{"id":534,"date":"2013-04-25T20:22:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T20:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/?page_id=534"},"modified":"2021-01-21T07:29:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:29:45","slug":"types-of-midrashic-texts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/course-materials\/rels-4107\/types-of-midrashic-texts\/","title":{"rendered":"Types of Midrashic Texts"},"content":{"rendered":"

I. Halakhic midrashim<\/strong> (or Tannaitic midrashim)<\/h3>\n

Mekhilta de R. Ishmael<\/em> \u2014 commentary on Exod 12:1-23:19; 31:12-17; 35:1-3.
\nSifra<\/em> (or Torat Kohanim<\/em>) \u2014 commentary on Lev (entire).
\nSifre Bemidbar<\/em> \u2014 commentary on Num 5-12; 15; 18-19; 25:1-13; 26:52-31:24; 35:9-34.
\nSifre Devarim<\/em> \u2014 commentary on Deut 1:1-30; 3:23-29; 6:4-9; 11:10-26:15; 31:14-32:34.<\/p>\n

II. Exegetical midrashim <\/strong>(examples in rough chronological order)<\/h3>\n

Genesis Rabbah<\/em>
\nLamentations Rabbah<\/em>
\nSong of Songs Rabbah<\/em>
\nRuth Rabbah<\/em>
\nQohelet Rabbah<\/em>
\nEsther Rabbah<\/em>
\nMidrash Tehillim<\/em><\/p>\n

III. Homiletical midrashim <\/strong>(examples in rough chronological order)<\/h3>\n

Leviticus Rabbah<\/em>
\nPesiqta de Rav Kahana<\/em>
\nPesiqta Rabbati<\/em>
\nTanhuma-Yelammdenu<\/em> \u2014 extant in two ‘modern’ editions: (1) Tanhuma<\/em> (Nidpas<\/em>); (2) Tanhuma Buber<\/em>
\nDeuteronomy Rabbah<\/em>
\nExodus Rabbah<\/em>
\nNumbers Rabbah<\/em><\/p>\n

IV. Narrative midrashim <\/strong>(examples in rough chronological order)<\/h3>\n

Seder \u2018Olam (Rabbah)<\/em>
\nPirqe de R. Eliezer<\/em>
\nSefer Yosippon<\/em>
\nSefer ha-Yashar<\/em><\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. The halakhic midrashim, generally speaking, appear to be older than the other groupings. However, the narrative midrashim sometimes exhibit a knowledge of genuinely ancient traditions; it remains unclear just how such material came into their hands. For some ideas, see my article “Exploring the Afterlife of Jewish Pseudepigrapha in Medieval Near Eastern Religious Traditions: Some Initial Soundings,” Journal for the Study of Judaism<\/em> 30 (1999): 148-77.<\/p>\n

2. Note that there is a \u2018Rabbah\u2019 for each book of the Torah and for the five festival scrolls (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Qohelet [Ecclesiastes], and Esther). This circumstance underscores the connection of midrashic activity with the liturgical cycle of scriptural readings.<\/p>\n

3. Exegetical midrashim proceed typically with a verse-by-verse exposition of the biblical book; homiletical midrashim typically discuss only the initial verse(s) of the weekly or festival parashah<\/em>. Both groups will freely range over the entire Bible, citing verses from Torah, Nevi\u2019im, and\/or Ketuvim which advance the course of the exposition.<\/p>\n

4. I have by no means provided an exhaustive list of midrashic compositions\u2014only a representative sampling of those which you will encounter most frequently during the course of your readings in the literature of Jewish studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I. Halakhic midrashim (or Tannaitic midrashim) Mekhilta de R. Ishmael \u2014 commentary on Exod 12:1-23:19; 31:12-17; 35:1-3. Sifra (or Torat Kohanim) \u2014 commentary on Lev (entire). Sifre Bemidbar \u2014 commentary on Num 5-12; 15; 18-19; 25:1-13; 26:52-31:24; 35:9-34. Sifre Devarim \u2014 commentary on Deut 1:1-30; 3:23-29; 6:4-9; 11:10-26:15; 31:14-32:34. II. Exegetical midrashim (examples in rough chronological order) Genesis Rabbah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"parent":522,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-534","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3kl1F-8C","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1751,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/534\/revisions\/1751"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}