Books
Kids
Popular
Authors & Events
Recommendations
Audio
Look Inside
Mar 29, 2022 | ISBN 9780805243574 Buy
Mar 29, 2022 | ISBN 9780805243581 Buy
Mar 29, 2022 | 830 Minutes Buy
Buy from Other Retailers:
Mar 29, 2022 | ISBN 9780805243574
Mar 29, 2022 | ISBN 9780805243581
Mar 29, 2022 | ISBN 9780593609392
830 Minutes
A masterly analysis of the Book of Leviticus, the newest volume in the award-winning series of commentaries on the Hebrew Bible by “a celebrated biblical scholar, keen on weaving together traditional Jewish exegesis, psychoanalysis, and postmodern criticism” (The New York Times Book Review)The image of the Golden Calf haunts the commentaries that thread through Leviticus. This catastrophic episode, in which the Israelites (freed from Egyptian slavery and forty days after their momentous encounter with God at Mount Sinai) worship a pagan idol while Moses is receiving the Torah from God on the mountaintop, gives the mostly legalistic text a unique depth and resonance. According to midrashic tradition, the post-traumatic effects of the sin of the Golden Calf linger through the generations, the sin to be “paid off” in small increments through time. Post-biblical perspectives view this as the diffusion of punishment, as well as a way of addressing the on-going phenomenon of idolatry itself. These after-effects of the Golden Calf incident are imaginatively explored in Avivah Zornberg’s magnificent textual analysis. She brings the rabbis of the Talmud, medieval commentators, Hasidic scholars, philosophers, psychoanalysts, and literary masters—from Aristotle and Rashi to the Baal Shem Tov, Franz Rosenzweig, Sigmund Freud, and George Eliot—into her pathbreaking discussion of the nature of reward and punishment, good and evil, Eros and Thanatos, and humankind’s intricate and ever-fascinating encounter with the divine.
AVIVAH GOTTLIEB ZORNBERG is the author of The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious and Moses: A Human Life. She lectures widely in Israel, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. She lives… More about Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
“Zornberg follows her volumes on Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers with a stirring examination of Leviticus. Her nuanced interpretations reward close study, particularly her observation that ‘stumbling’ is essential to the process of understanding God’s words and that ‘failure is the process by which the Torah becomes real.’ This outstanding exegesis builds on its penetrating analysis of the Golden Calf and a surprising roster of sources—including Aristotle, George Eliot, and Sigmund Freud—to arrive at an original and persuasive take on Leviticus. Admirers of Karen Armstrong’s The Lost Art of Scripture will be richly rewarded.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network
Stay in Touch
By clicking Sign Up, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Start earning points for buying books! Just for joining you’ll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members.