Biblical Hebrew Forum

["????" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

FYI

>From Sara Leopold <sara.leopold AT oup.com> came this notice:
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The Jewish Study Bible
featuring The Jewish Publication Societys Tanakh translation
Adele Berlin, Marc Zvi Brettler Editors
Michael Fishbane Consulting Editor
Publication date: January 4, 2004
ISBN: 0-19-529751-2; $40.00; 2,208 pages

See <http://www.oup.com/us/brochure/0195297512/?view=usa> for more
details.

The Jewish Study Bible breaks exciting new ground in Jewish study of the
Bible, for it is a full Bible with introductions, annotations and
background and interpretive essays that together provide the reader with a
guide to the meaning of the biblical text and to the history of Jewish
interpretation of it. It combines in one volume a guide to the meaning of
the Bible in its historical contexts, and an overview of the engagement of
the Jewish people with the Bible from biblical times to the present. It is
the first study Bible of its kind, incorporating the history of
interpretation into every part of the study materials, and providing a
living experience of how biblical interpretation has developed over the
course of 2,500 years.

In the commentary on the biblical text, the Jewish Study Bible reflects
Jewish understandings of the Bible: the centrality of Torah or teaching,
the importance of the Masoretic (traditional Hebrew) text, the liturgical
use of the Bible in the synagogue, the development from the text of
central Jewish festivals like Passover and observances like kosher food
laws. In these annotations, and more fully in the essays, the development
of legal commentary, and midrash aggadah, homiletic commentary, is fully
explained, and many examples are provided. The annotations and essays are
by numerous authors from a wide variety of academic institutions.

This remarkable work is for anyone interested in acquiring a fuller
understanding of the Bible and its interpretation as well as a history of
Jewish tradition in general and the riches of the Torah in particular. One
need not be familiar with Hebrew to appreciate the Jewish Study Bible.
Conservative, Reform, Orthodox and Reconstructionist Jews, Christians,
Muslims, professors, students, and rabbis will want to be made aware of
this exciting new publication.