A cross-homilies analysis of Tanhuma-Yelamdenu Aharei Mot

Abstract

This article introduces a method to further the mapping and analysing of the abundant Tanhuma Yelamdenu Literature (TYL) materials by surveying homilies devoted to a single lection across their different versions and variants in print, manuscripts and Genizah fragments, prior to analysis of various works of TYL in their entirety. Comparative analysis of the structural composition, motifs, themes and linguistic features detects the relations between various TYL representations and illuminates the homily’s transmission history. This method is demonstrated with a study of TYL homilies for Aharei-Mot , Leviticus 16:1. A late insertion of Amoraic Pesiqta homily into the majority of witnesses of Tanhuma print editions corrupted the text, but an original TYL homily is preserved intact – and so far unnoticed – in MS. Vatican 34. We also present the unique TYL homilies for this lection in Genizah fragments and Pesiqta Rabbati , and their relationship to the print versions.