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µ¼ÑÔ/Introduction 001

1IN THE BEGINNING001

1.1Genesis 1:12:4001

1.2On ¡°In the Beginning¡± (Gen. 1:1)004

1.2.1Proverbs 8:2231004

1.2.2Genesis Rabbah, 1:1005

1.2.32 Maccabees 7:28006

1.2.4Dead Sea Scrolls. The Community Rule 1QS 3:1516; 11:11,

1718006

1.2.5John 1:13007

1.3Genesis Rabbah, 1:10. Creation with the Hebrew Letter Beth007

1.4Philo, On the Creation 31. On the Light of the First Day008

1.5On ¡°Let Us Make Man¡± (Gen. 1:26)009

1.5.1Philo, On the Confusion of Tongues 179009

1.5.2Genesis Rabbah 8:8009

1.6Nahmanides on ¡°Let Us Make Man in Our Image, After Our

Likeness¡± (Gen. 1:26)010

1.7Mystical Interpretations on the Creation011

1.7.1The Zohar, Introduction 1:3b. A Mystical Interpretation on

Beª²Reshit011

1.7.2Isaac Luria on the Creation013

1.7.3A Hasidic Interpretation on Beª²Reshit015

1.8Robert Gordis on ¡°Fill the Earth and Master It¡± (Gen. 1:28)016

1.9Louis Ginzberg, Creation and the Hebrew Alphabet (1909)017

1.10Sabbath Liturgy019

1.10.1The Kiddush for Sabbath Evening019

1.10.2The Havdalah Service for the End of Sabbath020

1.11Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (1951)021

1.12Dan Pagis, Testimony022

1.13Shlomo Carlebach on Singing Creation into Being023

2ADAM, EVE AND LILITH024

2.1Genesis 2:43:24024

2.2On ¡°The Dust of the Earth¡± (Gen. 2:7)029

2.2.1Philo, On the Creation, 137029

2.2.2Rashi029

2.3Leviticus Rabbah 8:1. God as Marriageª²Maker030

2.4Avot deª²Rabbi Nathan, Chapter 1. On the ¡°Fence for the Torah¡±

031

2.5Pirkei deª²Rabbi Eliezer 14. The Sin of Adam and Eve032

2.6Alphabet of Ben Sira. Lilith, Adam¬ðs First Wife034

2.7Shelomo Almoli, Dream Interpretations035

2.7.1Serpent035

2.7.2Woman036

2.7.3Nakedness037

2.7.4The Dead038

2.8Judith Plaskow, ¡°Our Story: The Coming of Lilith ¡±(1972)039

3¡°AM I MY BROTHER¬ðS KEEPER?¡±: THE IMAGES OF CAIN043

3.1Genesis 4:126043

3.2Targum Pseudoª²Jonathan to Genesis 4046

3.3Genesis Rabbah, 22:1213. On the Mark and the Repentance of

Cain049

3.4Augustine, Contra Faustum Manichaeum ¢ü, 913. A Christian

Typological Interpretation of Cain and Abel (400 CE)050

3.5Louis Ginzberg, The Jewish Legends on Cain (1909)054

3.6Dan Pagis, Autobiography060

3.7Dan Pagis, Written in Pencil in the Sealed Railwayª²Car061

4THE TEST OF ABRAHAM: AKEDAH062

4.1Genesis 22:119062

4.2Targum Pseudoª²Jonathan to Genesis 22:119064

4.3Genesis Rabbah on Akedah067

4.3.1Genesis Rabbah 55:7. On ¡°Take...Thy Son¡±067

4.3.2Genesis Rabbah 56:4. Samael versus Abraham067

4.3.3Genesis Rabbah 56:8. Isaac Afraid068

4.3.4Genesis Rabbah 56:9. Akedah and Shofarª²Blowing070

4.3.5Genesis Rabbah 55:2. The Lord Tries the Righteous071

4.4Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 89b. On Akedah071

4.5Pirkei deª²Rabbi Eliezer, 31. The Death and Resurrection of Isaac

073

4.6Rashi on Gen. 22:12.073

4.7Moses Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed. ¢ó. 24. On Akedah

074

4.8Amir Gilboa, Isaac080

4.9Hayyim Gouri, Heritage081

5YAVAN IN THE TENTS OF SHEM: JEWS AMIDST GREEKS AND ROMANS082

5.1Philo, On the Creation, 6971. On Man¬ðs Creation after the

Image of God082

5.2Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 1:222236. On Akedah084

5.3Jewish Inscriptions in Greek 089

5.3.1A Warning Inscription of the Second Temple (Jerusalem;

First century CE)089

5.3.2The Theodotos Synagogue Inscription (Jerusalem; probably

before 70 CE)089

5.3.3An Inscription Concerning Jews and Godfearers (Aphrodisias

in Caria, West Turkey; Third Century CE £Û?£Ý)090

5.3.4A Jewish Poetical Epitaph (Beth She¡®arim; Third Century

CE)094

5.4Rabbinic Views on Images095

5.4.1Mishnah, Avodah Zarah, 3:4. Aphrodite in the Bathhouse

095

5.4.2Mishnah, Avodah Zarah, 3:1. Forbidden Images096

5.4.3Mishnah, Avodah Zarah, 3:3. Images Forbidden096

5.4.4Jerusalem Talmud, Avodah Zarah, 3:3, 42d. Images Permitted

097

5.5Jerusalem Talmud, Bava Metzia, 2:5, 8c. On Alexander the Great

097

5.6Jerusalem Talmud, Sabbath, 1:3, 3c. On Social Accommodation

098

6THE WORLD OF THE RABBIS100

6.1Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 56ab. Yohanan ben Zakkai¬ðs Escape

from Jerusalem and Relocation in Yavneh100

6.2Mishnah, Avot, 1. The Chain of Oral Transmission from Sinai

102

6.3Babylonian Talmud, Menahoth, 29b. Moses Returns as a Yeshiva

Boy108

6.4Babylonian Talmud, Sabbath, 31a. Torah on One Leg109

6.5Tosefta, Eduyot 1:4. Preserving Minority Opinion109

6.6Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia, 59a59b. Torah Is Not in

Heaven110

6.7Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 62a. The Pursuit of Torah113

6.8Rabbinic Views on Women113

6.8.1Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah, 4:4113

6.8.2Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah, 3:16113

6.9Tosefta Hagiga 2:34. Four Entered the Pardes114

6.10Tosefta Hullin, 2:24. Rabbis and Christians115

6.11Maimonides, Commentary on the Mishnah. The Thirteen Principles

of Faith116

6.12Maimonides, Introduction to the Mishneh Torah. On the History

of the Oral Torah and Its Transmission127

7THE JEWISH LAWS131

7.1Exodus 20:118. The Decalogue131

7.2Eye for Eye, or Monetary Compensation134

7.2.1Exodus 21:2227134

7.2.2Mishnah, Bava Kamma, 8:1134

7.2.3Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, Mishpatim 8 (Exod. 21:2325)

135

7.2.4Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kamma, 86a137

7.3Maimonides, Laws of the Study of Torah138

7.4Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Book 7, Chapter 10:119. Laws

Concerning Gifts to the Poor152

7.5Shulhan Arukh 156

7.5.1Yoreh De¡®ah: Laws about Converts156

7.5.2Eben haª²Ezer: Laws of Propagation157

7.5.3Hoshen Mishpat 26:14. Prohibition Against Resorting to

Nonª²Jewish Courts158

7.6The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May

14, 1948160

7.7The Law of Return (1950/1954/1970)164

8ETHICAL LITERATURE167

8.1Mishnah, Avot. Miscellaneous Moral Maxims167

8.2Shmuel Hanagid, A Gift from the Battlefield (1046)174

8.3Bahya ibn Pakuda, On Asceticism, Its Kinds and Advantages

(Sefer Hovot haª²Levavot)175

8.4Maimonides, The Fourth Chapter of Eight Chapters. On Medical

Treatment for the Diseases of the Soul178

8.5Eleazar of Worms, On Hasidic Piety188

8.6Moses Sofer, An Ethical Will (1836)188

8.7Israel Salanter, The Struggle of the Moral Person (1881)189

9THE JEWISH LITURGY191

9.1The Shema191

Deuteronomy 6:49191

Deuteronomy 11:1321191

Numbers 15:3741192

9.2The Amidah (Shemoneh Esreh or Eighteen Benedictions)192

9.3Aleinu196

9.4The Mourner¬ðs Kaddish197

9.5Passover Liturgy. Selections from Passover Haggadah198

The Introduction198

9.6Solomon Ibn Gabirol, ¡°At Dawn I Come to You¡±206

9.7Solomon Alkabetz, ¡°Lekhah Dodi (Come, My Beloved)¡±206

10THE YOKE OF THE TORAH209

10.1Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) 12:12 209

10.2A Greek Inscription Found at the Amphiareion, Oropus in

Attica (300250 BCE). A Jew Undertaking Incubation in a

Pagan Temple209

10.3Babylonian Talmud, Hagiga 15ab. The Story of a Sinful

Master of Torah210

10.4From the Cairo Geniza. An Egyptian Woman Seeks to Rescue

Her Husband from a Sufi Monastery (c. 13551367)215

10.5Or Haª²Me¬ðir 5:42bc. A Hasidic Parable Attributed to Ba¬ðal

Shem Tov216

10.6Solomon Maimon, ¡°My Emergence from Talmudic Darkness ¡±

(1793)217

10.7Rahel Levin Varnhagen, On Being Jewess225

10.7.1Letter to David Veit (1795)225

10.7.2Statement on the Deathbed as Recorded by Karl August

Varnhagen von Ense225

10.8Kadya Molodowsky, Merciful God (1945)226

11SECULAR FORMS OF JEWISHNESS229

11.1I. L. Peretz, ¡°The Golem ¡±(1893)229

11.2Bialik, ¡°Bring Me in Under Your Wing¡± (1905)230

11.3Bialik and Ravnitzky, The Book of Legends. On the Binding

of Isaac232

11.4Franz Kafka, ¡°My Father¬ðs Bourgeois Judaism¡±(1919)239

11.5Woody Allen, Fragment Two of the Scrolls (1974)242

11.6Yaakov Malkin, ¡°The Faith of Secular Jews¡±(1998)243

11.7Irene Eber, On the Memory of the Holocaust(2004)246

11.8Adi Nes, ¡°Abraham and Isaac¡±(2006)248

12JEWISH VOICES FROM THE MARGINS249

12.1The Prophets¬ð Warning to the Israelites249

12.1.1Amos 5:2124; 7:1017249

12.1.2Micah 3:912; 6:69250

12.2Shmuel Hanagid on War and the Good Life252

12.2.1¡°First War¡±252

12.2.2¡°The Gazelle that Stutters¡±252

12.2.3¡°Invitation¡±253

12.3Judah Halevi, ¡°My Heart is in the East¡±254

12.4Judaism in Confucian Culture255

12.4.1ºëÖα® £¨¹«Ôª1489Ä꣩255

12.4.1aA Stele Inscription Recording the Reconstruction of the

Pure and True Temple £ÛSynagogue£Ý (1489)258

12.5Rabbi Yoel Teitlbaum of Satmar on the Holocaust (1961)265

12.6Ellen M. Umansky, ¡°Reª²Visioning Sarah: A Midrash on

Genesis 22¡±267

12.7Jacob Neusner, Stranger at Home (1981)268

Appendices270

A. James Kugel, ¡°Four Assumptions of the Biblical Interpretation¡±270

B. David Stern, ¡°The Brutality of Repentance¡±274

Terms and Sources281

²Î¿¼ÊéÄ¿/Bibliography 324

µ¼ÑÔ/ Introductionµ¼ÑÔ/Introduction