Maggid

A maggid (Hebrew: מַגִּיד), also spelled as magid, is a traditional Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a darshan (דרשן‎). The title of maggid mesharim ('a preacher of uprightness'; abbreviated מ"מ‎) probably dates from the sixteenth century. There have long been two distinct classes of leaders in Israel—the scholar and rabbi, and the preacher or maggid. That the popular prophet was sometimes called "maggid" is maintained by those who translate מַגִּיד מִשְׁנֶה‎ (maggid mishne) Zechariah 9:12, by "the maggid repeats" (Löwy, "Beqoret ha-Talmud," p. 50). Like the Greek sophists, the early maggidim based their preaching on questions addressed to them by the multitude. Thus the Pesiqta, the f...