Pesiqta Rabbati

This book is a reprint of the first publication of the complete manuscript of Pesiqta Rabbati, Volumes I-III (1997-2002), a major rabbinic work from the Land of Israel from the 5th-6th century. Based upon the annual cycle of Biblical passages for the Jewish Holy Days and special Sabbaths, the text demonstrates the artful form of the rabbinic homily and the midrash method of scriptural exegesis. All extant Hebrew manuscripts as well as the 17th century editio princeps are presented here in a synoptic edition, allowing the reader to view the texts in adjacent columns without emendation. This edition contains English introductions and an index of Greek and Latin expressions, scriptural passages, exegetical terms, subjects, place names, personal names, names of Biblical figures, angels and historical figures, rabbinic authorities, as well as meshalim and ma'asim, emendations, addenda and corrigenda.

Prof. Ulmer's edition of the Pesiqta Rabbati, one of the most important and beautiful witnesses to the ancient Jewish art of Bible interpretation, breaks new ground in making available to the public all key textual recessions at a glance and in full. Prof. Ulmer brings to this famous text her long-standing scholarship on Midrash, as well as her literary sensibility and philological meticulousness. The edition has been a model of clarity and usability since it first appeared., Summarizes the research and explains the significance to religious studies and related fields of having access to an updated synoptic edition—the first since the 19th century: as a work of literature, for its halakhic (legal) material, and to elucidate the origins of distinct Jewish and Christian groups., In her extensive introduction, Prof. Ulmer discusses the work's dating and textual transmission, since it grew by accretion, other studies and suggested research, the text-witnesses, printed editions, modern scholarship, extant translations, methodology utilized in preparing her own edition, and the rationale for presenting it synoptically, namely the absence of a reliable base text.

Rivka Ulmer received her PhD in Judaic Studies from Goethe Universität in Frankfurt am Main with a dissertation in midrash. Ulmer teaches at Bucknell University. She was the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chair in Jewish Studies from 2002-2007 and is now Associate Professor of Jewish Studies. Ulmer's research focuses upon midrashic literature; she is founder and co-chair of the Midrash Section of the Society of Biblical Literature.