Midrash Chamesh Megiloth [aggadic compilation on the Five Scrolls]
AUCTION 25 |
Monday, October 25th,
2004 at 1:00
Important Hebrew Printed Books: The Property of a Gentleman
Lot 35
(MIDRASH)
Midrash Chamesh Megiloth [aggadic compilation on the Five Scrolls]
Pesaro: Gershom Soncino 1519
Est: $20,000 - $25,000
PRICE REALIZED $36,000
EXTREMELY RARE. NO COPIES IN THE BODLEIAN OR THE BRITISH LIBRARY. THE BIBLIOPHILE DAVID FRANKEL CONSIDERED THIS BOOK (COMPLETE WITH BOTH TITLE PAGES) TO BE AS RARE AND VALUABLE AS AN INCUNABLE.
The collection of Aggadic material on the Five Scrolls are part of the Midrash Rabbah genus of Midrashic literature - denominated “large” (Rabbah) to distinguish it from the smaller collections on these Biblical books. The time of compilation of the Midrash Rabbah lasted many centuries, but the material itself is ancient. The predominance of the sayings, parables, interpretations of verses, stories and proverbs which comprise the Midrashic literature originates with the Palestinian sages although the wisdom of the Babylonian scholars is amply represented.
Eichah Rabbah (Lamentations Rabbah) is the earliest of the group. It is prefaced by a long introduction consisting of thirty-three homilies to the initial verses of Lamentations. The dates of the remaining four works cannot be determined with accuracy though the consensus of scholarship places them earlier than the other Midrashim of the last four books of the Pentateuch.
The Five Scrolls were read in the synagoguges on the holidays and as such were the subject of much interpretation and homilies; hence the large quantity of Aggadic material centering around these books. See M. Waxman, Vol. I pp. 136-8.