The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

46 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
complete codices survive have also surfaced in the Genizah collections
and considerably expanded the horizons of the Hebrew literary historian.
Fragments have been identified of the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shim'on
bar Yohai on Exodus, of the Sifrey Zuta on Numbers and of the
Mekhilta on Deuteronomy, and these have been or are being exploited
for the creation of new scientific editions. 40
In the standard aggadic field too, discoveries of new midrashim,
particularly of the Tanhuma (Yelammedenu) homiletical variety on
the Pentateuch and of the exegetical treatments of the hagiographical
books such as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, have added greatly to our
knowledge of developments during the geonic period, and the
identification of new anthologies from the last period of midrashic
activity have demonstrated how use was made of earlier material to
build up a Jewish exegetical overview of biblical texts. 41 Perhaps
more important than anything else, there are a whole fresh set of new
or little-known midrashim that testify to the fact that medieval Jewish
interpretation of the Hebrew Bible could be distinctly colourful and
heterogeneous. Fanciful expansions of biblical accounts, apocalyptic
visions and mystical works were among the midrashim that Solomon
Aaron Wertheimer acquired from the Genizah a number of years
before Schechter made his famous journey, and Louis Ginzberg later
published similar material. 42 As such a variegated approach to the
L. Finkelstein (ed.), Siphre ad Deuteronomiurn (Berlin, 1939); M. Kahana, 'The
Critical Edition of Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael in the light of the Genizah Fragments',
Tarbiz 55 (1985-86), pp. 489-524.
40. J.N. Epstein and E.Z. Melamed (eds.), Mekhilta d'Rabbi Sim'on b. Jochai
(Jerusalem, 1955); S. Lieberman, Siphre Zutta (The Midrash of Lydda) (Hebrew;
New York, 1968). M. Kahana of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has recently
been working on the Genizah fragments of the halakhic midrashim; see his brief
report in Genizah Fragments 13 (April, 1987), p. 3, and his article 'Another Page of
the Mekhilta of R. Simeon b. Yohai', Alei Sefer 15 (1988-89), pp. 5-20.
41. M. Bregman, 'Toward a Textcritical Approach to the Tanhuma-Yelamdenu
Midrashim', Tarbiz 54 (1985), pp. 289-92 (his edition has been accepted for publication
by Mohr in Tubingen); B.L. Visotzky, The Midrash on Proverbs translated
from the Hebrew with an Introduction and Annotations (New Haven, 1992);
M. Hirshman, 'Midrash Qohelet Rabbah (Ch. 1-4)' (PhD dissertation, Jewish
Theological Seminary of America, 1983); see also M. Sokoloff, The Geniza
Fragments ofBereshit Rabba (Hebrew and English; Jerusalem, 1982).
42. S.A. Wertheimer, Batei Midrashot (ed. A.J. Wertheimer; Jerusalem, 1954);
L. Ginzberg, Genizah Studies in Memory of Doctor Solomon Schechter. I. Midrash
and Haggadah (New York, 1928). Similar pieces are to be found among the texts