Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayiqra Rabbah is a homiletic

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

to the Biblical book of Leviticus (''Vayikrah'' in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

). It is referred to by

Nathan ben Jehiel Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (, 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He authored the Arukh, a dictionary for Rabbinic Judaism that was the first work to examine Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. He is therefore referred to as "the Arukh." B ...

(c. 1035–1106) in his ''Arukh'' as well as by

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

(1040–1105). According to

Leopold Zunz Leopold Zunz (—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', —''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies ('' Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual. Nah ...

Hai Gaon Hai ben Sherira (), better known as Hai Gaon (), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and died on March 28, 1038. He receiv ...

(939-1038) and Nissim knew and made use of it. Zunz dates it to the middle of the 7th century, but ''The Encyclopaedia Judaica'' and

Jacob Neusner Jacob Neusner (July 28, 1932 – October 8, 2016) was an American academic scholar of Judaism. He was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books. Neusner's application of form criticism� ...

date it to the 5th century. It originated in the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

, and is composed largely of older works. Its redactor made use of

Genesis Rabbah Genesis Rabbah (, also known as Bereshit Rabbah and abbreviated as GenR) is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is an expository midrash comprising a collection of ...

Pesikta de-Rav Kahana Pesikta de-Rav Kahana () is a collection of aggadic midrash which exists in two editions, those of Salomon Buber (Lyck, 1868) and Bernard Mandelbaum (1962). It is cited by Nathan ben Jehiel and Rashi. The name The Jewish Babylonian Aramaic t ...

, and the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

, in addition to other ancient sources. The redactor appears to have referred also to the Babylonian

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

, using several expressions in the sense in which only that work employs them.

Leviticus Rabbah is not a continuous, explanatory interpretation to Leviticus, but a collection of exclusive sermons or lectures on the themes or texts of that book. It consists altogether of 37 such homilies, each of which constitutes a separate chapter. Leviticus Rabbah often refers to Scriptural passages on which the homilies are based as "parshiyot," and are further designated according to their contents. Of the 37 homilies, eight (1, 3, 8, 11, 13, 20, 26, 30) are introduced with the formula "''Patach R.''" or "The teacher has commenced"; eight (2, 4–7, 9, 10, 19), with "''Hada hu dich'tiv''" or "As it is written"; and 21 (12, 14–18, 21–25, 27–29, 31–37), with "''Zeh she-amar ha-katuv''" or "This is what the Holy Scriptures say." Weiss explains that the redactor selected only these 37 texts for his exposition as indicating the prior existence of the

Sifra Sifra () is the Midrash halakha to the Book of Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah. Like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called Torat Kohanim, and in two passages ''Sifr ...

, the legal interpretation of Leviticus: "The redactor of the Vayikra Rabbah had nothing to add to the ifra he collected therefore only those haggadic explanations which he found on various texts and passages." This surmise by Weiss is, however, contradicted by the fact that nearly all the chapters of Leviticus Rabbah (with the exception of chapters 11, 24, 32, 35, and 36) refer to legal passages. Thus, the redactor of Leviticus Rabbah collected homiletic expositions also of such texts as were treated in the Sifra. The conjecture of Theodor that in the older cycle of weekly lessons the passages on which the homilies of Leviticus Rabbah were based consisted in certain paragraphs, or in lessons for certain festivals, seems therefore to be correct. The length of Leviticus Rabbah is the same as that of the edition quoted by

in the ''Arukh'', since he refers to passages from chapters 36 and 37 as "the end." Aside from some transpositions, eliminations, and glosses, the printed text of Leviticus Rabbah is noteworthy as containing, at the end of the first three chapters, annotations from

Tanna debe Eliyahu ''Tanna Devei Eliyahu'' (Hebrew: תנא דבי אליהו; alternate transliterations include ''Tana D'vei Eliyahu'' and ''Tana D'vei Eliahu'') is the composite name of a midrash, consisting of two parts, whose final redaction took place at the en ...

which were not contained in the older manuscripts.

Comparison to the Pesikta

In its plan, as well as in the form of the several chapters, Leviticus Rabbah bears great resemblance to the

. Like the lectures in the Pesikta, the homilies in Leviticus Rabbah begin with a larger or smaller number of poems on passages mostly taken from the

Writings Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

. Then follows the exposition proper of the passage to which the homily refers. The explanation often covers only a few verses, or even a few words of the first verse, of the passage on which the parashah is based. In some cases, long pieces, in others brief sentences only, have been adduced in connection with the Scriptural passages, seemingly in accordance with the material at the redactor's disposal. Inasmuch, however, as the homilies in Leviticus Rabbah deal largely with topics beyond the subject matter of the Biblical text itself, the explanations of the individual verses are often replaced by series of homiletic quotations that refer to the theme considered in the homily.Compare chapters 8, 12-15, 18, 19, 23, 31-34, 36, 37 In this, Leviticus Rabbah differs from the Pesikta, for in the Pesikta the individual explanations are seldom lacking. And while the Pesikta rarely quotes lengthy homiletic excerpts after the

proem __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a ''foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...

s, Leviticus Rabbah quotes such materials after the conclusion of a proem, in the course of each chapter, and even toward the end of a chapter. These excerpts often have minimal relation to the context. But otherwise, Leviticus Rabbah carefully follows the form of the Pesikta. The end of each chapter in Leviticus Rabbah, like the Pesikta, consists of a passage containing a Messianic prophecy.

References

External links

Full Text of Leviticus Rabba in Hebrew
osted by Bar-Ilan University

a selection from the work translated into English by Samuel Rapaport.
Leviticus Rabbah
in English translation at the Internet Archive {{Authority control Leviticus Book of Leviticus

Contents

Comparison to the Pesikta

References

External links