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Title: Back To The Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts by Barry W. Holtz ISBN: 0-671-60596-8 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 02 January, 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: good stuff
Comment: Northrop Frye, Harold Bloom, and Robert Alter ALL say something good about this book on the back. Those are three giants, each to be listened to closely.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent introduction to classic texts
Comment: "Back to the Sources" provides a superb introduction to the classic Jewish texts: the Bible, Talmud, Midrash, medieval Bible commentaries (legal codes are discussed in the chapter on Talmud), medieval philosophical works, Zohar and other kabbalistic works, Hasidic teachings, and the prayer book. Each chapter is written by a different scholar, who is an expert in the text or texts at hand. All of the authors write clearly for non-experts and provide superb guidance, whether you are planning to start reading the texts or simply want to know more about them. Each chapter ends with helpful suggestions for further reading (although these are now somewhat out of date, since the book was published in 1984).
There is an interesting divide half way through the book: the first four chapters (on Bible, Talmud, Midrash and commentaries) focus on the literary characteristics of those texts: how they are organized, how style contributes to meaning, what knowledge they assume, how to read them, and so on. Each chapter does an excellent job of walking you through an extended passage of the text under consideration. Other than these analyses of particular passages, however, there is no systematic attempt to discuss or summarize the content of the work, much less consider its meaning or impact.
The last four chapters, on the other hand (covering philosophy, kabbala, Hasidic teaching and the Siddur), are much more focused on content, on what the texts are saying and what impact that has had in the development of Judaism. These chapters still include close-reading of significant passages of text, but they also provide extraordinarily helpful overviews of what these texts, as a whole, are trying to accomplish. The chapters on medieval philosophy and kabbala are particularly good -- even if I never get around to studying these texts, I now feel like I have a reasonably good grasp of what they are about.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in these texts or in Jewish intellectual history, even if you have no plans to study the texts themselves.
Rating: 5
Summary: extremely helpful
Comment: This book, of many that I have read, deals most concretely and clearly with the major texts of Judaism. I consider it a must-read for all who are interested in learning more about the often obscure texts and their authors.
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Title: Hebrew-English Tanakh by Jewish Publication Society of America ISBN: 0827606974 Publisher: Jewish Publication Society Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ilya Schor ISBN: 0374512671 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1975 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Everyman's Talmud : The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages by Abraham Cohen ISBN: 0805210326 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 07 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash by Herman L. Strack, Gunter Stemberger, Markus Bockmuehl, Hermann L. Strack, Jacob Neusner ISBN: 0800625242 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: December, 1992 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Library of Early Christianity, Vol 7) by Shaye J. D. Cohen, Wayne A. Meeks ISBN: 0664250173 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Pub. Date: November, 1988 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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