Midrash Veyechulu ( he, מדרש ויכלו) is one of the smaller midrashim, named after

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

2:1 ("Veyechulu ha-Shamayim"). It contained both

halakhic ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

and aggadic material, and doubtless covered several books of the Pentateuch; but it now exists only in citations by various authors after the middle of the 12th century. In '' Ha-Rokeach,'' passages from it are quoted as belonging to

19:24, to the

pericopes A pericope (; Greek language, Greek , "a cutting-out") in rhetoric is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, suitable for public reading from a text, now usually of sacred scripture. Also can be used as a way to identify certain ...

Beḥuḳḳotai and Beha'aloteka, and to

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...

2:31. Judging from the first and fourth of these citations, ''Midrash Veyechulu'' was a homiletic work, because Tanhuma on Genesis 19 and on Deuteronomy 2:31, as well as

Deuteronomy Rabbah Deuteronomy Rabbah ( he, ) is an aggadah or homiletic commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy. It does not contain running commentaries on the entire book of Deuteronomy. Rather, it consists of 25 complete, independent homilies (and two fragmenta ...

on 2:31, likewise contains homilies. The midrash must have derived much material from the Tanhuma Yelammedenu, because some of the few fragments that have been preserved agree more or less accurately with passages from the Tanhuma or with excerpts in Yalkut Shimoni from Yelammedenu. The midrash seems also to have been called "Veyechulu Rabbah." The citations from it are collected in Grünhut's ''Sefer ha-Liḳḳuṭim.''ii. 16b et seq.

References

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

Zunz Zunz ( he, צוּנְץ, yi, צונץ) is a Yiddish surname: * (1874–1939), Belgian pharmacologist * Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz (1923–2018), British civil engineer * Leopold Zunz (Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) (1794–1886), German Reform rabbi an ...

, G. V. p. 281; *idem, G. S. iii. 252; *Rab Pe'alim, pp. 52 et seq.; *Grünhut, Sefer ha-Liḳḳuṭim, Introduction, pp. 13 et seq. {{Authority control Smaller midrashim Lost Jewish texts