Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai


The Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai is midrash halakha on the Book of Exodus from the school of Rabbi Akiva attributed to Shimon bar Yochai.
No midrash of this name is mentioned in Talmudic literature, but Nachmanides refers to one which he calls either Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, Mekhilta Achǝrita de-Rabbi Shimon, or simply Mekhilta Acheret. Todros ben [Joseph Abulafia] also refers to Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai.

Date

The current scholarly consensus is that the Mekhilta dates to the period of the Amoraim.

Current status

The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon had disappeared, but some extracts from it were preserved in the collection known as Midrash haGadol, as Israel Lewy first pointed out. These fragments were collected by David [Zvi Hoffmann] and published under the title Mechilta de R. Simon b. Jochai.
This Mekhilta compiled from Midrash haGadol preserves abundant material from the earliest Scriptural commentaries, quoting, for instance, a sentence from the Doreshei Reshumot on Exodus 21:12 which is found nowhere else. It contains also much from post-Talmudic literature, for the collector and redactor of the Midrash haGadol had a peculiar way of dressing sentences of such medieval authorities as Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Arukh, and Maimonides in midrashic garb and presenting them as ancient maxims.
A critical version, using newly discovered fragments of texts, was later published by Yaakov [Nahum Epstein] and his student Ezra Zion Melamed. The publication is an attempt to reconstruct the original Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, based on all extant sources.

English editions

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