(MIDRASH).

From the opposing schools of Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva issued two very different sets of Halachic Midrashim. Until the 19th-century, the present collection of Midrashim were the only ones known. Subsequently, scholars began to reconstruct the long-lost Mechilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, both from Genizah fragments and from citations preserved in the Yemenite anthology Midrash ha-Gadol. This so-called “Mechilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai” is an Akivan parallel to the present Mechilta of Rabbi Ishmael. Two reconstructions of the Mechilta de-Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai appeared in print, an earlier attempt by Rabbi David Tzvi Hoffman of Berlin, and a later effort by Profs. J.N. Epstein and E.Z. Melamed of Jerusalem. The Talmud states, “An unsigned Siphra is Rabbi Judah; an unsigned Siphre is Rabbi Shimon - and they are all in accord with the method of Rabbi Akiva” (Sanhedrin 86a). See EJ, Vol. XI, cols. 1267-1270; 1521-1523; Vol. XIV, cols. 1579-1521. She’iltoth of R. Achai (680-752) is a compilation of Geonic rulings arranged topically on the Torah portion of the week. Traditional commentaries were written by Rabbis Isaiah Berlin Pick and Naphtali Tzevi Judah Berlin (NeTZI”V). More recently, a critical scholarly edition was produced by Prof. Samuel K. Mirsky. All of the works in this volume have the commonality that they were edited by the rabbinic scholar and halachist, R. Jochanan Treves (1490?-1557?), author Kimcha de-Avishuna, a commentary to the prayer book according to the Roman rite. One of his legal responsa was included in the Responsa of R. Moses Isserles. A tireless proofreader in the press of Daniel Bomberg in Venice, Treves labored to establish accurate readings. See EJ, Vol. XV, col. 1378. Provenance: Samuel Chaim Fontanella. - Perhaps a relation to the celebrated talmudist, kabbalist and poet, Israel Berechiah Fontanella of Reggio Emilia (d.1763). See JE, Vol. V, p.430; EJ, Vol. XIII, col. 583