"A landmark event: the complete Hebrew Bible in the award-winning translation that delivers the stunning literary power of the original. A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David's flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job's incendiary questioning of God's ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter's generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible." --

This guide to the Jewish Bible explains what the Jewish Bible is, how it developed, its structure and differences between it and Christian Bibles. It also includes short histories of Bible translations and commentaries, a guide to characters and places, plus an introduction to Biblical poetry, storytelling, law and Bible study.

Like the Five Books of Moses a cornerstone of the scriptural canon, the Book of Psalms has been a source of solace and joy for countless readers over millennia. The cleansing purity of its images invites reflection and supplication in times of sorrow. The musicality of its powerful rhythms moves readers to celebration of good tidings. So today as it has been throughout our past, this is a book to be cherished as the grounding for our daily lives.This timeless poetry is beautifully wrought by a scholar whose translation of the Five Books of Moses was hailed as a godsend by Seamus Heaney and a masterpiece by Robert Fagles. Robert Alter's The Book of Psalms captures the simplicity, the physicality, and the coiled rhythmic power of the Hebrew, restoring the remarkable eloquence of these ancient poems. His learned and insightful commentary shines a light on the obscurities of the text.

Continuing his exploration of the art of the "Bible," Robert Alter provides a fresh interpretation of the poetry of the Old Testament and a lucid, original account of how biblical poetry works.

Torah as a guide to personal growth Following the framework of the ancient tradition of weekly Torah reading, Shefa Gold shows us how to find blessing, challenge and the opportunity for spiritual transformation in each portion of Torah. An inspiring guide to exploring the landscape of Scripture... and recognizing that landscape as the story of your life. Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land promises to turn the year-long cycle of Torah reading into a journey of personal spiritual growth. The first book by Rabbi Shefa Gold, the popular teacher of chant and meditation, Torah Journeys is designed to be meaningful for those at any spiritual level. Shefa Gold is renowned in Jewish Renewal circles and beyond for her teachings, particularly in the realms of chanting, meditation, and connecting to the sacred. She received rabbinical ordinations from both the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Salomi. In Torah Journeys, Rabbi Gold reveals a blessing and a challenge hidden in each weekly Torah portion, based on her principle that the Torah is happening now, and that its stories - from the Creation in Genesis through the death of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy - are about each individual's life journey. Drawing from her spiritual search as an adept in an array of practices, Rabbi Gold offers transformative practices for each week, ranging from meditation to visualization to chant. Torah Journeys is the fruit of the religious journey of an engaging teacher with an impressive grasp of the texts and liturgy. Having experienced other traditions inspired Rabbi Gold to search out similar tools in Judaism to expand consciousness, become fully human and know God Rabbi Gold shares with us her insightful approach to Bible study and personal growth. The result is poetry for the soul. Torah Journeys is a book that is not merely about Jewish Renewal, but in fact, gives the reader tools to do it. A classic of Jewish spiritual renewal.

"This book is a history of the Near East from the point of view of a single nation, covering not only what is known about the prophets themselves--including Elijah, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel--but also the stories of King David, King Saul, and how the ancient Israelites were affected by the great Near Eastern empires that surrounded them. Layered into this work of history is a piece of extraordinary literary criticism. Podhoretz's very close reading of the verse and imagery used by the biblical prophets restores them to the top reaches of the poetic pantheon, for these books contain some of the greatest poetry ever written. The historical chronicle and the literary criticism will transport readers to a time that is both exotic and familiar and will evoke a distinct and original world. But the third perspective of The prophets is that of moral philosophy, and it serves to bring the prophets' message into the twenty-first century. For to Norman Podhoretz, the real relevance of the prophets today is more than the excitement of their history or the beauty of their poetry: it is their message. Podhoretz sees, in the words of the biblical prophets, a war being waged, a war against the sin of revering anything made by the hands of man--in short, idolatry. In their relentless battle against idolatry, Podhoretz finds the prophets' most meaningful and enduring message: a stern warning against the all-consuming worship of self that is at least as relevant in the twenty-first century as it was three thousand years ago"--Jacket

Like much twentieth-century feminist writing today, this book crosses the boundaries of genre. Biblical interpretation combines with fantasy, autobiography, and poetry. Politics joins with eroticism. Irreverence coexists with a yearning for the sacred. Scholarship contends with heresy. Most excitingly, the author continues and extends the tradition of arguing with God that commences in the Bible itself and continues now, as it has for centuries, to animate Jewish writing. The difference here is that the voice that debates with God is a woman's.

How to live a life of wisdom and fulfillment in a far-from-perfect world? Philosopher Menachem Fisch and artist Debra Band together probe Qohelet''s inquiry into the value of life "under the sun" in this brilliant work--the first illuminated manuscript of the entire biblical text, the first philosophical analysis tracing the coherent path of this biblical thinker''s full argument. Whereas modern readers influenced by the famous declaration "vanity, vanity, all is vanity" from the 1611 King James Bible have commonly understood that Qohelet found only futility and hopelessness in human life, Fisch restores the literal meaning, "vapor," to Qohelet''s key word, hevel , with implications that reveal Qohelet''s path to wisdom and even serenity. Through linguistic precision and careful unfolding of the book''s philosophical argument, Fisch uncovers Qohelet''s twin concerns: life is short, and situated as we are, far below the heavens, we can never be assured of comprehending our world, or understanding divine will and intent. He reveals Qohelet''s understanding that since we can never fully predict or understand our fortunes or the heritage we leave behind us, the best we can do is to live our lives fully, relating to others attentively, always aware of the limits of human life. In her glowing, immersive, and discursive illuminated paintings of the entire text, Band imagines Qohelet''s teachings, employing the grandest of palaces, the Alhambra, as the central metaphor for the beauty and impermanence of human life and accomplishments. She fills its halls and gardens with often surprising imagery, symbolism, and related poetry, creating a visual midrash that reveals the relationship of Qohelet''s thought to other biblical texts and Jewish lore and its reverberations across the centuries and cultures of Western civilization, from ancient Israel to today''s America. Each illuminated page is complemented by lucid commentary explaining its full meaning. Renowned scholars Ellen F. Davis and Moshe Halbertal crown the work with a penetrating foreword and preface. "Illuminated manuscripts have a rich tradition to which this gem adds creatively. Not only does Debra Band''s exquisite micrography, calligraphy, and artwork invite us to marinate in and meditate on Qohelet''s suggestive composition, Menachem Fisch adds a unique and penetrating philosophical analysis. This work takes us from the ancient world of the Bible through medieval traditions of illumination and into a reading of Qohelet as a harbinger of post-modern thinking."--Peter A. Pettit, Teaching Pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa "''Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,'' wrote the mysterious author of the biblical Qohelet--Ecclesiastes, in English, from the Greek. ''There is nothing new under the sun.'' For generations, the meaning of this haunting outlier text seemed clear and even merciless: in its endless cycling, nothing in the cosmos lasts, so nothing matters. Even if God is real, human life is in the end unreal and can have no real purpose. Resignation is the only valid response: at best, ''living for the moment;'' at worst, existential despair. But what if there were something new under the sun? In this fresh approach to Qohelet, philosopher Menachem Fisch and scholar-artist Debra Band radically re-vision a text whose interpretation was ''settled.'' Through exciting exposition that ranges from the history of rabbinical thought to analytical philosophy to the pain of personal loss, and illumined by Band''s glowing paintings, the authors return us to the original Hebrew word on which Qohelet pivots: hevel . When hevel is not read ''figuratively'' but is restored to its literal meaning as ''vapor'' or ''mist,'' an unexpected theology is revealed. What if the text were never a meditation on absurdity after all, but instead ''a vivid portrayal of the limits of human knowledge?'' These limits can inspire us to return to our deepest human challenge: how should we live? Fisch and Band show how we can take up the question again in fascination--and even more, in hope. An unforgettable book."--Kimberley C. Patton, Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion, Harvard Divinity School

This fresh and hopeful look at an ancient book synthesizes rabbinic commentary with modern scholarship, fine art, and poetry. It highlights expressions from Kohelet that have become common parlance while shedding light on its more obscure verses. Ecclesiastes and the search for meaning offers a comprehensive introduction to the book and includes three essays on each chapter, concluding with an epilogue on Kohelet's liturgical use on the holiday of Sukkot. Kohelet combines the frustrations and vulnerabilities of life "under the sun" with the temporal joys that make life worthwhile. All are regarded as a "gift from God".--Back cover.

With keen insight and lucid analysis, Adele Berlin brings the dramatic words of the great prophet Zaphaniah to life. Living under the tumultuous reign of King Josiah of Judah (640-609 BCE), Zephaniah predicted the final day of judgment when God would come to the fate of Israel and other nations. The book of Zephaniah is composed as a charged dialogue between God and the prophet. As their conversation unfolds, we learn of the doomed destiny which are indifferent to the Lord's power and of humans who have become too enthralled worldly riches. As piercing as any modern day social critic, Zephaniah proclaims salvation only for those who lead a life of simplicity, faith, and humility. The new translation by Adele Berlin, a literary as well as biblical scholar, celebrates the vivid and powerful language of this ancient poet. In staccato exclamations, elevated rhetoric, and a rich tapestry of metaphors and similes, Zephaniah paints a world beset by corruption, idolatry, and war. Berlin's contemporary commentary illuminates not only the beauty of Zephaniah's poetry, but also the political meaning behind his anguished verse For the biblical scholar, Berlin draws vital between Zephaniah's references and the rest of the Hebrew Bible. For general readers, Berlin's accessible Zephaniah is an invitation to explore the political and socially turbulent times of this ancient prophet's world.

Explores how poetry is necessary to prayer, illustrated from the Psalms, Isaiah and Caedmon's Hymn.

Product Description A collection of 149 psalms (one less than King David) through which the poet discovers the dislocations in meaning and language that afflict the contemporary individual and drives the problem back to the Shoa, the destruction of the Jews of Europe and its catastrophic effect on the possibility of meaning let alone faith. By piecing together the remnants of language the poet is able to return to the world of discourse and, ultimately, prayer but in a significantly different key. About the Author Ira F. Stone is the Rabbi of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Philadelphia and a Visiting Lecturer in Jewish Philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He is the author of three previous books, Seeking The Path To Life, (Jewish Lights) Reading Levinas/Reading Talmud,(JPS) and A Really Perfect Poem Has An Infinitely Small Vocabulary, (Mellon Poetry Press). His essays in Jewish thought have appeared in various journals including Conservative Judaism, Judaism, Kerem. His poetry has appeared in various magazines. He is married to Anna Stone and they are the parents of Tamar, Yehoshua and Shaul.

Do Old Testament poetry and narrative, wisdom-writing and prophecy work on us in the same way as do nonbiblical literary texts? Competent readers over the centuries have arrived at conflicting answers to this question. Some (from Longinus on) have maintained that biblical books offer examples of supreme literary art; others have passionately rejected this approach, insisting that beauty and pleasure are not the Bible's business. Poetry with a Purpose argues that, paradoxically, both views are right. Biblical poetics is marked by an unusual tension between aesthetic and nonaesthetic (even anti-aesthetic) modes of discourse. To understand this dialectic is to understand something quite fundamental about biblical texts and, more particularly, about the nature of the contract that governs their reading. The text summons the reader to respond to a familiar form but at the same instant undermines that response, deconstructs that form. The book of Ester, for example, displays the conventions of the Persian epic tradition, but its style is subtly challenged by the text itself. Similarly, the book of Job might seem to conform to the classical concept of tragedy but ultimately presents a uniquely biblical version of the form. While the prophets use the language of myth, they will often explode or "demythologize" their own language, affirming purposed at variance with the world of myth. Harold Fisch applies his remarkably fruitful thesis to a number of biblical texts and modes, among them biblical pastoral, the Song of Songs, Psalms, Hosea, and Ecclesiastes. Equally at home in biblical studies and in general literature and theory, the author has produced a highly original work of unusual range and scholarship.

In the years between 1929 and 1939, when Itzik Manger wrote most of the poetry and fiction that made him famous, his name among Yiddish readers was a household word. Called the Shelley of Yiddish, he was characterized as being "drunk with talent." This book -- the first full-length anthology of Manger's work -- displays the full range of his genius in poetry, fiction, and criticism. The book begins with an extensive historical, biographical, and literary-critical introduction to Manger's work. There are then excerpts from a novel, The Book of Paradise, three short stories, autobiographical essays, critical essays, and finally, Manger's magnificent poetry -- ballads, bible poems, personal lyrics, and the Megilla Songs. These works, which have the patina of myths acquired ages ago, also offer modern psychological insight and irrepressible humor. With Manger we make the leap into the Jewish twentieth century, as he recreates the past in all its layered expressiveness and interprets it with modernist sensibilities.