Embedded Midrashim in Samaritan Piyyutim

Abstract

Embedded Midrashim in Samaritan Piyyutim Moshe Florentin Echoes of Classical Compilations in the Hebrew and Samaritan Liturgy Those who are familiar with the Hebrew and Aramaic piyyut through the ages know how much it was influenced, in form and in content, by classical compilations, and especially by the Bible. The Samaritan piyyut is no exception, and especially the late mediaeval Samaritan piyyut, written in what I call "Hybrid Samaritan Hebrew" (HSH), the Samaritan language which is a mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic, and also a great deal of Arabic. Piyyutim written in HSH are rich in quotations from the Pentateuch (in its Samaritan version, of course), from the Samaritan Aramaic Targum, and from early piyyutim. In many piyyutim one can find quotations from the famous Samaritan midrashic work called Tībåt Mårqe,1 since it used to enjoy great esteem among the Samaritan community. Linguistic and Cultural Liaisons Between Samaritans and Jews Research that has taken place in the last generations has shown that a great measure of affinity existed between the Samaritan languages (Hebrew and Aramaic) on the one hand, and Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic, [End Page 527] and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, on the other. This affinity existed not only in grammar but also in the lexicon, and even in the phraseology and style.2 These findings point not only to the natural similarity between languages actually spoken in the same area but also to strong cultural liaisons that existed between the different communities of speakers. As is well known, such liaisons between Samaritans and Jews are also to be deduced from many places in rabbinic literature. Embedded Aggadah in Unknown Samaritan Piyyutim All this is known; but expressions and ideas, midrashim and aggadot, until now unknown to us from Samaritan sources, which were found for the first time inside unpublished Samaritan piyyutim—this is indeed a matter of interest. This is all the more so when we discover that those are not the output of some Samaritan poet's own imagination but have strong roots in the ancient literary soil of Erets Israel, as in postbiblical literature. The Midrashic and Aggadic Literature of the Samaritans—Examples from Tībåt Mårqe The concept of Samaritan midrash and aggadah is not new. Although the Samaritan midrashic and aggadic literature is not as rich and varied as its Jewish counterpart, we do have two important Samaritan compilations that consist mainly of midrash and aggadah: the first is the chronicle Asatir3 and the second is the above mentioned midrashic compilation Tībåt Mårqe. I will present here two examples from Tībåt Mårqe, which are highly interesting for the common elements of midrash and aggadah that they share with Jewish literature. More precisely, in Tībåt Mårqe there are traces of some midrashim that in their language and formulation are very similar, and sometimes even identical, to midrashim in Jewish literature. In a very important article devoted wholly to this subject, Morde-chai Mishor has presented five such midrashim.4 Since Tībåt Mårqe is not the subject of this article, I will limit myself to two examples: [End Page 528] a. According to the aggadah, it was Serah, the daughter of Asher, who discovered the burial place of Joseph before the Exodus from Egypt. This story is presented in Tībåt Mårqe in these words: Serah set off, and the whole tribe of Ephraim with her, and Moses and Aaron after them, until she reached the place where he [Joseph] was buried, and she stood there, and they excavated the coffin, and took it immediately.5 The same aggadah is found in the Tosefta: How did Moses know where Joseph had been buried? It is said: Serah the daughter of Asher lived in that generation [of Joseph], and she went and told Moses: "Joseph is buried in the river Nile."6 b. According to another aggadah, after the decrees of Pharaoh the Jewish women used to go out to the fields to give birth to their children in hiding. In Tībåt Mårqe this story is told thus: When your enemy ordered the midwives "when...