Hebrew Myths (45 page)

MEGILLA
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

MEKHILTA
.
Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael
, ed. M. Friedmann, Vienna, 1870. A Tannaitic midrash on Exodus, primarily intended to elucidate the laws contained in
Exodus
XII–XXIII. The authorities quoted are Tannaites, i.e., sages of the school of Rabbi Ishmael, who lived in Palestine not later than the second century
A.D
. Quoted by Pentateuchal weekly section and page.

MEKHILTA
DIR
.
SHIMON
. A midrash on
Exodus
attributed to Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai (second century
A.D
.) and compiled by Hezekiah son of Hiyya (end of second century
A.D
.). Quoted by page of the critical edition by David Hoffmann, Frankfurt a. M., 1905.

MENAHOT
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

MGWJ
.
Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums
. The foremost German Jewish scholarly journal. Appeared from 1852 to 1939, in Dresden and later in Breslau.

MID
.
Midrash
. The generic name of a major type of Rabbinic literature, taking the form of exegetic expositions appended to Biblical verses.
Midrashim
(pl.) were written and compiled from the second to about the twelfth century.

MID
.
ABKIR
. A lost midrash, probably compiled in the ninth century, of which some fifty passages are quoted in the
Yalqut Shimoni
. See
Yalqut
.

MID
.
ABKIR
, ed. Marmorstein. See preceding entry.

MID
.
ADONAY
BEHOKHMA
YASAD
ARETZ
. A midrash on
Proverbs
III. 19: ‘The Lord by wisdom founded the earth.’ Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. v. pp. 63–9.

MID
.
AGADA
. A midrash on the
Pentateuch
. Edited by Solomon Buber, photostatic reprint, New York, 1960, 2 vols. Quoted by Pentateuchal book and page number of Buber’s edition.

MID
.
ALPHABETOT
. One of several midrashim arranged in alphabetic order and attributed to Rabbi Akiba (second century
A.D
.), but actually compiled much later. This midrash was preserved in a sixteenth-century manuscript from Bokhara. Printed in
Bate Midrashot
(q.v.), vol. ii.

MID
.
ASERET
HADIBROT
. A midrash appended to the Ten Commandments, containing much cosmogonical material. Compiled in the tenth century. Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. i. pp. 62–90.

MID
.
HAGADOL
. Compiled in the twelfth century in Yemen. Quoted by page of Solomon Schechter’s edition, Cambridge, 1902.

MID
.
KONEN
. A cosmogonical and cosmological midrash, containing four parts written by four different authors. Its contents often closely parallel such apocryphal books as
Enoch, 4 Esdras
, etc. Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. ii. pp. 23–39.

MID
.
LEQAH
TOBH
. A midrash on the
Pentateuch
, compiled probably in 1079 by the Bulgarian Tobiah ben Eliezer. Quoted by Biblical book and page of Solomon Buber’s 2-volume edition, Wilna, 1880.

MID
.
MISHLE
. A midrash and commentary on
Proverbs
. Compiled in the late tenth or early eleventh century, probably in Babylonia. Quoted by chapter of
Proverbs
and page of Solomon Buber’s edition, Wilna, 1893.

MID
.
QOHELETH
. See
Eccl. Rab
.

MID
.
SEKHEL
TOBH
. A midrash on
Genesis
and
Exodus
, compiled in 1139 by Menahem ben Shelomo. Edited by Solomon Buber, Berlin, 1900–1.

MID
.
SHEMUEL
. A midrash on the Book of
Samuel
compiled from older writings, in Palestine, during the Gaonic period (seventh to tenth centuries). Edited by Solomon Buber, Cracow, 1893. Quoted by chapter.

MID
.
SHIR
.
Canticles Rabba
, quoted by folio of the Wilna, 1887, edition.

MID
.
TEHILLIM
. Also known as
Shoher Tobh
, a midrash on the Book of
Psalms
, compiled probably during the tenth or eleventh century in Palestine. Quoted by page of Solomon Buber’s edition, Wilna, 1891; photostatic reprint, New York, 1947.

MID
.
WAYISSAU
. A midrash on
Genesis
XXXV. 5 and XXXVI. 6, describing the wars of the Sons of Jacob with the Amorites and Sons of Esau. Its text
is preserved in the
Yalqut
(q.v.), but it has close affinities with the
Book of Jubilees
and the
Testament of Judah
which attest to its antiquity. Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. iii. pp. 1–5.

MID
.
WAYOSHA
. A midrash on
Exodus
XIV. 30; XV. 18, based partly on
Tanhuma
(q.v.), and quoted by the
Yalqut
(q.v.); it can therefore not be earlier than the twelfth century. Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. i. pp. 35–57.

MID
.
YONAH
. A midrash on the Book of
Jonah
, compiled from the
Yalqut
(q.v.) on
Jonah
, to which is added the Hebrew translation of Zohar (q.v.), ii. 198b–199a. Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. i. pp. 96–105.

MOSES
OF
CHORENE
(fifth century
A.D
.),
Armenian History
. French translation:
Histoire d’Armenie
, Venice, 1841.

MUSIL
,
ALOIS
,
Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins
, New York, 1928.

N

NAZIR
. A tractate of the
Palestinian Talmud
. See Yer.

NEDARIM
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

NIDDA
. A tractate of the
Mishna
and of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B. and M.

NUM
.
RAB
.
Numeri Rabba
, a midrash on
Numbers
, compiled in the twelfth century. Quoted by chapter and section of the Wilna, 1884, edition.

NUR
AL-ZULM
,
‘Light of Shade and Lamp of Wisdom’
, by Nathanel ibn Yeshaya. Hebrew-Arabic homilies composed in 1327. Ed. by Alexander Kohut, New York, 1894.

O

OPPENHEIM
,
Fabula Josephi et Asenathae
, Berlin, 1886.

ORIGEN
(185–254
A.D
.). Ecclesiastical writer, lived in Egypt, Rome and Palestine. His works were edited in the
Ante-Nicene Fathers
series.

OROSIUS
OF
TARRAGONA
,
Seven Books Against the Pagans
. Paulus Orosius, a Spanish historian and theologian of the fifth century
A.D
. His
Seven Books
were edited by C. Zangemeister, 1882.

ORPHIC
FRAGMENTS
. See Tannery, Paul, ‘Orphica,’
Revue de Philol
., Paris, 1899, pp. 126–9; 1900, pp. 54–7. 97–102.

OTZAR
MIDRASHIM
, ed. J. D. Eisenstein, New York, 1915. A collection of two hundred minor midrashim. Quoted by page and column.

P

PALESTINIAN
TALMUD
. See Yd.

PATAI
,
RAPHAEL
,
Adam weAdamah
(‘Man and Earth in Hebrew Custom, Belief and Legend’). In Hebrew. Jerusalem, 1942–3. 2 vols.

PATAI
,
RAPHAEL
,
Man and Temple in Ancient Jewish Myth and Ritual
, Edinburgh, 1947.

PEAH
. A tractate of the
Palestinian Talmud
. See Yer.

PESAHIM
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

PESIQTA
DIR
.
KAHANA
. A midrash of some thirty-two homilies which grew out of discourses for festivals and special Sabbaths, compiled not later
than 700
A.D
. Quoted by folio of Solomon Buber’s edition, Lyck, 1868; photostatic reprint, New York, 1949.

PESIQTA
HADTA
. A medieval midrash drawing on Gen. Rab., PRE,
Sepher Yetzira
, etc. Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. vi. pp. 36–70.

PESIQTA
HADTA
. A mediaeval midrash drawing on Gen. Rab., PRE,
Sepher
compiled during the ninth century in Italy. Quoted by folio of M. Friedmann’s edition, Vienna, 1880.

PHILO
OF
ALEXANDRIA
, also known as Philo Judaeus. Jewish Hellenistic philosopher of the first century
A.D
. His works are quoted by their Latin titles, such as
De Decalogo, De Migr. Abrah., De Mundi Opif., De Somn
.

PHOTIUS
. Ninth-century Byzantine scholar, Patriarch of Constantinople. Most of his works (
Myriobiblion, Mystagogia, Letters
) are printed in J. P. Migne’s
Patrologia Graeca
.

PIRQE
MASHIAH
. A midrash on the messianic glories of Jerusalem, the Temple and Israel, written during the Gaonic period (seventh to tenth century
A.D
.) in Persia. Printed in BHM (q.v.), vol. iii. pp. 68–78.

PIRQE
RABBENU
HAQADOSH
. A collection of ethical or practical sayings attributed to Rabbi Jehuda Hanasi (second century
A.D
.), but compiled considerably later. Printed in
Otzar Midrashim
(q.v.) pp. 505–14.

PRAYER
OF
ASENATH
. See
Joseph and Asenath
.

PRE
.
Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer
, a midrash on the work of God in His Creation, and the oldest history of Israel. Attributed to Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanos, a Palestinian sage (‘Tannaite’) of
c
. 90–130
A.D
., but actually written during the eighth or early ninth century in Palestine. Quoted by chapter.

PRITCHARD
,
JAMES
B
.,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts
, Princeton, 1955.

PSALMS
OF
SOLOMON
. Eighteen apocryphal psalms written by Jews in the first century
B.C
. See Charles,
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
, vol. ii. pp. 625 ff.

PSEUDO-PHILO
. Guido Kish,
Pseudo-Philo’s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicorum
, Notre Dame, Ind., 1949.

PTAHHOTEP’S
MAXIMS
. Precepts and wise sayings compiled by Ptahhotep, the vizier of King Izezi of the Fifth Egyptian Dynasty (
c
. 2450
B.C
.). See Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts
, pp. 412–14.

R

RAGLAN
,
LORD
.
The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama
. London, 1936.

RASHI
. The commentary of Rabbi Shelomo ben Yitzhak (1040–1105) on the Bible. Quoted by Biblical book, chapter, and verse.

ROSH
HASHANA
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

S

SABA
,
ABRAHAM
.
Tseror HaMor
. A collection of animal fables, translated into Hebrew by Judah Loeb b. Kalonymos (fourteenth century) from the Arabic encyclopaedia of the
Ikhwān al-Safā
(Brethren of Sincerity). Printed in Mantua, 1557.

SALTAIR
NA
RANN
. The longest Irish mediaeval poem on a religious subject, containing sections on cosmogony and speculations on the fate of the universe.

SANCHUNIATHON’S
Phoenician History
. Sanchuniathon was a fourth- to third-century
B.C
. priest born in Berytus (today Beirut) whose
Phoenician History
was translated into Greek by Philo of Byblus (
c
. 64–140
A.D
.). A fragment of this work is preserved in Eusebius’
Praeparatio Evangelica
(q.v.).

SANH
.
Sanhedrin
. A tractate of the
Babylonian
and
Palestinian Talmud
. See B. and Yer.

SCHATZHöHLE
,
DIE
(‘Cave of Treasures’). Ed. by Carl Bezold, Leipzig, 1883–88. A Christian life of Adam and Eve, written in Syriac during the sixth century
A.D
.

SEDER
ARQIM
. A midrash, closely related to
Mid. Adonay Behokhma
(q.v.), extant in a thirteenth-century manuscript. Printed in
Otzar Midrashim
(q.v.).

SEDER
ELIAHU
RABBA
and
SEDER
ELIAHU
ZUTA
. An ethical midrash composed of two parts (‘The Great’ and ‘The Small’ Seder Eliahu), also known as
Tanna diBe Eliahu
. According to
B. Ketubot
106 a, the Prophet Elijah taught Rabbi Anan (late third century
A.D
.) the contents of these two books. Their earliest extant manuscript, however, dates from 1073
A.D
. Quoted by page of M. Friedmann’s edition, Vienna, 1902–4; photostatic reprint, Jerusalem, 1960.

SEDER
ELIAHU
ZUTA
. See preceding entry.