Sifre Zuta Bemidbar

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Sifre Zuta
Name
Sifre Zuta
ספרי זוטא
Dates
PlaceEretz Yisrael
Characteristics
SourcesR. Akiva
Impacted on

Background1

Names

  • Common name – ספרי זוטא במדבר2
  • Other names – ספרי, זוטי, ספרי ירושלמי, ספרי של פנים אחרות, מכילתא3

Date

3rd century

Place

SifZNum was redacted in Eretz Yisrael.

Language

·         Mishnaic Hebrew

Text

  • SifZNum was known in medieval times, lost for centuries, and partially rediscovered and reconstructed in a gradual process beginning in the 19th century.
  • Manuscripts – S. Schechter published two leaves from the Genizah containing SifZNum on Matot and Massei. J.N. Epstein published five leaves on Chukat.4
  • Printings – The first attempted critical edition of SifZNum as a whole5 was published by H. Horovitz (Breslau, 1910), based on the fragment published by Schechter and citations in midrashim and Rishonim. Horovitz’s work must be revised based on the fragments published by Epstein, and new manuscripts that have been discovered of certain sources of citations, such as Yalkut Shimoni and Midrash Hagadol. It has also become clear that Horovitz erroneously included many passages that did not originate in SifZNum.6
  • Textual layers – 

Content

Genre

  • – 

Structure

  • – It has been inferred from various sources that SifZNum started with an exposition of Bemidbar 5:2,7 skipped 31:25-35:8,8 and generally expounded the same verses as did Sifre Bemidbar.9
    SifZNum was divided into several large units (the size and names of which are unknown), which were subdivided into numbered parashiyyot.

Characteristics

  • – See Introduction to Midreshei Halakhah.

Sources

Significant Influences

Occasional Usage

Possible Relationship

Impact

Other Midrashim

  • – SifZNum is cited extensively in Yalkut Shimoni and Midrash Hagadol, and is also cited in Bemidbar Rabbah to Naso.

Medieval Exegetes

  • – 

Supercommentaries

  • – R. J. Jaskowicz, ספרי זוטא על ספר במדבר10
    R. E. Garbus, ספרי זוטא על במדמר עם פרוש ספירי אפרים11
    In addition, academic studies of SifZNum have been published by J.N. Epstein12 and S. Lieberman.13
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