Gen. R.

Genesis Rabba (Hebrew: בְְּרֵאשִׁית רַבָּה‎, B'reshith Rabba) is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis (B'reshith in Hebrew).

It is expository midrash to the first book of the Torah, assigned by tradition to the amora Hoshaiah (or Osha'yah), who flourished in the third century in Christian Palestine. The midrash forms an aggadic commentary on Genesis, in keeping with the midrashic exegesis of that age. In a continuous sequence, broken only toward the end, the Biblical text is expounded, verse for verse, often word for word. Only genealogic passages and passages that furnish no material for exposition (as the reiterated account of Abraham's servant in Genesis 24:35-48) are omitted.

Genesis Rabba contains many simple explanations of words and sentences, often in the Aramaic language, suitable for the instruction of youth. It also contains varied haggadic expositions popular in the public lectures of the synagogues and schools. The editor of the midrash has strung together various longer or shorter explanations and haggadic interpretations of the successive passages, sometimes anonymously, sometimes citing the author. The editor adds to the running commentary longer haggadic disquisitions or narratives, connected in some way with the verse in question, or with one of the explanations of it — a method not unusual in the Talmud and in other midrashim. The first chapters of Genesis, on the creation of the world and of man, furnished especially rich material for this mode of exegesis. Whole sections are devoted to comments on one or two verses of the text. Many references to contemporary philosophical thought are made with the purpose of refuting the opinions of nonbelievers. References to contemporaneous conditions and historical events also occur. It is characteristic of the midrash to view the personages and conditions of the Bible by the light of the contemporary history of the time. Though the stories embraced in Genesis furnished little occasion for comments on legal topics, Genesis Rabba contains a few short legal (or halakic) sentences and quotations taken from the Mishnah and other sources. This midrash is rich in sublime thoughts and finely worded sentences, in parables, and in foreign words, especially Greek.

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