Pesiqta Rabbati

Published here for the first time is volume two of the complete manuscript material of Pesiqta Rabbati, a major rabbinic work from 5th or 6th century Palestine. Pasiqta Rabbati is a religious text that expresses rabbinic, apocalyptic, messianic, gnostic, and mystical traditions. 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 (located in Budapest, Cambridge, New York, Parma, Philadelphia, Rome and Vienna) 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. The English introduction summarizes the academic research in respect to Pesiqta Rabbati.