Sifra - Authorship

Authorship

It is true, Maimonides, in the introduction to his Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah, and others, quoted by Friedmann, in the introduction to his edition of the Mekilta (p. xxvi., Vienna, 1870), have declared that the title "Sifra debe Rab" indicates Rab as the author of the Sifra; and this opinion I.H. Weiss, in the introduction to his Sifra edition (p. iv.), attempts to support. His proofs are not conclusive, however; neither, it must be confessed, are the opposing arguments of Friedmann (l.c. pp. xvi. et seq.), who tries to show that the expression "Sifra debe Rab" does not refer to the midrash under discussion.

The question as to authorship has been correctly answered by Malbim, who proves in the introduction to his Sifra edition that R. Ḥiyya was the redactor of the Sifra. There are no less than 39 passages in Yerushalmi and the midrashim in which expositions found also in the Sifra are quoted in the name of R. Ḥiyya (comp. the list in D. Hoffmann, Zur Einleitung die Halachischen Midraschim, p. 22, to which Yer. Shab. 2d and Ket. 28d must be added, according to Levy in Ein Wort, etc., p. 1, note 1); and the fact that no tannaim subsequent to Rebbi are mentioned in the Sifra supports the view that the book was composed during the time of that scholar. The omission from the Sifra of some interpretations of Leviticus which are elsewhere quoted in the name of R. Ḥiyya cannot be taken as proving the contrary (comp. the list in Hoffmann, l.c. p. 24, and Yoma 4a; Ḥul. 141b; Levy, l.c.); nor does the fact that Ḥiyya himself is mentioned in the Sifra offer any difficulty. Indeed, as Hoffmann shows (l.c. p. 25), in the three passages in which it can with certainty be said that the reference is to R. Ḥiyya, namely, Wayiḳra, Nedabah, v. 5, vi. 3, and Meẓora', ii. 10, Ḥiyya himself, in referring to preceding interpretations, indicates that he is the editor.

It is perhaps doubtful whether Hoffmann is correct in comparing the above-mentioned passages, or the final remark of R. Joshua in Ḳinnim, with Mid. ii. 5. But even if Hoffmann's view does not seem acceptable, it is not necessary to infer that Rab was the editor of the Sifra; for he may merely have added the passages in question, just as he seems to have made an addition to Sifra xii. 2, following Niddah 24b (comp. Weiss in Sifra ad. loc.; also A. Epstein, who holds that in some passages Rab is meant by "aḥerim" and "we-yesh omerim"). Nor is Ḥiyya's authorship controverted by various contradictions presented by individual passages in the Sifra as compared with the Tosefta, which latter also is ascribed to him; e.g., Sifra, Ḳedoshim, vi. 8, compared with Tosef., Mak. iv. 14 (see below).

If it be assumed that Ḥiyya is the author, the title "Sifra debe Rab" is to be explained as indicating that Sifra was among the midrashim which were accepted by Rab's school and which thereby came into general use. The name is differently explained by Hoffmann (l.c. pp. 12 et seq.), who, on the basis of Ḥul. 66a and in conformity with Rashi ad loc., takes "be Rab" to mean "school" in general, and who accordingly differentiates between "Tanna debe Rab" and "Tanna debe R. Ishmael," i.e., between the midrashim of R. Akiba's school, which, being decisive for the Halakah, were generally studied, and those of R. Ishmael's school, which were not intended for general use, though they were studied by some and were consulted occasionally, as was the case with other midrash collections which are quoted only rarely. Hoffmann himself admits, however, that the expression "de-bet Rab" in Yerushalmi certainly indicates Rab's school; so that it is in any case doubtful whether a different usage is to be assumed in the case of Babli.

As regards the sources of Sifra, it is said in the well-known passage Sanh. 86a (which must be compared with Er. 96b and the parallel passages mentioned there), "Setam Sifra R. Yehudah." That the Sifra belongs to R. Akiba's school, as the above-mentioned passage in Sanhedrin indicates, is shown by the principles of exposition contained in the Sifra; e.g., that where the same expression occurs in two different laws the phrase need not be "mufneh" (pleonastic) in one of them in order to permit of its being used for "gezerah shawah" (argument from analogy); the double use of the expression being explained in accordance with the principles of "ribbui u-mi'uṭ" and "kelal uperaṭ." Certain peculiarities of phraseology are likewise noteworthy: יכול replaces שומע אני or אקרא, the phrases usually found in the Mekilta (once, in Sanh. 4b, a passage beginning אקרא אני is cited as coming from the Sifra, while as a matter of fact the Sifra has יכול); comp. further הא כיצד, וכי איזה מדה מרובה, ואם נפשך לומר, וכי מאין יצאת מכלל שנאמר, וכי מאין באת; and for further details see D. Hoffmann, l.c. p. 31.