Midrash Veyechulu

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 Yochai

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 CE

* Genesis Rabbah
* Lamentations Rabbah
* Pesikta de-Rav Kahana
* Esther Rabbah
* Midrash Iyyob
* Leviticus Rabbah
* Seder Olam Zutta
* Tanhuma
* Megillat Antiochus

650–900 CE

* Avot de-Rabbi Natan
* Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer
* Tanna Devei Eliyahu
* Alphabet of Sirach
* Ecclesiastes Rabbah
* Shir HaShirim Rabbah
* Deuteronomy Rabbah
* Devarim Zutta
* Pesikta Rabbati
* Midrash Shmuel
* Midrash Proverbs
* Ruth Rabbah
* Baraita of Samuel
* Targum Sheni

900–1000 CE

* Ruth Zuta
* Eichah Zuta
* Midrash Tehillim
* Midrash Hashkem
* Exodus Rabbah
* Shir ha-Shirim Zutta
* Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon

1000–1200 CE

* Midrash Tadshe
* Sefer haYashar

Later

* Yalkut Shimoni
* Yalkut haMachiri
* Midrash Jonah
* Ein Yaakov
* Midrash HaGadol
* Numbers Rabbah
* Smaller midrashim

Targum
|  Torah

* Targum Onkelos
* Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
* Fragment Targum
* Targum Neofiti

Nevi'im

* Targum Jonathan

Ketuvim

* Targum Tehillim
* Targum Mishlei
* Targum Iyyov
* Targum to the Five Megillot
* Targum Sheni to Esther
* Targum to Chronicles

* v
* t
* e

Midrash Veyechulu (Hebrew: מדרש ויכלו) is one of the smaller midrashim, named after Genesis 2:1 ("Veyechulu ha-Shamayim"). It contained both halakhic and aggadic material, and doubtless covered several books of the Pentateuch; but it now exists only in citations by various authors after the middle of the 12th century.

In Ha-Rokeach,[1] passages from it are quoted as belonging to Genesis 19:24, to the pericopes Beḥuḳḳotai and Beha'aloteka, and to Deuteronomy 2:31. Judging from the first and fourth of these citations, Midrash Veyechulu was a homiletic work, because Tanhuma on Genesis 19 and on Deuteronomy 2:31, as well as Deuteronomy Rabbah on 2:31, likewise contains homilies. The midrash must have derived much material from the Tanhuma Yelammedenu, because some of the few fragments that have been preserved agree more or less accurately with passages from the Tanhuma or with excerpts in Yalkut Shimoni from Yelammedenu. The midrash seems also to have been called "Veyechulu Rabbah." The citations from it are collected in Grünhut's Sefer ha-Liḳḳuṭim.[2]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ HaRokeach §§ 192, 209, 320, and 324
2. ^ ii. 16b et seq.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Smaller Midrashim". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

### Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

[edit]

* Zunz, G. V. p. 281;
* idem, G. S. iii. 252;
* Rab Pe'alim, pp. 52 et seq.;
* Grünhut, Sefer ha-Liḳḳuṭim, Introduction, pp. 13 et seq.

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