Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/305

Rh M I D R A S H 287 indirectly, it was long considered lost, till, in 1868, Salomon Buber of Lembcrg, a man of learning, wealth, and love for the ancient literature of his nation, edited it from four MSS., one of which (formerly in possession of Carmoly) is now preserved in the Uni versity Library of Cambridge (Add. 1497). The printed edition appeared at Lyck, 8vo. (10) Pcsikto Rabbathi, consisting in the latest edition of eighty- four Piskoth, is a Midrash of the same nature, and, in its main part, almost of the same date, as (9). Both drew from the same sources. This Midrash has been edited five times, the latest, best, and cheapest edition being that of Friedmann (Vienna, 1880, 8vo). (11) Tanna debe Eliyyahu consists of two parts, the Greater (Habbo) and the Lesser (Zutto), the former in thirty-one and the latter in twenty-five Pcrakim. It is an exegetical Midrash, the name of which is already known to the Bcreshith Rabbah (c. liv.) and the Babylonian Talmud (Kcthuboth, lO Ja). It is only un critical criticism that can declare it a Gaonaic work, although, like all other old books of the Jews, it is not without later additions. Ed. princ., Venice, 1598, 4to. There are modern and cheap Polish editions. (12) Midrash Rabbah (H3&quot;l) or Rabboth (Him) is chiefly an . H 2 ~l) or from its being the most voluminous J Midrash ; hence also Rabbo (K3&quot;l). The Midrash on Canticles (and Ecclesiastes) is now and then also called Midrash Hazithn (from the first distinc tive word of the beginning JTtn). These ten Midrashim are, certainly, of various styles and ages ; yet none of them is, inter polation excepted, later than the beginning of the 5th century. 2 It is remarkable that, although t}& Megilloth themselves had been early attached to the Pentateuch (since they were long before the 10th century, and still are, read through the synagogal year, even as was and still is the Pentateuch itself), the Rabboth had no common editio princcps* that on the Pentateuch appearing for the first time 1 The Rabbah on Genesis has 100 Parshiyyoth, that on Exodus 52, that on Leviticus 37, that on Numbers 23, and that on Deuteronomy 1 1 . These five Midrashim are quoted according to their chapters. The R/ibbah on Canticles accommodates itself to the sacred text, and is quoted accordingly. Ruth has 8 Parshiyyoth, and is quoted according to these. Lamentations lias 1 chapter consisting of 33 introductions (Pcthihotho Dehakkime), accommodating itself, for the rest, to the sacred text. Ecclesiastes has 3 Sedarim, and Esther has 6 Parshiyyoth. At various times various modes of quoting these Midrashim are current, the most common and most expedient, however, being that of quoting them according to the verses of the Bible. 2 Here might with advantage be mentioned some pieces of literature which are kindred in nature, although some of them are of much earlier date, whilst others are much later, than the ten Midrashim just mentioned: (1) Agadath Bereshith on Genesis, in eighty-three chapters, edited for the first time by R. Menahem de Lonsano in his Xhetc Yadoth, Venice, 1618, 4to; (2) Midrash Vayyisa u on Genesis xxxv. 5, in one chapter, to be found in Jellinek s Bet ha-Midrasch, Leipsic, 1855, 8vo ; (3) amplifications of chapter Ixx. of our Midrash Rabbah, on Genesis xxviii. 22, by the incorporation of the whole Apocryphon Tobit in Aramaic, &c. (see The Book of Tobit, &c., Oxford, 1878, 8vo) ; (4) Midrash Vayyosha on Exodus xiv. 30, xv. 1-18, printed at Constantinople, 1519, 4to; a MS. of this Midrash is preserved in the University Library, Cambridge (Add. 854) ; (5) Midrash Asereth Iladdibberoth on Exodus xx., printed in Jellinek s Bet ha-Midrasch, Leipsic, 1853, 8vo ; (6) Midrash Petirath Aharon on Numbers xx. 23-29 ; (7) Midrash Petirath Mosheh on Deuteronomy xxxiv. ; (8) Midrash Abbo Gorion on Esther ; the last three are to be found in the before-mentioned Bet ha-Midrasch ; (9) Midrash Shemuel, also called, from its beginning, Eth la asoth Ladonai, Constantinople, lf)17, folio; (10) Midrash Yonah, Prague, 1595, 4to; (11) Midrash Tlllim (Tehillim), 1512; (12) Midrash MisMe, 1517; the last two are printed at Constantinople, and in folio ; (13) Sephcr Hayyashar (in which a good many old traditions are preserved, although it is, of course, not the one mentioned in various books of the Bible), Venice, 1625, 4to ; (14) Dibere Hayyamim shel Mosheh, Constanti nople, 1516, 4to ; a fragment of this is to be found in MS. Add. 532. 4 in the University Library of Cambridge ; (15) Yosephon (or Jnsippon), various works of Flavius Josephus worked up rather freely, Muntua, 1480, folio, translated into Latin (German and Spanish) several times ; (16) Zerubbabel, Constantinople, 1519, 8vo ; (17) Elleh Ezkerah on the &quot; Ten Martyrs. &quot; For several other smaller Midrashim see Jellinek s Bet ha-Midrasch, i. and ii., 1853, iii., 1855, iv., 1857, all at Leipsic; v., 1873, and vi., 1877, both at Vienna ; and comp. also Horowitz, Sammlung Kleiner Midraschim, i., ii., Frankfort, 1881-82. The Midrashim on Isaiah and on Job seem now irretriev ably lost. 3 As if to compensate for this drawback, the well-known Cornelio Adelkind brought out at Venice, in 1545, two editions of the Rabboth on the Pentateuch and Megilloth, the one at Bombergi s house and the in 1512 (Constantinople, folio), and that on the Megilloth in 1519 (somewhere in Italy, H^^n^ mHDl. also in folio). 4 The latest and best edition is that of Vilna, 1880, folio. A translation in German is now coming out at Leipsic, by Dr A. Wiinsche. (13) Pireke de-Rabbi Eliczcr (also called Boraitho de-Rabbi EHczcr) is an astronomico-theosophical Midrash consisting of fifty-four Pcrakim. It goes through the so-called &quot;eighteen bene dictions,&quot; the signs of the zodiac, &c., but is unfinished. It belongs, no doubt, to the 5th century. The fact that the name &quot;Fatima&quot; occurs in it is no proof whatever that the book is post-Mohammedan, as that name must have been already known to the idolatrous Arabs. Ed. prin., Constantinople, 1514, and with a Latin translation, Leyden, 1644, both editions being in 4to. There arc also now to be found cheap editions (Lemberg, Warsaw). (14) Tanhuma is an exegetical and homiletical Midrash on the whole Pentateuch. It is quoted according to the Parshiyyoth of the week. Although originally of the end of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century, it has now two principal additions, which form part of the book : (1) several of the Shcctloth of Rab Ahai Gaon (of the 8th century), and (2) several pieces of the Yesodoi R. Mosheh Haddarshan, of Narbonne (of the llth century). On its relation to the &quot;Yclammcdcnu &quot; (often quoted in the llth century, but supposed to be lost) light will soon be thrown by the before-mentioned Salomon Buber, who is now preparing a critical edition of it. The ed. princ. of the Tanhuma is Constantinople, 1522, folio; and a very valuable MS. copy of it is in the Cam bridge University Library (Add. 1212). (15) Baliir is a small cabbalistic Midrash ascribed to the pre- Mislmic teacher, E. Nehunyah b. Hakkanah, no doubt from its beginning with the words rupri p nOim m tOK- Nahmanides (ob. c. 1268) quotes this book often in his commentary on the Pentateuch, under the names of Sephcr Habbahir, or of Midrasho shel Rabbi Nchunyah b. Hakkanah. Some have pro nounced this work a late fabrication, but others, who have thoroughly studied it, justly describe it as &quot; old in substance if not in form.&quot; Ed. princ., Amsterdam, 1651, 4to. A cheap edition appeared at Lemberg (1865, 8vo), and a MS. of this work is pre served in the University Library of Cambridge (Dd. 10. 11. 4). (16) Yalkut is the only existing systematic if not exhaustive collection of the Agadoth on the whole Bible. Its author drew not only from most of the Midrashim named in this article, but also from the Boraithoth (see MISHXAH), both Talmudim, and the Midrashic works now lost (as the Abkhir, Hasshekhem, or Hashkem, &c.). 5 This fact constitutes one of the principal points of its value. The author was R. Shim eon, brother (and not son) of R. Helbo, and father of the distinguished grammarian, critic, and divine R. Yoseph Kara. He lived somewhere in the north of France in the llth century. The ed. princ. of the Yalkut on Ezra, Nehemiah, and the books of Chronicles came out at Venice, 1517, folio (in the first Rabbinic Bible) ; that on the Prophets and Hagiographa in 1521, and that on the Pentateuch in 1526-27, both at Salonika, and in folio. An English translation of the whole work has been undertaken by a band of Rabbinic scholars in Cambridge. The first instalment, &quot;The Yalkut on Zechariah,&quot; by E. G. King, B.D., Hebrew lecturer of Sidney Sussex College, appeared in 1882. This specimen, besides giving a correct trans lation, contains many valuable notes. (17) Lckah Tob is a Midrash on the Pentateuch and the five Megilloth, by R. Tobiyyahu b. Eli ezer of Greece, who lived during the crusade of 1096. This work draws, certainly, upon the old and well-known Midrashim, and as such it would have thoroughly deserved the censure passed upon it by the witty but somewhat irreverent Abraham Ibn Ezra (in his preface to his commentary on the Pentateuch). But the Lckah Tob has also most valuable explanations both by the collector himself and by his father (R. Eli ezer), a fact passed over by Ibn Ezra in silence. The Lekah Tob on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy came out for the first time at Venice, in 1546, folio, under the title of Pcsikto Zuttarto (see leaf 936 in the postscript by the editor, NHp^DSn SmBIt, which explains the somewhat vague title on the title- pnge Nnm IX XmEIT Knp DS). In 1753-54 it was rcpub- lished at Venice, with a Latin translation, by Blasms Ugohnus in his Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrarum (xv.-xvi.) under the name of Pesictha. The Lckah Tob on Genesis and Exodus was other at Giustiniani s. These two editions differ in nothing but in the title-pages, &c., and the vignettes of the various books. The former edition is in possession of Dr W. Aldis Wright, and the latter in that of Dr C. Taylor. The fact of these editions having appeared simultaneously is, apparently, unknown to the bibliographers. 4 It is noteworthy that in this edition Ahashverosh, i.e., Esther, stands between Lamentations and Ecclesiastes, with which latter the Midrash on the Megilloth ends. 8 We may mention here the ed. princ. of three cabbalistic-Midrashie collections which go under the name of Yalkut : (1) Yalkut Ifnda.ih, Lublin, 1648, 4to ; (2) Yalkut Reubeni JIakkatan, Prague, 1660, 4to ; and (3) Yalkut Reubeni II age/ adol. Wilhermsdorf, 1681, folio.