The Literature of the Sages
Second Part
Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum
SECTION TWO
THE LITERATURE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
IN THE PERIOD OF THE SECOND TEMPLE AND THE TALMUD
1. MIKRA
Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible
in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity
Editors: M.J. Mulder, H. Sysling
2. JEWISH WRITINGS OF THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD
Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran Sectarian Writings, Philo, Josephus
Editor: M.E. Stone
3 a. THE LITERATURE OF THE SAGES
FIRST PART: Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud,
External Tractates
Editor: S. Safrai. Executive editor: P.J. Tomson
3b. THE LITERATURE OF THE SAGES
SECOND PART: Midrash and Targum, Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism, Contracts,
Inscriptions, Ancient Science and the Languages of Rabbinic Literature
Editors: S. Safrai, Z. Safrai, J. Schwartz, P.J. Tomson
Published under the auspices of the
Foundation Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum,
Amsterdam
The Literature
of the Sages
Second Part:
Midrash and Targum
Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism
Contracts, Inscriptions, Ancient Science
and the Languages of Rabbinic Literature
Edited by
Shmuel Safrai V'T, Zeev Safrai,
Joshua Schwartz, Peter J. Tomson
2006
Royal Van Gorcum
Fortress Press
This volume is a cooperative venture of Royal Van Gorcum and Fortress Press.
Copyright © 2006 Koninklijke Van Gorcum B.V., P.O. Box 43, 9400 AA Assen, The
Netherlands
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of
this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the
publisher^In North America, write: Permissions, Augsburg Fortress Press, Box 1209,
Minneapolis, MN 55440. Elsewhere, write: Royal Van Gorcum, P.O. Box 43, 9400 AA
Assen, The Netherlands.
ISBN 90 232 4222 X
978 90 232 4222 2 (Royal Van Gorcum)
0 8006 0606 X (Fortress Press)
Printed in the Netherlands by Royal Van Gorcum, Assen
Contents
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY
Section One: Midrash and Targum
CHAPTER 1: THE HALAKHIC MIDRASHIM
by Menahem I. Kahana
3
CHAPTER 2: AGGADIC MIDRASH
by Marc Hirshman
107
CHAPTER 3 : THE WORKS OF AGGADIC MIDRASH AND
THE ESTHER MIDRASHIM
by Myron B. Lerner
133
CHAPTER 4 : SEDER OLAM
by Chaim Minkowsky
Appendix: The Scroll of Antiochos and the Scroll of Fasts
(by Zeev Safrai)
231
238
CHAPTER 5: THE TARGUMS AS PART OF RABBINIC LITERATURE
by Zeev Safrai
243
Section Two: Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism
CHAPTER 6: P R A Y E R S A N D B E R A K H O T
by Joseph Tabory
281
CHAPTER 7: T H E P A S S O V E R H A G G A D A
by Joseph Tabory
327
CHAPTER 8: M E G I L L A T T A A N I T - T H E S C R O L L O F F A S T I N G
by Vered Noam
339
V
CHAPTER 9 : P I Y Y U T
353
by Ezra Fleischer
CHAPTER 1 0 : ' S Y R I A C F O R D I R G E S , H E B R E W F O R S P E E C H '
- ANCIENT JEWISH POETRY IN A R A M A I C A N D HEBREW
375
by Joseph Yahalom
CHAPTER 1 1 : M Y S T I C A L T E X T S
393
by Michael D. Swartz
Section Three: Contracts, Inscriptions, Ancient Science
CHAPTER 1 2 : C O N T R A C T S : R A B B I N I C L I T E R A T U R E A N D
ANCIENT JEWISH D O C U M E N T S
by Mordechai A. Friedman
423
CHAPTER 1 3 : J E W I S H I N S C R I P T I O N S A N D T H E I R U S E
by Jonathan J. Price and Haggai Misgav
461
CHAPTER 1 4 : M E D I C A L I N T E R E S T I N A N C I E N T R A B B I N I C
LITERATURE
by Samuel S. Kottek
485
CHAPTER 1 5 : G E O G R A P H Y A N D C O S M O G R A P H Y I N T A L M U D I C
LITERATURE
by Zeev Safrai
497
CHAPTER 16: B I O L O G Y I N R A B B I N I C L I T E R A T U R E :
FACT A N D FOLKLORE
by Abraham Ofir Shemesh
509
CHAPTER 17: T H E S A G E S A N D T H E O C C U L T
by Yuval Harari
521
Section Four: The Languages of Rabbinic Literature
CHAPTER 1 8 : M I S H N A I C H E B R E W : A N I N T R O D U C T O R Y
SURVEY
by Moshe Bar-As her
567
CHAPTER 1 9 : T H E A R A M A I C O F T H E T A L M U D I C P E R I O D
by Yohanan Breuer
597
VI
CHAPTER 20: R A B B I N I C K N O W L E D G E O F G R E E K
by Daniel Sperber
627
ABBREVIATIONS
641
CUMULATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
645
INDICES
711
VII
Foreword
In 1974 the editors of the first Compendia volume opened their General Intro­
duction with the statement that "The Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum
Testamentum is designed as a historical work on the relationship of Judaism
and Christianity." Within this design, the ideological overtones of which were
never muted, the present volume is a - long awaited - tailpiece of considerable
importance. After the two introductory volumes of Section One (1974 and
1976), with their orientation on the history and social culture of Judaism in the
period of the formation of the New Testament, Section Two set out to explore
the fundamental texts of that period with a volume on the Hebrew Bible in
Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (1988), and another on the Jewish
writings of the Second Temple Period which did not find a place in the canon
of the Hebrew Bible nor in the corpus of later rabbinic Judaism (1984). The
third volume of Section Two, devoted to the literature of the Sages of classical
rabbinic Judaism, began to appear in 1987 (vol. 3a). Now, in the year 2006,
this beginning is completed with the present volume (vol. 3b). Instead of
deploring the delay, the Foundation chooses to express its great satisfaction
with the fact that this point is now reached in such an impressive way, and that
so much profit could be gained from the progress in the many areas of the
study of rabbinic literature made within the past years.
Equally satisfying is the fact that in the meantime no less than five mono­
graph volumes have appeared in Compendia's Section Three devoted to Jew­
ish traditions in early Christian literature.
The Foundation is most grateful to Prof. Peter J. Tomson and his co-editors
Profs. Zeev Safrai and Joshua Schwartz, for having accepted the burden to
give shape and coherence to a subject of such dimensions, and to complete
what Prof. Shmuel Safrai, who passed away in 2004, started so many years
ago.
In the same spirit of respect and gratitute the Foundation wishes to honour
the memory of Mr. R.A. (Bob) Levisson, who became president of the Foun­
dation in January 1984, energetically promoted the appearance of the previous
volumes of this Section, and remained active until his death in 2001, and
likewise the memory of Herman E. Oving, for many years a faithful and vigi­
lant treasurer, who passed away in the year 2000.
It is the conviction of the Board of the Compendia Foundation that this
volume, which explores such vital aspects of rabbinic literature and thought,
IX
has the potential to contribute to the aims of the Foundation, and to scholarship
in general, for a long time to come.
Albert van der Heide, president
Board of the Compendia Foundation:
Y. Aschkenasy, W. Burgers, A. van der Heide (president), B. Hudig (treas­
urer), Th.C. de Kruijf, D. Lilienthal, H. Sysling (secretary)
X
Introduction
Section two of the Compendia, entitled The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period
of the Second Temple and the Talmud, is based on three pillars: Mikra, or the Hebrew
Bible as understood in ancient Judaism and early Christianity; Jewish Writings of the
Second Temple Period; and The Literature of the Sages. Prof. Shmuel Safrai, who was
among the founding editors of the Compendia, took on the responsibility for the third
project and was appointed editor of the volume to appear on rabbinic literature.
Much thought was given to the content of the planned volume and to the order of the
chapters. The guiding principle was based on the known or approximate date of 'final'
editing of the various corpora as well as on the division of the literature of the sages into
such categories as Oral Tora, halakha, aggada, midrash, targum, prayer and much more.
A number of general and methodological chapters were also planned to set the tone for
the work. It was soon found that the scope of the project was enormous, and expediency
dictated that the work be divided into two volumes. Thefirstone, which appeared in 1987,
contains chapters on Oral Tora and halakha, as well as Mishna, Tosefta, the Palestinian
and Babylonian Talmuds, and external tractates. The second volume was to deal with
midrash, aggada, targum, liturgical texts, and a number of auxiliary subjects.
The overall idea was to give a scholarly and imaginative presentation of the range of
texts preserved by rabbinic Judaism or in its vicinity - texts that at the same time were
thought to reflect the great variety of Jewish life both within the ambit of rabbinic tradition
and beyond it. As to such sources, Safrai never tired of underlining the importance of 'real
life' documents such as inscriptions, contracts, and archaeological finds. Not only does
this approach carry the reader well beyond the accepted time limits of ancient Judaism
- being a primary context for the New Testament writings - but also into little studied and
sometimes obscure corners of rabbinic literature. The last item to be added to the list of
documents discussed in the book certainly did not belong in the latter category, but had
simply been all the time overlooked by the editors. It was during the last editorial meeting
with Prof. Safrai, conducted in his home a month before he died, that he brought up the
idea and exclaimed: 'The Passover Haggada, of course! How could we forget it!'
The second part of the project, which we present now to the reader, was, unfortunately
and for many reasons, a long time in the making. Prof. Safrai passed away in July 2003
and did not live to see its completion. The present editors, who were privileged to have
been among his students, have made every effort to continue the project in keeping with
his academic and research guidelines, although obviously each and every author had total
and complete methodological autonomy and at times may not agree with other authors or
with Shmuel Safrai himself.
XI
Safrai believed that the background to the New Testament was to be found in ancient
Judaism and that this Jewish background existed in a wide array of sources, and especially
in the literature of the sages, extending throughout a rather long period and far beyond the
first century. In this Safrai was not unique, but rather he continued a scholarly tradition that
had begun to search out the roots of early Christianity in Judaism rather than in the GrecoRoman world. While this trend had its ups and downs in terms of academic popularity,
it became increasingly popular in Jewish circles with the advent of Wissenschaft des
Judentums. While Christian academic circles were notably slower to adopt this point of
view and often kept disagreeing over its attendant methodologies, the rich subject matter
of rabbinic literature and its evident parallels with the New Testament and other early
Christian writings eventually increased the popularity of this literature also in these circles.
In more recent decades, the discovery and scholarly exploitation of the Dead Sea scrolls
was particularly helpful in this respect, a fact Safrai fully recognized although he left the
study of these documents largely to his long-time friend, colleague, and co-founder of the
Compendia, David Flusser.
The use of rabbinic literature for the understanding of the New Testament was not
without its problems, especially as strides were made in the methodologies associated
with rabbinic literature as well as with the New Testament. It became clear that historical
traditions in the literature of the sages could not be accepted at face value and that
attestations were problematic. For Safrai, however, the literary formulation of a rabbinic
work or the conclusion of its editorial process did not belie the fact that many traditions
in such literature might have been early, even with direct influence on the New Testament
world or at least representing a common tradition, thus providing scholars of the New
Testament with many additional sources.
Identifying such traditions was not a simple matter, however, and it became increasingly
unpopular to even attempt to do so among scholars of rabbinic literature, talmudists and
historians, whether they doubted the historicity of texts and the relevance of 'late' texts
for 'earlier' times or not, and especially in the case of midrash and aggada, main topics of
the present volume. Matters were not helped by the sometime simplistic use of rabbinic
literature by New Testament scholars. Nor did exaggerated statements of the non-historical
and 'ideological' character of the rabbinic documents by scholars reacting to this historical
naivety assist in advancing the sober approach that is needed here. Safrai at times found
himself standing almost alone in withstanding the pressure to sever any unambiguous ties
between rabbinic literature and the New Testament. However, during the course of time
it has become clear that certain parts of the New Testament can be understood only in
relation to rabbinic thought, that 'background' is relative, and that la longue duree might
apply to religious and literary phenomena. Indeed, it has become increasingly accepted
to see some type of 'chain of tradition' which allows for the use of 'later' material or at
least provides better methodologies for interpreting 'earlier' material. The present editors,
following Shmuel Safrai's lead, refrainedfromrestricting the chronological timeframeand
leave it for the reader of the individual chapters to judge the relevance of some of the later
material for the New Testament and its world. As the reader will note, the present articles
represent 'state of the art' in terms of methodological and literary issues, providing the
XII
reader - scholar and layman - with the understanding necessary to examine the relevance,
or lack of such, of the literature of the sages for the world of the New Testament.
If, however, when all is said and done, the literature of the sages is problematical for
the purpose at hand as defined by the Compendia and usage depends on methodologies
concerning which there is still disagreement, sometimes still strident, then why bother?
Why should the scholar of the New Testament just not make do with the literature that is
clearly contemporaneous with the New Testament? Why not concentrate on the Apocrypha
and Pseudepigrapha and on Qumran, or on Josephus and Philo? These questions and
subsequently the answers to them, helped form Shmuel Safrai's methodological modus
vivendi. Thus, while there might be a good deal of Second Temple literature closer in time
to the New Testament, the literature of the sages provides information that these other
types of literature do not. It is the literature of the sages which provides, for instance,
detailed information on the family, agriculture, education, and everyday life, and Safrai
wrote a series of chapters on such matters in thefirstsection of the Compendia, using for
the most part rabbinic literature as his primary source material. Furthermore it is possible
to point out an important popular phenomenon in both literatures, i.e. in the parable, a
genre unique to the New Testament and to the literature of the sages which does not appear
in other Second Temple literature.
Relevant information or material for comparison with the New Testament might be
found both in halakhic literature as well as in midrash and aggada. Regarding halakha, it
should of course be pointed out that the fact that the concomitant topics of everyday life
are discussed in rabbinic literature in no way relates to the question of whether rabbinic
halakha was normative in New Testament times or not. Rather, the question is whether the
halakhic descriptions of everyday life, custom and practice represent actual or 'common'
behaviour of some sort - and Safrai felt that they did and thus might reflect such life
among Jesus and his disciples as well as in early Christianity of the Land of Israel. This
was also the case regarding realia mentioned or dealt with in aggadic literature, which was
usually much later than halakhic literature. Safrai felt that even in this case, the descriptions
or traditions might reflect life during the time of Jesus and whether this was normative
behaviour or not was not the central issue, although this issue should not be ignored.
Indeed, just as life in the Second Temple period was far from being monolithic in
nature and homogenous in practice, the social realities described in rabbinic literature
were manifold and reflect different and sometimes even competing and contradictory
social realities. This led Safrai to understand that while Jesus and his disciples may have
been closest in outlook to the Pharisees, they were particularly similar to the personalities
described in rabbinic literature as the 'early hasidim' and Safrai saw Jesus and his
movement as reflections in the mirror of ancient hasidism, a group close to the world of
the sages, but not identical to it. This, ironically, again showed the importance of rabbinic
literature for understanding the socio-religious world of Jesus. The ancient hasidic
movement is described only in that literature, but it also shows that this literature, in spite
1
1
See e.g. S. Safrai, 'Hassidic Teaching'; idem, 'Hassidim ve-anshei maase'; idem, 'Yeshu vehatenuahe-hassidit'.
XIII
of its wealth of detail and descriptions, reflects phenomena that were not common to
other literatures, thus making rabbinic literature, being unique in this point, more suspect
in the view of those who tended to limit its historicity and relevance for the study of the
history of ancient Judaism. The unique nature of rabbinic literature also highlighted the
continued need for caution. Ultimately, however, both for Safrai and for the editors of
this volume, it was never claimed that it is necessary to prove a connection between this
or that literature or tradition in rabbinic literature and Second Temple times or the New
Testament, but rather to show the probability of such and to show that a certain 'proximity'
existed between the literatures and traditions, all the while bearing in mind the unique
aspects of both literatures and traditions. Beyond that, each author and reader could draw
his or her own conclusions. This is both the strong point as well as the weakness of the
methodologies described above. Establishing just the realm of probability made it difficult
to arrive at clear-cut conclusions regarding many of the seemingly similar issues or to
establish clear-cut comparisons. In the view of many scholars, much remained overly
dependent on subjective academic proclivities of scholars. But perhaps a more adequate
way of saying this is that we are dealing with an inescapable margin of uncertainty, and
the share of scholarly wisdom is soberly and honestly to delineate this uncertainty while
avoiding to fall in the trap of historical scepticism.
These matters are especially poignant for the present volume which deals with midrash
and aggada as well as with a number of fields tangential or auxiliary to rabbinic literature
and its study. Firstly, very often there has not yet been a systematic presentation of textual
work on this literature; much still remains to be done at the basic level of establishing a
critical text. To what extent are midrash and aggada, and their tradition histories, able
to aid the scholar of history or of ancient Judaism at all, and this is meant in the widest
sense of the word? Is there history in the legend or is there legend in the legend? And are
the texts usable in any form for the study of ancient society or the New Testament? It is
impossible to even begin to reach any conclusions on the use of these literatures in general
and for the New Testament in particular before one understands their nature, their texts
and their traditions, and furthering this is indeed one of the prime motives and goals of
the present volume, as it was of the first one. Needless to say, dealing with the above, in
any form or fashion, made manifold demands on any scholar who would attempt to tie it
all together in terms of a clear and coherent historical presentation. Few are the scholars
capable of dealing with rabbinic literature from all standpoints, from literature, to history,
to religion and to everyday life, and Shmuel Safrai was one of those few. Here lies the
legacy that Shmuel Safrai has bequeathed to the readers of the Compendia as well as to
scholarship in general.
Let us now proceed to a general overview of the volume. The 20 chapters of the book are
divided into four sections which reflect the wide array of literature and literary phenomena
not dealt with in the first volume. The first section deals with Midrash and Targum. Two
studies, that of Menahem I. Kahana and of Myron B. Lerner, on the Halakhic Midrashim
and on the works of Aggadic Midrash and the Esther Midrashim, respectively, are almost
book-length and represent outstanding original contributions to Talmudics which will
XIV
probably remain reference studies for a good many years to come. They are especially
important regarding textual history and literary criticism, the sine qua non for any use
of this material for any purposes of a historical nature. Both Kahana and Lerner take
the reader through detailed tours of the 'state of the art', describing previous studies
in their fields, the history of textual criticism on their relative topics as well as provide
detailed descriptions and studies of the works included in the fields under discussion.
Marc Hirshman provides an overview of aggadic midrash, dealing with terminology and
especially with midrash as creative exegesis within its social setting. Chaim Milikowsky
provides a neat scholarly description on Seder Olam Rabba. Zeev Safrai discusses the
terminology of targumic literature and describes the extant Targums and their relationship
to the Tora.
This opening section represents a direct continuation of the first volume, presenting
studies on central documents of rabbinic Judaism. It also complements the 'midrashic
genre' of the New Testament. The following sections of the volume reflect the willingness
of the editors to see influence in genres of rabbinic literature of a seemingly more
peripheral nature or of parallel non-rabbinic literary traditions. Thus, the next section
deals with liturgy, poetry and mysticism, all literary genres of importance in the world
of the New Testament. Joseph Tabory deals with Jewish prayer in general as well as with
the Passover Haggada, both topics that connect quite clearly to the reality of the New
Testament. He describes Second Temple period liturgies as well as post-70 CE liturgies
and blessings. While the subject of Vered Noam's contribution may only be tangentially
connected to the section, her study of Megillat Taanit presents a first translation of this
text and its scholion into English together with an important commentary on its history
and structure, proving once again the importance of textual study independent of historical
research. Ezra Fleischer and Joseph Yahalom study additional expressions of liturgy, with
the first study devoted to piyyut and the second to Aramaic and Hebrew mourning poems
and eulogies. These sensitive expressions of liturgical emotion are found in large part
outside of the corpus of rabbinic literature, but are contemporary to a number of genres
and literatures of the of rabbis. Finally, Michael Swartz shows the power of mystical
esoteric texts describing visionary experiences and magic ritual. He discusses seminal
works or genre including Merkava literature, Hekhalot literature and Sefer Yetsira.
The third section deals with contracts, inscriptions and ancient science, documents
more than others reflective of 'real life'. Mordechai A. Friedman studies contracts in
rabbinic literature as well as in other literatures. In addition to providing examples and
discussions of 'talmudic contracts', Friedman also deals with parallel material in the
Elephantine Papyri, the documents of the Judean Desert, and last but not least the Cairo
Geniza. Jonathan Price and Haggai Misgav discuss Greek and Jewish inscriptions both
in terms of their historical contribution as well as regarding their relationship to rabbinic
literature. While inscriptions obviously lack the complexity and sophistication of rabbinic
literature, they often provide a bird's eye view of real life of real people. 'Science' is dealt
with by Samuel Kottek in his article on medicine, by Zeev Safrai in regard of geography
and cosmography and by Avraham Ofir Shemesh studying both real and folkloristic
elements of biology as they appear in rabbinic literature. Yuval Harari deals with the world
XV
of the occult and the relationship of the sages to it. While this may not be considered
'science' in terms of the modern usage of the word, it was very much so in the ancient
world for both Jew and non-Jew. Sorcery, demons, divination, astrology and the like were
not just concepts in the world of the New Testament, but were integral parts of everyday
life and belief for many.
The last section of the book deals with the languages of rabbinic literature. Moshe
Bar- Asher offers a concise but rich description of Mishnaic Hebrew, and Yohanan Breuer
of Talmudic Aramaic, while Daniel Sperber deals with Greek in rabbinic literature. Not
only do these technical studies illuminate important and interesting aspects of rabbinic
literature, but they also relate to the critical question of languages in relation to Jesus,
the first century CE and the New Testament. Understanding the languages of rabbinic
literature may often provide the key to further understanding of the New Testament and its
linguistic milieu, whether in terms of 'official' languages such as Hebrew, 'vernaculars'
such as Aramaic, or 'foreign' languages such as Greek or Latin. The use of languages and
borrowings can often serve as a cultural barometer.
Thus we hope the volume will fulfil multiple purposes, even if not equally much in all
of its parts. Thus, it is firstly intended to give an overview of rabbinic scholarship and
to contribute to its advancement. Secondly, along with its first part, it is meant to offer
the reader a faithful and detailed picture of rabbinic literature in its wealth of forms and
contents. Thirdly, with this picture in mind and precisely in view of the methodological
problems we have mentioned, we are confident that the volume will assist the reader in
more adequately assessing important aspects of the cultural and ideological background
of the New Testament world.
Joshua Schwartz
Zeev Safrai
Peter Tomson
XVI
Note on Orthography and Acknowledgments
Orthography is never simple in an English work citing Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek sources,
and their transcriptions. We have aimed at an intelligent and never ruthlessly systematic
approach, taking into account specific requirements raised by the text in question. We
have not of course applied the following rules to quotations from other modern works and
their titles.
As to the transcription of Hebrew, the spelling of biblical names remains as accepted in
English. Other names as cited in rabbinic literature and related sources are transliterated
using a simple anglo-based system aimed at producing modern Israeli pronunciation. The
scholar will know to distinguish.
The same system is used for other Hebrew and Aramaic words in general, though here
the net result is not fully uniform either. In chapters with a linguistic or archaeological
orientation, enhanced diacritical precision is applied when necessary.
Transliterated technical terms are italicised when they remain rare, but only afirsttime
when they recur frequently.
As a rule, technical terms are capitalised when they concern literary documents, but
otherwise are printed in lower case.
Slight variations in the bibliographical system are due to conventions particular to
specialised disciplines such as linguistics and archaeology
We are indebted to the following persons for their work on translationsfromthe authors'
Hebrew: Edward Levin, ch. 1; Yoel Lerner, chs. 8,19; Irvin B. Fishel, ch. 9; Jeffrey Green,
ch. 10; Miriam Schlusselberg, appendix ch. 4; Esther Vantu, ch. 16; Geoffrey Herman, ch.
17; Michael Weitzman, ch. 18.
The indices have been prepared with great acuity by Tom Franken.
XVII
Section One
Midrash and Targum
Chapter One
The Halakhic Midrashim
Menahem I. Kahana
I.
Introduction 4
Characteristics of Halakhic Midrash 4
The Collections 4
The Term Halakhic Midrash 6
Literary Nature and Relation to Early Midrash 6
Authority of the Bible 12
Development of Exegetical Methods 13
The Schools of R. Yishmael and of R. Akiva 17
Distinct Exegetical Methods 17
The Division into Schools 26
Names of the Sages 29
Redaction of the Schools' Material 35
Content 40
Early Halakha 40
Aggada 44
Polemic against Minim 46
Attitude toward Non-Jews 51
Relation to Other Works 52
Aramaic Targums and Other Translations 52
Mishna and Tosefta 55
The Talmuds 58
Time and Place of Redaction 60
History of Research and Future Challenges 64
II. Description of the Collections 68
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael 68
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai
Sifra 78
Sifrei Numbers 87
Sifrei Zuta Numbers 91
Sifrei Deuteronomy 95
Mekhilta Deuteronomy 100
Sifrei Zuta Deuteronomy 103
Selected Bibliography
72
104
3
THE HALAKHIC MIDRASHIM
1. Introduction
CHARACTERISTICS OF HALAKHIC MIDRASH
The Collections
1
The Halakhic Midrashim contain both halakhic and aggadic (i.e., non-legal)
material from the Tannaic period arranged according to the order of verses in
the Tora. This stands in contrast with other the major compositions of this
period, Mishna and Tosefta, in which the material is arranged by subject. Ha­
lakhic Midrashim were composed on four of the five books of the Tora: Exo­
dus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. There is only a single whole
extant Halakhic Midrash on each of these four books: Mekhilta de-Rabbi
Yishmael on Exodus (MekRY), Sifra on Leviticus, Sifrei on Numbers (SifNum), and Sifrei on Deuteronomy (SifDeut). Three other Midrashim have
been partially reconstructed from Geniza fragments and from citations by
Rishonim (medieval authorities): Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai on
Exodus (MekRSbY), Sifrei Zuta on Numbers (SifZNum), and Mekhilta on
Deuteronomy (MekDeut). Passages from an additional Tannaic midrash on
the book of Deuteronomy, known as Sifrei Zuta on Deuteronomy (SifZDeut),
were recently discovered.
In his fundamental study of the Halakhic Midrashim, D. Hoffmann drew a
clear and persuasive distinction between the midrashic schools of R. Akiva and
R. Yishmael as to their homiletical method, midrashic terminology, and names
of major sages mentioned, as well as by the body of midrashim themselves.
Hoffmann similarly demonstrated that the Tannaic Midrash collections on the
Tora that have come down to us represent, in practice, these two schools, with
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1
Capitalised 'Halakhic Midrashim' shall be used here to indicate the written collections, while a
'halakhic midrash' or 'halakhic midrashim' denote one or more basic units of what can also mean
the genre, 'halakhic midrash'. Similarly, we shall speak of 'a Midrash' indicating a collection that
contains many 'midrashim'.
Citations in this survey follow ms Oxf 151 (completing abbreviations and correcting obvious
errors, based on the other texts; similar procedure is followed for the other Midrashim). References
follow the edition by Horovitz and Rabin.
Citations follow ms Vat 66. References for the dibburim of Nedava and Hova follow the Finkelstein edition, the rest the Weiss edition.
Citations follow ms Vat 32; references follow the edition by Horovitz.
Citations follow ms Vat 32, references the edition by Finkelstein.
Citations and references follow the Epstein - Melamed edition.
Citations and references follow the Horovitz edition.
Citations follow Hoffmann, Midrasch Tannaim, and the Geniza fragments published by
Schechter and Kahana. I followed accepted practice for the names of the above Midrashim; for
alternative names for Halakhic Midrashim see Epstein, 'Mechilta and Sifrei in the Works of
Maimonides', 102-113, and the following descriptions of each individual Midrash.
Citations and references follow the Kahana edition {Sifrei Zuta). For the midrashic work Baraita
de-Melekhet ha-Mishkan not discussed in this survey, see Kirschner, Baraita.
See below, 'The Schools of R. Yishmael and of R. Akiva'.
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THE HALAKHIC MIDRASHIM
one Midrash from the school of R. Akiva and a second from R. Yishmael's for
each of the books of the Tora except Genesis:
(1) from the school of R. Akiva: MekRSbY, the major portion of Sifra,
SifZNum, and SifDeut;
(2) from the school of R. Yishmael: MekRY, several additions ap­
pended to Sifra, SifNum, and MekDeut.
Other scholars, most prominently J.N. Epstein, developed and expanded upon
the distinctions between these two schools, while at the same time defining the
unique character of each of the specific Tannaic Halakhic Midrashim.
A re-examination of the Halakhic Midrashim taking into consideration
additional passages from the three Halakhic Midrashim rediscovered in the
Geniza and the new passages from SifZDeut teaches that, alongside the com­
mon elements of the Midrashim belonging to each school, the differences must
be given greater prominence. The four Midrashim from the school of R. Yish­
mael are marked by a relatively high degree of uniformity. Those from the
school of R. Akiva, in contrast, are not homogeneous and can be divided into
two subcategories that differ from each other in many aspects:
(la) MekRSbY, Sifra, and SifDeut, representing the classic school of
midrash of R. Akiva and bear a marked proximity to the Mishna;
(lb) SifZNum and SifZDeut, exhibiting a pronounced linguistic and
contentual singularity with very tenuous ties to the Mishna of R. Ye­
huda the Prince.
This division, by itself, raises the possibility that the two groups of Halakhic
Midrashim from the school of R. Akiva are merely random representatives of
the literary production of two academies that originally included two parallel
midrashic redactions for each of the Pentateuchal books from Exodus to Deu­
teronomy. First of all, it is improbable that redactors of a school of midrash on
the Tora would begin their work with the Book of Numbers or would content
themselves with Midrashim on Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. It is
more likely that additional Halakhic Midrashim have existed which have not
been preserved. Support for this hypothesis may be brought from midrashim
that were transferred verbatim from one collection to another. Thus, for exam­
ple, SifZNum and SifZDeut contain midrashim on Exodus and Leviticus that
derive from collections of what we term 'the Sifrei Zuta school' (see below).
Further remnants of collections of the halakhic midrash of the Tannaim can be
discerned in the many baraitot preserved in the other rabbinic works, most
importantly, the Tosefta and the two Talmuds.
The above evidence teaches that the literature of halakhic midrash was
originally much more extensive and richer than the extant works would indi­
cate. Such a perception must make us wary of unequivocal conclusions on the
basis of the limited data that we possess and that represent merely the tip of the
iceberg. However, an awareness of our limitations does not exempt us from
attempting a considered evaluation of the body of data known to us in view of
the nature and method of the Halakhic Midrashim.
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THE HALAKHIC MIDRASHIM
The Term Halakhic Midrash
The accepted name in Hebrew scholarly literature for the Tannaic Midrashim
on the Tora, Midreshei ha-Halakha, is somewhat misleading, since as we said
these Midrashim also contain aggadic material, a fact that is especially striking
in MekRY and in SifDeut, half of whose exegeses are of an aggadic nature."
Nonetheless, the name Midreshei ha-Halakha is defensible, since almost all
the legal material mentioned in the Tora is included in them, while only scant
non-halakhic material, such as narratives, genealogical lists, ethical exhorta­
tions, and the like, is the subject of orderly midrashic exposition. Criteria
have not been formulated that would explain why certain aggadic passages
were included in the Halakhic Midrashim, while others are not subject to such
exegetical treatment. The clear linkage of the Tannaic Midrashim to the legal
material in the Tora can be learned from the fact that three out of the eight ex­
tant Halakhic Midrashim (MekRY, SifNum, and SifZNum) start with the first
legal topic appearing in the appropriate biblical book, and not with the begin­
ning of the book itself. This also explains the absence of any Halakhic Midrash
on the Book of Genesis, which is mostly concerned with non-legal topics. It
is note-worthy within this context that the source of most of the aggadic mate­
rial incorporated in the Halakhic Midrashim is not identical with that of the
halakhic material, thus strongly indicating that the basic redactions of the sages
from each of the two schools contained passages that were principally ha­
lakhic.
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Literary Nature and Relation to Early Midrash
In the Halakhic Midrashim, a sharp distinction is drawn between the biblical
text and its interpretation by the sages. The typical passage opens with a
lemma consisting of one or more words from the biblical verse, followed by a
presentation of the interpretation. The quote and its interpretation comprise a
basic literary unit known as a midrash or drasha. Generally speaking, the
order of the biblical verses is followed.
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" The approximate percentages of aggadic material are: SifDeut 55%(!); MekRY 45%; SifNum
25%; Sifra 5%. The incomplete preservation of the other Midrashim precludes any estimation of
the extent of aggadic material, but they, too, do include it.
A detailed listing of biblical verses expounded appears below, in the description of each separate
Midrash.
Mirsky, 'Midrash Tannaim le-Bereshit' sought to prove that the redactors of Genesis Rabba
possessed a Tannaic midrash to Genesis, but his proofs are unconvincing. It cannot be ruled out
that a Tannaic Midrash to Genesis was redacted in some form, but no independent fragment of
such a Tannaic work has come down to us.
See below, 'Aggada'.
Cf nl above. For the development of the terms darash and midrash from the Bible through the
Apocrypha and the Judean Desert scrolls to rabbinic literature see Bacher, Terminologie, s.v. ttni;
Heinemann, 'Le-hitpathut'; Segal, 'Miscellanies', 194; Fraenkel, Methodology, 11-12; Gertner,
'Terms'.
On rare occasions do the Midrashim diverge from the biblical order. See, e.g., the exposition of
Exod 22:15, 'If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed', MekRSbY p207f, that places the
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