will help explore Textual Layering as both a method and a mindset. Notice what is said about drawing connections from text to life, and how this dynamic process has always been part of our interpretive tradition. First, we share three modern texts to explore midrash in both traditional and modern terms. Then in the final source, you'll encounter an example of textual layering within a particular book of midrash.

Source 1: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Background context: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was a British Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. He served as the Chief Rabbi of England from 1991 to 2013. This is his work on the Passover Haggadah, from the essay "Women and the Exodus." In this text, he explains the purpose of Midrash, and how the Biblical text can be interpreted and expanded for generations.
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Reflection Questions:
  1. What does this text teach you about the act of interpretation?
  2. How can you help your students feel empowered to be interpreters of tradition?

Source 2: Dr. Daniel Boyarin

Background context: Professor Daniel Boyarin is the Emeritus Professor of Talmudic Culture in the Departments of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures and Rhetoric at UC Berkeley, and is considered one of the most influential and prolific scholars of rabbinic culture. One of his most important works, Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash examines how the Rabbis used different sections of Biblical text to interpret one another (in other words – textual layering!) In this essay, Dr. Boyarin argues that the Rabbis consciously used verses from different sections of the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, purposely taking them out of context, and using them to interpret each other to create new meanings and understandings, that allowed for the text to be reconstructed, and maintain its vitality and relevance.
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Reflection Questions:
  1. In what ways can using text to interpret other text be both about changing the meaning of the original text, and ALSO about creating a brand-new meaning?
  2. Can you think of a time when you have read or learning something, and it has reminded you about a similar idea you had seen elsewhere? How did that understanding enrich your experience of your learning?

Source 3: Dr. Miriam Heller Stern

Background context: Dr. Miriam Heller Stern is the CEO of Builders of Jewish Education, Los Angeles. She is one of the leaders on the question of how the enterprise of Jewish education can reclaim and teach creativity. In this excerpt, she shows us how there are other important modes of “midrash” – interpreting Jewish texts – that can be brought into conversation with Jewish texts and allow them to come alive. You can read the full paper here.
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Reflection Questions:
  1. Why do you think using art, music or movement helps us to interpret Jewish texts?
  2. Are there ways that you can use different modalities not just to teach text, but to interpret texts?

Source 4: Textual Layering in Practice (Shir HaShirim Rabbah)

Background context: Song of Songs is a book about the relationship between two loves. The Rabbis interpret that love in many different ways. Here, they use Song of Songs 1:10 to describe the Rabbis and their relationship with Torah. Notice that the Rabbis interpret the idea of a string of jewels as the Rabbis using different sections of text – Torah, Prophets and Writings, to be in conversation with one another. By bringing in a verse from Deuteronomy about the fiery revelation at Sinai, the Rabbis suggest that this act of interpretation is not just study, but rather a spiritual reenactment of Sinai itself!
There are a lot of layers in this text! Begin by reading the initial verse from Shir HaShirim, and then as you move to the midrash, try to identify each layer of interpretation.
שיר השירים א׳:י׳

(י) נָאו֤וּ לְחָיַ֙יִךְ֙ בַּתֹּרִ֔ים צַוָּארֵ֖ךְ בַּחֲרוּזִֽים׃

Song of Songs 1:10

(10) Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, y

our neck with strings of jewels.

שיר השירים רבה א׳:י׳

דָּבָר אַחֵר, נָאווּ לְחָיַיִךְ בַּתֹּרִים, בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁמְיַלְּלִין הַהֲלָכָה אֵלּוּ עִם אֵלּוּ, כְּגוֹן רַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר מִימִי וַחֲבֵרָיו. צַוָּארֵךְ בַּחֲרוּזִים, בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהָיוּ חוֹרְזִים בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה, וּמִדִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה לִנְבִיאִים, וּמִנְּבִיאִים לִכְתוּבִים, וְהָאֵשׁ מִתְלַהֶטֶת סְבִיבוֹתֵיהֶם וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים שְׂמֵחִים כִּנְתִינָתָן מִסִּינַי. וְכִי עִקַּר נְתִינָתָן מֵהַר סִינַי לֹא בָאֵשׁ הָיוּ נִתָּנִין, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים ד, יא): וְהָהָר בֹּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ עַד לֵב הַשָּׁמַיִם.

Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:10

(1)“Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels” (Song of Songs 1:10).

Another matter, “your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,” when they explore the halakha with each other, like Rabbi Abba bar Mimi and his colleagues.

Another matter, “Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,” when they (the Rabbis) learn and explore the law with one another other, like Rabbi Abba bar Mimi and his colleagues would.

“Your neck with strings of jewels”- when they would string together matters of Torah, from Torah to Prophets, and from Prophets to Writings, and fire is ignited around them, and the matters were as joyful as when they were given from Sinai.

At their first giving of the Torah from Mount Sinai, were they not given in fire? As it is stated: “The mountain was burning with fire to the heart of the heavens” (Deuteronomy 4:11).

Reflection questions:
  1. How do the Rabbis seem to understand their role as interpreters?
  2. What do you think the Rabbis are trying to teach us about the power of interpretation? Who is invited in to interpret the texts?
  3. Why do you think the imagery of fire is used in this text? What does it teach you about the experience of Sinai? About the experience of interpretation?
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Rabba Yaffa Epstein & Mara Braunfeld