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Posts Tagged Bible
Have You Read About “The Jewish Annotated New Testament”?
Posted by Rachel Broder in Jewish Knowledge on November 28, 2011
JPS author and Brandeis professor, Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler has done the unexpected. Along with Vanderbilt professor, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Brettler edited the newest biblical sensation The Jewish Annotated New Testament. Entirely edited and annotated by Jews, the book includes essays from 50 Jewish scholars.
Articles in The New York Times and Brandeis Now both discuss the absolute newness of a Jewish text on the New Testament. Jews have always read and discussed the Old Testament, but Brettler and Levine thought it was time for something different. Brandeis Now quotes Brettler as saying that, “’[He] wanted more Jews to read the New Testament and understand the majority religion in America…It also is important for Jews to know their history, and the New Testament is important to that, since the first Christians were Jews.’”
Response to the book has been wildly diverse, ranging from excitement to rejection. The Times speaks specifically about protectve Jewish mothers who may not wish for their children to read the anti-Semitism in the New Testament. Dr. Brettler mentions his recommending the book to a mother for her son. Her response was simply, “’If he wants it, he can buy it for himself.’”
I must admit that my mother informed me of The Jewish Annotated New Testament before I read it about it in The Times or even on Jewcy. From an academic perspective, I’m completely intrigued. Like Dr. Levine, I too grew up in a largely Catholic area and always wanted to know more of their New Testament. The words “New Testament” were almost dirty in my Jewish world growing up, associated with anti-Semitism and non-Jewish stories. Today, however, my parents more than encourage me to explore non-Jewish texts for educational or personal purposes, and I see no reason why The Jewish Annotated New Testament should be any differently approached.
Lost, But Not Forgotten
Biblical Archaeology Review
Last week, the New York Times reported that the ancient city of Aleppo, Syria had just laid out plans for a major historical restoration. Coincidentally, Aleppo is the setting of our latest book due out this week: Crown of Aleppo: The Mystery of the Oldest Hebrew Bible Codex by Hayim Tawil and Bernard Schneider. The book tells the incredible story of the Aleppo Codex, the most authoritative and accurate traditional Masoretic texts of the Bible. Because of its importance, it became known as the Crown of Aleppo. It traveled through Jerusalem and Cairo before finding a home at the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, Syria, where it remained until the synagogue was burned down in 1947. The Crown was believed to be lost forever, but it was discovered that most of it survived when it was smuggled into Israel in 1958 and later brought to its current home at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The Crown of Aleppo is not the only historical text that was thought to be lost. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of about 850 manuscripts, categorized as biblical, apocryphal, or sectarian, dating back to 250 B.C.E. through 68 C.E. They were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in Qumran, located on Dead Sea’s northwestern shores. Many scholars believe that the scrolls were written by a sect of Jews called the Essenes, who settled in the Judean Desert and disappeared after the Romans destroyed their settlements in 68 C.E. The Dead Sea Scrolls are now displayed in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum located in Jerusalem.
A couple years ago, Geraldine Brooks published the award-winning People of the Book, a fictional history of a real text, the Sarajevo Haggadah. The Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the oldest Sephardic Haggadahs, was written in Barcelona around 1350. After the Spanish Expulsion in 1492 it was brought to Sarajevo. The Haggadah reappeared in 1894, when was sold to the National Museum in Sarajevo. Notes written in the margins of the book have given historians clues about the book’s travels during the 300 years the book was missing. During World War II, the Haggadah was hidden from the Nazis by the museum’s librarian who smuggled it out of Sarajevo and brought it to a Muslim cleric to hide. Then, in the 1990s, the Haggadah disappeared again during the Bosnian civil war, when the museum was broken into. It was rediscovered in 1995 and has been on permanent display in the museum since 2002 thanks to the help of the United Nations and the Jewish community of Bosnia.
These texts have been crucial in our knowledge of Jewish history. In many ways they are like the Jewish people. They have overcome war and destruction, yet they still stand strong today as a source of inspiration for us and for future generations.
For more information on the Crown of Aleppo: http://www.aleppocodex.org/
To read an article about author Dr. Hayim Tawil: http://spider.mc.yu.edu/news/articles/article.cfm?id=102020
-Jill Finkelstein
Lifting Spirits at LimmudPhilly
Posted by admin in Jewish Knowledge on March 15, 2010
Marc Brettler, JPS author, guest blogs about his LimmudPhilly experience.
Scholarship is a very lonely venture—just me and my books. I often wonder: Does anyone care? But whenever I go to Limmud, my spirits are buoyed.
http://www.limmudphilly.org/
I just returned from LimmudPhilly—my third Limmud experience, though my first in the US. (I earlier spoke at the first Limmud held in Cambridge, England, and at the big Limmud in the UK.) What a blast. Not only did I enjoy seeing old friends, colleagues, and former students, but I made new friends, and saw that people actually do care about the Bible, which I taught.
My first session was something new for Limmud—a class where knowledge of Hebrew was assumed, so we could look together at some of the Psalms traditionally recited on Friday night at synagogue, trying to figure out why there were chosen as Sabbath psalms. Given that Hebrew knowledge was expected, I thought I would have a handful of participants—but I had many more, and together we puzzled through parts of Psalms 92 an 93.
Sunday was even more of a surprise—Limmud has many simultaneous sessions, and I was talking about “How the Bible Became the Bible” opposite Ruth Messinger, who was discussing social justice. I would have gone to Ruth’s session! I had people sitting on the floor, asking the best questions I had ever been asked after I finished my talk. There certainly are demographic reasons to be worried about the American Jewish community. But my experiences at Limmud and other adult Jewish education venues, and the interest in my books The Jewish Study Bible, How to Read the Bible, and How to Read the Jewish Bible, have made me much more optimistic about the Jewish future in America. We may be decreasing numerically, but there is a solid and growing core who cares in a variety of serious ways about what it means to be Jewish, about who we are as Jews, and about continuing formal and informal Jewish education. It is this group, who was well-represented at LimmudPhilly, who sit before my mind’s eye as I continue to write on Jewish topics.
Marc Brettler is Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University.
The Complete JPS Audio Bible is Finally Here!
Posted by admin in Jewish Innovation on March 9, 2010
The JPS Tanakh is considered the authoritative translation of the Jewish Bible and is certainly the most widely read English edition. That said, we’ve always known we wanted to make our Bible available to everyone, in any format that a person would want to use. Thus came the idea for an audio version and the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) was the clear partner for collaboration. After 12 months of recording the 2,000 pages of the Tanakh into 60 hours of audio using 13 narrators, the Audio Bible is finally here! Last October we gave readers a sneak peek with our free weekly Torah portion (widget-version below), but now readers have the option to purchase the entire TANAKH, only the Torah, The Five Megilloth and Jonah, or any of the other 36 books of the Bible.
The JPS Tanakh: The Jewish Bible, audio version even makes it easy for you to bring the text wherever you go, and whenever you want. Offered in both MP3 and iTunes download formats you can listen on your iPod or MP3 Player on the road or anywhere on the go.
To celebrate the release of this landmark project, we are offering a special introductory offer – purchase the download of our audio version of the complete JPS Tanakh or Torah and we will send you our Torah eBook FREE of charge!
We could keep going on about how excited we are about this audio Bible, but our Interim Director, Carol Hupping, sums it up best in this recent Q & A session.
Q: How did the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) and The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) come to partner on the JPS Tanakh: The Jewish Bible, audio version?
A: JPS had wanted an audio version of its Bible for years, but we knew that producing it would be very expensive. We’re talking about 2,000 book pages, about 60 hours of listening time. We had gotten a bid from a commercial audio book producer, but it was much more than we could afford. Then we recalled conversations we’d had with JBI a few years back about publishing a large-print Bible and remembered that they also produced audio books. We asked if they would be interested in collaborating on the project. Indeed they were.
Q: How does this project fit into the new direction JPS is taking?
A: For the last 120 years, JPS has been primarily a publisher of print books. But that’s changing now, because the Internet and handheld devices like smart phones and ebook readers have changed the way people access and use information, and the way many people read books. So, in addition to print, we’re now offering ebooks and also audio, starting with this audio version of the JPS Tanakh, directly through our website and via many other distributors. We want to reach as many people, in as many ways, as possible.
Click here to read the rest of the interview with Carol, as well as a Q & A with JBI President and CEO Ellen Isler and several of the Audio Bible narrators [73K PDF]. Feel free to link to the complete Q&A or to excerpt from it, if you wish.
Also, for more information about the JPS Audio Bible go to http://jewishpub.org/books/audiobible/about-bible.php.
-Jill Finkelstein
JPS: Producing Cultural Treasures for Over 120 Years
Posted by Michael in JPS History on March 4, 2010
Chances are JPS books have touched your life in some way. Perhaps you grew up with the JPS Tanakh on your bookshelf. Or, maybe you read a title from the K’Tonton series to your son or daughter, or you use one of the acclaimed JPS Bible commentaries to enhance your own Jewish learning. Regardless of how or when it happened, JPS made it possible for you to connect with Judaism on your own terms and share in our rich cultural legacy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billhd/
You may think of JPS as just a Jewish book publisher, but it’s so much more. Foremost, JPS is a nonprofit organization committed to bringing quality Jewish books and educational resources to all individuals and institutions interested in past and contemporary Jewish life. But, what if JPS weren’t around to fulfill this priceless mission? Look at just a few of the many treasures we would have missed:
- Eve Bunting’s New York Times’ bestselling Holocaust allegory, Terrible Things, with over 25,000 copies in print and recently added to Holocaust education curriculums around the country.
- Louis Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, a masterpiece of Jewish literature and an indispensable reference on Midrash.
- The First Jewish Catalog, the quintessential do-it-yourself guide to Jewish ritual, customs, and making Judaism part of our day-to-day lives.
- The revered JPS Tanakh, hailed by Time magazine as, “A landmark of Jewish religious scholarship.”
These are just a few examples of the thousands of titles JPS has published over the past 120 years that have helped to define Jewish culture in America. And, JPS hasn’t done it alone. Did you know that the vast majority of its publications would have never made it to the hundreds of thousands of readers around the world who enjoy them if it wasn’t for the generosity of its donors and members?
It’s clear that a gift to JPS is an investment in the future of Jewish education, community, and culture. It allows JPS to continue publishing top-quality Bible resources and fine works of Jewish scholarship and culture. And it gives you—customers, members, and patrons—the opportunity to contribute to the wealth of Jewish literature and learning and be part of history.
- Michael
Audio Bible is now Widgetized!
Posted by Sarah in Jewish Books, Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on December 8, 2009
Probably one of the greatest parts of the latest revamp of the JPS website has to be the audio Bible. Have you had a chance to check it out? If not, you should definitely take a look.
Or, maybe you’ve experienced the weekly audio portions and have been dying to share it with others! If you’ve been wishing you could put the audio Bible on your site, today is your lucky day!
Why? Because the audio Bible has officially been “widgetized”! Just copy the code below and embed the audio Bible in your site, sharing it with all your browsers.
Here’s what the result will look like:
The best part? It updates itself! Each week, the audio segment will automatically change to reflect the correct Torah portion for the week, making your life that much easier!
Enjoy!
-Sarah
The Five Greatest Forgotten Jewish Characters
Posted by Sarah in Jewish Books, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on November 12, 2009
If I had to give one downside to the Bible, it might be its inclusion of hundreds of different people. Covering thousands of years, the Jewish Bible tells the history of the Jews, but which ones? Sure. Everyone knows Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Jacob, Ruth, and more. But, what about the hundreds of other people named in the Bible that few remember?
While working on creating the Which Jewish Bible Character Are You? Facebook quiz, I found myself consulting the JPS book, Who’s Who in the Jewish Bible. I immediately fell in love. The book is amazing! It provides detailed information about each person mentioned in the Bible, something that was super helpful when creating the Facebook quiz. Even though I was focusing on some of the more major Biblical heroes/heroines, I couldn’t help but notice all the forgotten people – the people you might hear about once a year in a specific Torah portion or during a certain holiday but who often get overlooked.
So, in an attempt to discover new information, I spent some quality time perusing the pages of this JPS guide. In the end, I discovered tons of interesting people. But, since I can’t name them all, here are the five greatest forgotten characters from the Jewish Bible:
1. Mordecai – a central figure in the story of Purim, he is usually overshadowed by the characters of Esther and Haman. Still, Mordecai plays a pivotal role in the story, giving Esther information about a plot to assassinate the king. This information creates trust between Esther and the king, something that helps her thwart Haman’s plan and save her people!
2. Ishmael – even though he wasn’t Jewish, Ishmael was Abraham’s first son. While Judaism favors Isaac as Abraham’s true heir, do not forget that Ishmael went on to become the ancestor of many great religious nations, including Islam.
3. Dinah – the only daughter of Jacob’s thirteen children, she had to contend with a lot of testosterone and undoubtedly led an interesting life. Unfortunately, her main story involves her being raped and her brothers murdering the culprit, along with all the other men in the city . However, if you want a different spin on the tale, I suggest reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.
4. Samson – while most know the story of Samson and Delilah, I couldn’t help but give Samson a place in my list. For one thing, what’s cooler than a guy who derives strength from his hair? It seems so strange. Not to mention, it never ceases to amaze me that a man would tell a woman who has repeatedly tried to trick him the secret to his strength. It’s not like Delilah was trustworthy…
5. Boaz – A member of the tribe of Judah, Boaz married Ruth (who followed her mother-in-law after the death of her husband and converted to Judaism). I always thought of Boaz as a really great character of the Bible. He seems kind, and he certainly had some impressive descendants – he was King David’s great grandfather!
Enjoy some of these forgotten characters, and feel free to discover more! Happy hunting!
-Sarah
Blessing the People – From the Commentator’s Bible
Posted by Sarah in Jewish Books, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on November 10, 2009
Michael Carasik, author of the Commentator’s Bible series, guest blogs for JPS in a post discussing the priestly benediction and the commentary surrounding it.
Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he stepped down after offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being. Moses and Aaron then went inside the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the Presence of the Lord appeared to all the people. -Leviticus 9:22-23
The scene is the inauguration of the Tabernacle—the Tent that housed the Ark during the Israelites’ journeys through the wilderness. It’s also the first day of operation for the newly ordained priests: Aaron and his four sons.
So first Aaron blessed the people; then Aaron and Moses went into the Tent, came back out, and blessed the people again. But how did they do it?
The commentators disagree. Now, you can find out how and why, in the Leviticus volume of my Commentators’ Bible series—just published by JPS. This post will introduce you to three of them: Rashi, Nahmanides, and Abraham ibn Ezra (we’re giving Rashi’s grandson, Rashbam, the day off today).
Rashi says the blessing Aaron recited in v. 22 was this:
Don’t recognize it? It’s the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:22-24, still recited in synagogues today (go to the Israel Museum web site to learn about the amazing photo):
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
The LORD make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
- from the JPS 1917 translation
The LORD bless you and protect you!
The LORD deal kindly and graciously with you!
The LORD bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace!
- from the JPS 1962 ?** translation
But when Moses and Aaron came out of the Tent, they offered a different blessing, according to Rashi. The Bible does not give its text here, but the text is found in the Bible, in Psalm 90, which is identified in v. 1 as “A prayer of Moses.” In v. 17 of his prayer, Moses says, “May the favor of the LORD, our God, be upon us!”
Rashi explains why:
It was to say to say, “May it be God’s will that the Shekhinah rest upon the Tabernacle you have made.” For all during the first seven days of the ordination procedure, when Moses set up the Tabernacle, served there, and then disassembled it each day, the Shekhinah did not rest upon it. The people were depressed, saying, “Our master Moses! All this trouble we took was so that the Shekhinah would settle among us and we would know that we were forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf.”
Nahmanides always takes Rashi’s explanations seriously:
If this was indeed the priestly blessing of Num. 6:24–26, as Rashi thinks, then Num. 6:23, “Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel,” must also have preceded our passage. And perhaps it did, since the Numbers passage seems to be describing “the day that Moses finished setting up the Tabernacle” (Num. 7:1).
He often disagrees with them, however:
But it might also be possible simply to understand Aaron doing the same here as did Solomon at the inauguration of the Temple, when “he spread the palms of his hands toward heaven … and in a loud voice blessed the whole congregation of Israel” (1 Kings 8:22, 55). That would explain why the text does not record that Moses commanded Aaron to do so.
Ibn Ezra takes a more practical interest in Aaron’s “lifting his hands”:
Based on this verse, our predecessors have passed on the tradition that the priests must lift their hands high when they offer the priestly blessing.
Leave it to Nahmanides, however, to bring a kabbalistic element into the discussion. To find it, however, you’ll have to go to the other volume of The Commentators’ Bible that been published so far—Exodus—and the famous passage where Moses lifts up his hands to give Israel victory:
Exodus 17:8 Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Pick some men for us, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Then, whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur, one on each side, supported his hands; thus his hands remained steady until the sun set. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed the people of Amalek with the sword.
Says Nahmanides:
His hands remained steady. This translation is correct. But according to the Way of Truth, he held ten fingers high to heaven to allude to the ten sefirot, and to cleave to the aspect of Faith that was fighting for Israel. The subject of the priests’ holding up their hands when they bless the people, and the mystery behind it, is also clarified by this text.
The Torah is not a book to pick up and read from beginning to end, once and be done with it, but a book that Jews return to over and over again to learn new insights. The Commentators’ Bible is intended to bring a deeper level of Torah study within the reach of more English-speaking Jews than ever before.
I am looking forward to learning with you!
Great Names: The Crazier The Better!
Posted by Sarah in Jewish Books, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on October 29, 2009
Originality. It’s one of the few things almost everyone wants. People dress in unique styles, dye their hair crazy colors, and tattoo their bodies, all in an attempt to be different from the pack.
That’s how things are today.
Need proof? Just look at some of the names out there today! Remember when no one would dream of naming their child Apple, and then Gwyneth Paltrow stunned us all? In the search for creativity, she ended up naming her daughter after a piece of fruit!
The problem is, with everyone trying to find something new, originality is becoming harder to obtain. So, I have come up with a solution. For those trying to find unique names, look no further than the Bible! I can guarantee 
that most of these names are not in use today, ensuring that you will be unique! Even better, some of the greatest names ever can be found in the Bible. Need some ideas? Here are my top five Biblical names of all time (hope they make you smile):
1.Uz & Buz (pronounced ooze and booze)– Technically these are two different names, but I couldn’t list one without the other. While these brothers have pretty minor roles in the Bible, they probably have two of the greatest names ever! Not to mention, Uz and Buz were nephews of Abraham. So, by taking one of these names, you’re inheriting some pretty top-notch relatives!
2.Nimrod – Once again, I couldn’t resist! You might be wondering why you would ever want to be named something that means idiot or moron, but believe it or not, Nimrod was a king! He founded the city of Ninevah (the city G-d sent Jonah to) making even this absurd name regal!
3.Dodo – Yes, this is pronounced like the, now extinct, prehistoric bird. While, like Nimrod, it sounds insulting, its Hebrew origin is “loving.” In the bible, Dodo was a man, but feel free to push the boundaries and use it for a girl!
4.Jehoshabeath – This name is sure to make you stand out among the crowd. Because, seriously, what’s cooler than having a name so long that no one can pronounce it? This biblical character was a woman, so be sure to pass the name along to your newest female relatives!
5.Rafu – I don’t know why, but I think this name is great. Something about the way it rolls off your tongue is just so much fun, which means I had to include it in my list. It comes from the Hebrew for “cured,” so not only will your name sound cool, it’ll mean something cool too!
For more amazing name ideas, check out Who’s Who in the Jewish Bible!
-Sarah
The Tower of Babel and Crisis of Translation
Posted by Sarah in Jewish Books, Jewish Knowledge on October 27, 2009
Cross-posted from the Jewish Book Council Blog and MyJewishLearning.
In her last posts, Ellen Frankel looked at how to make the Bible PG and looked at “What is Jewish Literature?”. She has been guest-blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and JBC.
In this week’s parshah, Noah, we read about the Tower of Babel, constructed at a time when “everyone on earth had the same language and the same words” (Gen. 11:1). But because the Tower’s builders thought that they could storm the gates of heaven, their speech was “confounded…[so that they could] not understand one another’s speech” (Gen 11:7). The Bible puns on the Hebrew words, bavel, referring to ancient Babylonia, and balal, to mix up. And so the people had to stop building the tower and were “scattered over the face of the earth” (Gen 11:9). And so we remain to this day—dispersed, speaking a babble of languages, not understanding one another.
As I prepare to step down at The Jewish Publication Society after eighteen years, I am struck by how much of my work has been devoted to translation, not only from foreign languages, ancient and modern, into English, but also from foreign contexts into an idiom accessible to contemporary Americans. Whether it’s the Mekhilta, a second century rabbinic Midrash on Exodus, or the teachings of the Sefat Emet, a late 19th century Hasidic master, most of today’s Jews need interpreters to guide them through the unfamiliar terrain of Jewish texts, written is so many exotic dialects: philosophy, ethics, halakha, theology, feminist criticism, folklore, history, poetry, and prayer. Without translation, these languages remain opaque.
To read the entire post, visit the Jewish Book Council Blog!
News From JPS- Take 25% off JPS Passover titles!
- Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky Awarded 2011 National Jewish Book Award for JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth
- The University of Nebraska Press and The Jewish Publication Society Announce Collaborative Publishing Agreement
- New Commentators' Bible: Numbers -- Available This Month!
