Midrash and/as Allegory: the case of “Ella” / Ishay Rosen-Zvi

Tannaitic Midrash is famous for its adept utilization of fixed terms and structures. They form the building blocks of the derashot and can thus beused to uncover their inner logic. The structure discussed in this paper isa question marking a difficulty in the verse followed by a homily, whichis preceded by the word "ella" (‘rather’). A systematic examination of allits hundred occurrences of this structure challenges our understanding ofthe method of midrash and its relation to allegory