Pesikta

The Pesikta is the first authority to locate the exile home of the ten tribes on the

Jewish Literature and Other Essays Gustav Karpeles 1878

Shmitah and yovel are so important that the ancient midrash Pesikta Rabbati records they are among the seven commandments that illuminate the world.

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson: Possessing And Releasing Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson 2011

The following homiletical tale from Pesikta de-Rab Kahana 22: 2 teaches that infertility is never more than a presumption:

Infertile Wife in Rabbinic Judaism. 2009

As punishment, Jeremiah, a descendant of Rahab, would come and do to them things that were [Num. 33: 55] “stings in your eyes and thorns in your sides” (which is the punishment with which God threatened Israel if they did not dispossess the inhabitants of the land) (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Divrei Yirmiyahu [“The words of Jeremiah” — Jer. 1: 1] [ed. Mandelbaum] 13: 5).

Rahab: Midrash and Aggadah. 2009

A typical example of such an enumeration appears in the homiletical midrash collection Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 20.1.

Infertile Wife in Rabbinic Judaism. 2009

“Her lamp never goes out at night,” because she did not die that night, of which it is said (Ex. 12: 29): “In the middle of the night” (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Va-Yehi Ba-Hazi Ha-Laylah [“In the middle of the night”] [ed. Mandelbaum] 7: 7; Ex. Rabbah 18: 3).

Daughter of Pharaoh: Midrash and Aggadah. 2009

The Rabbis learned from the wording (Gen. 29: 31) “and he opened her womb” that Leah was barren until God remembered her and enabled her to become pregnant (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Roni Akarah 20: 1).

Leah: Midrash and Aggadah. 2009

Pesikta re-Rav Kahana: Pesikta de Rav Kahana: according to an Oxford manuscript ... 2, ed.B. Mandelbaum (New York, 1987).

Midrash and Aggadah: Introduction and Sources. 2009

Along with this tradition, there is also an apparently later midrashic tradition that the nation of Israel had six matriarchs: “Six corresponding to the six matriarchs: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah” (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 1: 7, “And the tribal heads approached”; also Song of Songs Rabbah 6: “You are beautiful”; Esther Rabbah 1: 12, “On the throne”).

Matriarchs: A Liturgical and Theological Category. 2009

Serah appeared and said: “I was there, and the water was not as a net, but as transparent windows” (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 11: 13).

Serah, daughter of Asher: Midrash and Aggadah. 2009