A work of depth and cultural value that will have limited appeal beyond religious scholars.
A broad review of the biblical book of Leviticus.
Noted Torah scholar Zornberg, who won the National Jewish Book Award for The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, takes readers on a densely detailed, challenging tour of the traditional and mystical readings of Leviticus, drawing especially from the Midrash and other Jewish writings and interpretations through history. This is not a linear review of Leviticus nor a text-based commentary. Instead, the author “reads Leviticus through the prism of midrashic narratives that connect the surface with the depths of this text.” This approach allows readers to interface with Leviticus through the thoughtful and timeless opinions of rabbis and Torah scholars of the distant past. Simultaneously, Zornberg brings in more modern and secular voices as well, including Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Freud, Foucault, George Eliot, Keats, Franz Rosenzweig, Kafka, Borges, and Louise Glück. Assuming that her readers are familiar with the scriptural background, Zornberg spends very little time on reviewing the text itself. In lieu of a line-by-line analysis, she uses specific liturgical readings from Leviticus as springboards for exploring later commentary. One of the common themes the author identifies is the continued guilt caused by the Golden Calf rebellion. As she ably conveys, most of Leviticus stems from this unatonable moment of idolatry. “The national experience of shame is related to the memory of the Golden Calf,” which “haunts the people, in the way that something neither dead nor alive haunts the present moment.” The trauma of rebellion leads to a communal commitment to holiness, marked by such characteristics as an abhorrence of blasphemy, an emphasis on caring for the poor, and an obsession with cleanliness of the body and home. Though this book is an impressive scholarly reference, it will be confusingly inaccessible to readers without a prior working knowledge of midrashic scholarship and Hebrew.
A work of depth and cultural value that will have limited appeal beyond religious scholars.Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8052-4357-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Schocken
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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