Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer Research Articles

Establishing Gender Categories and Hierarchies: The Evolution of Rabbinic Discourse on the Creation of Woman

This article examines the evolution of rabbinic interpretative discourse on the creation of woman, as depicted in the Hebrew Bible, addressing well-known rabbinic writings from the fifth to the tenth centuries. My feminist and genealogical discourse-analytic exploration illustrates the accumulation of gender-biased elements and the concomitant strengthening of an obvious, all-encompassing patriarchal ethos along this hermeneutical trajectory. I argue that the diachronic development of the rabbinic discourse on the creation of woman took place in three consecutive discursive stages representing self-dependent characteristics. The tradition corpus was first established in Genesis Rabbah and Leviticus Rabbah, then reinforced in the Babylonian Talmud, and finally it became embroidered with versatile elaborations, as demonstrated in passages from Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer, and Alphabet of Ben Sira.

The Date and Provenance of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: The Evidence of Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer and the Chronicles of Moses

Abstract The date of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan has been the occasion of much controversy, with propositions ranging from the Second Temple period to the time of the Crusades. Related to the Targum is the late midrashic work Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer (eighth century), but the nature of this relationship is disputed. The present article proposes that the Targum depends unilaterally on PRE, based on two principal arguments: 1. PRE does not refer to common Targumic traditions in Pseudo-Jonathan; and 2. Pseudo-Jonathan uses sources that post-date PRE, namely the Chronicles of Moses, which was written around the eleventh century. The Targum’s use of late sources places its redaction long after the conclusion of the first millennium. The author proposes a twelfth-century Italian origin, which corresponds to the earliest evidence for the Targum.

Księga Jonasza i osoba proroka w literaturze międzytestamentalnej i późniejszej tradycji żydowskiej

The Book of Jonah is not too popular in the writings of the Second Temple Period. Neither the book nor the prophet attracted any attention in the Dead Sea Scrolls. There are only a few mentions of Jonah in the intertestamental literature. In 3 Maccabees (first century B.C.), Jonah’s deliverance from the fi sh is ranked with the great deliverances of Israel (cf. Synagogal Prayers ). A tendency to elaborate on the story of Jonah is evident in the Lives of the Prophets (first century A.D.). In the writings from the fi rst centuries A.D., Jonah appears with other prophets ( Martyrdom of Isaiah , Sibylline Oracles , 5 Esdras). Josephus reports on Jonah in Ant . 9,205–214. His paraphrase of the biblical story of Jonah contains the account about the fi sh (Jonah 1–2), but nothing is reported of Nineveh’s repentance (Jonah 3–4). There is a lengthy sermon on Jonah attributed to Philo (fi rst century A.D.). Jonah is treated extensively in the rabbinic literature ( Mishnah , Talmud (Palestinian and Babylonian), Midrash Rabbah , etc.). Three longer works from the latter rabbinic traditions have a detailed account of Jonah, including many additions and embellishments ( Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer , Midrash Jonah , Zohar ).

The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the PseudepigraphaAdelmanRachel The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha BrillLeiden, 2009, x, 350, €131.00ISBN 978-90-04-17049-0

The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the PseudepigraphaAdelmanRachel <i>The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha</i> BrillLeiden, 2009, x, 350, €131.00ISBN 978-90-04-17049-0

Old Wine in New Flasks: The Story of Late Neoclassical Midrash

Scholarly consensus holds that early classical midrashim focused upon midrashically glossing the local verse. This is primarily true for the exegetical midrashim, but it is also true for the homiletical midrashim as well. In contrast, the later midrashim were principally concerned with expanding the biblical story. Many scholars have shown that we witness the narrative component taking pride of place over that once occupied by the exegetical component in midrashic literature. In this paper, I wish to shed light upon another evolutionary direction in the history of the late midrash, a stage which I will refer to as ‘late neoclassical midrash.’ In this evolutionary branch, there was a structural return to the verse-focused exegetical style of classical midrash. A redactor of this midrashic type often used materials already shaped by the later narrative style, reshaping them back into the earlier classical form. The paper will begin by reviewing a number of brief, neoclassical, midrashic compositions, namely, Midrash Exodus Rabbah I, and Midrash Esther Rabbah II, and continue by demonstrating this neoclassical phenomenon by analyzing aggadicnarrative material from the midrash Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer, assimilated by the neoclassical Esther Rabbah II. Various literary and historical approaches for analysing this phenomenon will be suggested. Among these, I will suggest that these midrashim were created in a historical circumstance, in Spain, in which the stature of biblical commentary was ascendant. The desire to return to the classical midrashic form reflected a tendency to strengthen the bond between Hazal’s derashot and the biblical text, an approach designed to strengthen the position of the midrashic tradition as biblical commentary.

Midrash, Myth, and Bakhtin's Chronotope: The Itinerant Well and the Foundation Stone in Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer

AbstractThroughout the midrash Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer (PRE), motifs are recycled to connect primordial time to the eschaton. In this paper, I read passages on the well “created at twilight of the Sixth Day” in light of Bakhtin's notion of “chronotope” (lit. time-space). The author of PRE disengages the itinerant well from its traditional association with the desert sojourn and links it, instead, to the foundation stone of the world (even shtiyah) at the Temple Mount. The midrash reflects the influence of Islamic legends about the “white stone” around which the Dome of the Rock was built (ca. 690 C.E.). Over the course of the discussion, PRE is understood in terms of the genre “narrative midrash” and compared to classical rabbinic literature in order to illustrate changes in both form and content arising from the author's apocalyptic eschatology.

Abraham Visits Ishmael: A Revisit

AbstractPrevious studies of the story of Abraham's visit to Ishmael in Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer (PRE) focus on its relationship to Islamic versions and read it either as polemical or apologetic. It is also assumed that either the author of PRE reworked an Islamic version of the story, or that the story is of Jewish origin. Such readings, however, are based largely on notions of Ishmael's character in the story that overlook other references to Ishmael and the Ishmaelites in PRE. This article thus examines the story in light of all references to Ishmael and the Ishmaelites in PRE.

A Brief Comparison of Targumic and Midrashic Angelological Traditions

Abstract In comparing the angelological traditions of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, as seen in several key passages, to those of rabbinic literature, one finds that the former draws broadly from the various periods of the latter. The angelology of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan reflects traditions seen as early as the Tosefta and as late as Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer. Despite the fact that various passages within this targum may echo pseudepigraphic traditions, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan contains a number of angelological traditions that are exclusive to rabbinic literature.

Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan

Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan