Prolegomenon to the Pesikta 1

In 1832 ^1a Leopold Zunz, in a rare scholarly achievement, demonstrated the existence of a Palestinian Midrash called אנהכ ברד אתקיספ. No manuscript or text of the Pesikta ² was known. On the basis of references and readings in Rabbinic literature, primarily in the Aruch and the Yalkut Shim’oni, Zunz proposed a structure of twenty-nine Piskoth, beginning; with the first הנשה שארד אקספ, continuing with Piskoth based on Torah or prophetic readings on all the holidays and special Sabbaths throughout the year, and concluding with the אקספ שישא וששד, the Sabbath before Rosh Hashanah.