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Reading Scripture with the Rabbis Jacob Neusner

Reading Scripture with the Rabbis By Jacob Neusner

Reading Scripture with the Rabbis by Jacob Neusner


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Summary

Illustrates how Judaism's classical rabbis of the first seven centuries of the Common Era read the ancient Israelite scriptures. This anthology presents a selection of writings that show what happens to the five books of Moses at the hands of the Rabbinical sages of the formative age of Judaism.

Reading Scripture with the Rabbis Summary

Reading Scripture with the Rabbis: The Five Books of Moses by Jacob Neusner

This anthology illustrates how Judaism's classical rabbis of the first seven centuries of the Common Era read the ancient Israelite scriptures. It presents, in particular, a selection of writings that show what happens to the five books of Moses at the hands of the Rabbinical sages of the formative age of Judaism. Each Midrash-compilation takes up a book of Scripture and systematically expounds the message that the Rabbis derive from that particular book. No statement by the rabbis of the meaning of a biblical book emerges as a mere paraphrase of the plain sense of Scripture itself. The compiler introduces the Rabbinic reading of the Five books of Moses, Genesis through Genesis Rabbah, Exodus through Mekhilta attributed to R. Ishmael, Leviticus through Leviticus Rabbah, Numbers through Sifre to Numbers, and Deuteronomy through Sifre to Deuteronomy. Genesis Rabbah shows how the rabbis found in the book of Genesis lessons of history realized in their own times. That approach to Scripture will not surprise Bible-believing Christians. Mekhilta attributed to R. Ishmael shows how the Ten Commandments are expounded in an inclusive spirit, so that the Commandments cover important aspects of everyday life. Leviticus Rabbah shows how the rabbis found in the laws of animal sacrifice lessons of both history and morality, once more an approach Christians will find congenial. The book of Numbers illustrates how the ancient rabbis read Scripture in such a way as to validate and justify rules that on the surface do not seem valid and just at all. In the case I have chosen, the treatment of the wife accused of infidelity, Numbers Chpater Five, the law of the Mishnah and the Tosefta affords to the accused wife rights that Scripture does not on the surface provide for her. We consider both the legal and the exegetical treatment of the topic, with its emphasis, for both norms of conduct and norms of conviction, upon God's justice. The book of Deuteronomy at Chapter Thirty-Two contains Moses's profound reflection on the me

About Jacob Neusner

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Service Professor of History and Theology of Judaism and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Preface Chapter 2 Genesis: The Patriarchs and Matriarchs Live Out Their Children's Lives in Genesis Rabbah Chapter 3 Exodus: The Ten Commandments in Mekhilta Attributed to R. Ishmael Chapter 4 Leviticus: The Moral Lessons of Holiness in Leviticus Rabbah Chapter 5 Numbers: Wayward Women in the Wilderness in Sifre to Numbers Chapter 6 Deuteronomy: I Deal Death and I Give Life Visions of Holocaust and Restoration in Sifre to Deuteronomy

Additional information

NLS9780761835943
9780761835943
0761835946
Reading Scripture with the Rabbis: The Five Books of Moses by Jacob Neusner
New
Paperback
University Press of America
2006-11-09
162
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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