What Is MidrashMemra?

To answer that question, we would like to define the terms Midrash and Memra.

MIDRASH (מִדְרָשׁ), is the designation of a particular genre of rabbinic literature containing anthologies and compilations of homilies, including both biblical exegesis (Hermeneutics) and sermons delivered in public as well as Aggadot (Stories) and sometimes even Halakhot (“Walkings”/Guidelines), usually forming a running commentary on specific books of the Bible. The term Midrash itself derives from the root drosh (דרש) which in the Bible means mainly “to search,” “to seek,” “to examine,” and “to investigate”.

What We Mean by “Midrash”

In classical Jewish usage, midrash refers to rabbinic interpretive literature—both exegetical and homiletical—produced in Late Antiquity and the medieval period. These texts operate within specific historical, linguistic, and theological frameworks. MidrashMemra uses the term midrash in a qualified and self-conscious sense:

  • We distinguish between classical midrash (as a historical corpus)
  • And midrashic reflection (as a mode of interpretive engagement)

Memra

The most common Hebrew expression for “word” is davar (דבר), which can mean: word, thing, matter, or affair. Davar implies content and reality in one’s words. One of the important links regarded in ancient rabbinical thought was “The Word”, called memra’ or mimra (מימרא) in Aramaic. The Memra concept is the Anthropological Word, specifically that of a Divine Agent/Mediator between the unapproachable God and the creature Man, occurs hundreds of times in the Aramaic Targumim. Targums are very old Aramaic Paraphrases of the Hebrew Scripture. They were authoritative, and spoken aloud in the synagogues along with the Hebrew of the Torah and Haftarah readings.

What We Mean by “Memra”

Memra (“Word”) is an Aramaic term used prominently in the Targumim to speak of God’s creative, revelatory, and redemptive activity—often functioning as a reverent circumlocution for divine action or presence.

Jewish scholarship has long recognized that the Memra:

  • Acts
  • Speaks
  • Creates
  • Reveals
  • Saves

MidrashMemra explores the theological implications of this agency language and examines how it intersects with:

  • Biblical Wisdom traditions
  • Second Temple concepts of divine mediation
  • Logos theology in Hellenistic Judaism
  • The prologue of the Gospel of John

Our central claim is not that the Targumists were covert Christians, but that their language preserves conceptual categories that make early Messianic claims intelligible within a Jewish framework. Our writings should therefore be understood as Messianic midrashic reflections: theological explorations that draw upon rabbinic texts, biblical language, and Jewish interpretive patterns, while openly reading them through a Messianic (Christological) lens. When at all possible, we aim to point out when a Messianic reading departs from or goes beyond the intent of the original rabbinic author.

Mission

MidrashMemra exists as a supplementary beit midrash—a place of study alongside Scripture—devoted to exploring the concept of the Memra (Aramaic: “Word”) within the Hebrew Bible, the Targumim, Second Temple literature, and early Jewish-Christian writings, with particular attention to its Messianic significance. This project is written from a Messianic Jewish theological perspective that identifies Rabbi Yeshua bar Yosef of Natzeret with the divine Memra attested in Jewish interpretive traditions. At the same time, MidrashMemra is committed to intellectual honesty, careful sourcing, and clarity regarding where classical Jewish interpretation ends and Messianic interpretation begins. MidrashMemra does not claim to replace classical rabbinic literature or traditional Jewish exegesis. Rather, it seeks to engage those sources respectfully, transparently, and rigorously as part of a broader interpretive conversation.

Methodology

MidrashMemra operates according to the following methodological commitments:

1. Textual Priority

Primary texts come first. Biblical passages, Targumic renderings, rabbinic literature, and early sources are cited explicitly whenever possible, including original-language excerpts when relevant.

2. Source Transparency

We clearly distinguish between:

  • What a source explicitly states
  • What a source implies or suggests
  • What a Messianic theological reading infers

Interpretive moves are identified as such.

3. Historical Awareness

Rabbinic and Targumic texts are situated within their historical and literary contexts. Claims about meaning or significance are made with attention to genre, chronology, and audience.

4. Messianic Commitment

MidrashMemra is unapologetically Messianic. We affirm Rabbi Yeshua as Messiah and read Scripture accordingly—but we aim to do so without collapsing Jewish sources into Christian dogma or retrojecting later theology anachronistically.

5. Supplementary Function

This site is intended to function alongside traditional study—not in place of it. Readers are encouraged to consult full rabbinic texts, academic scholarship, and primary sources directly.

Therefore, MidrashMemra serves as a “search” or “investigation” of “the Word” of G-d. This site is dedicated to the investigation and responsa for the Memra in connection with Rabbi Yeshua bar Yosef of Natzeret, who is also called Mashiach. This site also serves as a supplementary beit midrash, and overall study of The Torah in the merit of Mashiach. Therefore, Midrash Memra offers sermons, articles, and other resources for use. As Mashiach Yeshua declared,

“You diligently search the Scriptures because you think to have eternal life in them, and these are they that testify about Me ” –Yochanan 5:39

B”H