Ḥanokh Zundel ben Joseph
ḤANOKH ZUNDEL BEN JOSEPH
ḤANOKH ZUNDEL BEN JOSEPH (d. 1867), commentator on the Midrash. Ḥanokh lived in Bialystok (Poland), and devoted himself to writing commentaries on the Midrash. They are largely based upon the earlier commentators such as the Mattenot Kehunnah of Berman Ashkenazi, the Yefeh To'ar of Samuel Jaffe Ashkenazi, and the Yedei Moshe of Abraham Heller Ashkenazi, but he adds original comments. In the EẓYosef he strives to give the plain meaning of the text and establish the correct readings, while the Anaf Yosef is largely homiletical (published together as Yalkut al Petirat Aharon u-Moshe, Warsaw, 1874). In addition to his commentaries on the classical Midrashim, the Rabbah (1829–34), and the Tanḥuma (1833), he also wrote commentaries on other midrashic works, such as the *Seder Olam Rabbah (1845), Midrash Shemu'el (1860), Aggadat Bereshit (1876), and the aggadot in the Ein Ya'akov of Jacob ibn Ḥabib (1883). He also wrote a commentary on Pirkei Avot (1892), and Olat ha-Ḥodesh (1859), consisting of the prayers for the new moon, with a commentary. His commentaries on Yalkut Shimoni and the Mekhilta are still in manuscript.
bibliography:
Fuenn, Keneset, 312; Joel, in: ks, 13 (1936/37), 513 no. 1, 519 no. 19.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]