This important work, the largest of the midrashic collections, came to popular attention in the late 19th century through the efforts of Jacob Saphir, Solomon Schechter and David Zvi Hoffmann. In addition to containing midrashic material that is not found elsewhere, such as part of the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai.[5][6] Most of the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai is found in the Midrash HaGadol, which, heretofore, has only been available in scattered and fragmented manuscripts. The Midrash HaGadol, along with the other extant fragmented manuscripts, were used by scholars to reconstruct the ancient Mekhilta.[5] Midrash HaGadol contains what are considered to be more correct versions of previously known Talmudic and midrashic passages.
^ abcdefgFisch, Solomon, ed. (1957). Midrash Haggadol on the Pentateuch (Numbers) (in Hebrew). Vol. 1. London: L. Honig & Sons. p. 23 (Preface). OCLC1049027075.
^All of the extant manuscripts used in printing the Midrash HaGadol were taken out of Yemen, and/or are in the possession of Yemenite Jewish families. In the Midrash HaGadol`s Introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy, it cites the various manuscripts used in reproducing its printed copy, one belonging to Yosef and Avraham Sharabi; one now in the Hebrew University Library collection; four in the Mossad HaRav Kook library collection; one belonging to the Ben-Zvi Institute library collection; one being in a private collection belonging to Meir Benayahu; and the last one belonging to the Bodleian Library collection in Oxford, England (opp. add. 4o 124a), all being of Yemenite Jewish provenance. There is another manuscript now in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek Library (Or. 1207), also of Yemenite Jewish provenance, as noted in its colophon. In the Introduction to the Midrash HaGadol (on Numbers, Mossad Harav Kook edition), other manuscripts are also mentioned, one belonging to Azriel Abyadh-HaLivni; another belonging to the late Yisrael Yeshayahu; another to Rabbi Yechiel Shelomo Kessar; another to Rabbi Shalom Tzabari; another to the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv, Israel; and yet another to the Dr Israel Mehlmann Library in Jerusalem, Israel inter alia. Other manuscripts were known to be in the possession of the late Rabbi Shalom b. Yosef Halevi Alsheikh and of the Hibshush brothers in Tel-Aviv, as well as private collections in the hand of the late Mordecai Margalioth and of Rabbi Y. L. HaCohen Fishman, as noted in the Introduction to the Midrash HaGadol (on Genesis), Mosad HaRav Kook edition.
^E.g. in Midrash HaGadol on Exodus 30:34 (Mossad HaRav Kook edition), s.v. נטף ושחלת וחלבנה, the glosses note that the quotation used in the Midrash HaGadol on the Holy Incense has been taken directly from Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Kelei HaMikdash 2:4), whose words are these: והשחלת היא הציפורן שנותנין בני אדם במוגמרות, וחלבנה כמו דבש שחור היא וריחה קשה והיא שרף אילנות בערי יון. There are many other scattered excerpts taken from Mishneh Torah, as Zvi Meir Rabinowitz notes in his Preface to the Midrash HaGadol on Numbers (Mossad HaRav Kook edition, p. 8)
