''Sefer HaAggadah'' (''The Book of Legends'') is a compilation of

Aggadot Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...

(singular Aggadah; Aramaic אַגָּדָה: "tales, lore") that was compiled and edited by

Hayim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik ( he, חיים נחמן ביאַליק; January 9, 1873 – July 4, 1934), was a Jewish poet who wrote primarily in Hebrew but also in Yiddish. Bialik was one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry. He was part of the vangu ...

and

Yehoshua Hana Rawnitzki Yehoshua Ḥana Rawnitzki (; 13 September 1859 – 4 May 1944) was a Hebrew publisher, editor, and collaborator of Hayim Nahman Bialik. Biography Yehoshua Ḥana Rawnitzki was born to a poor Jewish family in Odessa in 1859. He began his journali ...

starting from 1903. Most of the sources included in Sefer HaAggadah come from the period of the

Tannaim ''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים , singular , ''Tanna'' "repeaters", "teachers") were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the ''Tannaim'', also referred to as the Mis ...

and the

Amoraim ''Amoraim'' (Aramaic language, Aramaic: plural or , singular ''Amora'' or ''Amoray''; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 Common Era, CE, who "sai ...

. Bialik and Ravnitzky include aggadot from the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

, the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

Avot of Rabbi Natan Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (), usually printed together with the minor tractates of the Talmud, is a Jewish aggadic work probably compiled in the geonic era (c.700–900 CE). Although Avot de-Rabbi Nathan is the first and longest of the " minor tractates ...

Mekhilta Mekhilta ( arc, מְכִילְתָּא דְּרַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל IPA /məˈχiltɑ/, "a collection of rules of interpretation"; corresponding to the Mishnaic Hebrew ' 'measure', 'rule'), is used to denote a compilation of scriptural ...

Sifra Sifra (Aramaic: סִפְרָא) is the Halakhic midrash to the Book of Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud, and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah. Like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called "Torat Kohanim", a ...

Sifre Sifre ( he, סִפְרֵי; ''siphrēy'', ''Sifre, Sifrei'', also, ''Sifre debe Rab'' or ''Sifre Rabbah'') refers to either of two works of ''Midrash halakha'', or classical Jewish legal biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Numbers a ...

Tosefta The Tosefta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

Midrash Rabba Midrash Rabba or Midrash Rabbah can refer to part of or the collective whole of specific aggadic midrashim on the books of the Torah and the Five Megillot, generally having the term "Rabbah" (), meaning "great," as part of their name. These midras ...

Midrash Tanhuma Midrash Tanhuma ( he, מִדְרָשׁ תַּנְחוּמָא) is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch aggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of ...

Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (also Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer; Aramaic: פרקי דרבי אליעזר, or פרקים דרבי אליעזר, Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer; abbreviated PdRE) is an aggadic-midrashic work on the Torah containing exegesis and re ...

Sefer Yetzirah ''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is the title of a book on Jewish mysticism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed ...

Yalkut Shimoni The ''Yalkut Shimoni'' ( he, ילקוט שמעוני), or simply ''Yalkut'', is an aggadic compilation on the books of the Hebrew Bible. It is a compilation of older interpretations and explanations of Biblical passages, arranged according to the ...

Alphabet of Sirach An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...

and others.

Nahum Norbert Glatzer Nahum Norbert Glatzer (March 25, 1903 – February 27, 1990) was a scholar of Jewish history and philosophy from antiquity to mid 20th century. Life Glatzer was born in Lemberg, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Lviv in the w ...

, Jewish literary scholar, theologian, and editor writes that Bialik's goal in compiling the Sefer HaAggadah was "…part of his attempt to popularize Hebrew classics." This mission is very much evident in Bialik's essay, Halakah and Aggadah where he expands on the roles of Halakah and Aggadah in reinventing or renewing a society's culture.

Halakah and Aggadah

In 1917

published an essay titled Halakah and Aggadah where he elaborates on the role of Halakah (torah law) and Aggadah (lore) as two key elements in Judaism that can only work hand in hand. Throughout the essay Bialik shows the dual nature of Halakah and Aggadah and the complementary roles that they play. He writes that, "Halakhah is all husk, body, action; Aggadah is all content, soul, aspiration. The first is hardening inertia, compulsion and submission; the second, continuous renewal, freedom and spontaneity." Although Sefer HaAggadah's goal is to spread the "renewal, freedom and spontaneity" within the rich tradition of Jewish lore, in Halakah and Aggadah Bialik emphasizes the gravity and importance of Halakah.

Halakah ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

to Bialik is the implementation of the lessons learned from Aggadah, it is "a defined attitude towards life." When Bialik refers to Halakah he isn't necessarily referring to Torah Law. He may be talking about the implementation of the morals and ethics that people learn from the rich Jewish Aggadic literature. To Bialik the renewal of a Jewish culture was crucial and he believed that it had to be rooted in the past yet refocused for a new modern Hebrew speaking audience. Although the goal of Sefer HaAggadah was to popularize the old Hebrew classics in the form of Aggadah, Bialik's calls for a life of "…action rather than talk, and in writing, for Halakhah rather than Aggadah." In other words culture does not enter the conscience of a people or a nation if it does not transition into the realm of action.

References

{{Authority control 1900s books Aggadic Midrashim