Yalkut Shimoni - Author and Date

Author and Date

The author of the Yalḳuṭ can not be determined with certainty. The title-page of the Venice edition ascribes the composition of the work to R. Simeon of Frankfort, "the chief of exegetes" ("rosh ha-darshanim"), and this was accepted by David Conforte and Azulai, who called him Simeon Ashkenazi of Frankfort. J.L. Rapoport (in Kerem Ḥemed, vii. 7 et seq.), on the other hand, maintained that R. Simeon (the father of R. Joseph Ḳara), who flourished in the 11th century, was its author, but this assertion is untenable since the compiler of the Yalḳuṭ used midrashim of a later date. If the Yalḳuṭ was so old, moreover, it would be difficult to explain why no mention of it is made by R. Nathan b. Jehiel, the author of the Aruk, or by Rashi.

A. Epstein inclines to agree with Zunz that the author of the Yalḳuṭ flourished in the early part of the 13th century. According to Zunz, the work was written by R. Simeon Ḳara, who lived in southern Germany at that period, and the title "ha-Darshan" was bestowed upon him probably at a later date. It is certain that a manuscript of the Yalḳuṭ, mentioned by Azariah dei Rossi, existed in 1310 (comp. Zunz, G. V. pp. 295–303); but despite this, there is scarcely any allusion to the work during the 14th and 15th centuries. This may be ascribed, however, to the unhappy position of the German Jews and to the repeated persecutions of the period; for peace and prosperity were necessary for the copying of so extensive a work, and the Jews of Germany had neither. After the beginning of the 15th century, on the other hand, the work must have been disseminated in foreign countries, for it was used by Spanish scholars of the latter half of that century, Isaac Abravanel being the first to mention it (comp. A. Epstein, l.c. p. 134).