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Midreshei Halakhah

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Midreshei Halakhah

Names
Date
Place
Characteristics
Sources
Impacted on

Background¹

General description

• All Midreshei Halakhah follow the order of the Torah’s verses as opposed to the topical organization found in other branches of Tannaitic literature (e.g. Mishnah and Tosefta).
• These midrashim employ various methods of derash (and some peshat interpretation) to derive halakhot from the verses, or to link halakhot to the verses.²
• The text is often dialectical and complex, with frequent obscure statements and arguments.³
• Despite an orientation toward halakhic issues,⁴ the Midreshei Halakhah contain a significant amount of agaddic material as well.

Names

• Common names – ‏מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל, מכילתא דרבי שמעון בר יוחאי, ספרא, ספרי במדבר, ספרי דברים, ספרי זוטא במדבר, ספרי זוטא דברים, מכילתא דברים ‎‏
• Other names – See individual pages for each Midrash.
  

Date

3rd century CE⁵

Place

The Midreshei Halakhah were redacted in Eretz Yisrael, although they also contain teachings from Babylonian sages.⁶

Language

Mishnaic Hebrew⁷

Schools of Midrash Halakhah⁸

Modern scholarship⁹ has identified two distinct schools of Tannaitic midrash within the literature of Midrash Halakhah – the school of R. Yishmael and the school of R. Akiva. Following is a summary of the findings that have come to light in characterizing these schools.

[1]

Text

• Manuscripts –
• Printings –
• Textual layers –

Content

Genre

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Structure

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Characteristics

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Sources

Significant Influences

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Occasional Usage

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Possible Relationship

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Impact

Other Midrashim -

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Medieval Exegetes

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Supercommentaries

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¹ This section incorporates information from M. Kahana, "The Halakhic Midrashim" in The Literature of the Sages Part II, ed. Safrai et al. (Assen, 2006): 3-105 (hereafter: Kahana).

² See Kahana: 7, note 19, regarding the scholarly debate as to what extent the sages of the Midrash derived new halakhot through their derash methods, or simply drew support for pre-existing laws.

³ It is often helpful for the learner to peruse parallel Talmudic passages (which are indicated in various editions of the midrashim), and to use Rashi and other Talmud commentaries to help hash out the meaning, bearing in mind that the midrash text may not be saying exactly the same thing as a parallel baraita in the Talmud.

⁴ Which is often expressed by a Midrash skipping over narrative sections of the Torah.

⁵ See Kahana: 60-62 for a summary of arguments against views that place the redaction of the Midreshei Halakhah in the 5th, or even 8th, century. And see below, Language.

⁶ This location is supported by a number of arguments, including (See Kahana:62-63):

• The language of the Midreshei Halakhah is similar to that of Mishnah and Tosefta.
• The parallels to Midreshei Halakhah appearing in the Talmud Yerushalmi, and Midreshei Aggadah from Eretz Yisrael, are more similar than those appearing in Babylonian sources.
• The Midreshei Halakhah divide the Torah into portions following the reading practice in Eretz Yisrael.
• When literary units are cited out of their original location, no editorial attempt is made to adapt them to the new location (in contrast to the practice of the redactors of the Talmud Bavli).

⁷ See Kahana: 61, where he argues that the lack of any influence of Galilean Aramaic on the language of the Midreshei Halakhah in general precludes the 5th century redaction date proposed by some scholars.

⁸ This section is based on Kahana: 17-39.

⁹ Beginning with R. David Zvi Hoffmann.