Rabbinic Literature - The Midrash

The Midrash

Midrash (pl. Midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of reading details into, or out of, a Biblical text. The term midrash also can refer to a compilation of Midrashic teachings, in the form of legal, exegetical, homiletical, or narrative writing, often configured as a commentary on the Bible or Mishnah. There are a large number of "classical" Midrashic works spanning a period from Mishnaic to Geonic times, often showing evidence of having been worked and reworked from earlier materials, and frequently coming to us in multiple variants. A compact list of these works is given below; a more thorough annotated list can be found under Midrash. The timeline below must be approximate because many of these works were composed over a long span of time, borrowing and collating material from earlier versions; their histories are therefore somewhat uncertain and the subject of scholarly debate. In the table, "n.e." designates that the work in question is not extant except in secondary references.

Extra-canonical rabbinical literature ("n.e." designates "not extant")
Estimated date Exegetical Homiletical Narrative

Tannaitic period
(till 200 CE)

Mekhilta
Mekilta le-Sefer Devarim (n.e.)
Sifra
Sifre

Alphabet of Akiba ben Joseph (?)

Seder Olam Rabbah

400–650 CE

Genesis Rabbah
Lamentations Rabbah

Leviticus Rabbah
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana
Midrash Tanhuma

Seder Olam Zutta

650–900 CE

Midrash Proverbs
Ecclesiastes Rabbah

Deuteronomy Rabbah
Pesikta Rabbati
Avot of Rabbi Natan

Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer
Tanna Devei Eliyahu

900–1000 CE

Midrash Psalms
Exodus Rabbah
Ruth Zuta
Lamentations Zuta

1000–1200

Midrash Aggadah of Moses ha-Darshan
Midrash Tadshe

Sefer ha-Yashar

Later

Yalkut Shimoni
Midrash ha-Gadol
Ein Yaakov
Numbers Rabbah

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