A literary device employing narrative, an extended metaphor, figurative speech, etc., to convey one idea under the surface of another. Thus, in ancient Jewish sources, allegory was used to heighten the dramatic effect of a particular situation or to symbolize a religio-ethical message. Allegorical interpretation of Scripture likewise reveals unsuspected meanings that transcend the literal sense of a biblical text. Various kinds of allegory are to be found in the Hebrew Bible: personifications of good and evil, wisdom and folly, danger and protection occur regularly in Psalms and Proverbs; Ezekiel's "riddle" of the eagle and the vine (17:1ff.) is an allegory of the first Exile, and his vision of the dry bones (37:1-14) symbolically portrays the nation's restoration to Zion. Ezekiel is a master of this technique, depicting Samaria and Jerusalem as adulterous sisters (23:2-45), but it was also utilized by other prophets to convey Israel's faithlessness (Hos. 1:2-2:15) and the disasters of a foreign invasion (Joel 1:2-2:11).
As opposed to the intentional use of allegory, the reading of allegorical significance into the Torah and other Scriptural passages only emerged with the development of post-biblical commentary and exposition. It was used in an effort to discover deeper or hidden meanings in the text. This allegorical technique, known as remez (lit. "hint" or "allusion"), is one of four traditional methods for the elucidation of Scripture (see Pardes).
Hellenistic influences gave a major impetus to the allegorical approach. Philo, its classic exponent, strongly advocated following "the rules of that wise architect, Allegory" (De Somniis 2:2). Yet although Philo believed that the patriarchs of Israel exemplified certain archetypal moral qualities, and saw in the deliverance from Egypt an allegory of the individual's emancipation from bodily passions, he never contemplated discarding the literal significance of the biblical stories and observances.
The rabbis, for their part, in the Midrash especially, accepted figurative interpretations of Scripture. In the case of Anthropomorphisms, for example, where any impression of God's corporeality had to be avoided, they regarded the allegorical meaning as the only legitimate one. A typical example of the allegorical approach is the Midrashic comment on Genesis 11:5 in the story of Babel: "'The Lord went down to look at the city'--- Everything is revealed to God, yet He had to go down and see for Himself! The text, however, wishes to point a moral---that one should never pass judgment on mere hearsay, but go first and see for oneself" (Tanh., ad loc.).
Occasionally, extensive allegorization can be found in the Talmud and Midrash. The rabbis allegorized King Solomon's three biblical books (Song of Songs, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) as the Three Ages of Man (Song R. 1:10). Sometimes, both the literal and the allegorical views are represented side by side. Thus, while some rabbis in the Talmud tried to pinpoint a date for the story of Job, another sage declared that "it was an allegory---he never existed and it never happened at all" (BB 15a). The Song of Songs was interpreted as an extended allegory of the love between God and Israel; as such, it was canonized, although its literal meaning as a hymn to earthly love between man and maid was not entirely superseded.
Allegorical interpretation was adopted by the rabbis as a homiletical (rather than systematic) device for expounding a sacred text. Misuse of this technique impelled later Jewish thinkers to formulate rules limiting its utilization. Perhaps the most succinct of these rules were devised by Saadiah Gaon, who ruled that allegorism was only permitted when the literal meaning contradicted good sense, reason, or other texts, or when allegory had the mandate of rabbinic tradition. The kabbalists nevertheless believed that hidden treasures were to be unearthed in the Torah (Zohar I, 132a) and, while condemning liberalism, insisted that "the biblical stories are only the Torah's outer garments" (ibid. III, 152a).
Allegory continued to loom large in medieval Hebrew poetry and fiction, in the theological approach of Baḥya Ibn Pakuda and Maimonides, and in the exegetical methods of Baḥya Ben Asher and Naḥmanides. It makes an appearance in liturgy (the ḥad Gadya Passover Seder song) and in sermons, it played a major role in Ḥasidic literature, and it can be found in the tales of modern Hebrew writers such as Shemuel Yosef Agnon.
