Pesikta de-Rav Kahana () is a collection of aggadic midrash which exists in two editions, those of Salomon Buber (Lyck, 1868) and Bernard Mandelbaum (1962). It is cited by

Nathan ben Jehiel Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (, 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He authored the Arukh, a dictionary for Rabbinic Judaism that was the first work to examine Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. He is therefore referred to as "the Arukh." B ...

and

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

The name

The Jewish Babylonian Aramaic term ''psiqtā'' "section" is cognate to Hebrew ''pāsuq'' "verse." The appearance of the name of Rav Kahana in the title (in manuscripts as early as the 11th century) is explained in two ways: * Leopold Zunz and S. Buber consider the title to be due to the phrase "Rav Abba bar Kahana patah," which opens the longest section of the work, for the

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

preceding the Seventeenth of Tammuz. * B. Mandelbaum considers the appearance in two manuscripts of the name "Rav Kahana" at the beginning of the

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...

chapter—which may have been initially the ''first'' chapter—as the more likely explanation for the use of his name in the title of the work. The position of the Rosh Hashana section as the first ''psiqtā'' is also attested by the ''Arukh'' of

. It is unclear, in any case, which Rav Kahana is referred to since the six known individuals bearing that name all lived in

Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It is located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf. In the Middle Ages it was also known as the '' Sawad'' and al-Jazira al-s ...

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

"), while the ''Pesikta de-Rav Kahana'' was probably composed in ancient Israel.

Organization

It consists of 33 (or 34) homilies on the lessons forming the Pesikta cycle: the Pentateuchal lessons for special

s (1-6) and for the festivals (7-12, 23, 27-32), the prophetic lessons for the Shabbats of

mourning Mourning is the emotional expression in response to a major life event causing grief, especially loss. It typically occurs as a result of someone's death, especially a loved one. The word is used to describe a complex of behaviors in which t ...

and comforting (13-22), and the penitential sections "Dirshu" and "Shuvah" (24, 25; No. 26 is a homily entitled "Seliḥot"). According to the arrangement in this edition, the homilies fall into three groups of ''pesaqot'': (, singular ''pisqā'' ): Pentateuchal, Prophetic, and Tishri. An unnumbered other pesaqot to Isaiah 61:10 (following two manuscripts) is printed after No. 22; similarly, No. 29 (following a manuscript) is designated with No. 28 as another pisqa for

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

, and the pisqa on pp. 194b et seq. (recognizable as spurious by the halakhic exordium, and also printed following a manuscript) is designated with No. 30 as another version of the pisqa for parasha Shemini. Pesaqot 12 and 32 each consist of two homilies, but the second homily in No. 27 (pp. 174b et seq.) does not belong to the ''Pesikta''. The various manuscripts differ not only concerning the above-mentioned second pesaqot and other, longer passages but also concerning the arrangement of the entire collection, which began in a manuscript that is defective at the beginning, with the homilies to prophetical lessons Nos. 13-22 and 24–25. An old abbreviation designates these twelve homilies: דש״ח נו״ע אר״ק שד״ש. Another manuscript, "Haftarah Midrash," contains only these homilies, except next to the last one. Entire homilies of the Pesikta have been taken over, or sometimes worked over, into the

Pesikta Rabbati ''Pesikta Rabbati'' (Aramaic: פסיקתא רבתי ''P'siqta Rabbati'', "The Larger P'siqta") is a collection of aggadic midrash (homilies) on the Pentateuchal and prophetic readings, the special Sabbaths, and so on. It was composed around 8 ...

; there are also several ''Pesikta'' homilies in the

Midrash Tanhuma Midrash Tanhuma (), also known as Yelammedenu, is the name given to a homiletic midrash on the entire Torah, and it is known in several different versions or collections. Tanhuma bar Abba is not the author of the text but instead is a figure to w ...

. Leviticus Rabbah also contains some of the homilies found in Pesikta. The parashiyyot 20, 27–30 in Leviticus Rabbah are, except for a few differences, the same as pesaqot 27, 9, 8, 23, 28 of the ''Pesikta''. Leopold Zunz states that the ''Pesikta'' depends on Leviticus Rabbah, assigning this midrash to the middle of the 7th century, but the ''Pesikta'' to the year 700. Weiss, while emphasizing still more strongly the dependence of the ''Pesikta'' on Leviticus Rabbah, takes it to be nearly as old as Genesis Rabbah; he thinks that the Pesikta took for its sources Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, Lamentations Rabbah, and Song of Songs Rabbah. However, other authorities regard the Pesikta as the earliest midrash collection.

Dating

The core of the ''Pesikta'' is old and must be classed together with Genesis Rabbah and

Lamentations Rabbah The Midrash on Lamentations () is a midrashic commentary to the Book of Lamentations. It is one of the oldest works of midrash, along with Genesis Rabbah and the '' Pesikta de-Rav Kahana''. Names The midrash is quoted, perhaps for the first ti ...

. But the proems in the Pesikta, developed from short introductions to the exposition of the scripture into more independent homiletic structures, as well as the mastery of form apparent in the final formulas of the proems, indicate that the ''Pesikta'' belongs to a higher stage of midrashic development. The text of the current ''Pesikta'' was probably not finally fixed until its first printing, presumably in Salomon Buber's edition. Zunz gives a date of composition of 700 CE, but other factors argue for a date of composition in the 5th or early 6th century. The nature of certain Pentateuch lessons, intended apparently for the second feast days celebrated in the Jewish Diaspora, still calls for investigation. The question also arises as to the time at which the cycle of the twelve prophetic lessons designated by דש"ח, etc., came into use; this cycle is not mentioned in

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic times but is subsequently stated to have been ordained or prescribed in the Pesikta.

References

* *. * Braude, W G, ''Pesikta Derab Kahana'',Jewish Publication Society of America; 2 edition (2002), . English translation.

External links

Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Solomon Buber edition
scanned, PDF, at the daat.ac.il web site
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Mandelbaum edition
scanned, PDF {{DEFAULTSORT:Pesikta De-Rav Kahana Aggadic Midrashim Oral Torah Hebrew-language literature