Monday, January 5, 2009

Database of Midrashic Units in the Mishnah

This is a case of a resource that has been on the web for some time (and noted by Jim Darlack way back in 2005), but the URL was changed, and I am only now discovering it.
Alex Samely of Manchester University wrote a book, Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture in the Mishnah, but he also has an online database that accompanies it. Regarding
the online Database, he states:

This is where my Database of Midrashic Units in the Mishnah is published. The Database translates and explains all explicit biblical interpretations found in the Mishnah except for those in tractate Avot.

This database accompanies my book Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture in the Mishnah (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-827031-3). In the book I give a detailed modern description of c. 140 rabbinic techniques of interpretation. It is a systematic account which uses more than 100 Mishnaic passages for illustration.

The Database, on the other hand, is my full commentary on every single passage of biblical interpretation found in the Mishnah, in the order of occurrence. The principles of description and terminology used in this Database are those introduced in the book rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture in the Mishnah.
Note that there are a number of ways to search the database. If you are looking for a specific biblical reference, you do need to use the exact abbreviation including the period. (E.g., Gen., Ex., etc.)

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