Aggadah

or Ag·ga·da, A·ga·da, Hag·ga·dah

[ Sephardic Hebrew ah-gah-dah; Ashkenazic Hebrew uh-gah-duh ]

noun

1. the nonlegal or narrative material, as parables, maxims, or anecdotes, in the Talmud and other rabbinical literature, serving either to illustrate the meaning or purpose of the law, custom, or Biblical passage being discussed or to introduce a different, unrelated topic.

Aggadah

/ əɡəˈda /

noun

1. 1. a homiletic passage of the Talmud
   2. collectively, the homiletic part of traditional Jewish literature, as contrasted with Halacha, consisting of elaborations on the biblical narratives or tales from the lives of the ancient Rabbis
2. any traditional homiletic interpretation of scripture

Other Words From

• Ag·gad·ic ag·gad·ic [uh, -, gad, -ik, uh, -, gah, -dik], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Aggadah¹

< Hebrew haggādhāh, derivative of higgīdh to narrate; Haggadah

Word History and Origins

Origin of Aggadah¹

from Hebrew

Example Sentences

She relates in particular to the Aggadah, the folkloric stories in the Talmud, which rub shoulders with the dense, legalistic Halakha text, and seem sometimes to subvert it.

From BBC

"You have stories of women who criticise men, of non-Jews who put Jews to shame, of poor simple folk who make a mockery out of rabbis - there's something very liberated and liberating about Aggadah," she says.

From BBC

It includes legal judgments known as halakhah and pious elaborations of biblical stories known as aggadah.

From Time Magazine Archive

The comments themselves are of two kinds: halakah, or interpretation of the law, and aggadah, meaning sayings, parables, narratives or proverbs with a moral significance.

From Time Magazine Archive

Once Rabbi Shimon ben Yehozedek addressed Rabbi Sh'muel ben Nachman and said, "I hear that thou art a Baal Aggadah; canst thou therefore tell me whence the light was created?"

From Project Gutenberg