Michael Fishbane - Böcker

First published in hardback in August 1985, Professor Fishbane's book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of textual analysis in ancient Israel. It explores the rich tradition of exegesis prior to the development of biblical interpretation in early classical Judaism and the earliest Christian communities, and examines four main categories of exegesis: scribal, legal, aggadic, and mantological. In studying this subject, it emerges that the Hebrew Bible is not only the foundation document for the exegetical culture of Judaism and Christianity, but an exegetical work in its own right. Professor Fishbane, who has added new material in appendices to this paperback edition, has been awarded three major prizes for this work: the National Jewish Book Award 1986, the Biblical Archaeological Society 1986 Publication Award, and the Kenneth B. Smilen Literary Award.

This is a comprehensive and systematic exploration of myth in the Hebrew Bible. In addition, Michael Fishbane examines the ongoing role of Scripture in the expansion and transformation of myth in ancient Jewish sources (Midrash and Talmud) and in the classical work of medieval Jewish mysticism (the book of Zohar). The role of myth and monotheism is taken up, and the texts of myth are subjected to close analytical treatment, dealing with matters of form, theme, and theology. In particular, the creative role of exegesis, and its capacity to generate new myths and to justify older or pre-existent ones, is explored. Aspects of continuity and discontinuity with biblical and ancient Near Eastern sources are examined, and the explosive innovations of myth in the various literary phases are considered. In exploring three major phases of Jewish culture, Michael Fishbane offers a new appreciation for the reality of myth and its varieties. Many new conceptual and analytical categories are presented, as well as numerous close readings of the texts at hand.

This volume is a study of Jewish liturgical poetry (Piyyuṭ) from late antiquity in Byzantine Palestine (5–6th century CE) through 11th century in Ashkenaz (Rhineland) and in northern Egypt. This poetry is based on synagogue lectionaries composed for the Sabbath and Festivals of the Jewish ritual calendar year. The central focus is on the various genres of these liturgies and their expansion into forms of prosodic epic (from short, dense quatrains to expanded prosodic recitations that exceed hundreds of lines). Because the basis of these prayer-poems are rooted in the lectionary cycles of Scripture, and its epical account of ancient Israelite history, the liturgies transform these sources into rhymed and poetical forms in various types of epic prosody. These liturgies are thoroughly impacted by the exposition of these Scriptural sources and accounts throughout the voluminous corpus of rabbinic biblical exegesis (Midrash). Examination of the transformation of Scriptural narratives into poetic formulations constitutes the poetics of tradition, fully studied (in many genres) in this work. The entire study has thematic coherence by focusing on the major biblical topic of the Exodus (especially Exodus 3–15: the Israelite servitude in Egypt; the plagues against the Egyptians and their doom; and the miracles for the people of Israel and their manumission and redemption). Thus the book emphasizes the liturgical poetics of the Exodus events, using exemplary texts from the most exemplary poets (like Yannai, Qillir, Rabbi Shim'on Ha-Gadol, and Rabbi Yosef ibn Abitur). A long introduction puts the phenomenon of religious liturgical poetry into context; whereas the conclusion reviews compositional features and the significance of this millennial cultural achievement. This is the first book of its type and scope.

A comprehensive and systematic exploration of myth in the Hebrew Bible. In addition, Michael Fishbane examines the ongoing role of Scripture in the expansion and transformation of myth in ancient Jewish sources (Midrash and Talmud) and in the classical work of medieval Jewish mysticism (the book of Zohar). The role of myth and monotheism is taken up, and the texts of myth are subjected to close analytical treatment, dealing with matters of form, theme, and theology. In particular, the creative role of exegesis, and its capacity to generate new myths and to justify older or pre-existent ones, is explored. Aspects of continuity and discontinuity with biblical and ancient Near Eastern sources are examined, and the explosive innovations of myth in the various literary phases are considered. In exploring three major phases of Jewish culture, Michael Fishbane offers a new appreciation for the reality of myth and its varieties. Many new conceptual and analytical categories are presented, as well as numerous close readings of the texts at hand.

"Sacred Attunement" is Michael Fishbane's attempt to renew Jewish theology for our time, in the larger context of modern and postmodern challenges to theology and theological thought in the broadest sense. Fishbane regrounds theology in this setting and opens up new pathways through nature, art, and the theological dimension as a whole. After introducing his hermeneutical theology, Fishbane focuses on modes of self-cultivation for awakening and sustaining a covenant theology. Finally, he takes up questions of scripture, authority, belief, despair, and obligation as theological topics in their own right. "Sacred Attunement" is a work of uncommon personal integrity and originality from one of the most distinguished scholars of Judaica in our time.

The world we engage with is a vibrant collage brought to consciousness by language and our creative imagination. It is through the symbolic forms of language that the human world of value is revealed—this is where religious scholar Michael Fishbane dwells in his latest contribution to Jewish thought.In Fragile Finitude, Fishbane clears new ground for a theological life through a novel reinterpretation of the Book of Job. On this basis, he offers a contemporary engagement with the four classical types of Jewish Scriptural exegesis. The first focuses on worldly experience, the second on communal forms of practice and thought in the rabbinical tradition, the third on personal development, and the fourth on transcendent, cosmic orientations. Through these four modes, Fishbane manages to transform Jewish theology from within, at once reinvigorating a long tradition and moving beyond it. What he offers is nothing short of a way to reorient our lives in relation to the divine and our fellow humans. Written from within the Jewish tradition, Fragile Finitude is intended for readers across the religious spectrum.

A powerful exploration of how literature expresses and transforms our earliest preverbal experiences.Primacies begins with the assertion that our earliest preverbal experiences are accompanied by a primary language—a universal expression of tears, cries, and laughter offered long before we learn our distinctive, ordinary languages. For Michael Fishbane, these “primacies” release the raw feelings of our existential condition and catalyze our most powerful literary expressions of sorrow, joy, and fulfillment.In this book, Fishbane explores how ancient, medieval, and modern literature and poetry express and transform these primal sensations. Building on his theological project begun in Sacred Attunement and Fragile Finitude, Fishbane offers here a radically new lived hermeneutics that seeks to do nothing less than redefine the relationship between experience and language.

"In this almost painfully beautiful book . . . Fishbane . . . explores the question of the kind of canon, privileged status, or Logos, the Torah actually has for the post-modern Western Jew. " —Theology Today"A book well worth reading." —The Jerusalem Post"This wonderful volume documents the intellectual and spiritual odyssey of one of North America's foremost Jewish biblical scholars." —Shofar

The lines of Michael Fishbane’s book trace the spiritual face of Judaism in one of its many appearances. Fishbane explores the quest for spiritual perfection in early rabbinic sources and in Jewish philosophy and mysticism. The “kiss of God,” a symbol for union with God, and the ritual practices—meditation and performance—connected with it are presented.The book identifies a persistent passion for religious perfection, expressed as the love of God unto death itself. The masters of the tradition cultivated this ideal in all periods, in diverse genres, and in different modes. Rabbinic law and midrash, medieval philosophy and mysticism, public and private ritual all contributed to its development. Rooted in the understanding that the spiritual life requires discipline, the sages set up different ladders of ascension. For some, the Law itself was the means of spiritual growth; for others, more private practices were built upon its foundation. But all agreed that the purification of desire and the perfection of the soul offered the hope of personal salvation. None denied the historical redemption of the nation.

Nahum Sarna's distinctive and original scholarship has taken in a wide range of subject areas from work on Genesis and the Psalms to his Jewish Bible commentary and the English translation of the Ketuvim. At first Assistant Professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in the 1950s, he was Dora Golding Professor of Bible at Brandeis University from 1965 to his retirement. This collection of 22 essays reflects Professor Sarna's breadth of interests, with contributions from the late Gershon Cohen on the Hebrew Crusade Chronicle and the Ashkenazic tradition; Judah Goldin on Reuben; Moshe Greenberg and Jonas Greenfield on the work of the Jewish Publication Society's Ketuvim translators; and Shemaryahu Talmon on fragments of a Psalms scroll from Masada.

Exegesis--interpretation and explanation of sacred texts--is the quintessence of rabbinic thought. Through such means and methods, the written words of Hebrew Scripture have been extended since antiquity, and given new voices for new times. In this lucid and often poetic book, Michael Fishbane delineates the connections between biblical interpretation and Jewish religious thought.How can a canon be open to new meanings, given that it is believed to be immutable? Fishbane discusses the nature and rationale of this interpretative process in a series of studies on ancient Jewish speculative theology. Focusing on questions often pondered in Midrash, he shows how religious ideas are generated or justified by exegesis. He also explores the role exegesis plays in liturgy and ritual. A striking example is the transfer of speculative interpretations into meditation in prayer. Cultivation of the ability to perceive many implicit meanings in a text or religious practice can become a way of living--as Fishbane shows in explaining how such notions as joy or spiritual meditations on death can be idealized and the ideal transmitted through theological interpretation. The Exegetical Imagination is a collection of interrelated essays that together offer new and profound understanding of scriptural interpretation and its central role in Judaism.

This innovative and original book examines the broad range of Jewish interpretation from antiquity through the medieval and renaissance periods. Its primary focus is on Midrash and midrashic creativity, including the entire range of nonlegal interpretations of the Bible. Considering Midrash as a literary and cultural form, the book explores aspects of classical Midrash from various angles including mythmaking and parables. The relationship between this exoteric mode and more esoteric forms in late antiquity is also examined. This work also focuses on some of the major genres of medieval biblical exegesis: plain sense, allegory, and mystical.

A psychological and historical exploration of belief in a spirit world, imperceptible to the senses, as a pervasive and deeply-rooted characteristic of religionBelief in a spirit world, and a blissful or agonizing afterlife, is one of the most pervasive and deeply-rooted characteristics of religion. This volume offers a wide-ranging exploration of this basic religious theme. Most of the case studies are drawn from Jewish and Christian tradition, providing in-depth coverage of Judaism and Christianity from late Antiquity through the Medieval period. There are also examples from Islamic, Japanese, and Chinese traditions for a comparative perspective with Western traditions.Several chapters deal with the formative period of Jewish and Christian apocalypticism, which is concerned not only with the end of the physical world but also with the eternal heavenly world. These chapters are also important for illustrating the development of mysticism in Western traditions.The most distinctive aspect of this book is that it does not deal with antiquity alone, but juxtaposes the historical essays with a survey of modern day, near-death experiences. It raises issues of fundamental importance for the psychology of religion as well as for its historyThe most distinctive aspect of this book is that it does not deal with antiquity alone, but juxtaposes the historical essays with a survey of modern day, near-death experiences. It raises issues of fundamental importance for the psychology of religion as well as for its history.

A psychological and historical exploration of belief in a spirit world, imperceptible to the senses, as a pervasive and deeply-rooted characteristic of religionBelief in a spirit world, and a blissful or agonizing afterlife, is one of the most pervasive and deeply-rooted characteristics of religion. This volume offers a wide-ranging exploration of this basic religious theme. Most of the case studies are drawn from Jewish and Christian tradition, providing in-depth coverage of Judaism and Christianity from late Antiquity through the Medieval period. There are also examples from Islamic, Japanese, and Chinese traditions for a comparative perspective with Western traditions.Several chapters deal with the formative period of Jewish and Christian apocalypticism, which is concerned not only with the end of the physical world but also with the eternal heavenly world. These chapters are also important for illustrating the development of mysticism in Western traditions.The most distinctive aspect of this book is that it does not deal with antiquity alone, but juxtaposes the historical essays with a survey of modern day, near-death experiences. It raises issues of fundamental importance for the psychology of religion as well as for its historyThe most distinctive aspect of this book is that it does not deal with antiquity alone, but juxtaposes the historical essays with a survey of modern day, near-death experiences. It raises issues of fundamental importance for the psychology of religion as well as for its history.

A National Jewish Book Award FinalistThe haftarot are an ancient part of Hebrew liturgy. These supplemental readings are excerpted from the Prophets (Nevi'im) and accompany each weekly Sabbath reading from the Torah as well as readings for special Sabbaths and festivals. Noted Bible scholar Michael Fishbane introduces each haftarah with an outline and discussion of how that passage conveys its meaning, and he follows it with observations on how it relates to the Torah portion or special occasion. Individual comments, citing classical rabbinic as well as modern commentators, highlight ambiguities and difficulties in the Hebrew text, which appears in concert with the JPS translation. The haftarot are also put into biblical context by a separate overview of all prophetic books (except Jonah) that are excerpted in the haftarah cycle.

Song of Songs is a wondrous collection of love lyrics nestled in the heart of the Hebrew Bible—songs of passion and praise between a young maiden and her beloved. It is religious lyric par excellence. But what is its true meaning? Is it an expression of human love and passion, pure and simple? A celebration of the covenant between God and Israel? Or something else?The latest volume in the Jewish Publication Society's highly acclaimed Bible Commentary series, Song of Songs provides a line-by-line commentary of the original Hebrew Bible text, complete with vocalization and cantillation marks, alongside the JPS English translation. Unique to this volume are four layers of commentary: the traditional PaRDeS of  peshat (literal meaning), derash (midrashic and religious-traditional sense), remez (allegorical level), and sod (mystical and spiritual intimations). Michael Fishbane skillfully draws from them all to reveal the extraordinary range of interpretations and ideas perceived in this beloved biblical book. A comprehensive introduction, extensive endnotes, a full bibliography (traditional and modern), and additional explanatory materials are included to enhance the reader's appreciation of the work.This original, comprehensive commentary on the Song of Songs interprets historical, critical, and traditional sources drawn from the ancient Near East, the entire spectrum of Jewish sources and commentaries, and modern critical studies.

The geographic, spiritual, and intellectual journeys of Nahum N. Glatzer (1903-1990)—prolific scholar, Brandeis University professor, and editor of the Schocken publishing house—reveal a rich cultural ambiance that no longer exists, as well as a breadth of perspective and learning that remains enviable in our time. This collection of 78 memoir entries, written as a document for his family, offers personal glimpses of Nahum Glatzer which complement his scholarship. Episodes and vignettes in chronological sequence recount the decisive events of his travels from Bodenbach to Boston and from strict Orthodoxy to a more historical, cultural, and aesthetic understanding of Judaism. Anecdotal and at times humorous accounts of some of the many outstanding personalities Glatzer knew and interacted with, including Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, two of the leading German-Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century. Glatzer also relates a variety of his experiences and expressions of faith, both personal and social. The events themselves become moments of religious psychology or theological insight. For Glatzer, as for Rosenzweig, the world was transformed by speech and the realities brought into existence through it. Michael Fishbane’s detailed introduction sets these memoirs, from the final decades of Glatzer’s life, in the context of his life and work. A preface by Judith Glatzer Wechsler offers personal reflections on the character of her father and his work.

A Centennial, writes Hebrew College President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, “is an invitation to reflect on the last century of teaching and learning at Hebrew College, to ask ourselves what has changed and what has endured, to explore accomplishments and share ongoing struggles, to articulate our aspirations for the next one hundred years.” A compilation of captivating essays on Jewish studies alongside powerful personal memoirs from the College’s earliest years until today, Ḥiddushim captures and celebrates the spirit of a learning community connected to its source and brimming with spiritual and intellectual creativity as it carries forward its legacy of rootedness and renewal into the future.

Midrash is arguably the most ancient genre of Jewish literature, forming a voluminous body of scriptural exegesis over the course of centuries. There is hardly anything in the ancient rabbinic universe that was not taught through this medium. The diversity and development of that creative profusion are presented here in a new light. The contributors cover a broad range of texts, from late antiquity to the modern period and from all the centres of literary creativity, including non-rabbinic and non-Jewish literature, so that the full extent of the modes and transformations of Midrash can be fully appreciated. A comprehensive introduction situates Midrash in its historical and cultural setting, pointing to creative adaptations within the tradition and providing a sense of the variety of genres and applications discussed in the body of the book.Bringing together an impressive array of the leading names in the field, the volume is innovative in both its scope and content, seeking to open a new period in the study of Midrash and its creative role in the formation of culture. It should be of interest to all scholars of Jewish studies, as well as to a wider readership interested in the interrelationships between hermeneutics, culture, and creativity, and especially in the afterlife of a classical genre and its ability to inspire new creativity in many forms.

Midrash is arguably the most ancient genre of Jewish literature, forming a voluminous body of scriptural exegesis over the course of centuries. There is hardly anything in the ancient rabbinic universe that was not taught through this medium. The diversity and development of that creative profusion are presented here in a new light. The contributors cover a broad range of texts, from late antiquity to the modern period and from all the centres of literary creativity, including non-rabbinic and non-Jewish literature, so that the full extent of the modes and transformations of Midrash can be fully appreciated. A comprehensive introduction situates Midrash in its historical and cultural setting, pointing to creative adaptations within the tradition and providing a sense of the variety of genres and applications discussed in the body of the book.Bringing together an impressive array of the leading names in the field, the volume is innovative in both its scope and content, seeking to open a new period in the study of Midrash and its creative role in the formation of culture. It should be of interest to all scholars of Jewish studies, as well as to a wider readership interested in the interrelationships between hermeneutics, culture, and creativity, and especially in the afterlife of a classical genre and its ability to inspire new creativity in many forms.

In dieser Sammlung von Studien untersucht Michael Fishbane die komplexen und vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen dem "biblischen Text" und der "exegetischen Kultur". Er zeigt die vielfachen literarischen Dimensionen und Interpretationsstrategien auf, die antike Schriften prägten.

In seiner zweiten Aufsatzsammlung beschäftigt sich Michael Fishbane vertiefend mit den komplexen und vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen dem "biblischen Text" und seinen exegetischen Kulturen. Dabei betont er die Vielfalt der jüdischen Auslegungskultur und das Zusammenspiel von Kultur, Text und Theologie.