Midrash RabbaorMidrash Rabbahcan refer to part of or the collective whole of specificaggadic midrashimon the books of theTorahand theFive Megillot,generally having the term "Rabbah" (רבה), meaning "great," as part of their name. Thesemidrashimare as follows:
The designation "Rabbah" was first applied to themidrashtoGenesis,and then applied to the midrashim to the other books of thePentateuch(Vayikra Rabbah,Shemot Rabbah,etc.) which were copied, with Bereshit Rabbah, even in (later) manuscripts. This collection eventually came to be called "Midrash Rabbot" (i.e., "Midrash of the Rabbot" ), to which the midrashim most in use in connection with prayers—toShir HaShirim,Ruth,Esther,Lamentations,andEcclesiastes—were subsequently added.
Thus the Venice edition of 1545, in which the midrashim to the Pentateuch and to the Five Scrolls were for the first time printed together, has on the title-page of the first part the words "Midrash Rabbot 'al Hamishah Humshei Torah" (Midrash Rabbah to the Five Books of the Torah), and on that of the second part "Midrash Hamesh Megillot Rabbeta" (Midrash Rabbah of the Five Megillot). Theeditio princepsof the midrashim to the Pentateuch (Constantinople, 1512) begins with the words "Be-shem El atchil Bereshit Rabba" (In the name of God I shall begin Bereshit Rabbah), and the title of theeditio princepsof the midrashim to themegillot(Pesaro, 1519) reads "Midrash Hamesh Megillot" (Midrash of the Five Megillot). Still more inexact and misleading is the term "Midrash Rabbah to the Five Books of the Pentateuch and the Five Megillot," as found on the title-page of the two parts in the much-usedVilnaedition. AfterZunz,it is not necessary to point out that the Midrash Rabbah consists of 10 entirely different midrashim.
On the manuscript of the Bereshit Rabbah and some of the other rabbot to the Pentateuch, see Theodor.[1]To these must be added the manuscript of Bereshit Rabbah in MSS. Orient. 40, No. 32, in the Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart. According toSolomon Schechter,there are not even six manuscripts of the rabbot to the Pentateuch and the Five Megillot in existence.[2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Isidore Singer;J. Theodor(1901–1906)."MIDRASH HAGGADAH".InSinger, Isidore;et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
