Yalkut Shim'oni ( Hebrew יַלְקוּט שִׁמְעוֹנִי , 'Anthology of Shimon', commonly referred to as the “Yalkut” of Shimon from Frankfurt) - the most popular and most extensive anthology of Jewish midrash .
Content
Authorship and Dating
You can’t definitely say where and when the author lived. In the first edition of the book ( Thessaloniki , 1526–27; part II, Thessaloniki , 1521), the title page of the first part states “The Book of Yalkut, called Shimoni” ( Hebrew ספר ילקוט הנקרא שמעוני ). At the end of it, however, in this edition there is an addition that p. Shim'eon ha-darshan (Shimon the preacher), having written this book, published it. The title page of the 1556 Venetian edition attributes Yalkut Shimoni to "Rabben Shimon, the head of the darshanim in Frankfurt." The author of the preface to the Frankfurt (Oder) edition of 1709 also speaks of r. Shimone from Frankfurt am Main. However, from his words it is difficult to establish that his name was really p. Shimon, and that he was a native of Frankfurt [1] .
There are several hypotheses about authorship and the time of creation of the collection. In all likelihood, the Shimon from Frankfurt is the Shimon ha-darshan , operating in Frankfurt in the 13th century. [2] However, according to L. Tsunts [3] , regarding the dating of Yalkut Shimoni, the issue can not yet be resolved. [one]
Contents of the collection
Yalkut Shimoni covers all the books of the Bible and includes more than ten thousand haggadic and Midrashic sayings and commentaries on most of its chapters and a significant part of its verses. [2] The purpose of the compiler of this collection is to accompany the biblical text with the corresponding sayings of rabbinical authorities.
The first edition gives indications of the source always in the text, and not in the margin. These links were probably given by the compiler himself, who was well acquainted with halachic and aggadic materials, such as Mishnah and Tosefta, the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, Seder Olam and Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Bereshit Rab and Vaikra Rab, midrashi on megillot (scrolls ) and Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer. In addition, the author was familiar with other midrashas, many of which were later lost. The exact list of sources is indicated by Zuntz in the work “Jewish Preaching in Historical Development”. [one]
Over time, passages of Yalkut underwent frequent changes in order to achieve a closer connection with the corresponding verses of the Bible. The names of the cited authors are also often abbreviated, especially in the first part.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Jewish Encyclopedia , Ed. Islands for Scientific Jewish Ed. and Brockhaus-Efron. St. Petersburg: 1906-1913; reprint: M .: Terra, 1991. ISBN 5-85255-057-4 .
- ↑ 1 2 Yalkut Shim'oni - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
- ↑ L. Zunz , “Jewish Preaching in Historical Development”
Sources
- Brief Jewish Encyclopedia , Ed. Jewish Community Research Islands. Jerusalem: 1976-2005.
- Jewish Encyclopedia , Ed. Islands for Scientific Jewish Ed. and Brockhaus-Efron. St. Petersburg: 1906-1913; reprint: M .: Terra, 1991. ISBN 5-85255-057-4 .
Links
- Yalkut Shim'oni - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia