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Book List: Targum and Midrash
The Editors
Introduction to Targum and Midrash
J. Bowitsa. The Targums and Rabbinic Literature: An Introduction to Jewish Interpretations of Scripture. Cambridge: University Press, 1969.
An introduction to the Targum, placing it in the framework of Jewish tradition. Deals with the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan to some passages in Genesis noting those translations which are close to the Hebrew and those in which the interpretation departs from it.
R. Bloch. Midrash Dictionnaire de la Bible.
Supplement. Paris: Letouzey et An& 1957.
An authoritative article which analyses the characteristics of Midrash.
R. Bloch. Ezechiel XVI, exempla parfait du precede midrashique dans la Bible ., Cahiers Sioniens, Vol. IX, No. 3 (1955), pp. 193-223.
An exegetical treatment which uses the Targum of the first fourteen verses of the chapter because of the richness of its aggadic developments.
A. Din MACHO. El Targum. Barcelona: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1972, Introduction to the Aramaic versions of the Bible.
R. LE DÉAUT. The Current State of Targumic Studies Biblical Theology Bulletin, Vol. IV (1974), PP. 3-32.
Includes numerous bibliographical references.
R. LE DÉAUT.. Introduction d la littdrature targumigue. Rome, Institut Biblique Pontifical, 1966.
Excellent introduction to the Targum placed in the context of rabbinic literature.
R. LE DÉAUT. A-propos a Definition of Midrash ., Interpretation, Vol. XXV, No. 3 (1971), pp. 259-282. A review of the book by A.G. Wright, The Literary Genre Midrash, Staten Island: Alba House, 1967. Notes refer to numerous books and articles useful for the study of Midrash.
S.M. LEHRMAN. The World of the Midrash. London and New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1961. Selections from the Midrash which touch several aspects of man's life.
J. MANN. The Bible as Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue. New York: Ktav, reprinted 1971. Studies cycles of readings from the Torah, prophets and psalms as well as the structure of midrashic homelies.
C. Permor. La lecture de la Bible dans la Synagogue: Les anciennes lectures palestiniennes du Shabbat et des fetes. Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1973.
Published by the Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, biblical and massoretic section. Studies the Palestinian cycle of liturgical readings. Raises some difficult questions such as the calendar of synagogue readings,
H.L. SynAcx. Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. New York: Meridian and Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1959 (translated from the German, Einleitung in Talmud and Midrash, Munich, Beck, 1920).
Gives basic directions for entering on a serious study of the Talmud and Midrash.
G. VERMÈS. Scripture and Tradition in Judaism: Haggadic Studies. Leiden: Brill, 1961.
Studies the symbolism of words as an exegetical element in Jewish tradition, the aggadic development of the accounts of Abraham and Bataan in direct continuity with the biblical text, and some exegetical and theological implications of the history of interpretations of Exodus 4:24-26.
Texts and Bibliographies
A. BERLINER, ed. Targum Onkelos. Berlin: Gonelanczyk, 1884 (reprinted Jerusalem: Maker, 1968-69).
Contains text, notes and commentary.
A. DÍES MACHO. Neophyti I: Targum Palestinense MS de la Biblioteca Vatican. 4 vols. Madrid-Barcelona: Consejo Superior de Investigations Cientificas, 1968-74.
Introduction and translation in Spanish. Appendix contains French translation by R. Le Deaut, English translation by M. McNamara and M. Maher, and list of rabbinic parallels by E. Levine.
H. FREEDMAN and M. SIMON, eds. Midrash Rabbah. 10 vols. London: Soncino, 1939.
A complete and unabridged translation in English with a generous index (one volume).
L. GINZBEEC, ed. The Legends of the Jews. 7 vols. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909 (translated from the German).
A collection of Jewish legends taken principally from the talmudic-midrashic and targumic sources, but also from the pseudepigrapha and Christian writings.
N.N. GLATZER, ed. Hammer on the Rock, A Short Midrash Reader. New York: Schocken, 1948 (fifth printing 1974).
B. GROSSFELD. A Bibliography of Targum Literature. New York: Ktav, 1972.
R. LE DEAUT and J. ROBERT. Targum des Chroniques (Vol. I - Introduction et traduction, Vol. II - Texte et glossaire). Rome: Institut Biblique Pontifical, 1971.
P. NICKELS. Targum and New Testament: A Bibliography together with a New Testament Index. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1967.
Pentateuch with Targum °Week's, Haphtaroth and Prayers for Sabbath, and Rashi's Commentary. Translated and annotated by M. Rosenbaum, A.M. Silbermann and others. New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, date? (5 vols.), and London: Shapiro, Vallentine and Co., 1929 (1946, 2 vols.).
J.P.M. VAN DER PLOEG and A.S. VAN DER WOODE. Le Targum de Job de la grotte XI de Qumran. Leiden: Brill, 1971 (text and translation).
D. RIEDER. Pseudo-Jonathan: Targum Jonathan ben Uziel on the Pentateuch. Jerusalem: Salomon's Printing Press, 1974.
A. SPERBER, ed. The Bible in Aramaic: Based on Old Manuscripts and Printed Texts. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1959-1973 (text and critical apparatus).
Targum Shir Ha-Shirim. Translation and notes by A.A. PlatteIli. Rome: Hamill, 1975.
Italian translation of the Targum to the Canticle of Canticles.
J.T. TOWNSEND, • Rabbinic Sources ., The Study of Judaism: Bibliographical Essays. New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1972, PP. 37-80, Lists the texts and selected secondary works.
Targum, Midrash and New Testament
M. BLACK. An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts. Oxford: Clarendon, 3rd edition, 1967.
A linguistic study which shows the influence of the Aramaic language on the gospels by explaining, among other things, certain divergences of the synoptics.
C.F. BURNEY. The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel. Oxford: Clarendon, 1922.
R. LE DÉAUT. Traditions targumiques dans le corpus paulinien Biblica 92, fast. 1 (1961), pp. 28-48. Shows how difficult it is to understand the thought of St. Paul (e.g. Gal. 4:29-30; 2 Cor. 3:7-18) unless it is placed in the context of traditional Jewish aggadah.
R. LE DÉAUT. La nuit pascale. Rome: Institut Biblique Pontifical, 1963.
Places the Christian Easter in its natural setting as reflected in the targumic poem on Exodus 12: 42, and starting from the theme of the four nights in the Old Testament, shows the deep link between the Christian liturgy and its Jewish liturgical roots.
R. LE DÉAUT. Targumic Literature and New Testament Interpretation., Biblical Theology Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 3 (1974), pp. 293-289.
Underlines the necessity of a scientific use of the Targum for correct interpretation of the New Testament.
RT. HERFORD. Christianity in Talmud and Midrash. London: Williams and Norgate, 1903. Reprinted 1972 by Gregg International Publishers, Hampshire. A presentation of texts, with commentary, from rabbinic literature touching Jesus and Christians.
M. McNamara. Targum and Testament. Shannon: Irish University Press, 1972.
Enlightens the New Testament by the study of paraphrases from the Targum.
M. McNamara.. The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1966.
M.P. MILLER. T Targum, Midrash and the Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament Journal for the Study of Judaism, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1971),
pp. 29-82.
A synthesis of the most recent studies. Elements of an exhaustive bibliography.
J. POTIN. La fête juive de la PenteeOte. 2 vols. Paris: Cerf, 1971.
Research on the theological signification of the feast of Pentecost, using the Targums read in the synagogue for this solemnity.
H.L. STRACK and P. BiLLERBECK, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud and Midrash. 5 vols. Munich: Beck, 1922-1928.
A commentary to the New Testament based on the Talmud and Midrash, which demonstrates the rabbinic origin of most of Jesus' sayings.