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This article presents seven new textual witnesses to Midrash Song of Songs Rabbah that were previously unknown to scholars, on account of late or inaccurate records. It begins by reviewing earlier research on the textual evidence for this midrash. It goes on to present the new findings: three manuscripts and four Cairo Genizah fragments, of various lengths and in various states of preservation. The article concludes by offering an updated list of all the textual witnesses to Song of Songs Rabbah discovered to date. These findings constitute a significant contribution to the philological study of this midrash.
Abstract
The article reexamines the question of the antiquity of Shiur Koma by comparing the physical description of the male beloved in Tannaic midrashim on Song of Songs with interpretations of the same verses found in later Amoraic midrashim. It reveals a significant difference: while the Tannaic texts treat the beloved’s descriptions as imagery of God Himself, in the Amoraic midrashim the beloved’s figure represents Tora, practical mitsvot or significant historical moments. The corporeal conception of God in the Tannaic interpretation of the Song of Songs could also have been a component of early Jewish mysticism. These findings can support the position that Shiur Koma is a midrash on Song of Songs from the end of the Tannaic period.