Midrash Rabbah

The Midrashic Corpus "Midrash Rabbah": A Historical, Textual and Exegetical Analysis of the Aggadah of the Land of Israel

The term "Midrash Rabbah" does not refer to a homogeneous literary unit written by a single author at a defined point in time, but represents a wide-ranging collection of ten different midrashic works on the Five Books of the Torah and the Five Scrolls, which took shape over a period of nearly eight hundred years.^[1] The origin of the name "Rabbah" ("great") lies first and foremost in the midrash on the Book of Genesis, called "Bereshit Rabbah," which earned this designation because of its great length compared with shorter midrashim known in the period of the Amoraim.^[1] With the passing of the generations, and chiefly as a result of the activity of the printers in the 16th century, the name spread to all ten works included in a single binding, and thus the canonization of "Midrash Rabbah" as it is known today in the yeshiva world and in academic research came about.^[2] The Venice printing of 1545 (5305) is considered the historical turning point at which the format gathering all parts of the midrash into one literary entity was shaped, a decision that shaped the patterns of study and interpretation of the following generations.^[2]

The Development of the Structure and the Literary Division of the Parts of the Midrash

The midrashic corpus divides into two main categories, which differ from each other in the time of their composition and in their literary style: the exegetical midrashim and the homiletic midrashim. The midrashim on Genesis and Lamentations belong to the most ancient layer and are characterized by close interpretation of the verses, whereas Vayikra Rabbah represents the classic model of a public sermon, which focuses on conceptual and moral themes by way of the opening verses of the portions alone.^{[1, 3, 4]}

Bereshit Rabbah: The Prototype of the Aggadah of the Land of Israel

Bereshit Rabbah, called in early sources "the Aggadah of the Land of Israel" or "Bereshit de-Rabbi Hoshaya Rabbah," is considered the oldest midrash in the corpus.^[1] Its attribution to Rabbi Hoshaya (or Oshaya) Rabbah stems from the verse that opens the midrash: "Rabbi Oshaya Rabbah opened: Then I was by Him, as a nursling...," but modern research stresses that this is no proof that he himself was the editor, only that the midrash is based on traditions current in his study house.^[1] The midrash is divided into one hundred chapters (parashiyot), and scholars hypothesize that this division was originally adapted to the open and closed sections of the Torah customary at that time, even though there are certain differences compared with the division into portions accepted today.^[5]

The linguistic style of Bereshit Rabbah combines Mishnaic Hebrew with Galilean Aramaic, which characterizes the work of the Amoraim of the Land of Israel.^[7] The midrash includes simple explanations of words and verses, sometimes even suited to teaching children, alongside complex aggadic sermons that were delivered in the synagogues.^[7] The scholarly edition of Theodor-Albeck revealed that the midrash was edited around the year 400 CE, and that it preserves linguistic gems and concepts from the Greco-Roman world that was dominant in the Land of Israel at that time.^{[7, 8]}

The Homiletic Turn in Vayikra Rabbah

Unlike Bereshit Rabbah, the midrash on the Book of Leviticus represents a fundamental change in the conception of midrash. Vayikra Rabbah does not interpret the verses one after another continuously, but is built as a collection of 37 sermons (homilies), each of which expounds one verse or several verses appearing at the beginning of the "sedarim" (the units of Torah reading according to the triennial cycle of the Land of Israel).^{[1, 4]} This structure shows that the work is not merely an exegetical anthology but an editing of public sermons delivered in the synagogues.^[4]

The scholar Mordecai Margulies, who prepared the scholarly edition of Vayikra Rabbah, determined that it is a distinctly Land-of-Israel midrash whose closing cannot be dated later than the middle of the fifth century.^[4] The midrash excels in the use of developed parables and in discussions of moral and social themes, and it is considered one of the most important sources for understanding the religious and cultural world of the Jews of the Land of Israel in the period of the transition to Byzantine rule.^[4]

The Literary Structure of the Petichta: A Bridge between Distant Verses

One of the most identifying features of the Rabbah midrashim is the "petichta" (proem)—a closed, self-standing literary structure that forms the opening of each chapter.^[5] The petichta works by a sophisticated rhetorical mechanism: the preacher opens with a verse from the "Writings" (usually from Psalms or Proverbs), called the "distant verse," and links it through a series of interpretations, parables and wordplays to the verse that opens the Torah portion under discussion.^[5]

The scholar J. Heinemann argues that the petichtot arose from a living interaction between the preacher and his audience in the synagogue.^[5] According to him, the complex twists the preacher is forced to make in order to connect verses that are apparently unrelated prove that this is a rhetorical device meant to surprise the audience and arouse its interest.^[5] In Bereshit Rabbah the petichta occupies a relatively small part of the sermon and is often anonymous, but in more homiletic midrashim, such as Shir HaShirim Rabbah, the petichtot become independent units rich in images and stories describing the bond between the Holy One, blessed be He, and the people of Israel.^{[5, 9]} A prominent example of this is the use of the image of the king and his consort (the matrona) or the king and his daughter, motifs that recur in the petichtot of the midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah and create a coherent conceptual and stylistic continuity.^[9]

The Late Rabbah Midrashim: Editing, Anthologizing and the Influence of the "Tanchuma"

The midrashim on Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy represent later periods and different styles of editing in the history of midrash.

• Shemot Rabbah: Divided into two parts of different dates. Part 1 (chapters 1–12) is considered relatively early, whereas Part 2 is roughly five hundred years later than Bereshit Rabbah and is based to a great extent on Midrash Tanchuma.^[1]
• Devarim Rabbah: Composed in the Land of Israel between the sixth and the ninth centuries.^[3] It is characterized by halakhic openings ("A law for a man of Israel..."), which link a question of halakha to a broad aggadic homily, a style identified with the circles of the "Yelammedenu" midrash.^[3]
• Bamidbar Rabbah: Considered the latest of the Rabbah midrashim, apparently from the 12th century.^[3] The work consists of a very long exegetical part on the portions Bamidbar and Naso, and a second part taken for the most part from Midrash Tanchuma.^[3]

These midrashim illustrate the process of "dynamic preservation" in aggadic literature: later editors took early materials, reworked them and incorporated them into new homiletic frameworks to adapt them to the needs of the communities in the early Middle Ages.

The Aggadah of the Five Scrolls: Interpretation, Allegory and Lament

The Rabbah midrashim on the Five Scrolls are distinct literary units that reflect the special character of each scroll:

• Eikhah Rabbah: A midrash from the Amoraic period that constitutes a spiritual response to the destruction of the Temple.^[3] It includes dramatic descriptions of the exile and stories about central figures of the period of the Destruction.
• Shir HaShirim Rabbah: Also called "Aggadat Chazita" after its first verse.^[6] The midrash interprets the whole scroll allegorically as a dialogue of love and holiness between God and Israel, making extensive use of petichtot based on the verses of the scroll itself.^{[3, 6]}
• Ruth Rabbah: A midrash from the sixth century dealing with questions of loving-kindness, loyalty and the establishment of the kingship of the House of David.^[3]
• Kohelet Rabbah: A midrash from the sixth to the eighth centuries, which interprets the words of Ecclesiastes through the conceptual world of the Sages, while trying to reconcile the skepticism of the scroll with religious faith.^[3]
• Esther Rabbah: Composed of two parts, the second of which includes a rewriting and expansion of the story of the scroll, a style that points to later editing.^[3]

The Doctrine of the Commentators: From Matnot Kehunah to the Vilna Edition

The enormous popularity of Midrash Rabbah led to the writing of many commentaries over the generations, from the 16th century to our own day. The commentaries were divided between the attempt to explain the plain linguistic sense and the wish to go deeper into conceptual and scholarly novellae.

The Early Classic Commentaries

The commentary called "Matnot Kehunah," written by Rabbi Yissachar Ber HaKohen Katz (Berman Ashkenazi) in the 16th century, is the most widespread commentary.^[2] The author finished writing it in 1584, and it was first printed in Krakow in 1587.^[2] The commentary is characterized by concise language and by its concentration on the literal and plain explanation of the sayings of the Sages.^[2] Its special importance stems from the fact that the author made use of manuscripts to correct the text of the midrash, which made his commentary an essential aid for cleaning the text of printing errors.^[2] However, R. Menachem di Lonzano criticized the commentary, claiming that the author was not sufficiently versed in the foreign languages (Greek and Latin) embedded in the midrash.^[2]

Another commentary of historical importance is "Yefeh To'ar" by Rabbi Shmuel Yafeh Ashkenazi (d. 1595).^[2] It is a very broad and comprehensive explanation that discusses conceptual questions in depth.^[2] Because of its enormous length, various abridgments of it were made over the years (such as that of Mordecai Plungian) so that it could be printed alongside the midrashic text in the common editions.^[2]

The Scholarly and Critical School of the 19th Century

In the 19th century, with the flowering of Lithuanian Talmudic scholarship and of the Haskalah movement, commentaries were written that brought the midrash to a high level of analysis:

The commentary of the Maharzu (Rabbi Zev Wolf Einhorn): Considered one of the most central and innovative commentaries. The Maharzu was gifted with a sharp analytical ability, and he deals extensively with resolving contradictions within the midrash and between it and other sources.^{[2, 10]} His explanations, such as the discussion of the blessing of the seventh day and the light of Adam, illustrate his method, which combines broad erudition with deep conceptual analysis.^[10]

The commentary of the Radal (Rabbi David Luria): A continuer of the path of the Vilna Gaon, the Radal used a phenomenal memory and rare manuscripts to compare readings and emend the text of the midrash.^{[11, 12]} His commentaries rest on a multidisciplinary erudition in linguistics, the history of the people of Israel and kabbalistic literature.^[11] He was known for bold textual emendations based on parallels in the Jerusalem Talmud and in Tannaitic literature.^{[11, 13]}

The commentary of the Rashash (Rabbi Shmuel Strashun): His glosses on Midrash Rabbah are similar in essence to his famous glosses on the Shas. They focus on clarifying sources and on brief textual emendations.^[14] The Rashash displayed an intellectual openness exceptional for his time when he cited in his explanations Haskalah sources as well, such as Moses Mendelssohn ("the Ashkenazi"), for linguistic clarification.^[14]

Etz Yosef and Anaf Yosef: The commentaries of Rabbi Chanoch Zundel ben Yosef of Bialystok, which became an inseparable part of the Vilna edition.^[2] "Etz Yosef" provides a basic explanation, and "Anaf Yosef" expands and brings novellae and gleanings from earlier commentators.^[2]

Printed Editions and Scholarly Texts

The printing history of Midrash Rabbah reflects the transition from local formats to codices that gather all of the aggadic literature.

• First printings: Midrash Rabbah on the Torah was first printed in Constantinople in 5272 (1512), and Midrash Rabbah on the Five Scrolls was printed in Pesaro in 5279 (1519).^[2]
• The Venice edition (1545): This is the edition that united the ten works under the title "Midrash Rabbah" and created the structure familiar to us today.^[2] The Venice printing of 1566 (5326) comprises 595 folios and is considered one of the most beautiful and accurate printings of that period.^[2]
• Modern scholarly editions: In the 20th century academic research began to publish editions based on accurate manuscripts. The Theodor-Albeck edition of Bereshit Rabbah is considered the peak of philological work on midrash.^{[7, 8]} Mordecai Margulies's edition of Vayikra Rabbah (5713) changed the face of the study of this work by uncovering the original text of the Land of Israel.^{[4, 15]}
• Digital editions: Today the midrash is available on a variety of platforms such as "Sefaria," which offers linked texts and translations ^[2], and the "Daat" website, which presents a designed online edition from 5766.^[2] The Reisman edition (Mesorah ArtScroll) is a modern project that makes the midrash accessible in spoken Hebrew with a comprehensive explanation and summaries of halakhic and moral discussions.^[16]

Concluding Insights on the Midrashic Corpus

Midrash Rabbah is not merely a collection of stories and sayings; it represents the "Oral Torah" in its aggadic embodiment. It reflects the effort of the sages of Israel over the generations to preserve the living bond between the community and the biblical text, while adapting it to a changing reality. From the antiquity and simplicity of Bereshit Rabbah to the complexity and length of Bamidbar Rabbah, the corpus forms a mosaic of thought, ethics, history and language.

The combination of classic commentary (such as Matnot Kehunah and the Maharzu) with modern philological research (such as Theodor and Margulies) allows the contemporary learner to understand the midrash both as a sacred religious text and as a complex literary work that grew within a specific historical context.^{[2, 4, 7]} The transition to digital formats and to annotated editions (such as the Reisman edition) ensures that Midrash Rabbah will continue to be a focus of Jewish identity and spiritual creativity in the 21st century as well.^{[2, 16]} In this the midrash remains true to its name—a work that is "great" (rabbah) in its scope, in its depth and in its influence on Jewish culture throughout the generations.