E-Book Overview
Despite its deceptively simple title, this book ponders the thorny issue of the place of the Bible in Jewish religion and culture. By thoroughly examining the complex link that the Jews have formed with the Bible, Jewish scholar Jean-Christophe Attias raises the uncomfortable question of whether it is still relevant for them. Jews and the Bible reveals how the Jews define themselves in various times and places with the Bible, without the Bible, and against the Bible. Is it divine revelation or national myth? Literature or legislative code? One book or a disparate library? Text or object? For the Jews, over the past two thousand years or more, the Bible has been all that and much more. In fact, Attias argues that the Bible is nothing in and of itself. Like the Koran, the Bible has never been anything other than what its readers make of it. But what they've made of it tells a fascinating story and raises provocative philosophical and ethical questions. The Bible is indeed an elusive book, and so Attias explores the fundamental discrepancy between what we think the Bible tells us about Judaism and what Judaism actually tells us about the Bible. With passion and intellect, Attias informs and enlightens the reader, never shying away from the difficult questions, ultimately asking: In our post-genocide and post-Zionist culture, can the Bible be saved?
E-Book Content
The Jews and the Bible
Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture ed i ted by
Aron Rodrigue and Steven J. Zipperstein
The Jews and the Bible Jean-Christophe Attias translated by patrick camiller
stan f ord u n iversit y press stanf o rd, calif o rn ia
Stanford University Press Stanford, California English translation ©2015 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. The Jews and the Bible was originally published in French in 2012 under the title Les Juifs et la Bible ©Librairie Arthème Fayard. This work was published with the help of the Centre national du livre (CNL). No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Attias, Jean-Christophe, author. [Juifs et la Bible. English] The Jews and the Bible / Jean-Christophe Attias ; translated by Patrick Camiller. pages cm—(Stanford studies in Jewish history and culture) “Originally published in French in 2012 under the title Les juifs et la Bible.” Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8047-8907-3 (cloth : alk. paper)— isbn 978-0-8047-9319-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Bible. Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc., Jewish—History. 2. Judaism—Doctrines. 3. Jews—Identity. I. Title. II. Series: Stanford studies in Jewish history and culture. bs1186.a8713 2014 221.6088'296—dc23 2014023174 isbn 978-0-8047-9321-6 (electronic) Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10.5/14 Galliard
Contents
Acknowledgments Note on Transcriptions and Biblical and Rabbinical Quotations Prologue 1. An Elusive Book? A Strangely Plural Singular Bibles, Canons, and Languages Prophets, Texts, and Books
vii ix xi 1 3 11 18
2. Bible Object, Bible in Pieces The Bible in Boxes The Bible in Scrolls The Bible in Person The Bible in Pieces
28 30 35 40 44
3. The Improbable Locus of an Identity The Bible and Jewishness The Greeks, the Arabs, and Us Facing the Christians: Their Scriptures and Ours The Karaite Temptation: Scripture Alone?
57 57 66 78 87
4. Reading the Bible at the Ri