THE TANHUMA-YELAMMEDENU LITERATURE The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu literature includes the two versions of Midrash Tanhuma, Exodus Rabbah (II), Numbers Rabbah (II), the two versions of Deuteronomy Rabbah, large parts of Pesiqta Rabbati and additional fragmentary versions of this popular type of homiletic midrash. The studies in this volume include a survey of previous research, a catalogue of some 200 textual witnesses and a synoptic analysis of four versions of midrashic material to the triennial lection beginning with Exodus 7:8. The final chapter draws general conclusions about the date and provenance of the versions and presents a stratigraphic approach to the multifaceted evolution of this important genre of midrashic literature. "At last—an excellent exposition of the nature of the Tanhuma literature which takes into account all the textual and historical aspects of the problem" — Prof. Chaim Milikowsky. "Bregman's book is undoubtedly the best research ever done about the most complicated issue in the study of rabbinic literature: the Tanhuma-type Midrashim. Based on a vast knowledge of the history of rabbinic literature, an admirable power of innovation and impressive capability of synthesis, this book lays the foundations for all future scholarship of a very important stratum in the literature of ancient Judaism." — Prof. Avigdor Shinan. Marc Bregman received his PhD from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. Since 1978, he has been teaching at the Jerusalem campus of the Hebrew Union College. Prof. Bregman has published academic research and belles lettres in Hebrew and English on a wide variety of topics in both scholarly and popular journals. His publications include an Introduction and Thematic Commentary to a novelistic retelling of a famous talmudic legend, The Tour Who Entered Paradise (Northvale NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1995). THE TANHUMA-YELAMMEDENU LITERATURE THE TANHUMA-YELAMMEDENU LITERATURE Studies in the Evolution of the Versions BY MARC BREGMAN GORGIAS PRESS 2003 First Gorgias Press Edition, 2003 Copyright © 2003 by Gorgias Press LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Gorgias Press LLC, New Jersey. ISBN 1-59333-095-2 GORGIAS PRESS 46 Orris Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA www.gorgiaspress .com Printed and bound simultaneously in the United States of America and Great Britain. For my soulmate Sarah "Hearken to her voice" (Gen. 21 .