Book
Sifrei ספרי
The halakhic midrash on Numbers and Deuteronomy—two different books under one name, from two different schools.
"Sifrei" means simply "books." Two midrashim go by that name: on Numbers, from the school of Rabbi Yishmael; on Deuteronomy, largely from the school of Rabbi Akiva. Later copyists bound them into one book, and so the reader has two different manners under one cover.
From the Sifrei on Deuteronomy comes much of what is known by heart: the exposition of the Shema, the laws of the king, the words on the love of God. From it too comes the famous "and cleave to Him": how does one cleave to God? Cleave to the sages.
On the timeline
3948 · 188 CERabbi Yehuda haNasi and the Writing of the Mishnah3978 · 218 CEThe End of the Tannaitic Era: Tosefta and Baraitot
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Sanhedrin 86a — «an anonymous Sifrei is Rabbi Shimon»
- Sifrei Deuteronomy 49 — «cleave to the sages»
- Sifrei Deuteronomy 32 — the exposition of «and you shall love the Lord»
Basis: documents and evidence.