The Matriarchs in Genesis Rabbah


Book Description

Katie J. Woolstenhulme considers the pertinent questions: Who were 'the matriarchs', and what did the rabbis think about them? Whilst scholarship on the role of women in the Bible and Rabbinic Judaism has increased, the authoritative group of women known as 'the matriarchs' has been neglected. This volume consequently focuses on the role and status of the biblical matriarchs in Genesis Rabbah, the fifth century CE rabbinic commentary on Genesis. Woolstenhulme begins by discussing the nature of midrash and introducing Genesis Rabbah; before exploring the term 'the matriarchs' and its development through early exegetical literature, culminating in the emergence of two definitions of the term in Genesis Rabbah – 'the matriarchs' as the legitimate wives of Israel's patriarchs, and 'the matriarchs' as a reference to Jacob's four wives, who bore Israel's tribal ancestors. She then moves to discuss 'the matriarchal cycle' in Genesis Rabbah with its three stages of barrenness; motherhood; and succession. Finally, Woolstenhulme considers Genesis Rabbah's portrayal of the matriarchs as representatives of the female sex, exploring positive and negative rabbinic attitudes towards women with a focus on piety, prayer, praise, beauty and sexuality, and the matriarchs' exemplification of stereotypical, negative female traits. This volume concludes that for the ancient rabbis, the matriarchs were the historical mothers of Israel, bearing covenant sons, but also the present mothers of Israel, continuing to influence Jewish identity.




Genesis Rabbah


Book Description




The Targum of Ezekiel


Book Description

The Targum of Ezekiel, when critically analyzed, offers a vivid insight into an area of Jewish theological speculation stretching far back into the history of Jewish religious thought. The complexity of the document, however, compounded by a difficult Mosoretic text, abundant grammatical and syntactical problems, and an infusion of strange language and linguistic peculiarities, challenges the most incisive biblical analysts. Like the Book of Ezekiel, it poses literary, exegetical, and theological problems. The Targum belongs to the same genre as the other official Targumim, designated in Jewish Tradition as Onqelos on the Pentateuch and Jonathan on the Prophets. Its language, basically Palestinian Aramaic, was revised and edited in Babylon; its vocabulary, idiom, grammatical form, and rendering of the Hebrew text are essentially the same as we find in the official Targumim on the other books. But beyond this, the Targum of Ezekiel has some peculiarities distinctly its own.




ReVisions


Book Description

What does it mean to re-vision Torah? "I use the title ReVisions for this book because I want readers both to revise―in the classic definition of reexamine and alter―and to see the text anew, to have a new vision, a 'revision,' of Torah.... It begins with the notion that women see the text differently than men do, ask different questions and bring different answers.... This book is not about rewriting the Torah. It is about rereading it." ―from the Introduction Rabbi Elyse Goldstein―woman, rabbi, scholar, and feminist―challenges and defends, rereads and reinterprets the ancient text, revealing to modern readers a way to see Judaism anew, for a new vision―a "revision"―of the Torah. Goldstein boldly brings the Torah into a contemporary context at the same time she honestly reconciles its past.




The Beginning of Desire


Book Description

NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER • A brilliant interpretation of familiar biblical narratives that "deserves to be the most widely read book on the Bible in years, perhaps decades." (Jewish Exponent). Since its publication in 1995, The Beginning of Desire has opened new pathways in the reading of the Bible. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg’s innovative use of midrash, literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis draws deeply upon the familiar biblical narratives to produce interpretations that are at once startlingly beautiful and completely authentic. Illuminating the tensions that grip human beings as they search for an encounter with God, Zornberg gives us a brilliant analysis of the stories of Adam and Eve; Noah; Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob, Rachel, and Leah; and Joseph and his brothers.




The Covenant of Circumcision


Book Description

Scholars and rabbis examine the complicated history and contemporary challenges of the Jewish rite of circumcision.




Essential Papers on Kabbalah


Book Description

Concentrating on the theosophical/theurgical trend of Kabbalah, 15 essays, reprinted from academic journals and often translated from Hebrew, examine the body of literature that grew up between the 12th and 18th centuries from several approaches. They cover mystical motifs and theological ideas, mystical leadership and personalities, and devotional practices and mystical experience. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Targum and Scripture


Book Description

If Greek was the language by which Palestinian Jews talked to the Empire, then Aramaic and Hebrew were the languages by which they talked to themselves. In this context, what resulted when they translated the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic? Moments of the inner Jewish conversation about the meaning and relevance of Hebrew Scriptures frozen in Aramaic renditions. The scholars in this volume use these Aramaic translations, known as the Targums, like dioramas, peering through them to glimpse these moments in the development of Judaism and its theology. Dedicated to Ernest G. Clarke, the essays explore the variety of interpretations preserved in the different Targums from the Second Temple and post-Temple periods during which they were composed.




Jewish Theology Unbound


Book Description

Jewish Theology Unbound challenges the widespread misinterpretation of Judaism as a religion of law as opposed to theology. James A. Diamond provides close readings of the Bible, classical rabbinic texts, Jewish philosophers, and mystics from the ancient, medieval, and modern period, which communicate a profound Jewish philosophical theology on human nature, God, and the relationship between the two. The study begins with an examination of questioning in the Hebrew Bible, demonstrating that what the Bible encourages is independent philosophical inquiry into how to situate oneself in the world ethically, spiritually, and teleologically. It explores such themes as the nature of God through the various names by which God is known in the Jewish intellectual tradition, love of others and of God, death, martyrdom, freedom, angels, the philosophical quest, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel, all in light of the Hebrew Bible and the way it is filtered through the rabbinic, philosophical, and mystical traditions.




Mediating the Divine


Book Description

This book is a comprehensive treatment of prophecy and revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It examines the reconfiguration of biblical prophecy and revelation, the portrait of prophecy at the end of days, and the evidence for ongoing prophetic activity.