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
pericopesBeḥuḳḳotai 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]
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
pericopesBeḥuḳḳotai 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]