Sefer haYashar (midrash)

The Sefer haYashar (first edition 1552) is a Hebrew midrash also known as the Toledot Adam and Dibre ha-Yamim be-'Aruk. The Hebrew title may be translated Sefer haYashar - "Book of the Upright" - but it is known in English translation mostly as The Book of Jasher following English tradition. The book is named after the Book of Jasher mentioned in Joshua and 2 Samuel.

Although it is presented as the original "Book of Jasher" in the translations such as that of Moses Samuel (1840), it is not accepted as such in rabbinical Judaism, nor does the original Hebrew text make such a claim. It should not be confused with the very different Book of Jasher (Pseudo-Jasher) printed by Jacob Ilive in 1751, which claimed to have been translated by the English monk Alcuin.

History

The earliest extant version of this Hebrew midrash was printed in Venice in 1625, and the introduction refers to an earlier 1552 "edition" in Naples, of which neither trace nor other mention has been found. The printer Joseph ben Samuel claimed the work was copied by a scribe named Jacob the son of Atyah, from an ancient manuscript whose letters could hardly be made out.

Sefer haYashar

Sefer haYashar (Hebrew ספר הישר "Book of the Upright One"). In English, Jashar was traditionally left untranslated and rendered Book of Jasher.

Biblical references

Rabbinical treatises

Sefer haYashar (Rabbenu Tam)

Sefer HaYashar, (Hebrew: ספר הישר‎, the Book of the Upright) is a famous treatise on Jewish ritual authored by Rabbenu Tam, (Rabbi Jacob ben Meir, 1100–1171). The work, which survives in a somewhat incomplete and amended form, was printed in Venice in 1544 and reprinted in Vienna in 1811.

It is especially concerned with reconciling apparently contradictory decisions in different sections of the Talmud and with preserving Talmud text unchanged against those who wanted to make clever emendations.

This Sefer ha-Yashar was used a great deal by later Talmudists and introduced the form of literature called Tosafot 'Additional Notes'.

Editions

External links

Book of Jasher (biblical references)

The Book of Jasher (also, Jashar) or the Book of the Upright or the Book of the Just Man (Hebrew: סֵפֶר הַיׇּשׇׁר; transliteration: sēfer hayyāšār) is an unknown book mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The translation "Book of the Just Man" is the traditional Greek and Latin translation, while the transliterated form "Jasher" is found in the King James Bible, 1611.

Biblical references

The book appears to be referenced from around the reign of David. 2 Samuel 1:18 states:

David's lament for Jonathan immediately follows. The King James Version of the English Bible has the phrase "the use of" in italics, showing that it is material the translator(s) added in order to render the original text into what they considered understandable and comfortable English. Other versions, such as the English Standard Version, indicate that what David taught the people was The Bow, that is, a poetic lament regarding the death of Saul and Jonathan. If the interpretation offered in the ESV footnote is to be accepted, then The Bow is a lament or a tune that was — at the time of the composition of the Book of Samuel — also included in the extra-canonical Book of Jashar.