[Avodah] midrash elei ezekarah

[Micha Berger]

RET asked:
: 1. Medrash Ele ezkarah (anyone know anything about it?)

Since no one chimed in with primary sources...

Wikipedia copies the Jewish Encyclopedia entry, so this bit is last
century's theory, but...

According to them, the introduction was borrowed from Medrash Konein,
and R' Yishma'el's listening in mei'achorei hapargod is probably from
the Heichalos Rabbasi.
See
<http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=593&letter=M#1961>.
They heavily cite Aharon/Adolph Jellinek, who edited and published the
MEE in the google book I pointed to earlier.

As for dating it, the Encyclopedia of Judaism
<http://www.answers.com/topic/ten-martyrs> called it medieval. It
doesn't say why, that's just the adjective used when introducing the
term:
> The account is based on several midrashim, especially the medieval
> Midrash Eleh Ezkerah.

But to me that kind of dating seems compelling, since it's only from
the perspective of centuries later that one would think to telescope
churban bayis with the Hadrianic persecutions as a single narrative. It
just wouldn't seem like one long story from a closer perspective.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A person lives with himself for seventy years,
micha at aishdas.org        and after it is all over, he still does not
http://www.aishdas.org   know himself.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter