Reading Exodus

Préface
Leading Jewish thinkers from varied fields open new ways of interpreting this foundational text from the Torah.

Auteur
Beth Kissileff is the author of the forthcoming novel, Questioning Return. She is at work on a second novel and a scholarly study of Biblical misunderstandings between humans and God. She has received fellowships from the Corporation of Yaddo and the National Endowment for the Humanities and has taught at Carleton College, the University of Minnesota, Smith College and Mount Holyoke College.

Texte du rabat

In Reading Exodus Beth Kissileff draws together academics, experts and practitioners from different and varied fields to examine the text of Exodus through a series of new lenses. A singer/songwriter comments on the Song at the Sea in Exodus 15, an architect on the process of building a tabernacle, a video game specialist and designer on rules. Readers will enjoy Oliver Sacks on the Sabbath, political scientist Michael Walzer on how Exodus contributed to revolutionary thought and David Brion Davis on how American slaves viewed the Exodus. The chapters cover the diversity of Exodus, offering specialist views from outside biblical studies on topics such as midwives, iconography, the immigrant experience. Here, alongside work from biblical scholars is writing by anthropologists, computer scientists, poets, lawyers, novelists and artists. Each writer offers a different prism through which to see a core aspect of this ancient text, displaying the wide variety of possibilities that the biblical text can yield in diverse hands. As with Kissileff's previous collection Reading Genesis ("an anthology that breathes the sense of Genesis being a text that matters and speaks to the human condition at a fundamental level" Journal for the Study of the Old Testament) the purpose of this volume is to draw meaning out of the text, to encourage participants to focus on questioning, on learning, and on intellectual engagement with the biblical story.

Contenu
Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations Exodus 1 - Migrations 1. Beyond Tolerance, Why the Story of the Exodus Matters Jeffrey H. Cohen, Ohio State University, USA 2. Founding Myth, Population Genetics: Multiple Foundings and Migrations -- Harry Ostrer, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA Exodus 1 Midwives 3. Saviors and Liars: The Midwives of Exodus 1 -- Esther Schor, Princeton University, USA 4. Civil Disobedience and Disobedience in the Story of the Midwives Oren Gross, University of Minnesota Law School, USA Exodus 1 The Daughter of Pharoah 5. The Outstretched Arm of Pharaoh's Daughter: A Midrash -- Aryeh Lev Stollman, Mount Sinai Hospital New York, USA Exodus 2 The Birth of Moses 6. Imagining Moses: From Aham Ha'am to Alabama -- Stuart Schoffman, Journalist 7. Moses' Dilemma: The Problems -- Mark Irving Lichbach, University of Maryland, USA Exodus 3 The Burning Bush 8. The Iconography of Exodus -- Tom Freudenheim, American Federation of the Arts, USA Exodus 5 Moses and Aaron's meeting with Pharoah 9. Exodus and Revolution Michael Walzer, Princeton University, USA Exodus 12 Illustrating Exodus 10. The Amsterdam Haggadah of 1695 -- Adam S. Cohen, University of Toronto, Canada Exodus 13 Leaving Slavery 11. The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation David Brion Davis, Yale University, USA Exodus 15 The Song at the Sea 12. Songwriting and Exodus Peter Himmelman, Singer/Songwriter 13. Poetry in Exodus -- Jacqueline Osherow, University of Utah, USA Exodus 15 The Song of Miriam 14. Know Your Place: On Miriam, Ambition, and the Punishing of Women -- Elana Maryles Sztokman, activisit 15. Exodus 15: 26 I am the Lord that Heals You Elisha Waldman, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, USA Exodus 16 Manna 16. Honeydew -- Edith Pearlman, novelist Exodus 16 Fleshpots of Egypt 17. Ireland and the Fleshpots of Egypt in James Joyce's Ulysses Abby Bender, New York University, USA Exodus 17 Memory 18. Book as Memory Lynne Avadenka, artist 19. On Memory and Narrative Beth Kissileff, University of Pittsburgh, USA Exodus 19 Sinai 20. Being Present at Mount Sinai: My Life as an Immigrant Ilan Stavans, Amherst College, USA 21. The Chosen People: The Wondrous and Terrifying Life of a Wild Idea Liel Leibovitz, New York University, USA Exodus 20 Law 22. Judaism as a Rule System Jessica Hammer, Carnegie Mellon University, USA Exodus 20 The Sabbath 23. The Sabbath, Oliver Sacks, New York University, USA Exodus 23 Duty 24. Paradox of Impartiality: The Western Right to Refrain from Acting and the Biblical Duty to Act -- Frederick M. Lawrence, Georgetown Law Center, USA Exodus 31 Betzalel 25. The Character of Betzalel -- Amy Gottlieb, novelist Exodus 32 The Golden Calf 26. Abstraction, Embodiment, and the Necessity of Radiance Karen Schiff, artist Exodus 33 Show Me Your Glory 27. Show Me Your Glory Sharrona Pearl, Annenberg School for Communication, USA Exodus 35 The Tabernacle 28. Flux and Feng Shui of the Tabernacle -- Elisheva Levi, Interior Architects New York, USA Exodus 38 The Mirrors 29. Everyday Redemption: Performances of Hope Moses Pava, Syms School of Business, USA Index