Midrash מדרש
The method of interpretation that draws from a verse what it does not say outright — law and story alike.
Midrash comes from darash, «to seek» or «to demand». It is a way of reading that treats the text as exact: no superfluous letters, no accidental repetitions, no indifferent word order. From a redundant word a law is derived; from an odd phrase, a story.
A distinction is drawn between midrash halacha — legal derivation (Mechilta on Shmot, Sifra on Vayikra, Sifrei on Bamidbar and Devarim) — and midrash aggada, which opens meaning through parable, dialogue and imagined scene. Rabbi Yishmael formulated the thirteen rules of interpretation recited in the morning prayers; Rabbi Akiva went further.
Aggadic midrash is free: it may offer three incompatible explanations in a row, because it seeks meaning rather than fact. Reading it literally, warned the Rambam and the Maharal, is a crude error.