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Midrash Tanhuma (), also known as Yelammedenu, is the name given to a homiletic midrash on the entire Torah, and it is known in several different versions or collections. Tanhuma bar Abba is not the author of the text but instead is a figure to whom traditions are frequently attributed to (indicated by the formula "Thus began R. Tanḥuma" or "Thus preached R. Tanḥuma"), though he may have preserved a collection of midrashim used by other midrash editors. The name Yelammedenu derives from the Hebrew phrase yelammedenu rabbenu, which initiates a typical textual unit in the text.
The earliest manuscript may be from the late 8th or 9th century. The most significant publication on the text so far was an edited volume of studies by Nikolsky and Atzmon from 2022. (2026). 9789004469181, Brill. ISBN 9789004469181
Townsend believed the Buber recension relies on the mid-8th century Sheʾilot by R. Ahai of Shabba and so dates at least to the 9th century. On the other hand, Tzvi Meir Rabbinowitz has concluded that Yannai, who operated in Palestine prior to the Islamic conquests, made use of the two extant and one lost Tanhuma, and his findings suggest that a significant portion of the Tanhuma material can be dated as pre-Islamic. More recently, Marc Bregman posited that the shared material between the printed and Buber recensions originates from the sixth or seventh century in Palestine (which is also where Buber placed its location of origins). The Buber recension then originates from northern Italy in the time of the Lombards between 559 and 774. Finally, the formation of the printed edition is dated to after the Islamic conquests, although the collection was still completed prior to any impact of Islamic influence on Palestinian society, as Islamic influences are entirely absent from the text.
Some other scholars favor origins in southern Italy because (i) all manuscripts are European (ii) the presence of many Greek and Latin words which were typical in use of language in Italy (iii) an unlikelihood of stemming from northern Italy due to its misunderstanding of the geography of that region. (1989). 9780881250879, Ktav. ISBN 9780881250879 On the other hand, Palestinian roots of the text are reflected by its use of Palestinian rabbinic traditions, including its familiarity with the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud but not the Babylonian Talmud.
The first authority to cite this midrash was Rashi.Compare S. Buber, l.c. pp. 44 et seq. Because the third midrash contains much of the material of the lost Yelammedenu, the two works were often confounded. Some authorities believed that it was this version as opposed to the Yelammedenu which had been lost.Menahem Lonzano, in Ma'arik, s.v. "Tanḥuma"; comp. Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ii. Others erroneously considered this midrash identical with the Yelammedenu, thinking the work had a double title; and the first editions of this version appeared, therefore, under the title "Midrash Tanḥuma, Called Also the Yelammedenu."
The standard edition was first published at Constantinople in 1522, and was reprinted without emendation at Venice in 1545. The third edition, which served as a basis for all the later editions, was published at Mantua in 1563 by Meïr ben Abraham of Padua and Ezra ben Isaac Fano. This edition contains several additions, consisting of single sentences as well as of entire paragraphs, which Ezra ben Isaac selected from two of the original manuscripts and also from the Yalquṭ. Ezra indicated the added matter by marking it with open hands, but in the following editions these marks were omitted, so that it is no longer possible to distinguish between original contents and material added by revisers. Ezra of Fano further added to his edition an index of all halakhic decisions, as well as of the legends and parables contained in this midrash; this index has been retained in all later editions.
This passageḲid. 33b says that two amoraim differed in their interpretations of the words "and they looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle"Exodus 33:8 One amora interpreted the words in a complimentary sense while the other held that the people looked after Moses and made unfavorable remarks about him. The favorable interpretation is given in the Talmud; the adverse opinion is referred to with the words "ki de-ita" (”as it is said”). Inasmuch as the adverse view is given in the Tanḥuma Pekudei,ed. Buber, p. 65a it is probable that the words ki de-ita in the Talmud have reference to the former work, or that the reference originally read ki de-ita be-Tanḥuma ("as it is said in the Tanḥuma").
The homilies contained in Midrash Tanḥuma B begin with the words "As the Scriptures say" or sometimes "As it is written." Then follow a verse (in most cases taken from the Ketuvim), its explanation, and a homily on the particular passage of the Pentateuch referred to. Several of the homilies on the first, third, and fourth books of the Pentateuch begin with brief halakhic dissertations bearing on the passages to which the homilies refer. The halakhic treatises consist of a question introduced with the words Yelammedenu rabbenu "May our teacher instruct us", and of a reply beginning with the phrase "Kak shanu rabbotenu" (Thus have our teachers instructed us); the replies are always taken from either a mishnah or a baraita. Many of the homilies close with words of hope and encouragement regarding the future of the Jews; but several of them are abbreviated and not entirely completed, this curtailment being apologized for in the words "Much more might be said on this subject, but we shall not tire you",Noaḥ. 26 27b or "This passage has been elucidated by several other interpretations and expositions, but in order not to tire you we quote only that which is necessary for today's theme".Ḥuḳḳat 16 57a
Some of the aphorisms and proverbs may be cited here: "One may not give an honest man an opportunity to steal, much less a thief".Vayishlach 12 85b "The office seeks those that would escape it".Vayikra 4 2b "If you yield not to wickedness, it will not follow you nor dwell by you".Tazria 11 20b "Do the wicked no good, in order that thou reap not that which is evil".Ḥuḳḳat 1 50a
This Tanḥuma midrash has been referred to in many other midrashim, as, for example, all the Midrash Rabbot, Pesiḳta de-Rab Kahana, Pesikta Rabbati, and in the midrashim to Book of Samuel, Proverbs, and Psalms, which all quote passages from it. The Geonim also and the older rabbinical authorities made use of it, and cited halakhic as well as aggadic sentences from it.Compare S. Buber, l.c. pp. 37 et seq. The first to refer to this midrash by the name of "Tanḥuma", however, was Rashi, who mentions it in several passages of his commentary, and quotes from it. Most of Rashi's quotations are taken from Tanḥuma B.See Buber, l.c. pp. 44 et seq.
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