Definition of "Midrash"

In other stories of the midrashim, Adam, in penance for his fall, abstains from sexuality for 130 years, but he is not able to control his nocturnal emissions; in his dream state female spirits, the succubae, come and have intercourse with him, and with Adam's seed they give birth to demons.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 19

Midrash was not a purely intellectual pursuit and study was never an end in itself: it had to inspire practical action in the world.

2007, Karen Armstrong, The Bible: The Biography, Atlantic, published 2008, page 82