middot

middot

In Jewish biblical interpretation, the principles used to explicate the meaning of biblical words or passages. The middot are used especially to determine the bearing that a passage has on a new question or situation. The first known middot were compiled by Hillel in the 1st century BC; others were compiled by Ishmael ben Elisha (c. AD 100) and Eliezer ben Yose the Galilaean (c. AD 150). Among the best-known are the kol wa-homer (“how much more”), in which the interpreter proceeds from a minor to a major premise, and the gezera shawa (comparison of similar expressions or laws), in which an inference is made by analogy.