aggadic compilation on the books of the Hebrew Bible
. It is a compilation of older interpretations and explanations of Biblical passages, arranged according to the sequence of those portions of the Bible to which they referred.
Most of the text has been translated into German in 16 volumes (as of 2023) by Dagmar Börner-Klein.
Contents
The individual elucidations form an organic whole only insofar as they refer to the same Biblical passage. Lengthy citations from ancient works are often abridged or are only partially quoted, the remainder being cited elsewhere. Since the interpretations of the ancient exegetes usually referred to several passages, and since Yalkut Shimoni endeavored to quote all such explanations, repetitions were inevitable, and aggadic sayings relating to two or more sections of the Bible were often duplicated. In many instances, however, only the beginning of such an explanation is given, the reader being referred to the passage in which it is recorded in its entirety.
Order and arrangement
Salonique
edition (1527).
The work contains two sections, which are numbered separately:
The order of books follows the Talmudic order,[1] except that Esther precedes Daniel, while the reverse order is followed in the Talmud.
The division into subsections (known in Hebrew as Remazim, sing. Remez) is arbitrary, and the sections are very unequal in length. For example, in the
Deuteronomy
818 containing only five lines, while Deuteronomy 938 comprises eighteen columns.
Each passage, often in the text itself, indicates the sources from which the explanations are derived. In the
Salonica edition they are given at the beginning of each corresponding Biblical passage, although in later editions they were placed in the margin. In many instances, however, the sources are given in an inconvenient place or are entirely eliminated, while some references are even indicated by a later redactor, as, for example, Job 921, where mention of the source (Exodus Rabbah) is a later addition, the original redactor being unacquainted with Exodus Rabbah.[2]
He drew from the ethical and historical aggadah, such as
Job
.
The latter works are often cited simply as "Midrash," without any more definite identification. In that portion of Yalkut Shimoni which covers the books of Samuel, Psalms, and Proverbs, the term "Midrash" designates the midrash on the respective books. The term "Midrash" is used also to indicate the source of passages which belong to older or more recent works. In these few instances the author was apparently either uncertain of his references or he used an older collection known under the name of "Midrash," but did not have access to the original documents. It must also be borne in mind that the redactor failed to use various sources, such as the
Otiyyot de-R. Akiba
, to which he alludes in Genesis 1, § 1.
Author and date
The author cannot be determined with certainty. The title-page of the
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Joseph Jacobs and Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1901–1906). "Yalḳuṭ". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
