Misplaced Pages

Rabbinic literature
Talmud Readers by Adolf Behrman
Talmudic literature
Tannaitic Mishnah Tosefta Amoraic (Gemara) Jerusalem Talmud Babylonian Talmud Later Minor Tractates
Halakhic Midrash
Exodus Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai Leviticus Sifra (Torat Kohanim) Numbers and Deuteronomy Sifre Sifrei Zutta on Numbers (Mekhilta le-Sefer Devarim)
Aggadic Midrash
Tannaitic Seder Olam Rabbah Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules Baraita on the Thirty-two Rules Baraita on the Erection of the Tabernacle 400–600 CE Genesis Rabbah Lamentations Rabbah Pesikta de-Rav Kahana Esther Rabbah Midrash Iyyob Leviticus Rabbah Seder Olam Zutta Tanhuma Megillat Antiochus 650–900 CE Avot de-Rabbi Natan Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer Tanna Devei Eliyahu Alphabet of Sirach Ecclesiastes Rabbah Shir HaShirim Rabbah Deuteronomy Rabbah Devarim Zutta Pesikta Rabbati Midrash Shmuel Midrash Proverbs Ruth Rabbah Baraita of Samuel Targum Sheni 900–1000 CE Ruth Zuta Eichah Zuta Midrash Tehillim Midrash Hashkem Exodus Rabbah Shir ha-Shirim Zutta Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon 1000–1200 CE Midrash Tadshe Sefer haYashar Later Yalkut Shimoni Yalkut haMachiri Midrash Jonah Ein Yaakov Midrash HaGadol Numbers Rabbah Smaller midrashim
Targum
Torah Targum Onkelos Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Fragment Targum Targum Neofiti Nevi'im Targum Jonathan Ketuvim Targum Tehillim Targum Mishlei Targum Iyyov Targum to the Five Megillot Targum Sheni to Esther Targum to Chronicles
v t e

Midrash Jonah is the aggadic midrash to the Book of Jonah.

Contents

In the editions the work consists of two parts.

The second part, in which the story of Jonah is allegorically referred to the soul, beginning with the words "Vayomer Adonai la-dag," is reprinted in Adolf Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash. This part is merely a literal translation from the Zohar; it is not found in the version printed by C. M. Horowitz (after a Codex De Rossi).

The first part, the midrash proper, is found also in Yalkut Shimoni to Jonah with the exception of a few missing passages and with several variations; but here the Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (PdRE) is given as the source (for some passages, Yerushalmi and Bavli).

Date and Authorship

Jellinek assumes that the first part of the Midrash Jonah was compiled subsequently to Yalkut Shimoni. But as many passages which Yalkut Shimoni has in common with the Midrash Jonah—e.g., the penitential prayer given in Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash (i. 99) and the description of Nineveh's grandeur there—are not found in PdRE; and as, furthermore, the author of Yalkut Shimoni probably did not find all this material in PdRE, he must have taken his quotations from a midrash which was substantially identical with the Midrash Jonah (i.e., with the first part). The author of this midrash borrowed nearly the whole of chapter 10 from PdRE, and borrowed also from Yerushalmi and Babli. The version of the Codex De Rossi begins with the passage which in the Midrash Jonah is found in connection with 3:3 et seq.; the extracts borrowed by the latter from Bavli and Yerushalmi and inserted in the course of its commentary to this passage and later are missing in the Codex De Rossi. Then follows the end of part 1 of the midrash, into which chapter 10 of PdRE has been interpolated. (For comparison, in a compilation included in the earlier editions of Tanhuma to the pericope Vayikra, which dates from a later time, chapter 10 of PdRE was also included.) It concludes with the exposition of some verses—Deuteronomy 4:31, Micah 7:8, and others.

References

1. i. 102 et seq.
2. compare ib. p. xx.
3. In the Sammlung Kleiner Midraschim (Berlin, 1881)
4. part 2, §§ 550-551
5. ed. Stettin, ib. § 8

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Midrash Haggadah". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

• Midrashim
• Works based on the Book of Jonah