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Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: פִּרְקֵי דְּרַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר, romanized: pirqe də-rabbi ʾeliʿezer, 'Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer'; abbreviated פדר״א, 'PdRE') is an aggadic-midrashic work on the Torah containing exegesis and retellings of biblical stories. Traditionaly, the work is attributed to the Tanna Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and his school, but research suggests it is a pseudepigraphic work from the Geonic period, written in the eighth century in or around the Land of Israel.
The Title and Attribution to Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
The work is referred to in manuscripts and by medieval scholars as "Pirkei (or: Perakim) DeRabbi Eliezer," or "Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer," and sometimes "Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer HaGadol," but also "Baraita DeRabbi Eliezer." Medieval scholars attributed the work to the Tanna Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, but Abraham Zacuto wrote in "Sefer Yuchasin" that the book is later and not by Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus.[1] Following Leopold Zunz, it is commonly accepted in research that Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer is a much later pseudepigraphic work.
The First Two Chapters of the Work
The first two chapters of the work are dedicated to the story of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus's approach to Torah, serving as a kind of introduction to the work and providing background about the author. These chapters are derived from Avot DeRabbi Natan, Version B, Chapter 13, and their originality in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer is a matter of scholarly debate. Many researchers speculate that these chapters are a later addition and not original to the midrash.[2][3] Eliezer Treitl disagrees with this view and believes that the chapters should not be excluded, for two reasons: these chapters appear in all the complete manuscripts of the work that exist; the language of the chapters differs slightly from their source in Avot DeRabbi Natan in a way that suits the unique language of Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer.
The Time and Place of the Composition
The first to establish the later dating of the midrash was Zunz, and following him, the commonly accepted opinion in research is that the work was written around the eighth century.[4] Zunz dates the book from the beginning of the eighth century to the middle of the eighth century. The evidence Zunz brings for the lower date is that the author frequently refers in his sermons to Ishmael and the kingdom of the children of Ishmael, and condemns their rule. The name Ishmael is interpreted at the beginning of Chapter 32 as: "And why is his name called Ishmael? Because in the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will hear the cry of the people from what the children of Ishmael are destined to do in the land at the end of days." At the end of Chapter 30, the following apocalyptic vision appears: Rabbi Ishmael says:
Fifteen things the children of Ishmael are destined to do in the land at the end of days, and these are they: They will measure the land with ropes, make cemeteries for the resting place of sheep dung, measure in them and from them on the tops of mountains, increase lies, conceal the truth, distance law from Israel, increase sins in Israel, the worm will be as wool, the paper and pen will wither, the kingdom's rock will be rejected, they will rebuild ruined cities, clear roads, plant gardens and orchards, repair breaches in the walls of the Temple, build a structure in the sanctuary, and two brothers will stand over them as leaders in the end, and in their days the sprout of David (the Messiah) will stand.
According to Zunz, the "structure in the sanctuary" refers to the Dome of the Rock, which was built on the Temple Mount at the end of the seventh century, and the rejection of the "kingdom's rock" refers to the minting of Muslim coins, which also occurred at the end of that century. Additionally, there is great similarity to the literature of the Geonim, a remarkable resemblance to the Jerusalem Targum, and messianic sayings that set the expected year of redemption as 729.[5]
From this, it can be concluded that the work was not written before the end of the seventh century. The opening passage of Chapter 3 appears in the letter of Pirqoi ben Baboi,[6] who operated at the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth century, indicating that the work is not later than the ninth century.[7]
Regarding the place of midrash, the extensive references to the rule of Ishmael indicate that it was composed in one of the lands of Islam – most likely in the Land of Israel or its surroundings. This is also evident from the fact that the work (in Chapter 8) emphasizes the exclusive right of the sages of the Land of Israel to establish the calendar, stating that even shepherds and laypeople in the Land of Israel are preferable to the righteous and prophets in the diaspora, and only the inhabitants of the Land of Israel have the right to establish the calendar. Various customs of the Land of Israel are also mentioned. For example, the custom of removing virginity with a finger mentioned in Chapter 16 is explicitly noted as a custom of the Land of Israel in the Book of Differences.ref>Mordechai Margaliot, "Differences between Easterners and Residents of the Land of Israel," pp. 87, 160 (in Hebrew)</ref>
Contents
The sun rides in a chariot and rises crowned as a bridegroom. Eliezer[8]
Chapters
The work is divided into 54 chapters, which may be divided into seven groups, as follows:
Ch. 1-2: Introduction to the entire work, dealing with the youth of Eliezer ben Hurcanus, his thirst for knowledge, and his settlement at Jerusalem.
The fifth day: birds and fishes; enumeration of the kinds which may be eaten. Also, the story of Jonah, which is said to belong to the fifth day.
The sixth day: God's conference with the Torah in regard to the way in which man should be created. Since God is the first king of the world, all the great rulers are enumerated in order to refer to God as the first one.
Ch. 12-23 (= Gen. 2–8, 24, 29:1): The time from Adam to Noah.
Announcement of the ten appearances of God upon earth ("eser yeridot").
First appearance of God in the Garden of Eden, and the punishment of the first pair.
The two ways, the good and the evil, are pointed out to Adam, who enters upon his penitence. (The story is interrupted here, to be continued in ch. 20)
Detailed discussion of the three pillars of the world—the Torah, the Avodah, and Gemilut Hasadim (see Avot 1:2).
God's kindness toward Adam, that of the Hananites toward Jacob, and the consideration to be shown to those in mourning.
The performance of the marriage ceremony under a canopy (ch. 12).
The standing of the hazzan beside the bridal couple (ch. 41).
The pronouncing of the blessing upon the bride by the hazzan (ch. 12).
That no woman may go out with uncovered head (ch. 14; compare Ketuvot 72a).
That the groom may not go out alone on the bridal night (ch. 16; compare Berachot 54b);
That mourners must be comforted in the chapel (ch. 17);
That the dead may be buried only in "takrikin" (ch. 33; compare Moed Kattan 27a,b);
That a person sneezing shall say, "I trust in Thy help, O Lord," while any one hearing him shall say, "Your health!" (ch. 52)—sickness having been unknown before the time of the patriarch Jacob, whose soul escaped through his nose when he sneezed.
The often-repeated text (recited at the 'Bedtime Shema', etc.) "In the name of the Lord, God of Israel, may Michael be at my right, Gabriel to my left..." may have its origins here (ch. 4).
The following chapters close with benedictions from Shemoneh Esreh:
ch. 27: "Praised be Thou, O Lord, the shield of Abraham"
ch. 31: "Praised be Thou, O Lord, who revivest the dead"
ch. 35: "Praised be Thou, O Lord, Holy God"
ch. 40: "Praised be Thou, O Lord, who dost pardon knowingly"
ch. 43: "Praised be Thou, O Lord, who demandest penitence."
Chapters 17, 30, 31, 46, 51, 52, 54 also remind one of Shemoneh Esreh.
The Tekufot
Title page of a Sabbioneta edition of Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer.
The work includes astronomical discussions related to the story of the Creation. It dwells longest on the description of the second day of Creation, in which the chariot of Ezekiel 1 is described in various forms, and although this passage recalls Shabbethai Donnolo and the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva, it is evidently much older, since it does not mention the Hekalot. This description is connected with that of the creation of the seven planets and the twelve signs of the zodiac, the reference to the "machzors" and the "tekufot," and the discussion of the intercalation. In the series of years (3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19 in the cycle of 19) in which the intercalation takes place, the author substitutes the fifth year for the sixth. His cycle of the moon, furthermore, covers 21 years, at the end of which period the moon again occupies the same position in the week as at the beginning, but this can happen only once in 689,472 years, according to the common computation.
Adelman, Rachel. The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe De-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha (2009) (ISBN978-90-04-17049-0)
Treitl, Eliezer. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer: Text, Redaction and a Sample Synopsis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Yad ben Tzvi, 2012). (in Hebrew)
Sacks, Steven Daniel Midrash and Multiplicity: Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Reinvention of Rabbinic Interpretive Culture (2009) (ISBN978-3110209228) [1]
Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, p. 35, note 2, Leipsic, 1858;
^Sefer Yuchasin, First Part, Aleph-Bet, Letter Aleph: "...in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer; for it is well known that although it is attributed to Rabbi Eliezer, it was written by later generations."
^M.B. Lerner, "Studies in a List of Books from the Geniza," Te'uda 1 (1980), p. 49 (in Hebrew) This hypothesis is based on evidence from the Cairo Geniza, where a list of books includes a manuscript in which the midrash begins at Chapter 3. Additionally, in one manuscript, the title of the midrash appears only in Chapter 3. According to this hypothesis, there is no internal evidence in the midrash itself to attribute it specifically to Rabbi Eliezer, and the name "Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer" was given because he is the first sage mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 3: "Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus opened...", as it was customary to name works after the first sage mentioned in them.
^Kister, "Studies in Avot DeRabbi Nathan," p. 15 (in Hebrew)
^Y.L. Zunz, "Derashot BeYisrael," Bialik Institute, 1974, p. 136 (in Hebrew)
^Y.L. Zunz, "Derashot BeYisrael," Bialik Institute, 1974, Notes 23-29 to Chapter Sixteen, p. 420 (in Hebrew)
^Title: ANCIENT HEBREW ARTS Author: A Reifenberg Page: 111 Publisher: Schocken Books, New York Publication Date: 1950|Eliezer says "The sun rides in a chariot and rises crowned as a bridegroom."
This page was last edited on 16 June 2024, at 18:31