midrash

[Heb. midrash the study, the exposition of Scripture. It is the infinitive of Aram. darash to search into, to examine.] Hebrew Literature : The oldest Jewish exposition of the Old Testament. It was of two kinds-the Halachic or Legal and the Hagadic or Homiletic interpretation. The rules regulating those two kinds of exegesis were collected and systematized by Elieser ben Jose, a Galilean, in the second century. ( Ginsburg .) mid-rib, s. [Eng. mid, a., and rib.] Bot.: The large vein or principal nerve which pa es from the petiole to the apex of a leaf. Called also rib and costa.