Midrash (from darash — ‘to seek’ or ‘to interpret’) is the vast corpus of rabbinic biblical interpretation — homiletical, legal, and narrative — that runs parallel to the Talmudic tradition. The major midrashic collections: Genesis Rabbah and Leviticus Rabbah (Palestinian, ~400–500 AD), Pesikta de-Rav Kahana (~500 AD), Midrash Tanchuma, Deuteronomy Rabbah, and many others. Midrash fills in the gaps of the biblical narrative, explores the inner lives of biblical figures, reconciles contradictions, and derives ethical and theological teachings through creative interpretation. It is the imaginative and homiletical counterpart to the legal reasoning of the Talmud, and the primary vehicle through which the rabbinic worldview shaped popular Jewish religious culture for over a millennium.