CARA, SIMEON, B. CHELBO, also called R. SIMEON HA-DARSIIAN, who received the former name from his reading (Nip) in the synagogue the lesson on the Sabbath, and the latter from his col lecting and explaining ()t711) the Midrashim, was brother of the celebrated commentator Menachem B. Chelbo, and flourished in the eleventh century. Cara has immortalised his name by his famous col lection of Midrashim, on almost every verse of the O. T., which he published under the name of 7alkut collection). The labour which this assiduous scholar must have expended in bring ing together from upwards of fifty different works of all ages such a eaten of traditional expositions can hardly be described, and will only be appre ciated by those who use this Hagadic Thesaurus, as it is fitly denominated. Besides the many frag ments of Cabana's Pesicta [Cahana] which Cara gives us, and which otherwise would not have been known, he has also preserved other Hagadic relics of great importance. He has arranged all his amassed lore under the respective verses of Scrip ture, and has also divided the O. T. into two thousand and forty-eight sections, in order to facili tate the references to it. This storehouse of Midrashim is the text-book of all students of Hagadic interpretation, and some idea may be formed of its utility and popularity from the fact that, notwithstanding its necessarily large size and great price, ten different editions of it have ap peared betWeen 1526 and 1805. As to the import
ance of this work to the critical exposition of the Bible, we can only remark here that there is hardly a deviation to be found in the Septuagint, the Vul gate, etc., from the Hebrew text, or an explanation in St. Jerome and other fathers of the Christian Church who were acquainted with the sacred lan guage of the O. T., which appears to be at vari ance with the present reading of the text, to which the clue will not be supplied in it. For illustra tions of this remark, we must refer to articles Hagada and Midrash. One of the best and most convenient editions of this work is the one pub lished at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 1687, fol., by the brothers Isaac Eisac and Seligmann, the sons of Hirz Reis, r 1 tonInprn p"p nn on-13 im)nn pnr n4-Ipn conNri tunn n)vz r-on pf Dh. Compare the masterly article of Rapa port in the Hebrew Annual called kerem Chemed (inn n:), vol. vii. p. 4, etc. Zunz, Die Gottes dienstlichen Vortriige der 7bden, pp. 295-303 ; Steinschneider, Catalogns Librorum Hebrawrunz in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, Berolino, 1852-6o, col. 2600, 2604.—C. D. G.