Midrash Vayisau

Rabbinic literature
Talmud Readers by Adolf Behrman
Talmudic literature
—— Tannaitic —— Mishnah Tosefta —— Amoraic (Gemara) —— Jerusalem Talmud Babylonian Talmud —— Later —— Minor Tractates
Halakhic Midrash
—— Exodus —— Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai —— Leviticus —— Sifra (Torat Kohanim) —— Numbers and Deuteronomy —— Sifre Sifrei Zutta on Numbers (Mekhilta le-Sefer Devarim)
Aggadic Midrash
—— Tannaitic —— Seder Olam Rabbah Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules Baraita on the Thirty-two Rules Baraita on the Erection of the Tabernacle —— 400–600 —— Genesis Rabbah Lamentations Rabbah Pesikta de-Rav Kahana Esther Rabbah Midrash Iyyob Leviticus Rabbah Seder Olam Zutta Tanhuma Megillat Antiochus —— 650–900 —— Avot of Rabbi Natan Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer Tanna Devei Eliyahu Alphabet of Sirach Ecclesiastes Rabbah Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah Deuteronomy Rabbah Devarim Zutta Pesikta Rabbati Midrash Shmuel Midrash Proverbs Ruth Rabbah Baraita of Samuel Targum Sheni —— 900–1000 —— Ruth Zuta Eichah Zuta Midrash Tehillim Midrash Hashkem Exodus Rabbah Shir ha-Shirim Zutta —— 1000–1200 —— Midrash Tadshe Sefer haYashar —— Later —— Yalkut Shimoni Machir ben Abba Mari Midrash Jonah Ein Yaakov Midrash HaGadol Numbers Rabbah Smaller midrashim
Targum
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Midrash Vayisau (Hebrew: מדרש ויסעו) is one of the smaller midrashim. This small midrash, "the heroic legend of the sons of Jacob," is based on Gen. xxxv. 5 and xxxvi. 6, and recounts the story of the wars of Jacob and his sons against the kings of the Amorites and against Esau and his army.

The beginning of its version of the former story is as follows: "Our teachers said that although they did not pursue after them this time, yet seven years later all the kings of the Amorites gathered themselves together against the sons of Jacob." That the legends contained in the Wayissa'u are very old may be inferred from the Book of Jubilees, xxxiv., xxxvii. et seq., and from the Testament of Judah (Emil Kautzsch, Apokryphen, ii. 97 et seq., 102 et seq., 471 et seq.); the midrash betrays its relationship to these old pseudepigraphical writings in many details. The war against the Amorites is treated at greater length in the Sefer ha-Yashar, pericope "Beshallaḥ." The midrash itself is contained in Yalḳ., Gen. 133, and is mentioned by Naḥmanides on Gen. xxxiv. 13, as "Sefer Milḥamot Bene Ya'aḳob."

Strack & Stemberger (1991) cite the opinion of G. Schmitt that the work was composed not later than the Bar Kokhba war. The text has been edited according to the Yalḳuṭ by A. Jellinek (B. H. iii. 1-5), and by S. Chones (in his edition of Rab Pe'alim, pp. 153 et seq.), and by Charles in his edition of the Book of Jubilees, Appendix II., Oxford, 1895.

Bibliography

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "^{article name needed}". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. . The JE cites the following works:
  • Zunz, G. V. p. 145;
  • Rab Pe'alim, pp. 54 et seq.;
  • A. Jellinek, B. H. iii., pp. ix. et seq.
• TAMAR ALEXANDER and YOSEF DAN: The Complete "Midrash Vayi-sa'u" FOLKLORE RESEARCH CENTER STUDIES VOLUME III Edited by ISSACHAR BEN-AMI JERUSALEM 1972
• Strack, H.L.; Stemberger, G. (1991), Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, ISBN 978-0-8006-2524-5 

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia article on Midrash Vayisau