Back to the Sources

by Barry W. Holtz

Book Overview

Essays analyze the major traditional texts of Judaism from literary, historical, philosophical, and religious points of view.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671605968
• ISBN13: 9780671605964
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Superb introduction to Jewish texts

Back to the Sources is a collection of essays by eminent scholars in their field on the major texts of the Jewish religious tradition. The topics covered include, Bible, Talmud (includes Mishnah and medieval law codes), midrash, medieval biblical commentaries, medieval philosophy, kabbalah (sans pop stars), hasidic tales, and the siddur (the prayerbook). The essay on the Bible covers the literary aspects of modern scholarship. The Talmud and midrash essays help the reader understand the classical rabbinic mindset that give rise to those literatures - that is, every word and every letter means something, and therefore the parallelism (which to a modern literary theorist is an aspect of style) of the biblical text, becomes a phenomenon to be explained. The essay on medieval biblical commentaries is an excellent survey of all the major figures and amounts to an introduction to the Mikra'ot Gedolot (the biblical text printed with a collection of commentaries on the same page to facilitate study). The essay on medieval philosophy traces the development of Jewish philosophical works and presents the main figures. The essay on kabbalah is the weakest of the collection. It presents only a very superficial account of the major figures, the "official" (Gershom Scholem) story of its evolution, and a very limited introduction to the system of sfirot. It mentions not at all the four worlds, a major failing. The essay on Hasidic tales is excellent. Each essay has a "Where to go from here?" section that points the reader towards translations of the primary sources and other books and articles. The sources cited date primarily to the 1980s and earlier, and that particular section is in need of an update. There are also some glaring omissions in the references. For example, in biblical poetry, James Kugel's The Idea of Biblical Poetry is the gold standard, and not referenced. Nor when discussing Biblical narrative is Julius Wellhausen's Prolegomena to the Study of Israel, which is the foundation text for the Documentary Hypothesis.

How to read the Jewish sources

This work is a kind of reader's guide to reading traditional sources. One chapter for Torah, another for Tannach as a whole, another for Mishnah, another for Gemara. Then there are chapters on Kabbalah, Hasidut, the Siddur. Each of the chapters can be read individually. There are also helpful illustrations for instance of the text of the Gemara. The essays are written with intelligence and elegance. The work is highly recommended especially for those who are interested in learning more about how to read the Jewish literary sources.

good stuff

Northrop Frye, Harold Bloom, and Robert Alter ALL say something good about this book on the back. Those are three giants, each to be listened to closely.

extremely helpful

This book, of many that I have read, deals most concretely and clearly with the major texts of Judaism. I consider it a must-read for all who are interested in learning more about the often obscure texts and their authors.

A wonderful introduction to rabbinic literature and Judaism

This work presents chapters on all areas of Jewish and rabbinic literature, by ten experts in Jewish rabbinic works. They are not just knowledgeable, but they are also good writers.It presents a readable explanation and overview of all the basic Jewish texts, including the Torah, the Tanakh (Bible), the Mishna and both Talmuds. That's right, there are two Talmuds: The Bavli, from Babylon, and the Yerushalmi, from Israel. This book also covers Jewish philosophical writings, Kabbalah [Jewish mysticism], Hasidic writings and the Siddur [prayerbook].