Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah (Hebrew: שיר השירים רבה) is anaggadic midrash onSong of Songs, quoted byRashi under the title "Midrash Shir ha-Shirim".[1] It is also calledAggadat Hazita, from its initial word "Hazita",[2] orMidrash Hazita.[3][4]
Simon Duran, in quoting this midrash, says that it is a Judeanaggadic collection.[4] The sources which it uses directly are from theJerusalem Talmud. No direct borrowing from theBabylonian Talmud appears, and, although it contains many interpretations and comments found in the Babylonian Talmud, most of them vary greatly in form, the agreement being confined to their contents. This agreement, moreover, may be explained on the ground that the comments and interpretations in question are very old, and were included both in the Babylonian Talmud and in the Palestinian sources used by the redactor of Shir haShirim Rabbah.[5]
The date of composition of this midrash cannot be exactly determined.Song of Songs was interpreted aggadically at a very early time, and certain rules for this aggadic interpretation were formulated: for example, the rule adopted byJudah ben Ilai,[6] and the rule (inShevuot 35b) for the interpretation of the name forSolomon used in Song of Songs. Upon these rules are based the interpretations of the verses of Song of Songs which appear in theSeder Olam Rabbah, in theSifra, and (particularly frequently) in theSifre and theMekhilta, as well as in theTalmud, which has an exegesis for almost every verse of the book. Most interpretations in the Talmud were taken from public lectures on Song of Songs, or from various aggadah collections.[7] Some scholars,[8][9] moreover, have assumed a direct connection between such ancient discourses and the present Shir haShirim Rabbah, regarding this midrash as an old collection of these discourses, increased by various later additions.
Jellinek thinks[9] that there were severalaggadic midrashim to Song of Songs, each of which interpreted the book differently, one referring it to theexodus from Egypt, another to the revelations onMount Sinai, and a third to theTabernacle or theTemple in Jerusalem; and that all these midrashim were then combined into one work, which (with various additions) forms the present Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah. According to Jellinek, this midrash is older than thePesikta de-Rav Kahana, which (he holds) has borrowed entire passages from it. Theodor has shown, however, that it was composed at a later date than the Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, from which it has borrowed entire passages. The author of Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah, intending to compile a running midrash on Song of Songs, took the comments on the several verses from the sources which he had at hand, and the changes and transpositions which he made are similar to those made by the redactor of theYalkut Shimoni; in fact the midrash is similar in many ways to a "yalkut". This method of redaction explains the great difference in the length and the character of the several comments, and it explains also the fact that the same comments are repeated two or three times for the same or similar verses.
Besides theJerusalem Talmud (which was the chief source) and thePesikta de-Rav Kahana, the direct sources used by the redactor areGenesis Rabbah andLeviticus Rabbah. The material borrowed from these sources constitutes a large part of the midrash, and it throws a light also on the redactor's method. The remainder of the midrash must have originated in midrashic collections which are no longer extant, and from which the redactor borrowed all the comments that are found also in theSeder Olam Rabbah, theSifra, theSifre, and theMekhilta, since it is improbable that he borrowed from these earlier midrashim. The midrash is older thanPesikta Rabbati, since the latter borrowed passages directly from it. As the Pesikta Rabbati was composed about 845 C.E., Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah must have been composed about the end of the 8th century.
The midrash has been edited and commented together with the otherMidrash Rabbot, and has been edited separately and supplied with a commentary, entitledKanfe Yonah by Baruch Etelsohn.[10]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Wilhelm Bacher;Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1901–1906)."Shir Ha-Shirim (Canticles) Rabbah". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.