Midrash Tehillim English Pdf

[Quinton Hebenstreit]

Ithas been known since the 11th century, when it was quoted by Nathan of Rome,[3] by R. Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghayyat,[4] and by Rashi, who quoted it in his commentary on I Samuel 17:49, and on many other passages.

It has been said that the date of the redaction of the midrash cannot be determined. Aggadic collections on the Psalms were made at a very early time, and are mentioned several times in the Talmudim and in Genesis Rabbah.[11] But it cannot possibly be assumed that the aggadah collections on the Psalms are identical with the present Midrash Tehillim, since the latter contains many elements of later date.

It cannot be denied, however, that much material from those old collections is included in the present midrash. It must therefore be assumed that parts of the old collections had been preserved among the later aggadists. Then, when a midrash to the Psalms was undertaken together with the other midrashim, homilies and comments on single verses were collected from the most diverse sources, and were arranged together with the earlier aggadic material on the Psalms, following the sequence of the Psalms themselves. In the course of time this collection was supplemented and enlarged by the additions of various collections and editors, until the Midrash Tehillim finally took its present form.

Zunz assigned its definitive completion to the last centuries of the period of the Geonim, without attempting to determine an exact date. But Zunz's assumption, that the midrash was compiled in Italy, cannot be accepted. The work was edited in Palestine, as appears from the language, style, and manner of aggadic interpretations. Nearly all the amoraim mentioned in it are Palestinian rabbis, and the few Babylonian amoraim referred to (e.g., R. Ḥida) are mentioned also in Yerushalmi.[12]

The midrash contains homilies on the Psalms, and comments on single verses and even on single words. The homilies are as a rule introduced with the formula "as Scripture says". In only a few cases are they introduced as in the other midrashim, with the formula "Rabbi N. N. has begun the discourse", or "Rabbi N. N. explains the Biblical passage". Among the comments on single verses are many which are based on the difference of Qere and Ketiv, as well as on the variant spellings of words (plene and defective). Many words, also, are explained according to the numerical value of the letters (gematria) or by analysis of their component parts (Noṭariḳon) as well as by the substitution of other vowels ("al-tiḳri").[13] The midrash is prone to interpreting numbers, contributing likewise thereby important observations on the number of the Psalms and of the sections of the Pentateuch as well as on the number of verses in various Psalms. Thus it enumerates 175 sections of the Pentateuch, 147 psalms,[14] and nine verses in Psalms 20.[15]

The midrash contains a number of stories, legends, parables, proverbs, and sentences, with many ethical and halakhic maxims. Notable stories include that of Remus and Romulus, to whom God sends a she-wolf to suckle,[16] and the legend of Emperor Hadrian, who wished to measure the depth of the Adriatic Sea.[17]

S. Buber, in his very full edition of the Midrash Tehillim, printed material from other sources (the Pesiḳta Rabbati, Sifre, Numbers Rabbah, and the Babylonian Talmud) under the titles of the Psalms 123 and 131, so that the midrash in its present form covers the entire Book of Psalms.

I've heard it used in defense of a modern understanding of evolution and cosmology but don't really get why God would create a universe and destroy it 600 times, then create a universe and destroy it a couple hundred more times with our solar system, and then create it and destroy it another couple hundred times with slight variations of animal life. And then do the one final creation of everything again. I don't grasp the logic behind that interpretation.

The question, as other's have correctly noted, conflates two issues, the 974 generations before Adam, and the creation and destruction of worlds before this one. I've come across two sources that shed some light on both issues: one from Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, and one from Alexander Poltorak, a Jewish theoretical physicist.

In Rabbi Kaplan's The Age of the Universe, he proposes that according to the Sefer HaTemunah, as it is interpreted in the Sefer Livnas HaSapir (according to Rabbi Kaplan, the "most authoritative interpretation"), we are in the 7th sh'mitah cycle of 1000 years. Under this interpretation, the world was 42,000 years old when Adam was created. Naturally there are many different interpretations of the Sefer HaTemunah, so this answer is only meant as an introduction of Rabbi Kaplan's article, in which he examines many such interpretations. However, Rabbi Yitzchok deMin Acco argues that the years in the Sefer HaTemunah are G-d's years, since they preceded man. This view Rabbi Kaplan combines with the Sefer HaSapira to argue that therefore the Sefer HaTemunah is speaking of 42,000*365,250 years, or about 15 billion years. Meaning the universe existed for 15 billion years before Adam, whatever the nature of these "years."

The second article I would point you towards is here. The premise is quite simple. Quantum Mechanics says the collapse of the wavefunction is caused by observation. Poltorak posits here that it's not the physical observation, per say, but consciousness deriving from the G-dly soul within man (and here he departs from other QM consciousness interpretations that theorize animal consciousness is enough to cause collapse). It's important to note that wave collapse by consciousness is just as valid an explanation empirically as any other interpretation of QM. Under this interpretation, until the first observer with a G-dly soul, Adam, the universe existed in a probabilistic superposition of all possible universes. Therefore, there were an infinite number of potential universes, one for each theoretically possible universe, that were "created [by G-d] and destroyed" when Adam's consciousness limited reality to just one single, tangible universe.

This is not to say that any of this must be correct. That's a task for brighter and more scientifically and Kabbalistically educated minds than me. But seeing your question, and having come across these two Jewish sources from in my own searchings, it would be wrong not to share them.

this reply was given when he was asked about the nature of teshuva, and whether it is akin to having ones bad deeds simply erased from ones book of history?No, said he, "teshuva is Gd recreating your individual world anew from day one of creation, which includes that individual life story, minus the sin event"

the 974 destroyed and recreated worlds is not only an event which happened back in time, but an ongoing immense fission reaction of unimaginably massive proportions, which occurs constantly, to buffer the infiniteness of Gd and allow the finite universe to exist at all.

This mind bending concept is variously described in human terms in many ways, but all attempts to describe a physical action are too large to fathom, except by pure meditation on how Gd did and does create the universe, and sustain it.

The kabala talks of the tsimtsum-constriction, and various commentators describe this visually, but in order to fully appreciate the gravity of such a concept one must first attempt to attempt to appreciate how large Gd is, if at all possible.

As it turns out, there are many midrashim with these imaginative tales such as G-d creating other cultures before the present one and destroying them, almost a kind of science fiction. However, Maimonides explains in his essay called Chelek that Midrashim are parables designed to teach people about proper behavior, not literal facts.

I think this use of 974 is faulty, as confused the true teaching how we received Torah 974 generations early.in 26 vs 1000 = 974Reference and reference in volume I 'the recent complex creation framework'in the YeC Moshe Emes series for Torah and Science alignment.Either way there was never 974 physical generations prior to Adam.If anything physical existed prior to day one, it reverted to absolute physical nothing by the start of day one. There is no scientific reason anything should have existed prior, once one understands all the applicable science.also volume III book one 'Adam to the Exodus' for the alignment of Torah testimony and ancient civ.

I thought it explained how Noach could find favor in the eyes of Hashem when was about to blot out man from the face of the earth, since Psalms 105:8 states that Torah would given to the 1000th genearation -- for if God would have blotted out mankind after 974 + 10 = 984 generations there would have been just 16 generations left to 1000, not enough to make his name (= 26) known.

Haggadic midrash, known since the eleventh century, when it was quoted by Nathan of Rome in his "'Aruk" (s.v. ), by R. Isaac b. Judah ibn Ghayyat in his "Halakot" (1b), and by Rashi in his commentary on I Sam. xvii. 49, and on many other passages. This midrash is called also "Agadat Tehillim" (Rashi on Deut. xxxiii. 7 and many other passages), or "Haggadat Tehillim" ("'Aruk," s.v. , and in six other passages). From the twelfth century it was called also "Shoḥer Ṭob" (see Midrash Tehillim, ed. Buber, Introduction, pp. 35 et seq.), because it begins with the verse Prov. xi. 29, "Shoḥer ṭob," etc. The true midrash covers only Ps. i.-cxviii.; and this is all that is found either in the manuscripts or in the first edition (Constantinople, 1512). In the second edition (Salonica, 1515) a supplement was added covering, with the exception of two psalms, Ps. cxix.-cl. The author of this supplement was probably R. Mattithiah Yiẓhari of Saragossa, who collected the scattered haggadot on Ps. cxix.-cl. from the Yalḳuṭ, adding comments of his own. Since there are in the Yalḳuṭ no haggadic interpretations of Ps. cxxiii. and cxxxi., the author of the supplement included no haggadic sentences on these two psalms. This omission has been supplied by Buber, in his very full edition of the Midrash Tehillim, by printing, under the superscription of the two psalms, collectanea from the Pesiḳta Rabbati, Sifre, Numbers Rabbah, and the Babylonian Talmud, so that the midrash in its present form covers the entire Book of Psalms.

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