Books in this issue:
1. Book reviews:
NEHAMA LEIBOWITZ: Teacher
and Bible Scholar
by Yael Unterman
Urim Publications, 2009
Reviewed by Francis Nataf
The Schechter Haggadah:
Art, History, and Commentary
By Joshua Kulp
The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, 2009
Reviewed by Elli Fischer
Siddur Shema Koleinu
By Amit Sofer
Reviewed by Elli Fischer
Exodus and Emancipation:
Biblical and African-American Slavery
By Kenneth Chelst
Urim, 2009
Reviewed by Francis Nataf
2. Digitized manuscript: The Rothschild Haggadah
3. Book announcement
American Jewish
Fiction: A JPS Guide
****************************************************
1. Book reviews
NEHAMA LEIBOWITZ: Teacher and Bible
Scholar
by Yael Unterman
Urim Publications, 2009
Reviewed by Francis Nataf
In her final chapter of Nehama, Teacher and
Bible Scholar, Yael
Unterman bemoans that all of Nehama's key followers "are busily
engaged with his or her own Nehama." Accordingly, while reading
Unterman's study of the woman who could well have been the 20th
century's greatest Jewish educator, I could not escape the comparison
between my Nehama and Unterman's.
Unterman makes a brave attempt at collating and coherently organizing
the whirlwind of voices who all knew their own Nehama. And if Unterman
occasionally speaks admiringly about post-modern approaches, her
volume does not attempt to be a post-modern study of unmediated
perspectives. Rather, she tries to organize all of the data
painstakingly collected to recreate her own Nehama, which at times
seemed very familiar to my own experience and at other times very
foreign.
This book is brave in other respects as well, sometimes overly so. On
some level, Unterman attempts to cover everything, something that
simply can't be done even with the voluminous length of this book.
Even after her death, Nehama remains larger than life and cannot be
encapsulated by one author, even one as generously inclusive as
Unterman.
The book is divided into three major sections, the first biographical,
the second about Nehama's worldview and the third about her approach
to the Biblical text and its study. Each section could have been a
book in its own right, as is also the case with the final stand-alone
chapters - which may be the most interesting - on her relationship
with her famous philosopher brother, Yeshayahu, and on the educational
future of Nehama's approach.
Trying to overlook my own biases, I would still say that the book is
somewhat uneven. In the biographical section, we sometimes feel
pleasantly guided by the author, feeling the voice of Nehama in all
her unadulterated grandeur. Other times, one feels that the author is
too heavy-handed in interpreting (and occasionally misinterpreting)
material that needs little or no comment. Likewise, especially in the
later sections where we justifiably hear more from the author, she is
sometimes extremely insightful, yet at other times seems to miss the
mark.
An example of the former is when she points out that Nehama's approach
to the text can be best be described as a continuation of the
rationalist school of classical Jewish Biblical interpretation, which
explains why she was willing to accept certain elements and ideas from
various modern approaches while rejecting others. Similarly, the
author is entirely correct when she points out that Nehama never lost
sight of her educational goals as a teacher of Torah in the finest
sense of the word. As such, no matter what her academic credentials,
she was much more of a rebbe than an academic. Indeed, she clear
wanted all those that she met to love the Torah and be influenced by
the moral teachings she saw so clearly in her own studies. This
included her taxi drivers about whom we always heard stories, some of
which are appropriately included in the biography. (In the 1980's, we
used to wonder why her drivers all seemed to be Torah scholars,
whereas the ones we met were always trying to overcharge us! Of
course, the answer was that these were the same drivers, but the
difference was that this is what Nehama brought out of people.)
One serious shortcoming in the book is Unterman's section on Nehama's
favorite commentators. This section should have been greatly
expanded. To take the most extreme example, the second item on the
list of commentators is the Talmudic sages, about whom we correctly
read that Nehama revered. The author then proceeds to devote no more
than two additional sentences to this. Granted, it is addressed
somewhat in other chapters, but Nehama's view of the sages' centrality
is clearly why she was such a fan of Rashi (whose commentary is almost
completely comprised of their words) and thus, certainly worth more
than three sentences in a book of nearly six hundred pages. Another
unfortunate lacuna is the lack of focus on Nehama's impact outside of
who studied under her at
approach and ran with it -- often with better results than in
For several reasons, some of which Unterman mentions in the final
chapter,
Similarly, Unterman tries too hard to describe Nehama as a
post-modernist, as an original commentator and as a pioneer of
literary Bible scholarship. Of course, none of these claims are
without foundation. But it is somewhat like looking to Albert Einstein
as a man who changed the way we look at religion or at pacifism.
Indeed, Einstein had interesting ideas about both of these topics but
this is not what made him great. While Unterman is correct that Nehama
was more than a teacher, being a teacher is what made her great.
So when the author tells us that Nehama's gravestone and the street
named for her followed her wishes in how she wanted to be remembered,
namely as a teacher, one can't help but wonder if the author erred in
not respecting these wishes as well. In fact, Unterman's questionable
insistence that Nehama was so much more than a teacher is made
apparent from the very subtitle, Teacher and Bible Scholar, as if the
first were not enough.
There is often debate as to whether teachers should be trained
primarily as experts in the field of instruction or in pedagogy.
Nehama was uniquely situated at the top of her discipline in both
fields, something I have never experienced in a teacher before or
after. Moreover, Nehama taught us just how much impact a teacher can
have. She gave us a role model and made us realize that Jewish
education is about the relationships that are created when teacher and
student work together to honestly understand our
treasured texts.
Her sincerely encouraging view about Jewish education is cleverly
summarized by the well chosen quotation on the jacket flap, which
tells us that she disagreed with the rabbinic statement that teachers
get a special place in the next world due to all that they suffer in
this world, believing instead that teachers undoubtedly get more than
their fair share of otherworldly bliss in this world. One cannot help
but be certain that in her case this will not be counted against her.
All criticism aside, Jewish educators as well as the general reading
public owe the author a debt of gratitude for all the time and effort
she spent in gathering all of the information eruditely presented in
this important biography. Certainly, the ten years of voluminous
research that the author put into this serious work speaks for itself.
(I was told that each time she was ready to finish the book, a new
contributor would tell her that she couldn't possibly publish it
without this one last story.) The book reads easily in most parts and
is attractively presented, enhanced as it is by photographs of Nehama
and her world.
The bottom line is that the student of Nehama will read this book very
differently from one who never knew her. And as Nehama had thousands
of devoted students, the former will certainly be a significant part
of this book's readership. Be that as it may, the book is not only
worth reading - it is a great starter for many discussions about
topics important to us and more critically, important to Nehama. And,
no doubt, such discussions would have pleased her.
This book can be purchased from the publisher at -
http://www.urimpublications.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UP&Product_Code=NehLeib&Category_Code=bcc
Back to top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Schechter Haggadah: Art, History,
and Commentary
By Joshua Kulp
The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, 2009
Reviewed by Elli Fischer
Given the thousands of haggadot that have been published over the
years, and the dozens of new ones published each year, it is not easy
for any single haggadah to separate itself from the others on the
market. As a result, some new haggadot provide unique commentary,
others contain innovative liturgy and practice, and still others
resorts to gimmickry and humor to win adherents. Only rarely does a
haggadah appear that is truly remarkable. The Schechter Haggadah: Art,
History, and Commentary, by Dr. Joshua Kulp and Rabbi David
Golinkin,
is indeed a remarkable haggadah.
In truth, the title of this haggadah is a bit
misleading, since the
"history" is part of the "art" and the
"commentary", and not an
independent section. The text is divided into three sections: the
first contains the traditional Ashkenazic haggadah
text, adorned with
artwork from early, mostly manuscript, haggadot. The second section,
authored by Rabbi Golinkin, is an expanded section on the artwork of
the haggadah, containing 115 annotated illustrations (according to the
authors; though I did not count, I did notice that there were a whole
lot of pictures). The comments include basic metadata such as time and
place of appearance and where the original illustration can now be
found, as well as other historical curiosities pertaining to the
particular illustration, the haggadah in which it
appears, or artistic
themes in the illustration of haggadot in general. The third section
of this haggadah is Dr. Kulp's commentary, in excess of 100 pages,
which deconstructs the text of the haggadah and the seder practices,
locating their original meanings in the earliest Jewish texts and
tracing their development through Jewish history. The latter two
sections are referenced by unobtrusive notes in the main text.
The first section is beautifully laid out and has good proportion.
Since the commentary does not appear alongside the text, one is not
distracted by it during the course of the seder. The
artwork that
appears in the first section contributes to the aesthetic experience
without crowding out the main event. Dr. Kulp's translation is very
straightforward and readable.
The illustrations are beautiful and fascinating, and the commentary
informative. It features thirty-seven different depictions of the
"four sons", demonstrating how they were perceived by different
artists over close to a millennium of Jewish history. Other artistic
elements contain a touch of humor, even if the contemporary reader
does not share the same sense of humor. For example, in two portraits
from 14th and 15th Century haggadot, a husband points at his wife
during the recitation of "maror zeh" ("This bitter herb").
Unfortunately, Rabbi Golinkin fails to note the Biblical origin of
this particular misogyny: Kohelet 7:26 ("and I find more bitter [mar]
than death the woman").
Dr. Kulp's commentary is at its best when engaging in source criticism
of the haggadah and its antecedents. In some cases
("the four sons",
"go and learn") he juxtaposes several variations of the same element,
taken from early rabbinic works such as the Sifri, the Talmud
Yerushalmi, and early haggadot, demonstrates their significant
differences, surveys scholarly work on the relationships between the
texts, and offers his own summaries and conclusions regarding the
evolution of that element of the haggadah. This type of study, which
typifies academic Talmudic scholarship, does not generally appear in
popular works. To his credit, Dr. Kulp does an admirable job
explaining the process and conclusions of his analysis for the
educated layman, though his writing style is occasionally awkward
(e.g. "read for someone the Hallel" instead of "read the Hallel
for
someone"), and I noted a number of grammatical errors (especially a
lack of commas) and typos (e.g. "Hillel" instead of "R.
Yohanan" on p.
258).
In general, the commentary section is structures as a series of
sections, varying in size, that trace the origins of the seder
and the
haggadah. Virtually every standard practice and text is addressed,
some more thoroughly and convincingly than others. The primary sources
that Dr. Kulp uses are the Talmudim, Mishna, Tosefta, Tannaitic
Midrashim, and haggadot from the Geonic era, from both
Eretz Yisrael. However, he occasionally refers to other early sources
such as apocryphal works, Greco-Roman writings, early Christian
writings, Josephus, and Philo; haggadot from the times of the Rishonim
and early Acharonim; and standard halakhic codes.
These sections, for the reader and teacher, constitute the best of
what this haggadah offers. Each is akin to an
individual lesson on a
particular aspect of the haggadah or seder, tracing it
from its
origins to standard practice. For example, with regard to the four
cups of wine, he begins with the Tosefta (Pesachim 10:1) instructing
charity bursars to provide poor people with four cups of wine for
Pesach night. Working of Professor Shamma Friedman's theory that the
Tosefta predates the Mishna, at least in part, he discerns that the
number four was originally a somewhat arbitrary number that was deemed
appropriate for the Pesach-night symposium. Later, in the Mishna, the
four cups were formally arranged as the framework for the seder
meal.
Finally, midrashim sprang up to account for the significance
of the
number four on the night of Pesach. This evolutionary process sees the
wine transformed from a vehicle of celebration into a ritual and
symbolic act, a process that Dr. Kulp notes over and over again as
practices that originated in a Greco-Roman context (dipping,
reclining, etc.) are transferred into new cultural settings.
Nevertheless, Dr. Kulp's explanations for the various texts and
performances are not always convincing. For example, he does not
really offer an explanation for the composition of the "Ha Lachma
Anya" paragraph or for the introduction of the Mishna about Rabbi
Elazar ben Azarya (though in both cases he argues against reading them
as anti-Christian polemics). With regard to Rabbi Yehuda's mnemonic,
he demonstrates that it is an early source, but does not address why
such a mnemonic would need to be developed in the first place (indeed,
the Gaon of Vilna [Likkutim at the end of Seder Zeraim] argues that
the original context of the mnemonic is as an inscription on Moshe?s
staff, and was only imported into the hagaddah at a later date; see
also p. 24 of R. Hayim Hischenson's Motza'ei Mayim, here).
His reading of the midrashim contained within the
"go and learn" often
miss obvious textual points. For example, he asks, "why is
cattle-plague singled out as the plague through which God took the
Israelites out of
question intertextually links the "strong hand" of Deuteronomy 26:8
with the "hand of the Lord" of Exodus 9:3. The same can be said of
the
"portents" of Joel 3:3 and the same verse in Deuteronomy, about which
he asks a similar question. He interprets the midrash
on "u-vemorah
gadol" as being based on a tradition that "morah" means
"vision" and
not "terribleness". If that would be the case, however, then the
prooftext cited (Deut. 4:34) is superfluous, as the "revelation of the
Divine Presence" can be adduced without the prooftext. Rather, the
exegetical nub seems to derive from the final phrase of the prooftext:
"just as you saw the Lord your God do for you in
eyes". As a rule, he does not discuss these midrashim
as exegesis and
tends to neglect the intertextual elements of these midrashim. While
not a fatal flaw, an opportunity to more fully explore the nature of
rabbinic exegesis is missed.
Another example of where Dr. Kulp misses a fairly straightforward
explanation for the flow of the haggadah pertains to
the division of
Hallel. He writes: "It seems to me that dividing the Hallel into two
portions was meant to highlight the centrality of the pesah sacrifice,
perhaps in a similar way that reciting a blessing before and after
food sanctifies the food". Later in the same section, when discussing
differing practices regarding the recitation of a bracha before
Hallel, he writes that "we recite the Hallel at seder [sic] because
the Exodus was miraculous... In contrast, in
the Hallel was recited in connection with the pesah sacrifice and
hence they considered its significance to be diminished when the
sacrifice could not be offered." While it is hard to deny the
difference between Eretz Yisraeli and Babylonian customs surrounding
the recitation of Hallel, Dr. Kulp misses the main transitional link
that mandates the recitation of Hallel, or at least part of it, at the
end of the recounting of the Exodus. The transitional paragraph
(imported into the haggadah from the Mishnah) states: "Therefore it is
our duty of thank, praise (le-hallel), laud, glorify...the One who made
all these miracles for us...Let us say before Him, "Hallelujah!". In
other words, the recounting generates the duty to give praise, and it
would be inappropriate to conclude the retelling without some words of
praise. This approach is borne out by linking the latter part of
Mishna Pesachim 10:5 with 10:6.
These examples all seem to flow from a single, overarching issue. Dr.
Kulp tends to atomize the different parts of the haggadah rather than
viewing them as part of a single structure or relating to a single
theme. He states as much explicitly (p. 230): "we should be extra
cautious of detecting editorial intention in the sum of the Haggadah's
texts. In my opinion it is extraordinarily difficult to speak of the
"intention of the Haggadah." While I understand his caution, and
agree that it is impossible to speak of a single editorial intention,
there is no doubt that at each stage, with the inclusion or alteration
of each new text, someone, somewhere, felt that a particular text fit
with the overall theme or structure of the haggadah; the chaos is more
controlled than Dr. Kulp would have us believe.
I hope that these last few paragraphs to not convey the wrong message;
the Schechter Haggadah is a beautiful as well as excellent work of
scholarship. Had I included every one of my criticisms, kal va-chomer
everything that I liked, this review would have been far longer than
it already is. In particular, the commentary has deepened my
understanding of the evolution of the haggadah, and
for one who is not
familiar with source critical methodology, this haggadah can be
transformative. My recommendation for readers of this haggadah
would
be to go through it before the seder: there is simply too much to
digest, and the issues are often simply too technical, to be
appropriate fare for the seder itself. Additionally, this haggadah
is
a fantastic resource for educators to teach the haggadah. Dr. Kulp?s
commentary evolved from a series of classes that he gave, and it
consequently is structured in a manner that is easily adaptable to a
classroom setting (as my wife can readily attest).
Chag Kasher ve-Sameach!
This book can be purchased from the publisher at -
http://www.urimpublications.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UP&Product_Code=ArtHagg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Siddur Shema Koleinu
By Amit Sofer
Reviewed by Elli Fischer
I recently was introduced to this book because its publisher, Amit
Sofer, is a friend and neighbor of mine in Modiin. As a musician, he
often found himself in a situation that he was taking his kids to
school late, and davening with them in the car because they would miss
it in school. This situation gave rise to the Siddur Shema Koleinu.
Many contemporary children's have sound filed embedded. This siddur
has about 15 minutes worth of audio in it, and it contains most of the
basic prayers that children say in school and at home. Some of its 16
tracks are simple recitations (Birkot ha-Shachar, Shema), but others
are full-fledged songs (Adon Olam, Yigdal, Hamalach).
I?ve found that this siddur helps children with
pronunciation and
reading skills as they follow along in the text as they listen. It is
highly recommended for a family contemplating aliyah that wants to get
their kids used to the style of davening in Israeli preschools. It
would also be a wonderful addition to Jewish preschools in
bought a few to give as gifts to preschoolers who are just learning
the rudimentary prayers.
Batteries are not included.
This book can be purchased at -
http://store.bluewhitedirect.com/siddur-shma-kolenu--the-interactive-siddur.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exodus and Emancipation: Biblical and
African-American Slavery
By Kenneth Chelst
Urim, 2009
Reviewed by Francis Nataf
Kenneth Chelst's Exodus and Emancipation: Biblical and
African-American Slavery (Urim: 2009) provides a unique and
intelligent perspective on the topic of slavery and redemption. By
comparing various traditional insights on the Jews' slavery in
to the story of Black slavery in the
our tradition to understand the histories of other peoples. Though
there is almost nothing new in his anthology-style presentation of the
Exodus, this reader found all the information about American
emancipation fascinating. Particularly interesting was the role of the
Bible and of religion that lurks in the background of that story - the
centrality of God in the American experience, both black and white,
reminds us of the deep religiosity of 19th century
said, its practical use for the Jewish educator is limited: For
schools that are open to the possibility of interdisciplinary studies,
it provides an interesting base for a study of the Civil War from a
more integrated perspective. It also gives the Bible teacher an
interesting model for integrating other historical events and
phenomena into their attempts to show the "real world" applicability
of the themes discussed in our own Book of Books.
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2. Digitized manuscript: The Rothschild Haggadah
The National Library of Israel, David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization
Project, is pleased to announce that a digitized version of the Library's
"Rothschild Haggadah" is now available for public access.
The so-called "Rothschild Haggadah" or "Murphy Haggadah"
has a fascinating
history. Until 1939 it was in the possession of the Rothschild family, but
during World War II it was looted by the Nazis and disappeared. After the
war, the Haggadah was acquired by a distinguished Yale alumnus, Dr. Fred
Towsley Murphy who bequeathed it to the Yale University Library in
1980 it was identified as a Rothschild manuscript and returned to its former
owners who donated it to the Jewish National and University Library (now the
National Library of Israel).
The manuscript was written in
illuminated by (or in the workshop of) the famous scribe-illuminator Joel
ben Simeon.
The manuscript was missing three leaves, probably detached before it was
acquired by the Rothschilds. Recently two of the missing illuminated leaves
were offered for sale and were purchased for the Library through the
generosity of two anonymous donors.
This digitized version of the manuscript includes the two recently acquired
leaves.
The manuscript is presented in the DjVu format which provides high quality,
magnifiable images compressed into relatively small files for easy
downloading. In order to view DjVu images it is necessary to download and
install (once) a special free viewer program.
The Rothschild Haggadah can be accessed at:
http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/heb6130/index.html
(Description in Hebrew)
or
http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/heb6130/index_eng.html
(Description in
English)
Elhanan Adler
National Library of Israel
****************************************************
3. Book announcement
American Jewish Fiction: A
JPS Guide
The "Best of the Best" in American Jewish Fiction!
Are Your Top Ten Favorites Included?
Which Philip Roth book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998?*
What up-and-coming new author won the National Jewish
Book Award in
Fiction in 2001 for Everything is Illuminated?*
Learn all about these books and authors - and so many others - in
American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide.
This insightful new volume
features 125 top novels and short story collections by such celebrated
writers as Roth, Mailer, Kellerman, Chabon, Ozick, and Heller, among
others. Including books written from 1867 to the present, this guide
features a comprehensive introduction that explores the history of
Jewish fiction writing in
entry includes a plot summary, author information, and details on the
historical context of the work. Also included are suggestions for
further readings selected by readers' interests and favorite writers,
as well as lists of Jewish book award winners; bibliographies; title,
author and subject indexes; and more.
*Answers: Philip Roth, American
Pastoral; Jonathan Safran Foer
Josh Lambert is a doctoral candidate in English and Jewish literature
at the
JBooks.com, an online book review magazine, and served as its editor
for a year. He now contributes book reviews and essays to The Forward,
The San Francisco Chronicle, two national daily newspapers in
(The National Post and Globe and Mail), The Jerusalem Post, and
Nextbook.org.
About the JPS Guides Series:
The highly acclaimed JPS Guides series is a collection of concise
reference books, each on a specific topic of key interest. Titles
include: Jewish Traditions; The Jewish Bible; American Jewish History;
Dictionary of Jewish Words; and The JPS Guide to Jewish Women.
February 2009
$18, Paper, 250 pages, 7? x 10?
ISBN: 978-0-8276-0883-2
For more information contact Anita Bihovsky
(800)-234-3151 ext. 50601
or email: [log in to unmask]
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