Fragments of Midrash Sifra on Leviticus in the Baden State Library in Karlsruhe
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chapter 4 Fragments of Midrash Sifra on Leviticus in the Baden State Library in Karlsruhe Andreas Lehnardt As has been emphasized in several articles already, fragments containing Mi- drashic texts preserved in bindings of books, registers and notarial files in Ger- man libraries and archives are very rare. Whereas in Italy several dozen frag- ments with parts of several known Midrashic works from late antiquity have been discovered,1 in Germany and several adjacent European countries only a very few pieces with remnants of these works had been identified. Most of these Midrashic fragments preserve well-known texts or versions of texts which transmit only small variances in comparison with other com- plete manuscripts or early printed editions of the same texts. Many of these remains—sometimes only tiny pieces of manuscript—are therefore consid- ered to be more of statistical value and do not much change our general under- standing of certain passages. In light of the rather small number of Midrash fragments discovered in Germany, however, these fragments clearly point to the fact that at the end of the Middle Ages the study of this particular rab- binic literary genre was—at least among Ashkenazic Jews—not so widespread as it might seem in light of today’s enormous research interest in Midrashic literature. The great number of fragments from other rabbinic works such as the Babylonian Talmud (Bavli), Mahzorim (with commentaries) or Halakhic codices even among the fragments from Italy are ample proof of the fact that manuscripts of Midrashim might have been less common.2 During the research undertaken by me in Germany in the last decade, for instance, I could iden- tify only very few fragments and pieces of fragments with parts from the great 1 See, for example, Mauro Perani and Enrica Sagradini (eds.), Talmudic and Midrashic Frag- ments from the ‘Italian Genizah’: Reunification of the Manuscripts and Catalogue (Florence: Giuntina, 2004). 2 On the spread of Midrashic manuscripts in the ‘European Genizah’, see, for instance, Mena- hem Kahana, “Pages of Halakhic Midrash in the Archives of Nonantola and Modena,” in The Italian Genizah, ed. Abraham David and Joseph Tabory (Jerusalem: Orhot Press 1998), 61–69 (in Hebrew); Simcha Emanuel, Hidden Treasures from Europe (Jerusalem: Mekize Nirdamim, 2015), vol. 1, 43 (in Hebrew). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004427921_006 54 lehnardt Midrash on Genesis (Midrash Bereshit Rabbah). In addition to that, I identi- fied only one tiny piece from a manuscript from Leviticus Rabbah.3 Several other fragments with Midrashic contents were taken from manuscripts of the Ashkenazic recension of Midrash Tanḥuma (Buber)4 or from the large anthol- ogy called Yalquṭ Shimʿoni ascribed to Shimʿon ha-Darshan from Frankfurt on Main.5 Remarkably, and in clear contrast to the evidence from Italy and the Cairo genizah, only very few fragments of Halakhic Midrashim have been iden- tified in Germany. All the more telling is the fact that most fragments with parts from these old Tannaitic Midrashim were exclusively taken from manuscripts of Midrash Sifra, the Tannaitic Midrash on the Book of Leviticus, also called Torat Kohanim.6 The Karlsruhe Fragments Midrash Sifra is the exposition of several chapters of the book of Leviticus. This Midrash was redacted in the so-called school of Rabbi ʿAqiva, but later several passages from the school of Rabbi Yishmaʾel were added. Except for a fragment of this early Midrash, which I identified in the Dresden State and University Library,7 only one larger piece with portions from this late antique work have 3 See Andreas Lehnardt, “Hebräische und aramäische Handschriftenfragmente in Mainzer Bibliotheken,” Mainzer Zeitschrift. Mittelrheinisches Jahrbuch für Archäologie, Kunst und Geschichte 103 (2008), 15–28, esp. 25. 4 See Andreas Lehnardt, “Ein neues Einbandfragment des Midrasch Tanchuma in der Stadtbib- liothek Mainz,” Judaica. Beiträge zum Verstehen des Judentums 63 (2007), 344–356; idem, “A New Fragment of Midrash Tanhuma from Cologne University Library,”Zutot 7 (2011), 1–16. 5 Cf. Andreas Lehnardt, “‘Einem Buchbinder verkauft zu schertz, andere Bücher drein zu binden’: Hebräische und aramäische Einbandfragmente aus Frankfurt am Main,”Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge 34 (2007/8), 1–27, here 21–27; idem, Hebräische Einbandfragmente in Frankfurt am Main. Mittelalterliche jüdische Handschriftenreste in ihrem geschichtlichen Kon- text (Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 2011), 157–159. 6 On this Midrash in general, see Menahem I. Kahana, “The Halakhic Midrashim,” in The Lit- erature of the Sages. Second Part: Midrash and Targum, Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism, Contracts, Inscriptions, Ancient Science, and Languages of Rabbinic Literature, ed. Shmuel Safrai and Joshua Schwartz, Compendium Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum II/3b (Assen: Van Gorcum, 2006), 78–87; idem, “Mavo le-Midrashe ha-Tannaʾim,” in The Classic Rabbinic Literature of Eretz Israel. Introductions and Studies, ed. idem, Vered Noam, Menahem Kister, David Rosenthal (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 2018), 137–177 (in Hebrew); Anat Reizel, Introduc- tion to the Midrashic Literature (Alon Shvut: 2011), 59–69 (in Hebrew). 7 See, for example, Andreas Lehnardt, “Ein Einbandfragment des halachischen Midrasch Sifra in der Staats- und Landesbibliothek Dresden,” Judaica. Beiträge zum Verstehen des Juden- tums 72 (2016), 129–139; idem, “Makuliert—zerschnitten—wiederverwendet. Mittelalterliche.