The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

REIF The Cairo Genizah and its Treasures 45
manner in which their speakers understood and approached the
Hebrew Bible. 37
As is well known, midrashim may be halakhic or aggadic; they may
be centred on exegesis, on the homily, or on more mystical matters;
their structure may be highly stylized or simply anthological; and
their type of literature may date from as early as the fifth century to
as late as the sixteenth. 38 What all midrashim have in common is that
they are in one way or another a Jewish commentary on the Hebrew
Bible and scholarly understanding of the historical development of
such an important rabbinic genre also owes much to Genizah research.
Hitherto, the earliest manuscripts were medieval, from the early
periods of major Jewish settlement in European countries, while now
there are thousands of fragments written at a much earlier date and
representing an older textual tradition. Such a tradition is much more
likely to preserve the authentic form of the midrash since later
editions and copyists tended to treat anything unusual as erroneous and
to harmonize it with what had already become standard or authoritative
for them. While such a statement may be made about all the wellknown
midrashim of the 'classical' talmudic period, for which the
Genizah provides useful textual variants, it is especially true of the
halakhic midrashim dating from then, such as the Mekhilta of Rabbi
Ishmael on Exodus, Sifra on Leviticus and Sifrey on Numbers and
Deuteronomy, the original halakhic statements of which were not
always permitted to survive. 39 Halakhic midrashim for which no
37. Research interest in these Jewish languages has greatly increased in recent
years with the launching of a new periodical (Jewish Language Review, Haifa,
1981-) and the publication of numerous articles. Bibliographical details are beyond
the scope of this article but note should be taken of the recent work of N.R.M. de
Lange in Cambridge on Judaeo-Greek, S. Shaked in Jerusalem on Judaeo-Persian,
E. Gutwirth in Tel Aviv on Judaeo-Spanish and C. Shmeruk in Jerusalem on
Judaeo-German.
38. H.L. Strack and G. Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash
(Edinburgh, 1991), especially pp. 266-99 for updated bibliographical information
about use of Genizah material; G.G. Porton, Understanding Rabbinic Midrash.
Texts and Commentary (Hoboken, NJ, 1985); D. Boyarin, Intertextuality and the
Reading of Midrash (Bloomington, 1990). See also for texts N. Alloni (= Allony),
Genizah Fragments of Rabbinic Literature, Mishnah, Talmud and Midrash, with
Palestinian Vocalization (Hebrew; Jerusalem, 1973).
39. H.S. Horowitz and I.A. Rabin (eds.), Mechilta d'Rabbi Ismael (Jerusalem,
2nd edn, 1960); Z.M. Rabinovitz, Ginze Midrash (Tel Aviv, 1976), pp. 1-82;