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Aggada אגדה - ( Talmudic Aramaic) tales, lore, pl. Aggadot - is the portion of the Jewish Oral Tradition dealing dealing with subject matter other than Halakha, Jewish Law. These teachings are often referred to as "the" aggada - Aggadata אגדתא - or by the Hebrew, Haggada הגדה, pl. Haggadot.
The aggada is divided into two parts [1] (http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/agadot/hagada2-2.htm): conveying fundamental teachings (מאמרים הלמודיים) and conveying explanations of verses in the Tanakh (באוריים). The fundamental teachings concern Jewish belief and the Jewish understanding of God and Godliness; the explanations derive the "sermonic implications" from the biblical text. Both forms of aggada are part of the Oral law, תורה שבעל פה - the traditions providing the authoritative interpretation of the Written Law. These traditions discuss either the mitzvot (חלק המצוות) and are Halakhic, legal, in nature or they discuss "the secrets" (חלק הסודות), the deeper teachings.
It was initially forbidden to record the Oral Law in a written format: such material would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation (and abuse). Because of their "depth and value", these concerns applied in particular to the deeper teachings - due to their value, these teachings should not become accessible to those "of bad character" and due to their depth they should not be made available to those "not schooled in the ways of analysis".
Around 200 CE, It became apparent that the Palestine community and its learning were threatened, and that publication was the only way to ensure that the Oral Law could be preserved. The legal portion, the halakha was redacted by Judah haNasi in the Mishnah. The rabbis of that era decided that the deeper teachings could not be transmitted via an explicit, mishnah-like, medium. Rather, they would be conveyed in a "concealed mode" and via "paradoxes". The aggadot are thus presented as tales, folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and business and medical advice.The mode of the transmission was nevertheless based on consistent rules and principles such that those "equipped with the keys" would be able to unlock their meaning; to others they would appear as "charming and harmless folktales".
Throughout the Talmud, aggadic and halakhic material are interwoven legal material comprises around 75%. The Talmudic aggada, generally, convey the "deeper teachings" - though in concealed mode; the Ein Yaakov is a compilation of the aggadic material in the Babylonian Talmud together with commentaries. The tractate Avoth, which has no gemara, deals exclusively with non halakhic material, though is not always regarded as aggadic.
In the Midrash, the aggadic and halakhic material are compiled as two distinct collections. The Aggadic Midrashim, generally, are explanatory aggada, deriving the "sermonic implications" from the biblical text; the Halakhic Midrashim derive laws from the text.
References
- Halakha/Aggadata/Midrash (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Halakha_&_aggadata_&_midrash.html), jewishvirtuallibrary.org
- Midrash Haggadah (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=587&letter=M), jewishencyclopedia.com
- Discourse on the Haggadot Hebrew Fulltext (http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/agadot/hagada2-2.htm), Moses Chaim Luzzato
- Introduction to the commentary on the Mishnah, Maimonides, transl. Zvi Lampel (Judaica Press, 1998) ISBN 1880582287
- The Infinite Chain : Torah, Masorah, and Man, Nathan T. Lopes Cardozo, (Philipp Feldheim, 1989) ISBN 0944070159
- The Juggler and the King, Aharon Feldman, (Philipp Feldheim, 1991) ISBN 0873065573
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