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Vayikra Rabbah

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Vayikra Rabbah

Names	Vayikra Rabbah ויקרא רבה, אגדה של ויקרא
Date	5th-6th century
Place	Eretz Yisrael
Characteristics
Sources
Impacted on

Background

Names

• Common name – The name ויקרא רבה appears already in the Arukh¹ and Shemot Rabbah².
• Other names – The work is also cited under the names אגדה דויקרא‎³ and הגדה דויקרא‎.⁴

Date

• 5th-7th century⁵

Place of Origin

• Eretz Yisrael⁶

Language

• The Midrash is written in Hebrew mixed with Galilean Aramaic. It also makes occasional use of Greek words.

Text

• Manuscripts –
• Printings –
• Textual layers –

Content

Genre

• Vayikra Rabbah is an aggadic Midrash on Sefer Vayikra which is not a running commentary, but rather a collection of 37 derashot, each of which focuses only on a single verse.⁷

Structure

• Vayikra Rabbah is divided into 37 sections (parshiyot).⁸
• Most of the parshiyot end with a concluding blessing or words of consolation, clearly closing the unit.⁹

Characteristics

• –

Sources

Significant Influences

• Mishna – Vayikra Rabbah cites the Mishna dozens of times.¹⁰
• Yerushalmi – There are numerous parallels between Vayikra Rabbah and the Yerushalmi,¹¹ but scholars disagree on whether Vayikra Rabbah had our Yerushalmi.¹²
• Bereshit Rabbah – There are numerous parallels between Vayikra Rabbah and Bereshit Rabbah,¹³ but scholars disagree on whether Vayikra Rabbah had Bereshit Rabbah.¹⁴

Occasional Usage

• Midrash Kohelet – Cited on one occasion.¹⁵
• Ben Sira – Cited on one occasion.¹⁶

Possible Relationship

• Mekhilta – ¹⁷
• Sifra – ¹⁸
• Sifre Bemidbar – ¹⁹
• Sifre Devarim – ²⁰

Impact

Other Midrashim

• Tanchuma – On one occasion Vayikra Rabbah cites Tanchuma.^{21 22}
• Pesikta DeRav Kahana – There are five whole parshiyot which are verbatim in Vayikra Rabbah²³ and Pesikta DeRav Kahana. Scholars disagree which midrash copied from the other.²⁴
• Shemot Rabbah cites Vayikra Rabbah in one place.²⁵
• Midreshei Rabbah Megillot –

Medieval Exegetes

• Piyyutei Yannai –

Supercommentaries

• –

¹ Arukh s.v. "אחז"

² Shemot Rabbah (Vilna) 10:1.

³ See Teshuvot HaGeonim Geonei Mizrach Umaarav 131 and Teshuvot HaGeonim Harkavi 49.

⁴ See Teshuvot HaGeonim Harkavi 24 and 36.

⁵ There is disagreement amongst scholars regarding the dating. M. Margulies (Introduction to Vayikra Rabbah pp.30-31) says that the midrash was written in the fifth century, while Ch. Albeck (see "מדרש ויקרא רבה" in ספר היובלים לכבוד לוי גינצברג, ניו יורק תש"ו, p. 42) dates it to the sixth century and L. Zunz (HaDerashot BeYisrael, pp.79-80) places it in the seventh century.

⁶ Margulies (Intro. pp.27-31) bases this on both the language of Vayikra Rabbah and the characters who are cited in it. See below that the work incorporates both Galilean Aramaic and occasional Greek. Almost all of the Amoraim quoted lived in Eretz Yisrael.

⁷ Generally this is the first verse of the Torah reading portion, but in Parshiyot 2 and 5, the derasha focuses on the second verse of the portion and in Parasha 21 it speaks of the third verse.

⁸

⁹ Parshiyot 2, 3 and 26 seem to be missing these concluding words of blessing. M. Margulies (Intro. p.12 n.14), though, suggests that similar remarks can be found in these parshiyot as well but since passages from other works were incorpoarted into the text after these conclusions, they no longer appear at the end of the parshiyot.

¹⁰ Examples include Vayikra Rabbah 2:9 and 3:7.

¹¹ See the lists in Albeck, Midrash Vayikra Rabbah. pp.30-32 and Margulies, Intro. pp.17-22.

¹² Albeck says that Vayikra Rabbah was influenced directly by our Yerushalmi, while Margulies suggests that Vayikra Rabbah utilized an earlier rescension of our Yerushalmi.

¹³ References need to be added.

¹⁴ As above, Albeck claims that Vayikra Rabbah was influenced directly by Bereshit Rabbah, while Margulies suggests that Vayikra Rabbah utilized an earlier rescension of Bereshit Rabbah.

¹⁵ Vayikra Rabbah (Vilna) 16:5. This matches Kohelet Rabbah 5:1.

¹⁶ Vayikra Rabbah 33:1

¹⁷ See Albeck, Midrash Vayikra Rabbah. p.30

¹⁸ See Albeck, Midrash Vayikra Rabbah. p.30

¹⁹ See Albeck, Midrash Vayikra Rabbah. p.30

²⁰ See Albeck, Midrash Vayikra Rabbah. p.30

²¹ Vayikra Rabbah 32:3 (found only in the Vilna edition and not in the manuscripts). M. Margulies claims that this is just an addition.

²² While Buber thinks that Vayikra Rabbah was influenced by the Tanchuma, Albeck suggests that the influence worked in the opposite direction (Tanchuma took from Vayikra Rabbah). Margulies, on the other hand, thinks that there is no connection between the two midrashim.

²³ Vayikra Rabbah 20, 27-30

²⁴ Buber says that Vayikra Rabbah took from Pesikta DeRav Kahana while Albeck says that Pesikta DeRav Kahana took from Vayikra Rabbah. J. Heinemann says that parshiyot 20, 29 and 30 were taken from Pesikta DeRav Kahana but parshiyot 27-28 are original in Vayikra Rabbah (and then copied into Pesikta DeRav Kahana).

²⁵ See Shemot Rabbah (Vilna) 10:1.